"Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other"
About this Quote
Monson frames belief as a zero-sum interior contest: faith is not just a commitment but a disinfectant, and doubt is a contaminant that must be driven out. The sentence is built like a law of nature, not a pastoral suggestion. “Cannot exist” gives it the tone of a hard boundary, while “dispel” borrows the vocabulary of light and darkness. Doubt isn’t treated as a tool for discernment or a stage of growth; it’s a fog that evaporates when the right spiritual weather arrives.
That absolutism is the point. For a clergyman speaking to a community that prizes testimony and clear moral direction, the quote functions less as psychology than as governance of the inner life. It nudges listeners to interpret uncertainty not as information but as danger: a sign of spiritual drift, social deviation, or insufficient discipline. In that subtext, doubt becomes suspect because it is portable; it spreads through conversation, books, and competing authorities. Declaring mutual exclusivity shuts down the idea that a person can be faithful and questioning at once, which is often how modern believers actually live.
The cultural context matters: late-20th-century American religiosity repeatedly confronted rising secular education, pluralism, and the visibility of criticism. Monson’s line reads like a defensive clarity offered as comfort. If faith and doubt can’t coexist, then the remedy is simple: choose, rehearse, reaffirm. It’s rhetorically effective because it turns a complicated emotional state into a clean moral decision, giving believers a script when ambiguity feels like betrayal.
That absolutism is the point. For a clergyman speaking to a community that prizes testimony and clear moral direction, the quote functions less as psychology than as governance of the inner life. It nudges listeners to interpret uncertainty not as information but as danger: a sign of spiritual drift, social deviation, or insufficient discipline. In that subtext, doubt becomes suspect because it is portable; it spreads through conversation, books, and competing authorities. Declaring mutual exclusivity shuts down the idea that a person can be faithful and questioning at once, which is often how modern believers actually live.
The cultural context matters: late-20th-century American religiosity repeatedly confronted rising secular education, pluralism, and the visibility of criticism. Monson’s line reads like a defensive clarity offered as comfort. If faith and doubt can’t coexist, then the remedy is simple: choose, rehearse, reaffirm. It’s rhetorically effective because it turns a complicated emotional state into a clean moral decision, giving believers a script when ambiguity feels like betrayal.
Quote Details
| Topic | Faith |
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