We’ve done plenty of “Responding to Comments” episodes but have never done an episode where we strictly answer your questions (either from direct message on Instagram, Facebook, or questions in the YouTube comments). We LOVE hearing from you and reading your comments!! In this episode, we answer questions about when to get baptized, what to do if you’re doubting your faith, if we think you should go to college, etc. The answers are all strictly the opinions of the hosts but we think they are prettyyyy solid words of advice 🙂 Let us know what other questions you have in the comments below! Or if you would have answered differently to the questions we mentioned, let us know!
Transcript:
Taylor:
Do you think everyone should get a higher education? Coming from someone who just recently dropped out of university.
David:
Oh, perfect question.
Taylor:
Honestly…
Allex:
Hello and welcome once again to yet another episode of Saints Unscripted, so happy to see you guys back. Today’s episode is going to be super cool. I’m actually really excited about this one. So we’re going to be drawing questions that we have received from some of you guys about just some general things and we’re going to be answering them for you guys.
Taylor:
And we don’t know what they are.
Allex:
Yeah.
David:
I do.
Allex:
It is our first time-
Taylor:
Oh you do?
David:
I read them.
Taylor:
David was responsible.
Allex:
Ah, cheater.
Taylor:
Leave it to David.
David:
I didn’t prepare anything other than mentally.
Taylor:
Okay.
Allex:
Okay.
David:
To respond to them.
Allex:
All right.
Taylor:
Yeah. And keep in mind what we say does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, nor the entire cast of Saints Unscripted. It’s just each individual’s,
Allex:
Just what we’re thinking.
Taylor:
Opinions and perspectives. And we’re just going to have fun with it. We’ll do our very best.
Allex:
All right.
Taylor:
Alex, it’s right in front of you, you want to start?
Allex:
Let’s do it.
David:
Are there prizes? I feel like there need to be prizes.
Allex:
I was going to say. Feels like I’m trying to Bingo number or some-
David:
Raffle.
Allex:
Yeah exactly. Okay. So this says, I am not a member of the Church and I want to join, but I am scared of making such a big commitment. When does one know that it is time to join? That is a really good question. And I feel like this probably isn’t super original, but I would just say, honestly, pray about it. If you feel that you can talk to God about that kind of thing, then ask him to help you to know how… let me figure out how you-
Taylor:
Help. Help him help you.
Allex:
Yeah. There you go. Yeah. Just, just kind of communicate, that you’re not quite sure about this yet. And I guarantee you, he’s not going to be mad that you’re trying to figure out if you actually want to join his church or not. He’s going to help you figure this out because he wants you to be happy. So I would say that’s my biggest piece of advice and there’s no rush. You don’t have to get baptized tomorrow. Just talk with heavenly father, talk with the missionaries and express how you’re feeling and that, and you’ll, you’ll eventually get there.
Taylor:
Although the missionaries may make you feel like you need to get baptized tomorrow.
Allex:
That’s true. That’s a good point.
Taylor:
But that’s just cause they’re going to be transferred, and you can relax though.
David:
They’ll just tell you to send it.
Taylor:
All right. My ward doesn’t seem to know I exist even though I attend church. What should I do? Dam. It sounds like most of my experience. As well.
Speaker 4:
What should I do? What should I do?
Taylor:
That’s a great question.
Allex:
I can understand that.
David:
It was Taylor, messaging us saying, I feel…
Taylor:
This was submitted by me. Actually. That is my question. I feel like. So I’ve actually, I felt like this a lot in my personal life and that’s not just church. That’s like, that’s at school. That’s at on the Saints Unscripted cast, just kidding.
David:
Jesus.
Allex:
Right. He stays outside.
Taylor:
But, and there’s always kind of like this voice every time I get frustrated with it. There’s this, “you know better” voice in the back of my head. That’s like, “Well you know, if you just went up and talked to people.”
David:
If you did something about it.
