“Elder Cook testified that youth participation in the church is not decreasing but increasing, the number of young adults choosing to serve missions is growing, and institute attendance is also increasing. Despite the attacks on the church and your faith, the truth continues to roll forth. All that is left to decide is whether we will be a part of it.”
On November 18th, this past weekend, Elder Quentin L. Cook sat down with his wife, Sister Mary Cook, and Elder Clark G. Gilbert and his wife, Sister Christine Gilbert, for a worldwide devotional for young adults. They addressed the questions, thoughts, and doubts that many young adults around the world deal with in our increasingly secular cultures. Though I did not begin watching the devotional with specific questions of my own, I concluded the devotional having received personal guidance through the Holy Spirit for some of the troubles in my life.
While the panel covered many topics ranging from “Love and Belonging” to “Standing for Truth,” I want to focus on Elder and Sister Cook’s response to the first topic covered: “Facing Life and Faith Challenges.” Elder and Sister Cook acknowledged that each generation goes through circumstances that will lead to a challenge of their faith. The situation that I and many other young adults find ourselves in is not the same as the circumstances of our parents or grandparents. Because of this, many make the assumption that those belonging to past generations cannot understand the challenges facing the youth of today.
To an extent, that is true. Elder and Sister Cook may not have grown up in a world plagued by social media and online pornography, but their unique challenges as young adults share many similarities with our current plight. Recalling what it was like during the 1960s, Sister Cook spoke of the heavy drug culture, the riots and protests, the unpopularity of the war in Vietnam, and how students paralyzed the universities through protests. Hearing her talk about what the world was like when she and Elder Cook were young, I realized that they understand almost exactly what we are experiencing as the young adults of today. They have lived through what we are living in, and their counsel on the topic has weight and authority.
Elder and Sister Cook understand the challenges confronting the youth of today, and they also understand the doubts we face. Many within and without the church are planting seeds of doubt in the minds of faithful young adults. By framing church doctrine as hateful or claiming that the church is dwindling in participation, these bad-faith actors seek to push you away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Elder Cook and other leaders in the church understand that this is the case, and what I took away from Elder Cook’s response was that I am not alone.
Not only do my wife and I face daily challenges to our faith, but so do other BYU students and young adults across the world. Every generation has experienced challenges similar to what you and I have the opportunity to experience today. Elder Cook is not here to ignore your doubts or give you advice that doesn’t apply to you but to lift you up where you stand. Elder Cook testified that youth participation in the church is not decreasing but increasing, the number of young adults choosing to serve missions is growing, and institute attendance is also increasing. Despite the attacks on the church and your faith, the truth continues to roll forth. All that is left to decide is whether we will be a part of it.
Elder Cook shared one of his favorite scriptural accounts, that of the father who pleaded with Jesus to cast an evil spirit out of his son. Jesus spoke to the father saying, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23). The father tearfully responded saying, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24). Despite the unbelief and the doubts of the father, the faith that he did have and held on to was enough for Christ to perform the miracle of casting the evil spirit from this father’s son. Elder Cook shares that this story shows how we can prevent our doubts from overcoming our faith. By holding firm to what we know to be true, we can overcome our doubts.
All of us, as BYU students and young adults, face circumstances that challenge our faith. Each generation has experienced these same challenges, and each generation has been given the opportunity to discover their individual testimony of Christ and His gospel, as Elder Cook taught. I implore each of our readers to go and listen to Elder Cook’s devotional with personal questions and an open heart. Elder Quentin L. Cook is an apostle of the Lord’s kingdom here on Earth, and his words contain prophetic guidance that is given directly to him by our Father in Heaven. I have received personal insight from his teachings, and I promise that you can receive guidance from him as well. Doing so will help you come closer to Christ and better understand your role as a son or daughter of God and a disciple of Christ in this world.
Written by: Jax McKinney
Contributor at the Cougar Chronicle
The opinions in this article are those of the author.
The Cougar Chronicle is an independent student-run newspaper and is not affiliated with Brigham Young University or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
