The text of the Holy Bible in Swedish is now available on ChurchofJesusChrist.org and in the Gospel Library app.

The Swedish Bible foundation Stiftelsen Svenska Folkbibeln has allowed the Church to digitally publish the text of the 2015 edition of the Svenska Folkbibeln version of the Holy Bible. This digital publication contains the full text of this version but does not currently contain Latter-day Saint content such as headings, footnotes, or cross-references.

New features in the Gospel Library can help you find daily inspiration, better participate in meetings, and increase the effectiveness of your gospel study.

The following new features are available now in iOS and in Android. If you don’t see these new features, manually update your app version by going to the App Store or Google Play.

Image of the Week

A new Image of the Week card on the Gospel Library app Home depicts scenes from the life and mission of Jesus Christ. The images (unrelated to Come, Follow Me lessons) can help you center your life and mind on the Savior.

• To receive notifications when a new Image of the Week is posted, click the three dots and select Notifications.
• You can also add a new Image of the Week widget to your Home screen so you can see the image on your device without needing to open the app.

Ward and Branch Features

On Sundays, you can view the sacrament meeting hymns of wards or branches you may visit.

• Because this feature is geo-location based, you can simply tap the three dots on the upper-right side of the Hymns card and find wards near the meetinghouse you are visiting.
• Similarly, you can view the posted Relief Society and Elders Quorum lessons and choose which lessons you want to see.

These features are especially helpful to missionaries, high counselors, and frequent travelers who often visit other wards and want to engage more effectively.

Another helpful feature is an updated Callings card for members who have callings in multiple wards.

Featured Study Plans

You can now more easily create a personal study schedule for your featured study plans. You can also share a link to specific study plans, so your friends or family can follow the same material at their own pace.

These abilities are especially useful to the youth, who’ve been invited by the Young Women and Young Men General Presidencies to read together one chapter a week from the updated edition of the For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices from May to August (open this link with your mobile device to see the FSY study plan).

Full Screen Navigation

A highly requested feature allows Apple iOS users to choose whether or not they want to view the top and bottom toolbars. iOS users can simply double-tap to enter and exit a full-screen view. To enable the Full Screen on Scroll setting, go to Display Options.

Did you know that you can listen to general conference using smart speakers? Just ask your Amazon Alexa device or your Google Assistant device to play conference to you using the Church’s Gospel Voice.

Audio of all sessions will be streamed live in English and Spanish. Below are the instructions on how to use each device.

Amazon Alexa Devices (Echo, Echo Dot, Amazon Fire TV Cube, etc.)

• For English, first add Gospel Voice to your Alexa, then say, “Alexa, enable Gospel Voice.” Then say, “Alexa, ask Gospel Voice to play general conference.”
• For Spanish, first enable TuneIn skill, then say, “Alexa, open TuneIn Live.” Then say, “Alexa, play Canal Mormón,” or “Alexa, ask TuneIn to play Canal Mormón.”

Google Assistant Devices (Home, Mini, Auto etc.)

• For English, first add Gospel Voice to your Google Assistant. Say, “Hey, Google. Talk to Gospel Voice.” Then say, “Hey Google, ask Gospel Voice to play general conference.”
• For Spanish, first enable TuneIn skill, then say, “Hey, Google, talk to TuneIn Live.” Then say, “Hey, Google, play Canal Mormón,” or “Hey, Google, ask TuneIn to play Canal Mormón.”

Learn more in the Gospel Voice Quick-Start Guide.

Digital Hymn Board

The Gospel Library app provides a digital hymn board, which helps congregations easily see and access the hymns selected for sacrament meeting. Music coordinators simply need to click the pencil icon to enter which songs will be sung in sacrament meeting each week, as shown in the left image above.

Lesson Schedules

Relief Society and priesthood leaders can list the conference talks that will covered in Sunday discussions in the Gospel Library app, so class members can study them in advance (see right image above).