Taylor:
If you did something, you might actually feel as that people know you exist. I think, and that seem, I don’t want that to come across as harsh, but at least in my experience when people don’t feel like they exist, it’s because other people, they notice that people aren’t going out of their way to go talk to them. Because people are just walking past you and don’t really give you the time of day because they don’t really know who you are. If people aren’t talking to you, you got to talk to them. And that’s just kind of how it goes. And I wish that it was different, because I freak out talking to people I’m right there with you. But it’s that voice in the back of my head. It’s like “Taylor, if you want people to talk to you, you got to talk to them first sometimes.” Because they’re probably thinking the same thing you are.
Allex:
I was just going to say that.
Taylor:
I think so many people actually feel this way. That we’re all just a bunch of isolated non-existent people wishing that everyone else would notice us. And somebody is just got to step up and start noticing other people. And maybe that should be you.
David:
Well said, well said. All right, I’ve been a member my entire life, but I don’t feel like I know much about the gospel. What should I do? Where should I start? Ooh, this is an excellent question.
Taylor:
This is good for one [crosstalk 00:05:08]
Allex:
That is a good one. Yeah.
Taylor:
Good for you David. This is a good question for you.
David:
Thank you. I guess if you ask me where you should start, which is exactly what you’re asking me, I would actually say if your goal is to know much about the gospel, know more about the gospel. And I’m assuming that in there is like, no more about the church and maybe like some church history stuff. If that’s not what you’re after, then ignore this advice. But I really think that the church’s new history books SAINTS, are an excellent place to start. Cause it’s just, it’s the history of the church and everything you see in it. You’re going to be able to find a source backing up, backing up that story. But it’s written in story format. It’s a narrative history and the reading level is like middle school, high school level. Like it’s really easy to read. It’s a really accessible.
And if you want to dive deep into the history, then it’s got all the footnotes in the world and you can go in there. And I think two volumes are out as of right now when we’re filming this, which I’m not sure where the second volume ends. I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere in the Utah period, but that would be a great place to start. And of course, if you haven’t read THE BOOK OF MORMON all the way through yet, read THE BOOK OF MORMON all the way through. And, but don’t feel discouraged if you don’t know much about the church we’ve got almost, we’ve got 200 years of history, you’re not going to absorb that all at once.
Taylor:
There’s a lot to take in.
Allex:
Yeah, totally.
David:
Cool. Good question.
Taylor:
Nice.
Allex:
All right. Okay. This says, I am starting to have doubts about the gospel, but I want to stay active. How should I find answers? That’s another really good one.
David:
Watch our channel. What.
Allex:
What?
David:
What?
Taylor:
Watch Saints Unscripted.
Allex:
Did somebody just, what?
David:
Who said that?
Taylor:
Would you like to open this one up-
David:
Yeah. What do you guys think?
Taylor:
To everyone, and to the panel?
Allex:
That’s a good question.
Taylor:
This is going to sound weird, but me and my wife actually talked about this a few months ago. She’s really into boundaries lately, making boundaries with people and we had this converstaion-
David:
Metaphorical.
Taylor:
Yeah. What if, yeah right
David:
She’s not like building walls.
Taylor:
She’s not building walls. That’s, contrary to what we’re working on. And we, but we had a conversation one time about building boundaries with the gospel. And that sounds, that sounds bad. So let me explain a little bit we’re like, sometimes at least for me, when, if I’ve ever been going through a rough patch, when I’ve been having my own doubts with the church, I’d have this tendency to expect of myself the same level of commitment and activity that I had as a missionary or in previous times when I was really active, I’m like, oh, well I have to get back to that. And sometimes at a certain point you have to acknowledge, I’m not at that point anymore. I have to start where I am. Don’t expect everything of yourself, like start with where you’re at. Like if you’re doing nothing, if you’re having a lot of doubts in your testimonies weekend and you’re not doing anything of what you’re doing before, just start at an investigator level.
Like if all you’re doing is reading a scripture a day. That’s a good place to start. If that’s where you’re at. If you’re not praying every day, start with saying prayers everyday. Don’t expect yourself to be completely active in your calling and reading half-hour scriptures every day and saying a prayer for every morning, midday and the evening. Don’t expect all those things of yourself. Just acknowledge where you’re at and start with what you’re just not doing.
