When You Have Unanswered Questions About Church Policy, History: 6 Powerful Insights

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In his book When Heaven Feels Distant, LDS author Tyler Griffin shows how we can move forward when we feel like the answers to our prayers are incomplete or when commandments, policies, or so many other things about the Church seem contradictory.

What would have happened if Adam had refused to offer a sacrifice until the Lord clarified why it was required? What if Nephi had sat down just inside the wall of Jerusalem, unwilling to move forward until the Lord delivered Laban and the brass plates into his hands? What if Paul would have insisted on a direct answer before proceeding after being stopped on two occasions by the Spirit? The greater the uncertainty we overcome, the greater the triumph of faith and growth of character we experience. Although we cannot always find the answers we desperately want, we can proceed in faith, based on what we do know. It is easier for God to direct our path when we are moving forward than when we are sitting around, waiting for Him to tell us what to do.

Contradictions and Inconsistencies

Struggles with ambiguity are accentuated when seemingly inconsistent or contradictory statements appear in the scriptures. For instance, during His life, Jesus focused His ministry on the descendants of Israel. He altered that policy on the Mount of Ascension, when He commanded the eleven Apostles to go “into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15; emphasis added). This new direction was largely misunderstood or ignored by the Apostles for a few years. The Lord brought about the first Gentile baptisms by giving complementary visions to Peter, the chief Apostle, and Cornelius, a Roman centurion (see Acts 10). Peter’s visions on that occasion directly contradicted Israel’s strict dietary laws (see Deuteronomy 14). Peter was commanded to kill and eat the very things the Lord had expressly forbidden for 1500 years (see Acts 10:9–17). These policy changes caused anxiety and confusion for some of the Church members in Peter’s day.

One trend that emerges from apparent scriptural incongruities is that when the Lord establishes patterns or rules, he sometimes commands exceptions in order for His work to progress—hence the need for living oracles, ongoing revelation, and adaptable practices in the Church. Jesus provided a key for understanding conflicting commandments when He said, “Except ye shall keep my commandments, which I have commanded you at this time, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (3 Nephi 12:20; emphasis added). Changes in policy, practice, and procedure in the Church of Jesus Christ are evidence it is a living, growing church.

Differing Interpretations

Another source of distance-inducing ambiguity comes from not fully understanding the Lord’s directions or misapplying one of His teachings. To illustrate: Jesus delivered a sermon filled with symbolism that caused many of His disciples to stop following Him at a high point of His popularity (see John 6:26–71). It must have been shocking and troubling to hear Him use phrases such as, “I am the living bread . . . and the bread that I will give is my flesh” (v. 51); “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you” (53); or “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him” (v. 56). Many of Jesus’ followers could not understand and walked away in exasperation (see v. 66). It is intriguing that He did not call them back and explain that the Bread of Life sermon was a symbolic reference to a future ordinance He would call the sacrament. He simply let them walk away without adding clarity or explanation. He then asked His Apostles, “Will ye also go away?” (v. 67). Devoted disciples then and now resonate with Simon Peter’s answer: “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (v. 68).

Examples of confusion or misapplication of principles or practices are not limited to ancient scripture. For instance, when the revelation came regarding baptisms for the dead, many early Saints excitedly began performing them in the Mississippi River with no semblance of order or recorder present. The Lord did not condemn them for performing the ordinances incorrectly; they had simply done the best they could based on the knowledge they had at that time. Further direction regarding how to properly perform the ordinance soon came through the prophet.

For many today, a particularly troubling practice in Church history is plural marriage. Detractors of the Church can easily paint these situations in the worst possible light by using twenty-first-century lenses to judge what we read from nineteenth-century sources. Joseph had no how-to handbook when it came to implementing the practice. The Lord gave him a command to live the Biblical law of plural marriage, and not unlike Nephi with the brass plates, Joseph had to figure out the how along the way.

In a powerful talk reminding us that faith is a choice, Elder Neil L. Andersen gave some advice regarding what to do when we are tempted to condemn Joseph based on our limited understanding of events in those early days: “For now, give Brother Joseph a break! In a future day, you will have 100 times more information than from all of today’s search engines combined, and it will come from our all-knowing Father in Heaven.”2 Whether doctrinal clarifications or policy changes come early or late, quickly or slowly, they come according to the Lord’s timing when the work requires them and when the people are capable of making needed adjustments.


When our lives seem off course and constantly heading downhill despite our best efforts to keep the commandments and follow the Savior, our knee-jerk response is often to question God's motives, concern, and love for us. Like the Apostles on the stormy sea of Galilee, we may wonder, "Why does the Master sleep?" Why does God seem to keep His distance when we need His guidance most? 

Tyler Griffin, an associate professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU, strives to offer hope and perspective to those who feel isolated and distant from heaven, especially when those distant feelings are compounded by confusion, frustration, and deep hurts that spread over time. This book seeks to reaffirm and fortify faith in Christ amid the storms oflife, and to help readers find a true sense of connection with the almighty God of the universe, who holds worlds without number in His hands, but holds you and your loved ones in His heart.