You need to be signed in with your Church account (select “Settings” in the three-dot menu) to use these two features.

Study Plans let you set a schedule for studying any content in the Gospel Library app. You can choose from premade plans focused on general conference talks, books of scripture, or gospel topics, such as the Restoration, or create your own custom study plans.

How To Create a Study Plan

Create and access these plans from the app’s Home section by clicking Start New Plan, as shown in the left image above. When creating a custom plan, you can select the content you want to study and determine a time frame that suits your lifestyle and schedule. The right image above shows the study options available.

Here are the key points the restored gospel makes possible:

1. We lived with God before this life
Our spirits weren’t created out of nothing. We existed before, and we came to earth with purpose. That one truth changes everything about why we are here.

2. The Fall was part of God’s plan
Adam and Eve didn’t ruin God’s plan. They started it. The Fall opened the way for real agency, growth, and experience.

3. God is fair to every one of His children
Every person will have the same chance to accept Jesus Christ, whether in this life or the next. Salvation isn’t limited by time, place, or culture.

4. The Atonement reaches everyone
Through the temple and the work for the dead, Christ’s atonement applies to every soul. No one is shut out because of where they were born.

5. Agency only works with real knowledge
God doesn’t judge people for things they never understood. Judgment is based on light and opportunity, not accident or circumstance.

These answers only exist because of the restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith. Without those restored doctrines, the basic questions of why we are here, why evil exists, and how God can be just simply cannot be answered.

With the latest release of the Gospel Library app (version 7.5), you can now create and share playlists.

It playlist feature is the final unique music feature integrated from the Sacred Music app, which The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is retiring in January 2026. If you already have playlists in the Sacred Music app, your lists will automatically sync to your Gospel Library app when you log in to your Church Account.

How to Create a Playlist

To create a playlist, locate the new Playlists card on the Home screen of the Gospel Library app, click Add Playlist, then follow the prompts to title the playlist and add music to it. See the image below on the left.

Although the playlist feature is optimized for music, you can also add other items to a playlist, such as conference talks, Come, Follow Me lessons, scripture chapters, and Liahona articles. The image above on the right shows an example playlist with various resources.

Watch a short video on how to set up a play list:

How to Share Playlists

You can share your playlists with others through several methods, including text and email. To share a playlist, click on a playlist, press the three-dot menu button in the upper-right corner, and tap Share. When someone receives a shared playlist, it will appear in the Playlist section of their Gospel Library app.

Here are some examples of how you may want to share playlists:

• Primary leaders can share playlists with parents that include the songs children will be learning that year.
• Event organizers can share playlists for camps, conferences, or special events.
• Choir directors can share playlists with choir members that include recordings of songs for future performances.
• Missionaries can create playlists of instrumental music to listen to during scripture study.
• Youth can create playlists of their favorite songs from FSY.
• Members can select a topic for personal study and use a playlist of various resources they want to review.
• For lesson preparation, teachers can create playlists of resources they plan to study and possibly use during future lessons.
• Topical Study: For audiobook lovers—combine talks, scriptures, and music on a gospel theme for study during your commute or while getting ready.
• Youth Camps: Introduce next summer’s camp theme with a curated playlist of talks and music that help youth internalize the message.
• Missionary Language Practice: Create a bilingual playlist by alternating content in your native language and your mission language.
• Personal Worship: Build a scripture study soundtrack with acoustic versions of new hymns. Set a sleep timer to keep your study on track. The music will turn off when your desired time is up.

The following are links to a Singing Time 2026 playlist of Primary songs children will be learning next year and a Christmas Favorites playlist. Each shared playlist is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Tap on the links below to view the playlists. Tap the check mark in the upper-right corner to save it to your account.

• Singing Time 2026: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French
• Christmas Favorites: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French

Yesterday, I wrote about the Sacred Music app being discontinued because hymns are now available in the Gospel Library app in various formats, including sheet music, audio and video. Rather than using the Sacred Music app for hymns and the Gospel Library app to read scriptures and conference talks in church, you can do now it all in one app.

