From a young age I was taught to ask questions. One of the things I miss most about my father are the lengthy conversations we would have where we would debate back and forth matters of politics, ethics, and religion. My father taught me to sharpen my reasoning through playing devil’s advocate and pushing me to strengthen my argument. I learned that for many issues there were no clear cut black and white answers. These skills came in handy as a college debator, in law school, and as an attorney.

But I also came to realize that these same skills are not particularly satisfying when applied to questions of eternal significance. As a teenager I began to look more closely at the Jewish faith of my ancestor. But It seemed to me that as I looked into Judaism, I found an endless series of questions without clear answers. Every person as widely divergent answers on life’s great questions. Some believed in heaven while others in reincarnation. And there was no source for definitive or absolute answers.

I believe that it is my craving for answers to these questions that led me into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love that the Church teaches not only how to ask questions but how and from whom to receive answers. At the most recent conference, Elder Rasband spoke on these theme:

“By reading many hundreds of our youth’s questions, what did we learn? We learned that our youth love the Lord, sustain their leaders, and desire to have their questions answered! Questions are an indication of a further desire to learn, to add to those truths already in place in our testimonies, and to be better prepared to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ.”

  The Restoration of the gospel began with a youth, Joseph Smith, asking a question. Many of the Savior’s teachings in His ministry began with a question. Remember His question to Peter: “Whom say ye that I am?” And Peter’s response: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” We need to help each other find Heavenly Father’s answers through the guidance of the Spirit.”

What I love about being a member is that I can get “Heavenly Father’s answers through the guidance of the spirit.” I can come to know definitively what God wants from me, why I am here, and what I am to do. Gospel membership is about learning to accept eternal truths rather than endlessly asking intellectually pleasing questions.

For this reason, one of the greatest blessings is living in a dispensation where a living prophet and apostles are always on the earth. We can know for sure God’s will through his servants. We can have confidence and assurance that we are in the right path. We need not agonize over whether we are saved and on the path back to God. Because we can hear the words of his servants, ask, seek, and come to know for ourselves.

“We have sustained leaders today who, by divine inspiration, have been called to teach and guide us and who are calling out to us to beware of the dangers we face each day–from casual Sabbath-day observance, to threats to the family, to assaults on religious freedom, and even to disputing latter-day revelation. Brothers and sisters, are we listening to their counsel?”