My Favorite Conference Talk

So General Conference was this weekend, and there were a ton of amazing talks given. I would like to share one of my favorites, given by President Uchtdorf of the First Presidency of the Church called “Come, Join with Us.” President Uchtdorf made many great statements on the Church as a whole, but one statement in particular stuck out to me. When talking about addressing doubts, President Uchtdorf said, “First doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.”

While leadership in the church may not always be perfect, the teachings and precepts that the church is based on are perfect. I have seen members of the church who do not exemplify Christ’s teachings and may act in a way that is not in accordance to God’s commandments and church expectations. I know that sometimes it is difficult to support our leaders if they are not doing all the things that they are supposed to, but honestly it doesn’t matter. We are not Mormon because some popular person in our community was called as bishop. We are Mormons because of our belief in Christ as well as the foundational beliefs that we learn from the Book of Mormon and words of the prophets.

My advice for anyone who is struggling coming to terms with something a church leader has done in the past is to do exactly as President Uchtforf says: Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. Remember the core beliefs that have created your faith in Christ and the church. I am not saying to ignore what your leaders do or follow them blindly, but do know that they are all called of God into the callings where they are serving and that sometimes a calling is for that person to grow and become a better person themselves. Remember that none of us are perfect, even church leaders.

I would strongly recommend you watch this talk, because President Uchtdorf explains this principle in a way that I cannot even come close to emulating. Plus I can’t do a German accent.

All of the General Conference talks can also be found on lds.org!