I like that too. I remember a talk by a GA in GC about losing a child in death. He stated that his family would not be whole or complete until they were all reunited on the other side of the veil. It was refreshing to hear that the promise of families forever did not fill the gap left in the family completely.Arrakeen wrote: ↑20 Jun 2019, 10:40I appreciate the church trying to talk about issues like faith crises, but I wish they would include more stories where things didn't just work out in the end. I understand that they want faith-promoting, inspirational stories, but sometimes I just want validation of what I've been going through, without an assumption of where I should end up. I wish we could be comfortable with stories that have no clear resolution, where the answers never come and we end up trying to figure things out on our own.
I also understand that most LDS members crave security and certainty. Stories "where things just didn't work out in the end" are unsettling. I now love the SWK talk "tragedy or destiny" because it admits significant limitations in knowledge about how much God plans out our individual life stories - especially our deaths. When I first found the talk, it was unhelpful to me. I wanted a clear and positive answer. I did not want to hear "we do not know". That is the whole purpose of having a prophet, I thought. If the prophet doesn't know then he can go and ask God and get back to us when he knows the answer.
Yes, one book I read was from an LDS father of 3 severely disabled children (to the point where they were a large hardship and burden to the family AND would likely die before reaching adulthood). He went through a faith crisis where it seemed that everyone around him was being blessed and he and his family were continuing to struggle. Ultimately he hit upon the idea that God tailors each of our probationary states to us as individuals in order to maximize our growth. It could even be theorized that the beings that are destined for ultimate greatness may have additional struggles in order to more fully develop that embryonic godhood. His major source for this doctrine was the Currant bush talk by Hugh B. Brown but he found lots of other helpful GA quotes as well. His post faith crisis landing point was such that he felt supported by current LDS positions - even if he had to downplay or ignore some things (like SWK saying "we don't know" in Tragedy or Destiny).Curt Sunshine wrote: ↑20 Jun 2019, 09:08It absolutely is possible to go through a crisis and emerge with something that resembles the previous situation. It also is possible to emerge with something that is radically different. Most people here are here specifically because their new paradigm is different enough that they struggle(d) to reconcile that new paradigm with the organization that facilitated or shaped the previous paradigm. Many other people find a new paradigm and don't struggle as mightily with the organization.