The Gospel According to Jeffrey

Many years ago, I was discussing doubt with a member of my stake . The member in question has a doctorate in Church history from Brigham Young University  (a university owned and operated by  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ) , and she told me a bit about her experience as a grad student in that area of study. As part of her studies, she read publications that were critical of the Savior’s Church. (I do not believe this was a requirement for her degree, but was relevant to her thesis.) At times, the things she read gave her pause and she took them to her doctoral advisor. These meetings always began and ended with a prayer, and they usually appeased her concerns. However, there was also one question that preceded every meeting: “Before you read anything else, do you study the scriptures of the Restoration for at least 30 minutes per day?” If that question were answered in the negative, the meeting never began. She was instructed to return home, study the scripture

Once upon a time, probably about 15 years ago, a woman in our ward in Lafayette, Indiana, was preparing for baptism. One Sunday, I was speaking with her in the foyer, after Church. She mentioned how much she loved the Church of Jesus Christ because of how wonderful all the people were. She was kind of taken back by my response, which went something like this: “I’ll certainly take that as a compliment, but at the same time, I’ve got to tell you: if you’re going to get baptized because you like the people here, please don’t. It will honestly be better if you don’t get baptized at all.” (At this point, her eyes grew a bit wider, but I continued.) “Most of the people in the Church are great, but I promise you that someday, somehow, someone at church is going to really piss… you… off .” (Her eyes grew even wider, at this point. Again, I continued.) “It might be me, it might be the bishop, it might be someone you don’t even know yet, but I’m telling you: it’s going to happen. And whe