Faith in Christ and Nothing Else

The Church is increasingly being held hostage by detractors using everything that has ever been said or done by all leaders throughout its history to highlight incongruities. Ignoring the fruits of discipleship, the world’s wisdom today boldly declares, “By their roots ye shall know them.” We have no control over what happened in the past. We don’t know all that will happen in the future. Our test of faith lies in the present, in how we respond to the current prophets, practices, and revelations. In an ever-changing world, our faith must be built on Jesus Christ alone, not past quotes, policies, programs, or people.

We also distance ourselves from heaven and set ourselves up for failure when we try to dogmatically define that which the Lord has intentionally left as a “gray area” for each to wrestle with on his or her own. Over-zealousness can easily lead to judging others who do not accept or live up to our self-created standards. This is often manifest in extreme or pet practices in areas such as Sabbath observance, the Word of Wisdom, politics, media usage, or activity in a variety of Church-related activities or programs. It is expected that disciples of Christ will set standards for themselves within all of these areas. Problems arise, however, when we hold others accountable to our personal standards and condemn them when they fall short of living “according to the dictates of our own conscience” (Article of Faith 11; emphasis added).

Burden of Proof

Those who seek to destroy belief in God use devilish tactics. One of those techniques is to boldly declare, “If you can’t answer all of my questions, then I won’t accept any of your answers.” Detractors would seek to define us by what we don’t know rather than what we do know. They want us to believe that the question marks in our mind are more valid than the exclamation marks in our hearts. Elder M. Russell Ballard reminded us, “Sometimes we can learn, study, and know, and sometimes we have to believe, trust and hope.”3

Even though the non-existence of God cannot be proven by nonbelievers, the devilish tactic is to place the burden of proof on believers. Elder Gerald N. Lund explained that proving God’s nonexistence would require a person to explore every cubic meter of the vast expanse of the universe and find no trace of God.4 The trouble is, God can move. Therefore, a person would have to see the entire universe in an instant, which is something only a God can do. God’s existence or nonexistence is not something He intended to be proven; He purposely has made it a matter of faith. Alma’s testimony was not enough for Korihor. He still demanded a sign before he would believe.

Sign-Seeking

Jesus taught, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign” (Matthew 16:4). Sign-seekers want all the desired outcomes without having to do the prerequisite work. They try to take what they are seeking from another person rather than earning it for themselves. . . . Sign-seeking bypasses the process of scripture study, prayer, fasting, and experimenting upon the words of Christ in order to learn truth and believe. . . .

Heaven feels increasingly distant when we refuse to pay the price for gaining knowledge and peace. The Prophet Joseph taught, “The things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out.”5 In contrast, Satan offers instant gratification, usually requiring little to no effort on our part. His quick answers and temptations never build anything lasting or meaningful. God always helps us progress past ambiguity or temptation as we earnestly seek His truth and righteousness through His appointed sources.

Forward with Faith

When ambiguity arises, we often ask, “Why doesn’t the Lord just make things clearer and give more direct answers to our questions?” He seems content to follow His pattern of allowing uncertainty to linger as a defining part of our earthly test. This keeps us relying on Him as we seek for better ways to understand and faithfully move forward in the face of uncertainty.

Elder Richard G. Scott taught that Heavenly Father often gives “gentle promptings that require us to think, exercise faith, work, at times struggle, then act.”6 This is intended to be a process, not an event. Elder Scott continued, “His answers will seldom come while you are on your knees.” He finished this thought by reminding us to be “thankful that sometimes God lets [us] struggle for a long time before that answer comes” because that allows us to move forward with faith and do the best we can with what we have already received.

Notes:

1.Howard W. Hunter, “The Opening and Closing of Doors,” Ensign, Nov. 1987, 54–60. President Hunter was using a line from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes as the foundation for this statement.

2.Neil L. Andersen, “Faith Is Not by Chance, but by Choice,” Ensign, Nov. 2015, 65–68.

3.M. Russell Ballard, “To Whom Shall We Go?” Ensign, Nov. 2016, 90–92.

4.Gerald N. Lund, “Countering Korihor’s Philosophy,” Ensign, July 1992, 16–21.

5.Joseph Smith, “Letter to the Church and Edward Partridge, 20 March 1839,” 12, in The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed March 29, 2017, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-the-church-and-edward-partridge-20-march-1839/12.

6.Richard G. Scott, “Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer,” Ensign, May 2007, 8–11.

Lead image from Getty Images

When our lives seem off course and constantly heading downhill despite our best efforts to keep the commandments and follow the Savior, our knee-jerk response is often to question God's motives, concern, and love for us. Like the Apostles on the stormy sea of Galilee, we may wonder, "Why does the Master sleep?" Why does God seem to keep His distance when we need His guidance most? 

Tyler Griffin, an associate professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU, strives to offer hope and perspective to those who feel isolated and distant from heaven, especially when those distant feelings are compounded by confusion, frustration, and deep hurts that spread over time. This book seeks to reaffirm and fortify faith in Christ amid the storms oflife, and to help readers find a true sense of connection with the almighty God of the universe, who holds worlds without number in His hands, but holds you and your loved ones in His heart.

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