How to Avoid a Faith Crisis

A stake in Utah offers a course in ‘How to avoid a Faith Crisis’.

It looks like this is a series of lessons and though the handout formatting is so horrible some are hard to read, it looks like the topics each include a scripture reference and are as follows:

1. Experiment on the word and desire to believe. (Alma 32:27-28)
2. Doubt not, but be believing; ask deep questions. (Mormon 9:27)
3. Make sure that Jesus Christ is your only foundation. (Helaman 5:12)
4. Accept Joseph Smith as the Lord’s restorer. (D&C 135:3)
5. Let the Book of Mormon be your keystone. (2 Nephi 33:10)
6. Take an eternal view on earthly concerns. (Alma 34 8-16)
7. Use sound study methods and clear reasoning. (1 Nephi 15:24)
8. Consult reliable, well-informed resources. (Moroni 7:11-17)
9. Listen to the Spirit and follow the prophets. (D&C 8:2-3)
10. Find safety and peace in obeying the commandments. (2 Nephi 1:20)
11. Embrace the ever-changing Church policies. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
12. Examine Church history with a 360º perspective. (D&C 1:30)
13. Forgive, forget offensive leaders and members. (D&C 64:10)
14. Maintain daily habits to stay on the covenant path. (Alma 37:6-7, 41-47)
15. Record the times when God spoke peace to you. (D&C 6:21-23)

Faith Crisis Avoidance Course Examination

This course provides a structured approach intended to help members avoid a faith crisis, yet a critical examination reveals underlying assumptions, contradictions, and pitfalls. These steps seem mainly to be variations on choose to believe because we say so. There are a couple though that are incompatible with the others, like step 7 and 8, which according to how they are interpreted could lead to truth. The church is good though at redefining clear reasoning and sound study methods as more confirmation bias and following emotions over facts and restricting resources by dismissing any that don’t agree with them as ill-informed and less-reliable resources.

1. Experiment on the word and desire to believe.

• Positive Aspect: Encourages openness to spiritual exploration and personal growth.
• Critique: Starting with a “desire to believe” can bias one’s approach, emphasizing confirmation rather than genuine exploration. This method can discourage objectivity if belief is prioritized over truth.

2. Doubt not, but be believing; ask deep questions.

• Positive Aspect: Asking deep questions shows an openness to introspection.
• Critique: “Doubt not” inherently stigmatizes doubt, labeling it as a weakness or sin. Asking deep questions becomes performative if the expectation is to arrive at faith-confirming answers rather than challenging core beliefs.

3. Make sure that Jesus Christ is your only foundation.

• Positive Aspect: Centralizing faith in Christ may resonate with many Christians.
• Critique: In Mormonism, this point coexists with heavy emphasis on church authority and doctrine (e.g., Joseph Smith, modern prophets), making it disingenuous to claim Jesus is the “only” foundation. Members are implicitly required to uphold institutional loyalty alongside Christ.

4. Accept Joseph Smith as the Lord’s restorer.

• Positive Aspect: Acknowledges Joseph Smith’s role as central to Mormon doctrine.
• Critique: This approach conflates accepting Joseph Smith with sustaining faith in God. It disregards legitimate concerns about Smith’s character, actions, and doctrinal inconsistencies, pressuring members to align with an idealized version of him.

5. Let the Book of Mormon be your keystone.

• Positive Aspect: Encourages study of a foundational text.
• Critique: This assumes the Book of Mormon is divinely inspired and historically accurate, ignoring evidence that challenges its claims (e.g., anachronisms, linguistic issues). It also elevates a single text above other potential sources of spiritual guidance.

6. Take an eternal view on earthly concerns.

• Positive Aspect: Encourages long-term perspective and resilience.
• Critique: This can dismiss real, immediate problems by reframing them as inconsequential in the “eternal scheme,” potentially invalidating personal struggles or systemic issues (e.g., abuse, inequality).