David:
Baby steps.
Taylor:
Baby steps. Thank you. You could, you summarized everything I was just saying in a single word.
David:
Could have been an Email.
Allex:
Baby steps.
Taylor:
Yeah. Baby steps.
Speaker 5:
Baby step through the office. Baby steps out the door. It works. It works.
Taylor:
So making, When I said making boundaries with your, with the church… The whole point of making boundaries with people is that you want to keep them in your life. So you make boundaries to keep people in the life, [inaudible 00:09:33] so make boundaries to keep the church in your life without making it a toxic relationship with the church.
David:
Profound.
Taylor:
Don’t allow your relationship with the church to become toxic, draw boundaries around it yourself and it, to keep it with you without being toxic.
If that make sense.
Allex:
And I think it’s also important to remember that you’re not a bad person for questioning some things. I think it is only human sometimes that we just start to have some questions. And I don’t think that, that makes you any less of a person or that diminishes God’s love for you. I would just you know, be patient with yourself and just do basically what Taylor said. I couldn’t have said it better myself so
David:
If it makes you feel better, I’m sure that all of us have questions and doubts too. It’s a normal thing.
Allex:
Totally.
David:
In any faith tradition to have questions because you don’t have all the answers. That’s why you need faith. But Neal A. Maxwell said just to add my two cents here, that “doubts can either harden or soften your heart depending on your supply of meekness.” So I would counsel you to meet your doubts with a good supply of meekness instead of fear. For instance,
Taylor:
Or anger.
David:
Or anger. Meet them with meekness. And if you go from that perspective, I think it’ll help you get through them. But anyways. Good question.
Taylor:
Okay. Do you think everyone should get a higher education? Coming from someone who just recently dropped out of university.
David:
Oh, perfect question.
Taylor:
Honestly, no.
Speaker 6:
On second thought. No, not really. No. No.
Speaker 7:
No?
Taylor:
My wife also dropped out. My sister dropped out. My mom dropped out. My brother has never attended. It’s really weird. I always thought, I always thought of my family as like this higher education, really smart, intelligent, we all wanted to pursue education and all this stuff. And only one person in our family has got a degree and that’s my dad. And that’s really bizarre. But we had this realization last week, that’s why it’s on my mind. But I don’t think it’s necessary for everyone. I think everyone has a different life path. Some careers don’t require you to get a degree.
For example, if you’re, like a lot of artistic careers just require things like experience and portfolios and stuff, just start doing what you want to do. Education can be found in more places than just a classroom. And a lot of that education is free. You don’t have to go into thousands of dollars of debt for it. Like you can just read books, you can just spend a lot of time learning from other people and just getting experience. I think higher education is really important, if you want to pursue a career that requires a degree. And if you want to get a higher education, but I don’t think it’s required for everyone. I think everyone has a different path.
David:
Good advice. I do think it’s good to always be learning something.
Taylor:
Yes.
David:
Developing your habits, and or your talents.
Taylor:
I should say, I suppose we should say that. I think you should be growing and learning in some way, but that doesn’t mean you need to go to college and university and pay tuition and all that stuff.
Allex:
Yep. I agree.
David:
All right. So this is going to be our last question. It is, I think I should serve a mission, but I’m not sure if it’s for me. What should I do? Boy. That is a really hard one.
Taylor:
I’ve got thoughts for this one.
David:
So my initial thought is it’s not for you. It’s for the other people that are… Jesus. Sorry.
No.That was like, cause it’s a picture of Jesus. I’m sorry at what did I do [inaudible 00:13:38].
Allex:
That was so perfect.
David:
Sorry.
Speaker 8:
That was awesome.
David:
That was not a taking of the lord’s name. [crosstalk 00:13:48] or anything like that.
Allex:
Oh my gosh. That was great.
Taylor:
No. Keep that in the episode, that must stay in. [crosstalk 00:13:51]
Allex:
I thought that was hilarious. Oh my gosh.
David:
Sorry. Sorry. Sorry if that was offensive to people. Okay. What was the question? Let me read the question again.
Allex:
Yep. Lets read it.
