Students don't believe their teacher could handle a crucible or a doubt |
Phoenix, AZ—Students attending the local Institute class,
concerned about his weak testimony, consistently try to dissuade their teacher,
Brother Branden Nicks, from asking difficult questions or going on the
Internet.
“Let’s just say we try to keep him in the manual,” said
Melissa Carr, a returned missionary, Sociology major at Arizona State University,
and student in Brother Nicks’ class. “We love brother Nicks, and we worry that
if he started to wonder about why God didn’t give the Priesthood to every
worthy man before 1978 (or to every worthy member now!), well, it could damage
his struggling faith.”
When asked about why they believed that challenging issues
might be difficult for their instructor, students mentioned many telling experiences.
“At the beginning of the year we get new students who think
that Institute should be a college-level class with open discussions that
engage the difficult but fruitful tensions between faith and doubt, especially
at this particular time in one’s life and at a university setting” said Michael
Lane. Lane continued that “clearly Nicks is so uncomfortable with whatever isn’t
in the manual or said in General Conference that he shuts any challenging
conversations down with an apostle quote, a stern warning to ‘follow the
Brethren,’ and a standard plea for everyone to ‘stay in the boat.’ Everyone pretty
quickly gets the message,” concluded Lane, “that Brother Nicks is so afraid of
whatever isn’t easy or clearly sanctioned that it must be eliminated
immediately.”
Students also report that Brother Nicks’ fear of difficult
issues can emerge at any time. Melissa Carr recalled that one class, while talking about the woman caught in adultery,
a visitor asked Brother Nicks how he resolved the fact that the story does not
appear in the earliest Bible manuscripts nor is it mentioned by early Christian
writers who had access to even earlier manuscripts than we have. Carr said that
“we all looked on in stunned surprise, worried because Brother Nicks had no
idea about Biblical scholarship or manuscripts.” She said that, “we were afraid
that this could lead to a faith-destroying crisis for a man who clearly could
not think outside the manual, when suddenly, like a miracle, Daniel Dexter just
started to laugh, and then we all laughed, and in doing so we finally convinced Brother Nicks that we
were pulling a prank on him. Let me just say,” said Carr, “we could have lost
our weak-testimonied teacher forever right there!”
Dexter, Carr, Lane, and others all mentioned that they and
other class members often meet during the week or chat online to discuss their
readings of books like Rough Stone
Rolling, The Crucible of Doubt,
or issues of Dialogue. Such
discussions give them a way to share ideas and encourage one another as they
learn to develop a deeper faith while honoring and using concerns, doubts, and
new knowledge to strengthen that faith.
When asked what they get out of Institute, Carr said “we
mostly just go to socialize, oh, and sometimes there’s pizza.”
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