7. Use sound study methods and clear reasoning.

• Positive Aspect: Promotes intellectual rigor.
• Critique: In practice, the church often discourages independent study. They believe that could lead to doubt, particularly regarding controversial topics like historical inaccuracies, polygamy, or racism. Clear reasoning is only supported if it aligns with pre-approved conclusions.

8. Consult reliable, well-informed resources.

• Positive Aspect: Encourages fact-checking and education.
• Critique: “Reliable” is typically defined by the church, limiting members to faith-promoting sources (e.g., church manuals, and apologetic websites) while discouraging critical, independent resources.

9. Listen to the Spirit and follow the prophets.

• Positive Aspect: Encourages spiritual discernment and community trust.
• Critique: This conflates personal spiritual experiences with institutional authority, pressuring members to prioritize prophetic counsel even when it contradicts their own conscience or reason.

10. Find safety and peace in obeying the commandments.

• Positive Aspect: Promotes a structured, disciplined lifestyle.
• Critique: Blind obedience to commandments can suppress individuality and critical thinking. The notion of “safety” may also reinforce fear-based adherence rather than authentic faith.

11. Embrace the ever-changing Church policies.

• Positive Aspect: Encourages flexibility and adaptability.
• Critique: This asks members to accept contradictory or harmful policies (e.g., LGBTQ+ exclusions, then partial inclusions) without question. It minimizes the emotional and spiritual turmoil caused by such changes.

12. Examine Church history with a 360º perspective.

• Positive Aspect: Encourages thorough examination of church history.
• Critique: In practice, the church’s “360º perspective” often focuses on faith-promoting narratives while downplaying uncomfortable truths, like polygamy, Mountain Meadows Massacre, and racial discrimination.

13. Forgive, forget offensive leaders and members.

• Positive Aspect: Encourages reconciliation and emotional healing.
• Critique: This places the burden on members to forgive leaders who may have caused harm, without requiring accountability or systemic change. It also minimizes legitimate grievances and abuses.

14. Maintain daily habits to stay on the covenant path.

• Positive Aspect: Encourages discipline and consistency in spiritual practices.
• Critique: Reduces faith to a checklist of behaviors, potentially fostering guilt or burnout when adherence falters. The “covenant path” is defined narrowly by the church, excluding alternative spiritual paths.

15. Record the times when God spoke peace to you.

• Positive Aspect: Encourages gratitude and reflection on spiritual experiences.
• Critique: Selective recording of positive experiences can create confirmation bias, overlooking doubts, inconsistencies, or moments when God’s peace seemed absent.

While this list appears to provide thoughtful guidance, it undermines its own principles by discouraging critical thinking, prioritizing institutional loyalty, and stigmatizing doubt. By framing obedience and faith as the ultimate solutions, this course itself could easily create a faith crisis for members who encounter complex truths that do not align with church narratives.

Bingo

This course essentially teaches: don’t have a faith crisis by not having a faith crisis. Don’t question your testimony of Joseph Smith, avoid the questions by accepting him. Many examples of circular logic at its best. Commenters refer course to this as cult Bingo! Bury your head and focus on faithful things instead of doubts! These are nothing more than simple catch-phrase attempts to dismiss the dissonance–such as Doubt your doubts. Poking fun at the more insidious aspects of avoiding critical thought or blindly adhering to doctrine, here are some alternative names for a “How to Avoid a Faith Crisis,” course:

1. Faith Before Facts: The Art of Selective Perception
2. How to Gaslight Yourself for Eternal Salvation
3. Bury Your Head in the Scriptures: Sand Optional
4. Advanced Denial Techniques for Cognitive Dissonance
5. The Mental Gymnastics Olympics: Leaps, Bounds, and Doctrinal Twists
6. Truth is Overrated: Finding Comfort in Church-Sanctioned Lies
7. Obedience: The One True Virtue
8. Keep Sweet and Pray Harder: Intro to Denial
9. Polish Your Testimony with a Thick Coat of Cognitive Bias
10. Stay in the Boat: How to Paddle with No Paddle
11. Truth or Loyalty: Choosing The Church
12. Eternal Perspectives: Why Real Problems Don’t Matter

These all discourage questioning, inspire members to avoid facts, and foster blind allegiance. They are steps to brainwashing and cult life. They highlight how a faith system is built to prioritize conformity and obedience over authentic exploration and personal growth.

Avoiding the Inevitable

A Mormon faith crisis is inevitable for anyone who seeks to reconcile the religion’s foundational claims with objective truth because the Mormon faith is built on a narrative that does not hold up to scrutiny. At its core, the church hinges on the prophetic authority of Joseph Smith, the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon, and the divine mandate of its leadership—all claims that crumble under critical examination. Archaeological evidence does not support the existence of the ancient civilizations described in the Book of Mormon, DNA studies refute its claims about the origins of Native Americans, and the historical record exposes contradictions in Joseph Smith’s accounts and unethical practices such as polygamy and treasure digging. Furthermore, the church’s history of racism, sexism, and homophobia—often justified as divine revelation—each contradict its own teachings on morality and equality. Faith crises are not simply caused by offense or laziness, as the church often claims, but by the irreconcilable gap between its teachings and reality. When faith is tethered to a narrative that cannot withstand scrutiny, questioning and crisis of faith are not only possible—but they are unavoidable for anyone who values integrity and truth.

Crisis vs Catalyst

Church publications don’t speak often of a faith crisis, but when they do they will minimize it and encourage members to choose to believe despite any questions or doubts they may have.

I have never liked the phrase “faith crisis.” This phrase continued to appear as I went to college, served a mission, and began interacting more with my adult family members. Many people that I loved felt like not knowing the answers to their questions merited the “faith crisis” label, and I hated seeing my loved ones struggle.

For me, a “crisis of faith” implies that having questions about the gospel and not knowing or understanding the answers immediately is bad. I knew several people who were raised in homes where asking questions about the teachings of the gospel was discouraged, especially about hard topics.

I know others who were told to simply follow the gospel rather than ask complicated questions. This suggestion did not sit well with many of them, and as a result, they often separated themselves from the gospel to find the answers elsewhere. It was in these moments when the “faith crisis” label was often applied. But these situations are the opposite of what Heavenly Father has taught…

Having questions about the gospel is not a crisis—it is a catalyst to deepening our faith.

Molly Ogden Welch, Questions of Faith, Not a Crisis of Faith, YA Weekly
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/inspiration/questions-of-faith-not-a-crisis-of-faith

Is Avoidance The Best Path?

Avoiding a faith crisis might seem appealing on the surface—after all, who wants to face the turmoil of questioning deeply held beliefs? However, the push from leadership to avoid such crises often stems from a desire to maintain control and unity within the organization. A faith crisis represents a threat to the established narrative, as it can lead to critical questioning, decreased loyalty, and, ultimately, a loss of members or tithing. Yet, in an effort to sidestep this discomfort, individuals may miss the opportunity for genuine self-discovery, personal growth, and a deeper understanding of truth. Avoiding a faith crisis often means ignoring difficult questions, suppressing doubts, and clinging to comforting but potentially flawed narratives—leaving individuals trapped in a cycle of cognitive dissonance that prioritizes conformity over authenticity.

Is avoiding the crisis really what’s best? Perhaps the church should teach how to survive a crisis of faith, rather than to avoid one. To do this in a healthy way, they must permit the membership to let the crisis lead where it may. Plenty of phrases in the Mormon lexicon support this: Do what is right, let the consequences follow, Come what may, and love it.

I have also found these three simple rules to be my saving grace during the most turbulent moments of my personal crisis:

1. There is no deadline to figure things out.

Deadlines can be great for school projects, but for spiritual life they are often unnecessary and just add more stress to an already stressful situation. A person may need a week, a year, or a decade to process these changes, and that is okay.

