One of the purposes of doctrinal mastery is to help you learn and apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge to become more like Jesus Christ. This lesson is intended to help you understand and apply the specific principle of acting in faith in Jesus Christ when difficult challenges and questions arise.
Possible Learning Activities
When difficult challenges and questions arise
During mortality, we all encounter difficult challenges and questions that may not be easy to resolve. Read the following scenarios while thinking about similar experiences you or someone you know has had.
A young man has a lot of questions about the Church’s policies and begins to wonder if the Church is really true.
A young woman sees a post on social media that questions a doctrine of the Church. Now she begins to wonder about that doctrine herself.
A young woman wonders if prayers are really answered after her brother suffered and died from a terminal illness, despite prayers and blessings offered in his behalf.
What are some of the different ways people could choose to respond when they face difficult challenges or questions like these?
Take a moment to reflect on your experiences facing difficult challenges and questions. It might be helpful to think about the following questions: Have you had success in finding answers? What has helped you find peace? What has not?
What are some questions or challenges you have (or that other people you know have) that are not easy to resolve?
Why do you think Heavenly Father allows us to have unresolved questions rather than always giving us the answers?
When questions arise, it is important to remember that the Lord urges us to ask questions and seek answers (see Matthew 7:7–8; James 1:5–6; Doctrine and Covenants 42:61). Asking questions and seeking answers is a vital part of our effort to learn truth, followed by applying and living what we have learned in our quest to become more like the Savior and our Heavenly Father.
Three principles that can guide us as we seek to resolve questions or issues and grow in our understanding of eternal truth include:
Act in faith.
Examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective.
Seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources.
All three of these principles can be important to use when you face questions and concerns that are not easily resolved or when you experience trials.
Act in faith
This lesson is intended to help you understand the following principle: As we act in faith, the Lord grants us peace and strength while we seek answers to our questions and concerns.
Answer the following question in your study journal.
What do you think it means to act in faith?
Deepen your understanding of what it means to act in faith by completing the learning activity below. It may be helpful to study with someone else so you can practice explaining your understanding and learn from others.
Before the next activity, consider allowing students the opportunity to discuss and teach one another what they have studied, what has stood out to them, and what questions they have. They could consider the following:
What characteristics and attributes of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ increase your confidence and trust in Them? How can knowing or believing these things about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ help you to act in faith?
What are some actions you might take as you strive to act in faith when facing difficult questions or challenges?
Are there other resources you are aware of that could help someone else learn how to act in faith?
Recall the difficult questions and challenges you are facing, or review the scenarios from the beginning of the lesson. With one of these in mind, practice applying what you have learned about acting in faith by responding in as much detail as you can to the following questions.
What is the challenge or question you have chosen to practice acting in faith to?
What are two or three ways someone could act in faith in this situation?
What about this situation might make acting with faith in Jesus Christ difficult? How could you overcome these challenges?
What would you specifically want to remember about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ while you are in this situation? How might remembering those things help you?
Consider allowing students to share with the class their responses, including their testimonies of what the Holy Ghost has taught them during the lesson about acting in faith. Inform students that throughout their time in seminary they will continue to have opportunities to practice applying this principle. Invite them to begin or continue to practice using this principle in their own lives.
Commentary and Background Information
Is it wrong to have questions about the gospel?
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency taught about the value of honest questions:
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Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
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)
How can I increase my ability to act in faith?
President Russell M. Nelson taught about a process we can undertake to increase our faith:
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President Russell M. Nelson
Our faith increases every time we exercise our faith in Him. That is what learning by faith means.
For example, each time we have the faith to be obedient to God’s laws—even when popular opinions belittle us—or each time we resist entertainment or ideologies that celebrate covenant-breaking, we are exercising our faith, which in turn increases our faith.
Real-life scenarios of individuals acting in faith
Consider watching one or both of the following videos, looking for what you can learn from these individuals that can help you act in faith when you have difficult questions or challenges.
Why shouldn’t I be afraid of unresolved questions?
Supplemental Learning Activity
Seeking answers to questions
To help students better understand why Heavenly Father allows us to grow by letting us seek answers to our questions, consider showing examples of websites that contain a “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) page. Help students understand that the purpose of an FAQ page is to provide quick, easy-to-find answers to potential problems.
Why do you think that Heavenly Father doesn’t just immediately give us all the answers to our questions like an FAQ page does?