This is a story about something that happens quite often. Perhaps it happens more often among those who are born in a family of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than among those who convert to the Church later in life.
I don’t have any statistic to confirm or refute this idea, but I think that probably it’s more common among those who have grown up with the knowledge of the Gospel in a Latter-day Saints family to suddenly start questioning their faith, when they become teenagers, or young adults; when they realize that they don’t have all the answers, and that the simple answers they learned as children are not enough to face life as adults.
They may start focusing on what they don’t have or don’t know, instead than on what they have and know. This happens in part because they don’t recognize the value of what they have, since they have grown up enjoying blessings and privileges that they assume are “normal” and shared by most people, while in reality those blessings are relatively rare in our world, and are a consequence of their family living the Gospel.
Perhaps because they grow up thinking that they have all the answers (even if just simple primary-type answers), when they suddenly realize that they don’t have all of hem, they start questioning everything they have been taught and believed until then. They go to the other extreme, all of a sudden.
But it’s a natural process, and even if sometimes painful, is a necessary one. Soon or later all members of the Church need to receive their own personal confirmation of the truth, or they cannot grow in faith..
Whether one is born a member of the Church by heritage, and is baptized when eight years old of age, or whether one is baptized later in life as an adult, we cannot forget that one of the purposes of this life is learning to walk by faith, not by vision, and that we will never have all the answers in this life. It is part of the plan.
It is almost arrogant to pretend to have a perfect knowledge now. God gives us enough knowledge, if we ask Him, but we will never live a single day without the need for faith.
Adam’s Story
In this video Adam tells his story.
There was a time when Adam questioned the existence of God and the beliefs of the Church. He searched for every negative form of information about God, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Christianity in general—all in the name of being intellectually honest.
But if Adam was to be completely honest, he had to acknowledge evidences that supported the existence of God. Adam chose to recognize personal evidences that God loved him.
In choosing to believe, Adam became converted to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ once again. He gained knowledge and understanding. Even though his knowledge isn’t perfect, the peace he feels is greater than before.
“God can take the biggest train wrecks in our lives, and He can make something beautiful out of them.”
Have you had a faith crisis? What did you do during that time?
