Introductory Materials

Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge, Part 1

Act in Faith

One of the purposes of doctrinal mastery is to learn to apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge to help you build your foundation on Jesus Christ. This lesson can help you act in faith in Jesus Christ as you seek answers to questions and concerns in your life.

Teaching students the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. When students know and apply the principles of gaining spiritual knowledge, they can better accomplish the purposes of doctrinal mastery. Be sure to regularly review these principles in class and help students understand them. Students will have opportunities to apply these principles in doctrinal mastery lessons.

Student preparation: Invite students to ask a family member or Church leader who shows great faith in Jesus Christ what they do to stay strong when faced with questions or concerns about the gospel.

Possible Learning Activities

Note: It may be best to teach this lesson toward the beginning of the school year or whenever students are first introduced to the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge.

Are questions good or bad?

Think about which of the following answers apply to this question:

• Which of the following are possible reasons someone might have questions about the gospel or the Church of Jesus Christ?

  Consider reading the following options to students. Pause after each option to ask some students why they believe it might be accurate or inaccurate. Help students understand that any of these options could be accurate or inaccurate depending on someone’s desires and choices.

  1. They don’t have a testimony of the gospel yet.

  2. They care about the gospel enough to want to understand more.

  3. They doubt the faith they once had.

  4. God might be inspiring them to think about something He wants to teach them.

     The answer depends on each person’s attitude and reasons for asking questions. Read paragraph 3 of the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section of the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2023), looking for how our approach to gospel questions can either strengthen or weaken our faith in Jesus Christ.

• What stood out to you in this paragraph? Why?

Consider inviting students to reflect on how questions or concerns have affected their own spiritual progress. The following paragraph may help with this.

Everyone has questions and concerns. We should be careful not to judge the faith of others when they have questions, and we need not doubt our own faith when we have questions. Our faith in Jesus Christ and our testimony of the restored gospel can be strengthened or weakened depending on how we approach our questions and concerns. As you study today, think about the role your questions play in your spiritual progress. What questions do you have about the gospel or the Church of Jesus Christ? Do you feel that your questions are drawing you closer to the Savior and His Church?

Acquiring spiritual knowledge

Throughout your experience in seminary, you will have the chance to practice using the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. The following three principles can help you to draw closer to Jesus Christ when questions or concerns arise in your life:

1. Act in faith.

2. Examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective.

3. Seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources.

If some students in the class have had seminary in the past, consider asking them what they already know about these three principles. This could give the class a brief overview of the principles and could indicate students’ current level of understanding.

The remainder of this lesson will focus on the principle of acting in faith in Jesus Christ.

Read paragraphs 5–7 of the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section of the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document, looking for several ways you could finish the following sentence.

Consider writing the following unfinished sentence on the board.

When questions or concerns arise, we can act in faith in Jesus Christ by… .

Invite several students to come to the board and finish the statement. Consider asking follow-up questions to help students personalize what they found. For example:

If a student writes, “Continuing to keep the commandments” (see paragraph 5), a follow-up question might be “How do you think keeping the commandments can help you stay close to Jesus Christ as you face difficult issues? Would any of you like to share an experience you’ve had with that?”

If a student writes, “Holding on to what we already know to be true” (see paragraph 6), a follow-up question might be “Take a minute to ponder what you know to be true that you can hold on to when questions arise. How do you know those things are true?”

If a student writes, “Trusting in God until the answer comes” (see paragraph 7), a follow-up question might be “What do you know about God that helps you trust Him while you wait for answers? Why might God choose at times not to give us complete answers right away?”

• Which of the ways that you selected do you think best applies to teenagers today or even to your life? Why?

• How could choosing to act in faith in this way affect someone’s relationship with the Savior?

• Who do you know who has acted in faith when dealing with questions or concerns? What did she or he do?

Consider showing students the video “Act in Faith: The Stonemason” (4:57), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org. If the video is shown, invite students to identify and share on the board how the youth in the video demonstrate the truths. In determining whether to show the video, be sure to save time for the scripture search activity that follows.

If the video is shown, consider inviting students to identify and share how the youth in the video demonstrate the truths on the board.

Consider watching the video “Act in Faith: The Stonemason” (4:57), available on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Look for how the youth in the video acted with faith in the Savior when they faced important questions and concerns.

Scriptural examples

Consider combining the “Supplemental Learning Activity” suggestion with the following activity to help students see how attitudes and choices can lead to increased or decreased faith in Jesus Christ.

The scriptures contain many accounts of those who faced difficult questions or concerns with faith in Jesus Christ. One of these is the prophet Nephi. Read the following examples from Nephi’s life, looking for how he acted in faith in Jesus Christ when facing questions and other issues.

• 1 Nephi 2:16—Some of his loved ones were angry about what his father, the prophet Lehi, asked them to do.

• 1 Nephi 3:7—He was asked to do something difficult.

• 1 Nephi 9:5–6—The Lord commanded him to do something for reasons he did not understand.

• 1 Nephi 10:17; 11:1–5—He wanted his own witness of what his father, the prophet, taught.

• 1 Nephi 11:17—He didn’t fully know the answer to a question he was asked about the gospel.

• Which elements of acting in faith did Nephi best exemplify?

Consider inviting students to share the following in small groups so that more students will have the chance to share.

Describe a modern question or concern that could affect someone’s faith in Jesus Christ or His Church. How could someone act in faith when faced with that question or issue?

• How could choosing to act in faith or not to act in faith affect his or her relationship with the Savior?

• What do you most want to apply in your life from what you studied today? How could this help you in your life?

Commentary and Background Information

Is it OK to have questions about the gospel?

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, then of the First Presidency, taught:

It’s natural to have questions—the acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and matured into a great oak of understanding. There are few members of the Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive questions. One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith—even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith is to hope for things which are not seen but which are true.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters—my dear friends—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. (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Come, Join with Us,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2013, 23)

President Russell M. Nelson explained:

The Lord can only teach an inquiring mind. (Russell M. Nelson, in M. Russell Ballard, “What Came from Kirtland” [Brigham Young University devotional, Nov. 6, 1994], 8, speeches.byu.edu)

What should I do if I am struggling with doubts about God or the Church?

President Russell M. Nelson said:

Choose to believe in Jesus Christ. If you have doubts about God the Father and His Beloved Son or the validity of the Restoration or the veracity of Joseph Smith’s divine calling as a prophet, choose to believe and stay faithful. 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. (Russell M. Nelson, “Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains,” Liahona, May 2021, 103)

Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said:

I encourage you now, to recall, especially in times of crisis, when you felt the Spirit and your testimony was strong; remember the spiritual foundations you have built. I promise that if you will do this, avoiding things that do not build and strengthen your testimony or that mock your beliefs, those precious times when your testimony prospered will return again to your memory through humble prayer and fasting. I assure you that you will once again feel the safety and warmth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Ronald A. Rasband, “Lest Thou Forget,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2016, 114)

Supplemental Learning Activity

Scriptural examples

This suggestion could be used in place of the scripture study suggestion that examines only Nephi’s example.

Consider displaying the following picture of Lehi’s family traveling through the wilderness. Invite students to share questions and concerns that they might have if they were one of Lehi’s children.

Then invite students to contrast what Laman and Lemuel did about their questions and concerns in 1 Nephi 2:12–13 with what Nephi did in verse 16.

Students could similarly contrast Laman and Lemuel’s attitude toward seeking answers to gospel questions in 1 Nephi 15:2–3, 8–9 with Nephi’s attitude in 1 Nephi 10:17; 11:1.

Invite students to discuss how the examples of these brothers apply to us today.