Robert L. Millet - Whatever Happened to Faith?

2017 Robert L. Millet

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Deseret Book Company, at permissions@deseretbook.com or P. O. Box 30178, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130. This work is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church or of Deseret Book Company.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Millet, Robert L., author.

Title: Whatever happened to faith? / Robert L. Millet.

Description: Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017006730 | ISBN 9781629723334 (hardbound : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsDoctrines. | Mormon ChurchDoctrines.

Classification: LCC BX8635.3 .M563 2017 | DDC 230/.9332dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017006730

Printed in the United States of America

Publishers Printing, Salt Lake City, UT

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Also by Robert L. Millet

Precept upon Precept

Men of Covenant

Living in the Millennium

Living in the Eleventh Hour

Lehis Dream

Making Sense of the Book of Revelation

Talking with God

Men of Influence

Holding Fast

Men of Valor

What Happened to the Cross?

Are We There Yet?

Getting at the Truth

Grace Works

When a Child Wanders

To my grandfather Anatole J. Millet

a twentieth-century pioneer, a serious student of scripture
and preacher of righteousness, who received the
restored gospel enthusiastically and
defended it courageously

When the Son of man cometh, shall
he find faith on the earth?

Luke 18:8

Stand fast, ye Saints of God, hold on a little
while longer, and the storm of life will be past, and you
will be rewarded by that God whose servants you are, and who will duly appreciate all your toils and afflictions for Christs sake and the Gospels. Your names will be handed down to posterity as Saints of God.

Joseph Smith

Note

. Joseph Smith, 235.

Preface

As prophets have done in past dispensations, the leaders of the Church continue to call upon us to exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in his plans and purposes, faith in his divine timetable, faith in his Church and its prophetic and apostolic leadership. Exercising faith is not easy to do in our day, since we now live and breathe and have our being in the midst of a world largely drenched in secularity, a day when religion and religious devotion are being pushed to the margins of our society. Religious belief is scoffed at and denounced as primitive, simple-minded, unnecessary, even dangerous. Children and adults are taught to give little attention to the spiritual, to believe only in that which they can see and feel and measure. Loyalty to scriptural teachings, adherence to time-honored values and absolute truthsthese qualities and virtues seem to be in short supply.

To exercise faith as Latter-day Saints in these early decades of the twenty-first century requires us to hold tenaciously to what we have been taught, what we have learned concerning the divine Sonship of Christ, the restoration of the fulness of the gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ, and the Saviors continued guidance of the true and living church (D&C 1:30).

Our Lord has charged us as his disciples to be in the world but not of it (John 17:1415). Its tough to be the salt of the earth or the light of the world if in times of stress we persistently retreat from the world into the comfort of our bunkers of faith (Matthew 5:1314; 3 Nephi 12:1314). Faith has always been a fundamental principle of strength for the Latter-day Saints, President Thomas S. Monson taught. Without it, we go nowhere. With it, we can accomplish anything in building the kingdom of God.

Our own people have not been immune to doubt, uncertainty, and troubles when it comes to matters of faith. The almost infinite spread of information (good and bad, true and false) by means of the Internet seems to have caught a number of Saints off guard. The decision of Church leaders in recent years to adopt a position of total transparency relative to our doctrine and history, perhaps most obviously manifest in the production of the Joseph Smith Papers, has proven for some Church members to be a godsend, filling in gaps of personal understanding and painting a picture of the Restoration that is rich and rewarding. For others in the Church, however, the discovery of historical details of which they had been unaware, combined with current positions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on sensitive and difficult matters pertaining to marriage, family, and sexual orientation, have been disturbing. Some declare that their faith in the Church and its leaders has been shaken. Add to these stressful items the continuing barrage of anti-Mormon propaganda from Christian groups or from former Latter-day Saints who have become bitter enemies of the faith, and the result is what might be called a perfect storm. The day for ignoring such matters is long since past.

I do not intend in this short work to address every doctrinal or historical challenge with which members wrestle, although we will of necessity touch on some. Instead, Id like to direct our attention toward some guiding principles that, if understood, may allow some of us to see the Churchits doctrine, its history, and its leaderswith new eyes and perhaps feel with a new heart. What is my intended audience for this book? Well, it would certainly include the following:

Active, involved, and committed members of the Church who have no reservations whatsoever about the faith. To this group I would hope to provide some measure of inoculation should they encounter tough issues in the future.

Active and involved members of the Church who have encountered questions or issues that now trouble them.

Members of the Church who have allowed themselves to slide into inactivity because of doctrinal or historical issues, current Church policies on social issues, or disappointment with Church leaders past and present.

Former Latter-day Saints who have formally cut their ties with the Church and have charted a new course in life but feel no inclination to criticize or oppose the Church.

Former Latter-day Saints who have formally cut their ties with the Church but are so angry about their feelings of deception and betrayal that they seem driven to do anything they can to embarrass, humiliate, or block the progress of the Church.

I have a deep and abiding conviction of the truthfulness of the restored gospel, its doctrine and history, and the integrity of the prophets and apostles of the restored Church. I am not unaware of the potentially troubling issues afloat. Yet nothing I have read or encountered has even come close to shaking my faith. Fortunately, many, many people within the Church feel the same, persons who are neither nave nor unwilling to face reality. Rather, they have chosen the way of faith. As President Monson put it, Whereas doubt destroys, faith fulfills. It brings one closer to God and to His purposes. Faith implies a certain trusteven a relianceupon the word of our Creator.