Sometimes I think we may feel that because we believe in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, all things should be easy for us to accept. So when we hear or see things that don’t make sense to us or that don’t feel the same way for us that the rest of the gospel does, I think we’re sometimes inclined to doubt it all. To throw it away. To leave.
But I believe Christ invites us to come and stay anyway, no matter where we are.
Liz Stott, "Help Thou Mine Unbelief", Church of Jesus Christ website, April 23, 2021
I've written about this before... there are some things in this Church's history, that just don't make sense to us. At least to our, way of understanding how things are.
These events or happenings in the Church's history don't agree with our way thinking and so this causes doubt to form in our heads. We tend to doubt or question everything, like a wrench has been thrown into our entire belief system. And if we don't remove that wrench and trust God, not man or our limited understanding, that may affect our testimonies and our eternal health.
One thing we need to keep in mind is that, at the time of these happenings, we just don't understand the cultural climate of society. We just don't have the entire picture. We weren't there.
For example, in this COVID 19 pandemic that we are hopefully towards the end of, missionaries, who need to get out and exercise, were restricted to do so, so as to not appear defiant to the cultural sensitivities that are looming, or were looming. Also, temples and meetinghouses were closed. Temples, which are crucial to the Gathering of Israel. Surely, God wouldn't allow people to get the virus in the temple, doing such important work, right? (my thoughts).
Regardless, appearances are important in decisions made by the Church. We have heard before that we need to avoid the "appearance of evil", even if we were doing no such evil. Granted, this COVID decision may not have been doctrinally affecting, nevertheless, appearances do matter.
I am confident that such was the case in many historical decisions in the past. We were keeping in harmony with cultural sensitivities and political climates. Again, we just don't have all the picture. Just pieces of it and we tend to arrange them in a way that we agree with.
I also believe that this is a way of the Lord sifting the wheat from the tares. He is finding out who is to trust Him despite the doubts that swirl around.
So, all we need to do is hold on and trust Him.