Is it possible to find quick answers to difficult questions?

My brother asked us for ideas about how he can teach the young single adults in his ward. 

 

My brother-in-law gave this reply:

I wish I had time to give you a more thoughtful answer, but for me, the first question each of us has to answer is “Am I able to consistently perceive the promptings of the Holy Ghost?” Without that spiritual competence, we are unable to deal with any significant challenge to our faith. With it, challenges to faith shrink and recede. It’s like a terrible snowstorm: If we are outside in it without proper clothing and far from home, we will struggle to survive. Spiritual confidence is the thick coat, the blazing fire that warms us while the storm rages. 

But the house, the fire, and the coat take a lot of effort to acquire. They require a lot of patience and determination. They can’t be handed to us. 

I think we focus too much on the youth of the church, who seem to want quick and easy answers to difficult questions. Spiritual confidence takes a lifetime to build and is generally unavailable to the young simply because they haven’t been around long enough to be proven. We used to demand so much more of the young before we admitted them to adulthood. 

If I were teaching your class, I would say: “You haven’t earned the right to judge the Church, or God, or history. If these questions shake you, that is evidence that you are not prepared, not mature enough. Go and gain some life experience. Learn to pray. Learn to obey. Learn to hear the still, small voice. Get some skin in the game by actually following that voice no matter how afraid or full of doubt you are. When you have done that consistently—for YEARS—you can then turn to the questions that so trouble you now. And, if you have gained real spiritual confidence, you will find the answers no longer matter to you because you know God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. Everything else flows from that.”