Is unbelief curable?

[MarkGrace]

Would Hopfrog fit this description? Only he could answer that, I suppose.

Based on what I remember him saying, I think so. But only he could answer for certain.

[Uncle Ted]

I've never known any mature unbeliever who once believed and returned to his belief. Is that possible? Electroshock treatments? I know plenty of believers who stopped believing. It's telling, isn't it.

I don't believe so but I am often proven wrong. Let me know.

[Utah ma'am am I]

I've never known any mature unbeliever who once believed and returned to his belief. Is that possible? Electroshock treatments? I know plenty of believers who stopped believing. It's telling, isn't it.

I think that believing or not believing something is a choice we can make, so yes, an unbeliever who once believed could return to belief.

[Paperback Writer]

I have an extended family member who might fit this description. Left the church while in college and transferred from BYU. Before we met prior to marrying into the family, I was specifically asked not to bring up the church with this person. But this person brought up their LDS church issues with me and detailed their journey from believing LDS to unbelief. Rather than an argument that many feared would occur, it remained a good discussion.

About three years later this same person married in the temple. And this person was stronger in the church than the other person in the marriage. Today, this person is more devot LDS than me.

However, I'm not sure how resolute this person was in their unbelief. Sometimes a person can still believe but opts for a non-LDS lifestyle and professes unbelief. Similar to a person who really doesn't believe but professes belief to please spouse or family.

[SeattleUte]

I think that believing or not believing something is a choice we can make, so yes, an unbeliever who once believed could return to belief.

Unbelief is not a choice.

[ERCougar]

Unbelief is not a choice.

I dont believe you.

[LA Ute]

Unbelief is not a choice.

Now this is a novel proposition!

[LA Ute]

About three years later this same person married in the temple. And this person was stronger in the church than the other person in the marriage. Today, this person is more devout LDS than me.

However, I'm not sure how resolute this person was in their unbelief. Sometimes a person can still believe but opts for a non-LDS lifestyle and professes unbelief. Similar to a person who really doesn't believe but professes belief to please spouse or family.

Brings to mind the Auden quote in my signature line.

[risicam]

As long as there's a desire to believe, if Alma can be trusted.

I'm going to go with Alma CAN be trusted...

[lambdacoug]

I'm going to go with Alma CAN be trusted...

I have a good friend that is direct evidence against that passage. He was in the Catholic seminary and wishes the comfortable beliefs taught him were true. He mourns the loss of his belief to this day, but he can't deny what he learned and what brought about his unbelief. Which goes back to what SU mentioned about unbelief not being a choice.

Yes, its anecdotal and all, but still...

[RobinFinderson]

I'm going to go with Alma CAN be trusted...

But can Joseph Smith be trusted? Knowing what you know today, would you feel comfortable trusting Joseph Smith around your attractive 16yo daughter?

[marsupial]

I don't think you can go back to being a "true believer."

But unbelief is curable in the sense that occasionally people abandon and then come back to organized religion, believing in a different way than before they left.

This.

[LA Ute]

I don't think you can go back to being a "true believer."

But unbelief is curable in the sense that occasionally people abandon and then come back to organized religion, believing in a different way than before they left.

It is possible (maybe even essential) to believe continuously, but to believe in a different way than one did earlier in one's life. That's how it has been for me, and I think for perhaps the great majority of believers. Beliefs, and one's faith, do mature and develop.

Besides, I don't think it makes sense to talk about "curing" unbelief. It's not a pathology. (I recognize that SU is the one who started using that language in this thread.)

[smokymountainrain]

I dont believe you.

I too have chosen not to believe SU. Therefore unbelief most certainly is a choice.

[Utah ma'am am I]

Unbelief is not a choice.

Why not?