If you don’t already use the Multiple Screens feature in the Gospel Library, you may want to consider it. I keep separate windows open to make it easy for me to quickly access the following:

• Screen 1: Come, Follow Me manual for daily personal study
• Screen 2: Scriptures for reading in Sunday School
• Screen 3: General conference talks for elders quorum discussion
• Screen 4: Hymns for singing in meetings

I find it easier to keep these windows always open and just switch between windows, rather than constantly navigating through the menus.

How To Open Multiple Screens

1. Tap the Multiple Windows icon in the bottom right corner of any screen (see first image below).
2. Tap the + icon to open a new screen (see second image below).
3. Tap the Multiple Windows icon anytime to see all your open screens and select one.

In his October 2025 General Conference address, Proved and Strengthened in Christ, President Henry B. Eyring taught that times of trial and discouragement are not signs of God’s abandonment but evidence of His love. The Lord “proves” His children, not by granting ease or worldly success, but by refining them into disciples who can bear the weight of eternal life.

Some feel discouraged or even lose faith when they feel the gospel is “not working”. When health fails or hoped-for blessings never materialize, there’s a temptation to think that God has ‘let us down’. But this expectation rests on a counterfeit view of the gospel, one that measures God’s goodness by our comfort and success. President Eyring’s message answers that misconception: trials are not failures of the gospel but the very means by which it transforms us into Christlike beings.

Common Criticism: The Gospel Isn’t Working for Me

There are former members of the Church – and even some current members — who feel that if the gospel were true, their lives should be easier, happier, or more successful. When illness persists, relationships falter, or blessings don’t come, they conclude that God and the gospel have failed them.

Fallacy at Work: Prosperity Bias

Prosperity Bias is the tendency to measure truth or divine favor by how comfortable, successful, or easy life feels. 

It is a form of confirmation bias: when things go well, we assume God is near; when hardships come, we assume He has failed us.

Many who struggle say the gospel “isn’t working” because it didn’t insulate them from illness, disappointment, or grief. Prosperity Bias creates a false standard for God’s love—equating it with worldly ease or other expectations—so when trials arise, they conclude God has abandoned them.

President Eyring’s Correction:

Brothers and sisters, your proving and strengthening may not look like Moroni’s or Jacob’s or the Prophet Joseph’s. But it will come. It may come quietly, through the trials of family life. It may come through illness or disappointment or grief or loneliness. I bear witness that these moments are not evidence that the Lord has abandoned you. Rather, they are evidence that He loves you enough to refine and strengthen you. He is making you strong enough to carry the weight of eternal life.

Eyring’s testimony dismantles Prosperity Bias: true gospel “success” is not measured by prosperity or ease, but by the refining presence of God in our proving moments.

The scriptures reinforce this truth. Moroni, lonely and hunted, still testified of Christ (Moroni 10:1–5). Joseph Smith, in Liberty Jail, cried out “O God, where art Thou?” but was assured that adversity is “but a small moment” (D&C 121:1–8). The Lord’s refining work transforms weakness into strength (Philippians 4:13).

Resolving this Fallacy: The gospel is not a prosperity contract or a self-fulfillment program. It is a redemptive, covenantal relationship between us and Christ. Misunderstanding this leads to disillusionment: when trials come, people assume the gospel is “not working” because it didn’t deliver comfort or success. But that is a counterfeit lens. The true gospel is working whenever it brings us closer to Christ, even (and especially) in hardship.

When we face proving moments, the Lord is not failing us—He is forming us. The question is not, “Why is the gospel not working?” but rather, “How is God shaping me through this?” In that reframing, every trial can become evidence of His love and a step toward reconciliation with Him.

Living Apologetics: Trials as Refinement, Not Failure

Many of us quietly wonder if our faith is “working” when life is heavy. The apologetic answer clarifies the error of Prosperity Bias—but living the gospel means moving beyond the analysis. President Eyring invites us to see proving moments as God’s training ground, not His absence.

