Dealing with Doubt
The Need
My first opportunity to help people who were experiencing doubts about the Church was a failure. I hadn’t prepared myself to be of comfort to them or to resolve the issues that caused their doubts. It was my first year teaching seminary at Granite High School. One student after another came to class one day holding a piece of paper with quotes by Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and other early Church leaders. “Did the Prophet really say this Brother Marsh?” they asked with doubt manifest in their voice, their face, and their countenance. They received the papers from a man who stood across the street. He knew exactly where to stand and what time the students would be coming to seminary. He was preying on young minds with budding testimonies. His devious intent was to dowse their faith by igniting doubt. I later learned that he was notoriously known by my more veteran colleagues to travel from seminary to seminary in the western United States.
Nevertheless, I was of no help to my students. I could only tell them not to worry about such matters. To be honest, the quotes troubled me a little too, but I took my own counsel. As the day wore on, however, I became more concerned, angered, and troubled—concerned for the tender testimonies of my students, angered at a man who made it his life’s career to travel the country to destroy the faith of young people, and troubled that I could do nothing to dispel the nascent doubts emerging in my students’ hearts.
My inability to help my students at that time was actually the result of a deliberate decision I made years earlier. I had promised myself never to read anti-Mormon literature. I felt it was a waste of time and that it would detract from my sole purpose and chosen career—to help people learn doctrine and strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ.
As I discussed my experience and feelings with my wife, she, with her ever-present Eve-like intuition, suggested we do some research to find the truth behind the quotes. What we discovered in the process strengthened our conviction of the gospel and the Church. It provided insight into the tactics of those who attempt to weaken the conviction of Church members and impede the conversion of investigators.
Nevertheless, I was of no help to my students. I could only tell them not to worry about such matters. To be honest, the quotes troubled me a little too, but I took my own counsel. As the day wore on, however, I became more concerned, angered, and troubled—concerned for the tender testimonies of my students, angered at a man who made it his life’s career to travel the country to destroy the faith of young people, and troubled that I could do nothing to dispel the nascent doubts emerging in my students’ hearts.
My inability to help my students at that time was actually the result of a deliberate decision I made years earlier. I had promised myself never to read anti-Mormon literature. I felt it was a waste of time and that it would detract from my sole purpose and chosen career—to help people learn doctrine and strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ.
As I discussed my experience and feelings with my wife, she, with her ever-present Eve-like intuition, suggested we do some research to find the truth behind the quotes. What we discovered in the process strengthened our conviction of the gospel and the Church. It provided insight into the tactics of those who attempt to weaken the conviction of Church members and impede the conversion of investigators.