Searching for truth in all the wrong places.

I've had a lot of thoughts cascading through my mind lately, too long for a facebook status, or even a jumping off spot for a discussion in my debate society, so its back to the blog. Long time no see. I've been thinking a lot about where people go to get their information, and thus form their opinions. There are a couple of different types of information that I'm specifically referring to. The first is scientific information. Mostly this revolves around health and medicine.

For some reason there has sprung up in the last decade or so (at least that's the time frame that I have noticed), an entire subculture of people who inexplicably distrust any and all information that comes from established science in the fields of health and medicine. Now, I can understand a dose of healthy skepticism. Doctors are not infallible, and it has pretty much always been a part of our culture and the culture of medicine to seek a second opinion when one receives a particularly negative diagnosis. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. However, the new trend is to turn to anything and anyone who is not connected to healthcare, scientific research, or scholarly efforts in the fields of medicine, physiology, anatomy, chemistry, etc., for answers to doubts. Some of this, perhaps, is due to the fact that our medical breakthroughs have become so astounding that people expect that medicine should be able to fix everything without fail or foible. So that when an outlier happens, when a side effect occurs, when a mistake or a aberration happens people assume it is because of a systemic fault or a insidious conspiracy. There are two main areas that I see this happen. The first I find to be so nefarious as to be infuriating, the other while definitely misleading, is more frustrating than anger inducing.

The first is the realm of vaccines. I won't belabor the debate, frankly I shouldn't sully the title of debate because it isn't truly a debate. Suffice it to say, all science, all studies, all medical research points to the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. That isn't disputable. It isn't debatable. We can each have our own opinions, but we can't have our own facts. Anecdotes are not facts.

The one that only rises to the level of frustration is more in the realm of general health. In almost any of the many different types of health discussions from weight, to diabetes, to blood pressure, to cholesterol, there are a myriad of idea of how best to do it. People have their own 'home remedies'. Things their grandparents did, and their grandparents before them. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. Because of plasticity, and differences in how people react to the environment around them, there are as many ways to aid your health as their are people on the earth. And, I don't believe that the only things that can help you be healthier come out of a bottle manufactured by Pfizer either. Nature is a miraculous thing, and, I believe, God created many things for Man that can be incredibly useful and beneficial. That all having been said. Just because someone said it on the internet, or because it is being sold by someone you know and like does not mean that any of the claims made about it are true. We live an an amazing age where there is a plethora of information available at our fingertips. But it seems that many times people don't want to know, or even sadder, refuse to believe verifiable claims about something and instead barrel forward head first in to what they hope is true. I have yet to see anything that has become the new 'healthiest food', or 'miracle food', or 'essential' nutrient that is borne out by science. Noni Juice doesn't cure everything that ails you, nothing does. Would it surprise people to know that the owner and head of one of the biggest most successful and popular 'essential oil' pyramid scams (lets call it what it is), was convicted of practicing medicine without a license in another state? An act that led to the death of his child? This is the guy who is hocking what is basically oil pressed out of some of the most common plants in the world for upwards of 100$ for a couple ounces. He puts the salesman on Pete's Dragon to shame, that guy only charged a dollar.

All of that pales in comparison to the thought that has been foremost on my mind. When a member of the Church comes across something that makes them doubt, something that makes them question those things that they had never questioned before, where do they turn? I haven't personally ever come to such a crisis of faith, I don't believe that is because of anything I personally did, it just is. I know those who have. Some were deep and powerful questions. I have one dear friend who struggled mightily with a question, and I gained such admiration and respect for him as he sought to find answers. Let's be perfectly and unequivocally clear, there is no sin in questioning. But what one does with those doubts and questions will make all the difference in their life. There is an amazing talk about that very thing by Elder Holland here.

There has been much in the news lately about a fairly well known questioner. I read a bit about his 'journey' to where he now is, and was constantly amazed. Several of the issues that had brought him such questions, that had rocked the faith he had had since a young age were not secret, or hard to come by bits of information. They were not hidden, or ignored. So my first thought was, how did he not hear about these aspects of the Church and Church History until after his mission. One reason, and there may be others I cannot think of, is just a lack of learning his own faith. Its a good reason to have Family Home Evening, I can tell you that. Rarely have I been surprised by an aspect of the Church or its History, and to a great part I give credit to wonderful parents who never stopped teaching us, or having Family Home Evening, and encouraging us to learn on our own as well. But, it happens as it did to this man, sometimes people may find themselves confronted by some information, its truth yet to be verified, but its effect profound. A bit of something that shakes the faith that they have relied on for so long. What then, does one do? There are many options. You can ignore it, and go forward pretending you never heard or saw it. I find this to be less than ideal. You can go out and research, turning to any and all who are more than happy to point to flaws and mistakes. Who wheedle themselves into any perceived inconsistency and spread wide their cynicism in an attempt to break the tiny crack in faith into a chasm of uncertainty. Many are willing to preach the philosophies of men, and to a questioning mind they may ring true. To someone who has decided that any question means that you cannot trust that which you have trusted up until now, this may seem the only route to go outside and find out what the naysayers say. This I find to be an even worse option. Who would go to Dodge and ask them what they think of the latest Chevy? But, don't take that to mean that you must just follow blindly, I don't remember anywhere the Lord ever asked any of us to do that. To the intellectual there are many avenues of information from inside the Church. On the particular piece I saw bandied about, the idea that all modern science had indisputably proven the Book of Abraham to be fraudulent, it took me but a few moments and I had in front of me on the screen an in depth work by a noted scholar. I am not one who is interested personally in an attempt to either prove or disprove my faith by science, I don't think that is science's aim, or place. No more do I use my faith to disprove science.

There is a label, one that has been given twice. Once lovingly, and once derisively. It is sheep. From the cynic a sheep is a stupid animal, easily misled, willing to follow anything without knowledge or understanding. Never questioning the path. To the Good Shepherd a sheep is one who knows Him, and trusts Him. One who hears His voice and follows, because of that trust and love. The sheep knows that the Shepherd would do anything for the sheep, because He already has done everything. He asks that we follow with our head up and our eyes open. A Shepherd in the true sense, He leads, and while we may at times question, we can turn to Him for answers, and trust in the faith we already have. Though many have attempted to change its meaning, to make it derogatory or something that we should turn from or be shamed of, I hope that I can live up to that title, and look to such powerful messages of strength as Elder Holland's talk.