Digital Only: Young Adults
To Those Who Doubt
What can we learn from those in the scriptures who had moments of doubt?
I used to think that having the gift of faith made me immune to doubts.
But as the trials of life have gotten heavier, it’s gotten harder for me to rely on that innate faith that I’ve always felt. And I’ve found myself struggling. With faith. With motivation to keep my testimony strong. With wanting to devote time to God.
After some enlightening conversations with friends, I’ve come to realize that I’m not alone. And with some help, I’ve also realized the not-so-secret answer to any doubt or question: Jesus Christ.
The answer has always been coming closer to Him, and it always will be.1
Proof Won’t Give You Faith
It’s normal for us to have questions. Sincere, inspired questions can help us receive precious personal revelation. But when those questions give way to doubts—when our questions turn from faith to fear and from sincere to cynical—that’s where we can start to lose our way. But we can learn from those in the scriptures who faced doubts about how to overcome them.
Let’s start with the ultimate example of a “doubter” in the scriptures: the Apostle Thomas. Thomas has been labeled “doubting Thomas” because he questioned the reality of Jesus’s return after His Crucifixion.
Even after his fellow disciples told him that they had seen the risen Lord, Thomas still said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).
Yet when the Savior arrived and proved that He had been resurrected, He didn’t shame Thomas for having doubted. He simply invited him to come to Him. “Reach hither thy finger,” He said, “and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side.” He knew exactly how to respond to Thomas’s specific doubts, and He resolved them instantly. The Savior invited Thomas to come closer to Him with the invitation, “Be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27).
Maybe you’re the kind of person who really wants that kind of concrete proof too. But a wise friend once reminded me that proof won’t give you faith. And the Savior doesn’t ask us to track down proof. He asks us to simply believe. Because that’s what faith is: “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It’s not about having “a perfect knowledge of things,” but a hope of things “which are true” (Alma 32:21).
You Have to Take the First Step
The Apostle Nathanael was another example of experiencing doubt. When his friend Philip told Nathanael that they had found the promised Messiah and that He was from Nazareth, Nathanael’s comeback was, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
Whether his question was serious or sarcastic, it clearly showed that Nathanael had some serious reservations about the so-called Messiah. Philip’s simple answer, “Come and see,” was enough to entice Nathanael to come and learn for himself that Jesus really was “the Son of God; … the King of Israel” (John 1:46, 49).
After his personal experience with the Savior, Nathanael’s doubts were gone. And Christ promised him that he would “see greater things than these” (John 1:50) that would also prove that He truly was the Savior of the world. All it took was for Nathanael to take the first step and come see for himself.
As the distance between you and the Savior shrinks, your doubts will begin to shrink too.
You Can Fuel Your Doubts or Your Faith
In the Book of Mormon, we read about Zeezrom, who was way beyond doubting—in fact, he “was a man who was expert in the devices of the devil” (Alma 11:21). It’s safe to say that he didn’t believe in Jesus as our Savior—he didn’t believe in God, period. His only goal was to make others doubt too.
But after his conversation with Amulek, something changed. His doubt-driven heart became open to the Spirit. He listened to the words of these prophets instead of people who didn’t believe. And he “began to inquire of [Alma and Amulek] diligently” (Alma 12:8). He started to believe the words they had spoken about God, His Son, and repentance (see Alma 14:6–7). He went from doubting to seeking answers to sincere questions.
Zeezrom’s belief “in the power of Christ unto salvation” and “in the redemption of Christ” saved him and healed him (Alma 15:6, 8).
When you find yourself doubting, who do you turn to? People who fuel your doubts or your faith? As President Russell M. Nelson has counseled us: “Take your questions to the Lord and to other faithful sources. Study with the desire to believe rather than with the hope that you can find a flaw in the fabric of a prophet’s life or a discrepancy in the scriptures. Stop increasing your doubts by rehearsing them with other doubters. Allow the Lord to lead you on your journey of spiritual discovery.”2
Look beyond Your Doubts to the Savior
Like me—and Thomas, Nathanael, and Zeezrom—you might struggle with sincere questions or even doubts.
But remember the Savior’s own directive: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:36).
When we look beyond our doubts toward the Savior, that’s when our doubts can begin to be swallowed up in our faith.
As Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles encouraged us to do: “Please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”3
So, yes, I have doubts and questions. There are things I don’t yet understand in the Lord’s Church. I’ve questioned God’s love for me, and I’ve felt that I don’t matter that much to Him. But there’s one thing that keeps me here.
The Savior.
His atoning sacrifice, His example, and His influence in my life are what keep me here. I truly believe that He established a Church on earth and that it has been restored again through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I trust God’s living prophets. The peace I feel from living His gospel and the eternal perspective it offers me is something I would not want to live without.
And as the world—including some of my own friends and family who once stood firm—grows further from faith and belief and closer to anger and doubt, I realign my focus on Jesus Christ.
He is why I stay.