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Faith can atrophy in at least three ways:
1. Faith atrophies if we stop actively building our faith. This happens when we harden our hearts or we become self-satisfied with our status quo. This is doing the opposite of what President Nelson encouraged us to do: we stop studying, stop choosing to believe, stop acting in faith, stop participating in ordinances, and stop asking God for help.
2. Faith atrophies when we actively choose to go back down the faith curve. This happens when we become disobedient and stop repenting.
3. Faith atrophies when we shift our inclination away from faith toward skepticism and doubt. Recall those individuals in Lehi’s vision who made it to the tree of life, partook of the fruit, and then looked around “as if they were ashamed.”41 In that vision the fruit represents the blessings Jesus Christ can bestow because He accomplished His atoning sacrifice. The ashamed people represent those of us who pay attention to those who demean, ridicule, or scoff at our faith. Lehi noted, “For as many as heeded them, had fallen away.”42 If we shift our inclination away from faith and pay attention to distracting voices, we will fall away.
In all three ways, faith atrophies and we receive less and less until we lose all that we had previously received. We lose the companionship of the Holy Ghost and ultimately “know nothing concerning” the mysteries of God.Share
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