On the shores of the Sea of Tiberius, after the Apostles had dined with Jesus, the Savior singled out Peter, and asked him pointedly if he loved Him. What makes that scene so powerful is that Jesus asked Peter the same question three time in succession!
Imagine with today's hypersensitive souls the multitude of responses, justification and even anger that such an act might elicit; .....“Why are you singling me out?....... What part of "Yeah Lord," did you not understand?” .......“How many times do I have to say it?”....... “What, do you think I’m lying?,” etc. But a humble, love filled, troubled, Peter merely used the repeated questions as opportunities to express, to give witness to, to reaffirm, his love for Jesus. John 21
If we are to ever keep doubts from becoming an end unto themselves and thereby lose any chance of resolving them, we must acknowledge our own flaws and weakness. We must avoid the hypocrisy of refusing to be “judged” while passing judgment upon on others, particularly those who seek to help us to doubt and eventually defeat, our doubts. Humility requires us to acknowledge that only a perfect being, whose knowledge, power, and wisdom are far above our own can ever confirm absolute truth to us. If in mortal pride we cast away God as the source of truth, then we enter the world of moral relativism which destroys any hope of defeating our doubts.
Moral relativism, with its reliance on flawed human reason, transforms an individual into their own god, and thus they become their own source of truth, one that no other human can contradict without their consent. It is the ultimate victory of reason over spirit. Interestingly, since moral relativism destroys any concept of absolute truth, those caught in its grasp lose the moral authority to impose their views on others, and have no basis in judging the acts of others to be immoral so long as the persons engaging in them testify that they are moral. If there are no absolute truths, how does any flawed human impose their values or morals upon another?
It is also important to note that the sources of doubts which seek to erode and attack faith, have only moral relativism to offer in the place of the God, and His divinely revealed truth, they reject.
That being the case it seems strange to me that those caught up in flawed human reason, with only moral relativism as their basis for judgment, could then presume to judge universally whether God or His kingdom, His doctrines, His teachings, are moral.
If we are to resolve doubts permanently, we must be humble enough to acknowledge that God’s ways are higher than ours, higher than any humans, thus higher than those presented by the sources of our doubts. We must be humble enough to admit that God’s knowledge is infinitely greater than ours, (and those who feed our doubts) and trust Him to be the source of truth.
Of course we must humbly recognize the corollary to that great truth, which is that just as there is a God seeking our redemption, there is also a force seeking our destruction. There is no neutrality. It is telling that the Book of Mormon highlights as one of Satan's three great strategies, the attempt to get humans to reason away his existence. "And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears,..." 2 Nephi 28:22. The sad irony is that those who use moral relativism to enthrones themselves as gods, are actually becoming merely puppet rulers.
Humility also requires us to avoid the temptation to think that our particular circumstance or experiences are so unique that other persons cannot understand us, nor offer help or counsel to us. I remember well a man who used that reasoning on me, as I tried to counsel him toward repentance. His infidelity to his wife and family was perfectly justified in his twisted mind and no one could convince him of the error of his reason. He reasoned that since no one could really understand how he felt or what he had been through, they could not possibly offer him any worthwhile counsel or direction.
His error, based in pride, was two-fold. First, the same logic that convinced him that no one could really know what he had gone through, should have applied equally to his judging of others, indicating that he could likewise not really know if others had experienced what he had. Secondly, and more importantly, is the truth that those with stewardship, keys, responsibilities, assigned by God, are entitled to know from Jesus Christ, the particulars of each circumstance of those in need, as revealed by He who actually did suffer everything and who definitely can and does understand exactly what the individual has been through. As children of God we will always have those appointed to minister to us who can know by revelation, exactly how we feel, and/or what remedies, service, counsel, they can give that would be most likely to lead us to salvation.
Humility is a recognition of our real position and relationship with God. Imagine a flesh-centric metallurgist, chiding Moses; “Look Moses, I’ve been around. I know more about metallurgy than you will ever know, and I can tell you that looking at a piece of brass, no matter what shape it is in, will NEVER heal anyone.” …and yet it did. Moses was right, not because he knew more about metallurgy, but because he knew God, and humbly relied upon Him.