Planted Quotes

“Disbelievers can be good, solid people who love their spouse and children and live ethical, productive, meaningful lives. At the same time, disbelievers must understand that educated, informed, and sincere people can believe in the reality of Joseph Smith's revelations, the truth of the Book of Mormon, and the divine inspiration behind the church. They are not covering up secret doubts nor are they victims of false consciousness when they bear testimony. There are informed people who genuinely believe in and belong to the church. I am one of them.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt

“It is possible to have questions and doubts enliven your faith life rather than squelch it. On the other side of the coin, for those whose testimony is sure, recognizing and even appreciating that doubt is a reality of this mortal probation will better allow you to embrace your brothers and sisters with charity, to minister to them with empathy, "that faith also might increase in the earth" (D&C 1:21).”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt

“My father summed up his attitude about both parenting and church service with one simple phrase: “Just show up.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted

“Patience and forgiveness thus become two of the house of faith’s load-bearing walls.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted

“My own belief is the result of a combination of many acts of grace and many acts of will. It is the product of study, experience, and encounters with God - both directly and through his children. At the most basic level, however, the reason I believe is because God gave me the spiritual gift of faith. I humbly count this as a precious gift from God. I do not take my gift of faith for granted. I don't deserve it. I didn't earn it. I can't explain why, but I was born, like Nephi, naturally inclined to religion, more so even than two of my siblings who were raised in the same home by the same parents and who attend church but struggle with it more than I do. Religion has come fairly naturally for me, church has generally been a comfortable place for me, and God has always been real for me. I have spent a lot of time with troubling historical and even anti-Mormon material, but I have never experienced a faith crisis. I have not always been immersed in God's spirit, but I have never felt totally forsaken. That doesn't make my story of faith any better or worse than anyone else's - it just happens to be mine.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt

“Latter-day Saints must find a way not simply to coexist with but to truly embrace the diversity that already exists within the family of God. To that end, believing Mormons must come to understand that disbelief is possible. People can have genuine reasons for opting out of the church without being dissolute sinners (at least, not any worse than the rest of us). Disbelievers can be good, solid people who love their spouse and children and live ethical, productive, meaningful lives. At the same time, disbelievers must understand that educated, informed, and sincere people can believe in the reality of Joseph Smith's revelations, the truth of the Book of Mormon, and the divine inspiration behind the church. They are not covering up secret doubts nor are they victims of false consciousness when they bear testimony. There are informed people who genuinely believe in and belong to the church. I am one of them.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt

“There are certain inequities, iniquities, and injustices in this world that no amount of historicizing, contextualizing, or theologizing will satisfy. Some are so devastating that they challenge our faith in humanity and sometimes our faith in the church and even in God. As we ponder on certain controversies and conundrums, sometimes we are simply left without a good answer, either for ourselves or for those we love. These are the moments that test our hope. In our pain and disorientation, we are forced to plumb the depths of our faith, our hope, and our love—the very foundations of our Christian discipleship. At times the church itself may be both the source and the site of our struggles. More will be said in chapters 8 and 9 about how and why the church can be the place where we”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted

“In a thousand years, however, Mormonism will no longer be an upstart religion, with all the volatility and vulnerability of adolescence. People will no more leave Mormonism over the Mountain Meadows Massacre than modern Jews leave Judaism over biblical genocide. Mormon polygamy will be no more (and no less) vexing than ancient polygamy. The Book of Abraham will be no more textually troubling than the Bible’s Deuteronomists or multiple Isaiahs. Multiple versions of Joseph Smith’s first vision will be no more faith-shaking than varying accounts of Paul’s conversion or the disharmony of the Gospels. But we live now, not a thousand years from now. The scandals are real, and the doubt and pain they cause are real. To explain a problem and reconcile it in our minds is not to deny its existence or significance. Having spent my professional life working in an academy largely allergic to the extrarational claims of faith, and in a field of religious history where many colleagues are devoted evangelicals or Catholics, I know well that in the view of Enlightenment rationalism and scientism on the one hand and historic Christianity on the other, much of Mormonism appears foolish and scandalous. That the same can be said of every other religion hardly puts salve in the wound. We are not called to abandon our natural reason; to do so would not only lead to fanaticism but also to reject one of our greatest divine inheritances. Yet to remain open to all the infinite possibilities of an inexplicable cosmos, we have to humbly acknowledge the limits of human rationality and accept complementary ways of knowing and being. We do not proceed merely on faith, but we do recognize that faith and trust are essential ingredients in a holistic approach to life. By definition, to have faith—in God, in Mormonism, in anything—is to act on claims that in the end can be neither proven nor disproven. To base one’s life on unfalsifiable claims is not a sign of intellectual weakness or antirationality, but rather a perfectly normal human response to the uncertainty that is the lot of mortality.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted

“A life predicated on good works always has its dangers. The pursuit of righteousness is separated from hypocrisy and pharisaism by only a hair's width. Ritual displays, checked boxes, and achieved goals, however worthy, can easily obscure "the weightier matters of the law, judgement, mercy, and faith" (Matthew 23:23). Because we live in a community and often know our neighbor's foibles and perhaps even their sins, their white shirts can easily appear as "whited sepulchers" (Matthew 23:27. Patience and forgiveness thus become two of the house of faith's load-bearing walls.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt

“Mormonism is superb at providing not only the blueprint but also the scaffolding whereby individuals, families, and communities can construct houses of exemplary, faithful living by building up on the rock of Christ and his revelation to the modern church. Simply put, Mormonism produces good and useful people—people who are kind, generous, devoted, talented, compassionate, courteous, mindful, and accomplished.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt

“Mormonism is sui generis—that is to say, it offers its own unique set of questions and answers for the world that overlaps with but is not identical to any other set of questions and answers, whether those posed by modern science or creedal Christianity. What this also means, however, is that while Mormonism is internally coherent, intellectually rewarding, spiritually satisfying, and theologically profound, when viewed solely through any other lens it will appear flawed, foolish, and even scandalous.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt

“Some people's relationship to the divine is primarily mystical, for others it is experiential, and for other still it is intellectual. Spirituality is intensely individual, even for members of the same family or the same church.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt

“It is not our place to render a verdict on the state of another person's soul, and we will be far more effective (and better Christians) when we give people the benefit of the doubt. To simply assume that someone with doubts is guilty of some grave moral transgression or to cause that person to feel in any way unfaithful or unworthy merely because of his questions displays a lack of charity.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt

“For most doubts, there are no magic words or ready-made formulas that will immediately make them go away. Doubt is thus less a problem in need of a solution than a common part of the mortal experience that should, like all things, be treated with charity and ultimately consecrated to God. Oftentimes, simply having a conversation with someone who needs to talk through personal questions is enough.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt

“We live in an age when doubt is part of our collective spiritual condition more than in times past. But honest questioning and lack of surety are not the same as active unbelief so often warned against in scripture. As a necessary part of living on this side of the veil, doubt is neither good nor bad necessarily. While it sends some careening, for many others is sparks deeper spiritual yearnings and more mature reflection on the complexities of mortality. Doubt can therefore operate as faith's partner as much as its enemy, depending on our response to it.

The quest to eradicate all doubt becomes counterproductive to God's cal for us to live by faith in a mortal existence where uncertainty is so often the norm. Once we recognize with Nephi that it is not wrong to not know all things (1 Nephi 11:17) and we acknowledge that testimonies come in different shapes and sizes, we are prepared to embrace both those within our faith and those beyond with love rather than judgement. Comprehending that faith is a process, a journey, a spectrum–choose your own metaphor–we realize that neither faith nor doubt are all-or-nothing propositions. People can (and most people do) hold both faith and doubt in their minds and hearts simultaneously.

The call to belief is not a decree to deny our doubts. It is rather to "give place for a portion" of God's light—whatever portion we have received, in whatever form–to be planted and then grow within us. Desire is enough; "a particle of faith" is sufficient. God's plea is simple and direct: do not cast out the seed of faith, whatever yours looks like, by your unbelief.”
― Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt