As the restored Church of Jesus Christ blossoms throughout the globe—now with more than 13 million members—”the faith of our fathers” has an expanded meaning. For some, it could refer to their family’s heritage in one of the hundreds of Christian faiths; for others, it could refer to Middle-Eastern, Asian, or African faiths and traditions.
I have spent most of my life in areas of the world where members of our Church are a small minority. During that time I have learned that often when people learn of the restored gospel, they are impressed by it—many even want to join the Church. But they are reluctant to disappoint their ancestors; they feel they should be true to the faith of their fathers. (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf)
President Uchtdorf is the Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (informally known as the Mormon church). He was called to this position on February 4, 2008. He’s been a General Authority of the Church since April 1994.
For many converts to the Church, President Uchtdorf’s message, Faith of Our Father, sounded like a page from their personal lives. My husband is one of those converts. President Uchtdorf managed to convey so eloquently the conflicting emotions that many faithful men and women deal with as they contemplate the next step.
When my husband lost his father, he felt an even keener sense of responsibility to his mother. This sense of responsibility extended to keeping the religious traditions of his parents. Coming from a family with a long and active tradition in another Christian faith, my husband knows what it means to go against the religious traditions of our fathers. He too was asked, not once or twice, but many times, ““How can you be so unfaithful to the faith of your fathers?”
My husband is a family man in every sense of the word. He loves his family and he gives his all to us. But, he also hasn’t forgotten his other family, the loving family that raised him and taught him the word of God. This sense of loyalty to parents and religious traditions didn’t lessen his stature in my eyes at all. I knew that someone who’d spent his youth and early adult years using his talents to serve the Lord had a deep love for the Lord. I had faith that at the right time, he would reconcile the two – the faith of his earthly father and ancestors and the faith of our Heavenly Father.
The right time did come! By accepting the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, my husband wasn’t being disloyal to his ancestors. He was simply adding on to what his ancestors had given him. The faith and religious traditions of his ancestors had given him bits and pieces of the faith of our Heavenly Father. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the restored gospel of Christ on the earth, with the same organization, the same priesthood that existed when He walked among men.
Those who’ve had to leave the religious traditions of their fathers to embrace the faith of our Heavenly Father know that this isn’t always a painless transition. For some, it comes at a high cost such as the loss of family and loved ones. I’m deeply grateful that this didn’t happen in our case for family, both immediate and extended, is very important to us. The initial hurt and anger felt by his family when he became a member of the Church has since been replaced by a growing understanding and appreciation of what the gospel means in our lives.
President Uchtdorf’s message, Faith of Our Father, is now available for you to read or watch. I loved listening to this message. I appreciate the loving, personal, and respectful way President Uchtdorf spoke to us about this subject. Faith of Our Father, reminds all of us that true faith is the faith of our Heavenly Father. I invite you to ponder for yourself President Uchtdorf’s powerful message about the faith of our Father.
What, then, is the faith of our fathers? Is it the religion of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents?
But what of the faith of the ancient ones before them? What of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Are they not our fathers? Are we not of the house of Israel? What of Noah and Enoch and our first parents, Adam and Eve?
What of the Savior and those disciples who followed Him?
The faith of our Father in Heaven has been consistent since the beginning of time, even from before the foundation of this world. Therefore, do we not owe our allegiance to God, our Heavenly Father?
As members of the Church of Jesus Christ, “we believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost” (First Article of Faith). And “we believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel” (Third Article of Faith). We believe in the great plan of happiness, the plan of redemption, the plan of salvation, whereby God’s children may experience mortality and return to the presence of the Father—a merciful plan established from before the foundation of this earth.
This is the plan and the faith of our Father!