Living this perspective means learning to spot God’s hand in the middle of weakness, reframing discouragement as evidence of His refining love, and sharing that witness with others who feel weighed down. The gospel “works” not by removing our struggles but by transforming us within them—and that transformation becomes one of the most powerful testimonies we can bear.

Practical Apologetic Use:

• If someone says:  “I’ve tried living the gospel, but it’s not working—life is still full of problems.”
• You can respond: “I’ve felt that too. What I’ve learned is that the gospel isn’t about erasing struggles—it’s about who we become through them. My hardest moments are often where I’ve felt Christ the closest.”

Ways to Apply Today:

1️⃣ Notice Christ’s strength in weakness. Keep a simple record this week of moments when you felt supported, even in something small.
2️⃣ Reframe discouragement. When a trial weighs on you, pause and ask: What might God be building in me through this?
3️⃣ Turn experience into testimony. Share one example—big or small—with a friend, loved one, or in a journal, where a struggle helped you grow closer to Christ.

Keep This Talk With You

President Eyring’s reminder is simple: life’s hardest seasons are not detours from discipleship but the very ground where discipleship takes root. God is shaping us, often quietly, through the disappointments, illnesses, and griefs we wish would pass.

To carry this message into your week, try:

• Pause in a moment of discouragement and ask: How is God refining me here?
• Write down one small way you’ve felt strengthened in the past month.
• Encourage a friend or family member who feels forgotten—remind them they are being strengthened, not abandoned.

“The Lord proves us … to strengthen us. That proving does not come in moments of ease or comfort. It comes in moments when we feel stretched beyond what we thought we could bear. The Lord teaches that we are to continue to grow and never tire in our efforts, that we never give up, that we keep trying. When we continue to have faith in Jesus Christ—even when things might feel impossible to us at the moment—we become spiritually stronger.” – President Henry B. Eyring, Proved and Strengthened in Christ

Where in your life right now might God be using struggle as His way of preparing you to carry the weight of eternal life?

The Consider Conference series by FAIR offers an in-depth look at recent General Conference talks to help members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints navigate common questions, misunderstandings, and criticisms. Each post provides doctrinal insights, historical context, and practical ways to apply gospel principles in everyday conversations. Through this series, we hope to equip readers with faith-promoting resources that encourage thoughtful reflection, respectful dialogue, and a stronger foundation in gospel truths, fostering both personal conviction and meaningful discussions with others.

The post When the Gospel “Doesn’t Work” appeared first on FAIR.

President Dallin H. Oaks reminded the Church in October 2025 that the gospel of Jesus Christ is, at its heart, a family plan. Beginning in the premortal council, this plan unfolds in our mortal homes, and is fulfilled in eternal families through temple covenants. He taught that the family is not just a cultural value but the very structure of God’s eternal design for His children.

This vision stands in sharp contrast to the world we live in, where marriage rates decline and childbearing is often delayed or dismissed. Some scoff that the Church’s emphasis on family is restrictive or outdated. President Oaks countered with a clear witness: the family is not peripheral to the plan of salvation—it is the plan.

Common Criticism: the Traditional Family is Outdated 

Some critics argue that emphasizing marriage, childbearing, and temple covenants is naive. Modern perspectives on the meaning and practice of marriage, the expense and care of raising children, and cultural acceptance of alternative lifestyles make a family-centered gospel feel restrictive rather than liberating.

Fallacy at Work: Presentism
Presentism is the tendency to judge past or eternal truths only by current cultural values.

In this case, critics assume that because society has changed its expectations about family, God’s doctrine must also change. This overlooks the eternal nature of covenants and the consistent prophetic witness that families are central to God’s plan.

President Oaks’s Correction: The family is not merely tradition—it is the covenant structure through which God exalts His children. He testified that the gospel was “first taught to us in the council of an eternal family, it is implemented through our mortal families, and its intended destiny is to exalt the children of God in eternal families”

In other words, families are not an off-shoot to the gospel—they are the goal of the gospel..

Resolving this Fallacy: Rather than being restrictive, the Church’s teachings on family provide hope and purpose that extend far beyond the shifting values of the world. Eternal families anchor us in an identity larger than ourselves and remind us that our covenants are part of a divine pattern. 

While marriage rates and birthrates may decline in society, Latter-day Saints look beyond temporary cultural shifts to eternal truths. Families are not about clinging to outdated traditions; they are about participating in God’s ongoing work of salvation and exaltation.

Living Apologetics: Families as Eternal Foundations, Not Cultural Relics

A common struggle today is the sense that family life is expensive, messy, or undervalued in society. Some worry that Church teachings on family feel impossible to live fully in the face of divorce, single parenthood, or declining marriage rates. President Dallin H. Oaks reframes this: families—whether complete or currently incomplete—are still at the center of God’s eternal plan. Every effort to teach, nurture, and covenant as a family is meaningful and consecrated.

Practical Apologetic Use:

• If someone says:  “The Church’s focus on family just doesn’t fit the reality of modern life.”
• You can respond: “Families aren’t about outdated ideals—they’re about eternal promises. President Oaks reminded us that even in imperfect or broken circumstances, God consecrates our efforts and assures the possibility of eternal family joy.”

Ways to Apply Today:

1️⃣ Create daily family connection. Turn off technology for one meal or evening this week and give your family the gift of attention.
2️⃣ Teach eternal perspective. Share family stories or scriptures that remind children they belong to an eternal family, even when life feels uncertain.
3️⃣ Anchor in the temple. Set or renew a goal to attend the temple—alone or as a couple—to remember the sealing power that binds families beyond mortality.

Keep This Talk With You

General Conference is more than a weekend of inspiring words—it is an invitation to anchor our lives more fully in God’s eternal plan. President Dallin H. Oaks reminded us that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a family plan, designed to strengthen us in mortality and exalt us in eternity.

This week, try one small step: 

• Share a family story or scripture with your children or grandchildren.
• Turn off technology one evening and give your family the gift of your time.
• Pray for someone in your family who feels distant or discouraged.

“The family circle is the ideal place to demonstrate and learn eternal values, such as the importance of marriage and children, the purpose of life, and the true source of joy. It is also the best place to learn other essential lessons of life, such as kindness, forgiveness, self-control, and the value of education and honest work.” – President Dallin H. Oaks, The Family-Centered Gospel of Jesus Christ

How will you show your family this week that they are central to God’s eternal plan—and to your heart?

The Consider Conference series by FAIR offers an in-depth look at recent General Conference talks to help members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints navigate common questions, misunderstandings, and criticisms. Each post provides doctrinal insights, historical context, and practical ways to apply gospel principles in everyday conversations. Through this series, we hope to equip readers with faith-promoting resources that encourage thoughtful reflection, respectful dialogue, and a stronger foundation in gospel truths, fostering both personal conviction and meaningful discussions with others.

The post The Family-Centered Gospel of Jesus Christ appeared first on FAIR.

Did you know that you can listen to general conference using smart speakers? Just ask your Amazon Alexa device or your Google Assistant device to play conference to you using the Church’s Gospel Voice.

Audio of all sessions will be streamed live in English and Spanish. Below are the instructions on how to use each device.

Amazon Alexa Devices (Echo, Echo Dot, Amazon Fire TV Cube, etc.)

• For English, first add Gospel Voice to your Alexa, then say, “Alexa, enable Gospel Voice.” Then say, “Alexa, ask Gospel Voice to play general conference.”
• For Spanish, first enable TuneIn skill, then say, “Alexa, open TuneIn Live.” Then say, “Alexa, play Canal Mormón,” or “Alexa, ask TuneIn to play Canal Mormón.”

Google Assistant Devices (Home, Mini, Auto etc.)