2. You are allowed to change your mind at any time.

In this state of flux, feelings and beliefs will be constantly evolving. Beliefs not initially affected by the faith crisis may later become collateral damage. Someone experiencing a crisis may have a belief, lose it, and even regain it later, while other beliefs might permanently change. Give yourself and your loved ones the freedom and safety to do this.

3. You are allowed to say “I don’t know.”

During a faith crisis, it often feels like the more you study, the less you know. Sometimes the only conclusion you can really come to is, “I don’t know.” But this can be surprisingly tough to say with a background of once-a-month testimony meetings dedicated to making solely definitive “I know” statements. As difficult and unfamiliar as it feels, you are allowed to embrace your uncertainty—guilt-free.

When all is said and done, we need to love people where they are and not for where we wish they were. If we perpetually hold out for the possibility of loved ones returning to the fold, we will lose many days to the hopelessness of the future that ought to be filled with the happiness of the present. Those in a crisis need to hear us say that they are loved unconditionally and that their relationship and value is not predicated on their church status.

LDS Living: Understanding a Faith Crisis: For Those Who Have Never Had One, Ian Calk
https://www.ldsliving.com/understanding-a-faith-crisis-for-those-who-have-never-had-one/s/91261

This LDS Living article is surprisingly upfront and states that there is no timeline for a faith crisis, we are “allowed” to change our minds, and even to say we don’t know. This is surprising in a church culture bent on always stating “I know the church is true“. It follows up with the encouragement to love people where they are, and that those in crisis need to be loved unconditionally. This is the best advice for the church membership. Love. No gimmicks or catchphrases manipulating members to stay, but simply practicing love.

A faith crisis is unavoidable to truth seekers when the foundation of their faith rests on a narrative that cannot withstand scrutiny or align with reality. The only way to truly avoid a faith crisis is to have built the faith on principles of integrity, open inquiry, and adaptability, rather than anchoring it to a fragile, unverifiable story as its core.

The “Faith Crisis Avoidance” course might offer a veneer of guidance, but its approach—anchored in blind obedience and avoidance of difficult questions—ultimately denies individuals the opportunity to explore their beliefs authentically. True faith, or even a life of integrity, cannot thrive on suppressing doubts or ignoring facts; it grows through honest inquiry, personal reflection, and the courage to confront uncomfortable truths. A faith crisis is not a failure to be avoided but a critical step in uncovering what is real and meaningful. Rather than fearing it, we can embrace it as an opportunity to grow, learn, and build a life based on authenticity rather than illusions.

If you’ve faced your own faith crisis—whether it led you to deeper understanding, transformation, or a new path altogether—we invite you to share your story at wasmormon.org. By sharing your journey, you not only find connection and healing but also help others who may be navigating their own crises to know they’re not alone. Together, we can foster a space where honesty and humanity take precedence over fear and dogma.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/s/a1Ij8bQgCU
• https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/inspiration/questions-of-faith-not-a-crisis-of-faith
• https://www.ldsliving.com/understanding-a-faith-crisis-for-those-who-have-never-had-one/s/91261
• Doubt your Doubts?
• Never Take Council From Those Who Do Not Believe – Says Russell M Nelson
• Personal Mormon Faith Crisis Report
• Gift of Crisis
• What is Cognitive Dissonance?
• Confirmation Bias
• Elevation and Other Elevated Emotions
• Finding Personal Meaning and Purpose in a Faith Transition
• Doubt is Not the Opposite of Faith; Certainty Is
• Writing Your Traumatic Faith Crisis Experience is Healthy and Healing
• Putting Questions on the Shelf is Unhealthy and Doesn’t Work
• Does Faith Survive Seeing the Forest for the Trees?
• https://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?t=3888
• https://mormonchallenges.org/2014/05/04/faith-crisis-cause-and-prevention/