“As aspiring Christians but still imperfect saints, we may not always understand the struggles of others or know how to help, but we can always love them, creating safe spaces where others — and often we ourselves — can struggle with the ‘hard sayings’ in life,” BYU professor Eric D. Huntsman said.
Listeners heard an uncommon ending to a campus devotional at Brigham Young University on Tuesday, when audience members clapped as Eric D. Huntsman, religion professor at BYU, finished his address.
His message: a call for spaces of love, listening, and understanding.
“For so many of us the trial of our faith often includes long — sometimes lifelong — struggles,” the BYU professor said. “I submit that these struggles are necessary to our progression, but they are not struggles that we should ever face alone. While it is true that Jesus Christ and His Atonement provide us strength, healing, and salvation, in this life He often succors and blesses us through others.”
Huntsman covered many of the issues facing young adults of the Church today — questions of faith, loving members of the LGBTQ community, equality within the Church — and encouraged listeners to make room for “both struggle and faith” for themselves and those around them.