• For English, first add Gospel Voice to your Google Assistant. Say, “Hey, Google. Talk to Gospel Voice.” Then say, “Hey Google, ask Gospel Voice to play general conference.”
• For Spanish, first enable TuneIn skill, then say, “Hey, Google, talk to TuneIn Live.” Then say, “Hey, Google, play Canal Mormón,” or “Hey, Google, ask TuneIn to play Canal Mormón.”

Learn more in the Gospel Voice Quick-Start Guide.

Download Print-Friendly Version

When I was nineteen, I thought I understood what a mission would be like. I had seen the videos, heard the stories, and imagined the glow of faithful, fulfilling service. But a few weeks into the field, I was already disoriented. It was harder than I’d ever expected—physically, emotionally, spiritually. That uncomfortable realization—that reality wasn’t what I expected—turned out to be one of the greatest gifts of my life.

I now recognize that moment as a kind of Garden of Eden experience: a step out of innocence, into awareness. Into a world where nothing was automatic anymore. And it’s the kind of transition we all make—sometimes in faith, sometimes in relationships, and sometimes in the middle of a quiet Sunday School class.

The Garden of Eden is a story that evokes a number of questions. In considering that story, we sometimes get hung up on particulars like the exact location of the garden; the relationship between the fall and death; God’s language around male-female relationships; and more. These questions can be interesting, but they are peripheral to the intentions of the story. In the story of the Garden of Eden, believers are presented with a model for how we develop as human beings.

Psychologists have long recognized that human development unfolds in stages. Erik Erikson, for example, mapped out a series of life phases—each with a key challenge that can lead either to growth or regression. Others, like Lawrence Kohlberg and James Fowler, explored how our moral reasoning and faith mature over time. While each model differs, they all affirm the same truth: healthy development requires that we move through periods of disorientation, adjustment, and deeper understanding.

I suggest that the Garden of Eden story is the best possible framework for understanding how we develop, and it is relevant across all areas of our lives. The basic contours of the story are

1. A time of innocence, where participation in a system feels automatic;

2. An awakening to awareness that reality is more than what we previously understood, in ways that are beyond our current ability to process well; and

3. Decisions in the direction of growth and development to function well in reality, or in the direction of maladaptive coping strategies that keep us from functioning well in reality.

As an example, I look back on my experience as a missionary. I grew up in a time when the Church was producing emotionally satisfying audiovisual materials to promote gospel concepts. Among those materials was a 1990 video called “Labor of Love,” which depicted missionary service as a clean and comfortable series of positive experiences. With that as a reference point, I entered missionary service in Brazil in 1993, and quickly found myself shocked and overwhelmed by missionary life that was stressful, frustrating, and physically exhausting. Before I entered the mission field, my future mission experience had only existed in theory, informed by positive stories that had been told to me. My commitment to my mission had been automatic, but now I had new information that led to daily decision points of actively choosing. I was no longer in the garden, where problems and challenges and irony (the “thorns and thistles” described to Adam and Eve by God) exist only in theory.

This process of leaving the garden and then facing these choices is one we face in church callings, but also many other areas of life: marriage, child-rearing, university studies, military service, career, and more. For most of our significant life experiences, there is a process of bringing to the experience an automatic commitment based on our paradigm of what the experience will be; then seeing differences between reality and our paradigm; then facing developmental crossroads in how we choose to respond.

In the Garden of Eden story, there is another aspect of awareness that greatly determines whether our departure from a garden of life experience becomes developmentally positive or negative. In restoration scripture, we read “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they had been naked…”. In other words, they had become aware that there was a gap in their understanding of themselves and the world around them.

The way that we become aware of these gaps in our perspective matters. Our restoration understanding of Adam and Eve’s new awareness of their nakedness is that it was presented to them as something shameful. To represent Satan as a serpent in the garden is an excellent teaching tool, because his objective was to poison Adam and Eve using the venom of shame as they made their transition to new awareness. In his narrative, their nakedness meant that they were lacking and deficient. And worse, it was God who had allowed them to live in the garden in ignorance of that shameful situation. This was the venom of the accusing serpent in the garden.

