Comments on: Pres. Uchtdorf: “Is It All Right to Have Questions about the Church or Its Doctrine?”

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:11:28 +0000

Yes, that's the talk; this is the current link. When this post was written (November 9), the talk was available only in broadcast form and I transcribed these paragraphs while listening to the broadcast. It looks like some editing was done when the official printed version was prepared, a common practice. The material is still there, though, with the somewhat revised wording, near the end under the subheading "Is It True?"

By: LightTheWay

LightTheWay — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 23:22:19 +0000

Hi. I just sort of stumbled across this article and loved it! I visited the link and tried to locate the exact article you quoted by Uchtdorf but I cannot find the exact text you quoted. I read The Reflection in the Water, but it is not there. Has it been changed? =/

By: BHodges

BHodges — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:39:53 +0000

Looks like the transcript is up! "The Reflection in the Water."

By: SisterofJared

SisterofJared — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:52:43 +0000

Ardis-

I haven’t read the entire talk yet, but in the excerpt President Uchtdorf specifically talks about asking GOD for our answers. (He speaks of receiving truth by revelation thru the Holy Ghost-Joseph Smith taking his questions to the Lord etc.)

God is the ultimate source of truth, and He grants us knowledge as quickly as we are able to accept and act upon what we are given. To me-”doubters” take their questions to other people, to books outside of scripture and beyond authorized Priesthood power-often looking for those who have the same “doubts” they do-which isn’t an act of faith. It’s an act of distrust seeking validation to continue feeling how they want to.

Asking questions with a “sincere heart” means being willing to accept whatever God reveals to us, even if He reveals that we have been wrong up to that point. It means being willing to change one’s mind and heart and come “into line” if we were “out of line” before. God knows our hearts and if we’ve already made up our minds about something, we’ve cut Him out of the process with our agency.

Anyone who is sincerely seeking truth and knowledge should go to the purest source, the highest authority. And as julianna pointed out in #21-we need to have both faith and personal righteousness in our lives first. If we have both-and we still don’t get an answer-then for reasons known only to God-it wasn’t in our best interest to get the answer yet.

By: sam

sam — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:38:43 +0000

I think it takes a lot of courage to ask tough questions.

Often, it takes more courage to listen and accept the answers.

We as question-askers should always remember that.

By: Ben Pratt

Ben Pratt — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:11:28 +0000

I echo the chorus of thanks. I appreciate it.

By: Tracy M

Tracy M — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:24:27 +0000

Thank you for putting this up, Ardis- I needed to read it.

By: Karen M.

Karen M. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:48:58 +0000

“But what about when my answers are out of line, or when there are no answers?”

Matt W., I have recieved answers that were quite clear, but also seem very out of line. I think at that point we need to apply Elder Scott’s counsel from conference and ask “Is there more?”. We need to keep asking this until we can see how our out of line answers come into line. It takes a long, long time, but it is so worth it.

By: Nitsav

Nitsav — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:39:13 +0000

I’ve posted my Sacrament mtg. talk mentioned above that dovetails with President Uchtdorf’s talk.

http://www.faithpromotingrumor.com/2009/11/preparing-minds/

By: “Preparing minds to be faithful”- A Sacrament Mtg Talk | Faith-Promoting Rumor

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:36:40 +0000

[...] to do with Institute. I spent a few weeks mind-mapping, and delivered the following. Then recently, Ardis linked to President Uchtdorf’s talk, which showed me I was thinking along the same lines he [...]