Taylor:
It’s not for you for, It’s for-
David:
Oh yeah. It’s for Jesus.
Taylor:
Jesus.
David:
I should serve a mission, but I’m not sure if it’s for me. What should I do? I don’t think it is for you that my first thought is, it’s not for you. It’s for the people that you’re going to be serving. A mission is all about service. But when I say that, I also think the most important quote, unquote, Investigator of your mission is yourself. right? And like my mission, I think meant more to me than it meant to anyone else that I served at the same time. Now, what is, the question here is a mission for me. That’s really hard. Cause what does it mean for something to be for you? Like how do we qualify that? Cause like.
Taylor:
It’s not, it sounds like what they’re really getting at is like, they don’t, they’re not sure if they actually want to do it. It’s not really up their alley. It’s not for me It’s not gonna-
Allex:
Yeah. Something they can’t see themselves doing or something like that
Taylor:
Yeah. That’s not going to really help them in the ways that it helps other people.
David:
If that were kind of the determining factor for me. Like, I don’t think that most people are like, this is right up my alley.
Taylor:
It is not for anyone.
David:
It’s so different from anything you will have ever experienced in your life. That it’s hard to have a perfect vision of what it’s going to be like. But I think that for me, at least a lot of the value that I took from my mission came from it being such a foreign experience to me.
Taylor:
Yeah. And so difficult.
David:
And so difficult. Yeah. I don’t know. Do you guys have any quick thoughts on that?
Taylor:
Basically just what you were saying. It’s not something that everyone wakes up one morning and decides that they want to do, especially once. I mean, you might think that before you’re in the mission field, but once when you’re out there, it’s hard. You’re out getting rejected. Who knows what kind of, whether you’re walking around in?
Speaker 9:
Hello.
Speaker 10:
Hello.
Taylor:
People don’t like you, 99% of the time. If you’re a person who needs to be liked, this is going to be very hard. But it’s good for you. It may not be what you like or for you or what you want to do, but it is going to be so good for you because you grow your relationship with Christ and with your heavenly father and with your companion a lot too.
David:
I think maybe a quick, sorry. Did I interrupt? Did you have anything else to say?
Taylor:
It’s just, it’s very beneficial.
David:
Yeah. I think that maybe a better question than, is this for me? Would be, does God want this for me?
Allex:
Yeah.
David:
And I think if you go at it with that kind of an attitude, you may get a different answer than what your original question might have been.
Allex:
I was kind of thinking along those same lines, I think it’s important. Just like a lot of big decisions is to talk to God about it and, and say is this your plan for me? Do you want me to go on a mission? Do you want me? Cause I went through something similar, before I got married. I was like, I’m not sure what I want to do. And I kept going back and forth so much and I had prayed about it and of course everybody’s going to… Your answer might be different than what I got, but my answer was it’s up to you. And so it was like, oh, okay, thanks. I’m trying to get help here.
But then I kind of went along the lines of, okay. And I think this goes with not even just trying to get help with serving a mission, but really any sort of decision, like I said, you can explore it and then make the decision that you think is right. And then you can ask heavenly father, okay, I’ve decided I’m going to maybe serve a mission or I’m not going to serve a mission or whatever it may be, fill in the blank. And then ask him, is this right? Is this what you want me to do? because that’s what I’m going to do. And I need you to help me figure out if that is what you want me to do. Yeah.
Taylor:
I think that’s absolutely how they should do it. How you should go about that.
Allex:
So.
David:
Great question. Great question.
Allex:
Yeah. All of these were great questions.
Taylor:
Yeah.
Allex:
Well, thank you so much for sending in these questions. These were amazing. And thank you so much for watching again, if you have any other questions or anything that maybe we didn’t talk about today or any follow up questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments or then just ask us and we’d be happy to do another episode like this.
Taylor:
Message us on our social media accounts.
David:
Except for on Taylor’s Facebook account, because it doesn’t exist.
Allex:
[inaudible 00:18:42] Thank you so much again for watching and don’t forget to like, and subscribe of course, and we will see you all next time. Have a good one.