I do not mean to suggest here that shame is always a bad thing to experience. I know of a number of situations where a sense of shame has been the catalyst for positive personal transformation. In some cases, shame is the only thing that will lead a person to reverse from a destructive path they have chosen. But when facing a common Garden of Eden-like developmental crossroads—the simple experience of being awakened to gaps in our paradigm and expectations—shame is not helpful or appropriate.

“Your mission experience is not what you envisioned, and that means one or both of two possibilities: you are stupid and clueless and live in a fantasy world, or you were deceived by people who gave you the wrong impression of the missionary experience.”

Or,

“Your mission experience is not what you envisioned, but making adjustments to our paradigms and expectations for our life experiences is normal. There is tremendous growth available to us in the process, and in your mission experience, the Savior is eager to lead you through that process over time.”

The first message reflects the patterns of shaming that are found in much of the critical messaging from disaffected members and former members of the Church. In critical spaces, a simple developmental crossroads, like my becoming aware of the humanity and shortcomings of prominent people in scripture and church history, is framed in shame: the difficulty of making adjustments to my paradigm is a sign that I am deficient or I have been wronged. I’m hurting, so obviously it’s my fault or someone else’s fault. Either I or the Church needs to be blamed and shamed. When our loved ones leave the covenant path and isolate themselves defensively, that is a good indicator that they have internalized narratives of shame. Letting go of that poison will allow them to reconnect with us and, in some cases, resume spiritual development. But that can be a long process of returning to their developmental crossroads and making a different choice.

How does this apply to our gospel questioning? It is clear that not all questions are equal. Some are designed to keep people developmentally stuck. In critical spaces, gospel questioning is infused with shaming, accusatory venom. Consider the form of each of these “questions”:

“Obviously, good people do x. So, why do church leaders do y?” (an accusation/insinuation disguised as a question)

“I’m totally open to accepting the Church’s teachings, as soon as unresolvable brain teaser x is resolved to my satisfaction. How do you resolve x?” (a false commitment presented as a question)

“I’m not really willing to apply myself to do the work to understand issue x in depth. So, can you explain it to me in a way that meets all my expectations, validates me, and fits within my worldview?” (an impossible demand presented as a question)

None of these are really questions. They are shaming, dishonesty, and entitlement presented in the form of questions. Sadly, some online spaces reinforce patterns of questioning that are less about curiosity and more about blame.

“I have studied x, y, z materials on this gospel topic. Are these the best possible resources, or are there some I’m missing? My understanding is _____. Is that accurate, or is there a better way to understand this concept?”

“Are there aspects of my worldview, my life experiences, or my personality that are causing me to see this issue the way I do? Are there other emotional or cognitive lenses through which I can examine this information that would open up new possible understandings?”

Here, questioning comes from genuine openness and curiosity. There is no sense of shame over a lack of understanding. I come to my questioning with a positive view that with new resources, there might be a need to make further adjustments to thinking, and that is okay. It is a normal process of spiritual and intellectual growth. And if someone is not engaged in that same process of seeking, it does not mean that they are deficient in any way, or that they are being “kept in the dark,” or any number of other grievance narratives that are inappropriately applied to normal human experience.

This is the developmental crossroads of gospel questioning. Without an awareness of the choices available to us, we can be led to narrow and cynical biases and undertake our gospel questioning like a fearful, wounded animal. With awareness, we can approach our gospel questioning with the bias of charity, free of the poison of shame.

And to be biased by charity is what it means to be truly open-minded.

In our own gospel wrestling, may we choose that bias of charity. It doesn’t just help us grow—it keeps us connected to one another, and to the God who waits for us outside the garden, ready to walk with us again.

The post What the Garden of Eden Teaches About Gospel Questions appeared first on Public Square Magazine.