"We have learned to relish a commitment that is born of faith freely chosen rather than of certainty compelled by evidence."

The Crucible of Doubt
Terryl Givens
Fiona Givens

Faith is the first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So what happens when a person has doubts?

Questioning is not the problem, according to authors Terryl and Fiona Givens. “After all,” they write, “the Restoration unfolded because a young man asked questions.” The difficulty arises when questions are based on flawed assumptions or incorrect perceptions, which can “point us in the wrong direction, misdirect our attention, or constrain the answers we are capable of hearing.”

This insightful book offers a careful, intelligent look at doubt—at some of its common sources, the challenges it presents, and the opportunities it may open up in a person’s quest for faith. Whether you struggle with your own doubts or mostly want to understand loved ones who question, you will appreciate this candid discussion. You’ll come away feeling more certain than ever of the Lord’s love for all of His children.
"The body of Christ  needs its full compliment of members--
​the devout, the wayward, the uncomfortable, the struggling."
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Bill gives this book a 5-Fedora Rating
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Once it a great while a book comes along that sheds new light on a darkened world. This is one of those books! I thoroughly enjoyed every page of it.
​The Crucible of Doubt: Reflections on the Quest for Faith by Terryl and Fiona Givens very quickly became my favorite new LDS literary work.  Brilliantly written and extensively researched, this remarkable and insightful work continues to be an inspiration for many who are seeking, struggling, questioning, and yes, even doubting. Terryl and Fiona Givens thoughtfully guide those who objectively examine their own beliefs to continue to live within the framework of their faith while at the same time dealing with their doubts.
​This book is intelligently written and spiritually insightful. This is not a book just for the wayward and doubting; it is a literary masterpiece that can restore and strengthen hope is all of us.
As Boyd P. Hogland so appropriately stated: "A strong testimony is forged in the furnace of doubt. This book handles the issue of doubt in a very scholarly approach without creating more doubt."
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Bill gives this book a 5-Fedora Rating

The God
Who Weeps

Terryl Givens
Fiona Givens

"God has a heart that beats in sympathy with human hearts, feeling our joy and sorrowing over our pain."
"What we choose to embrace, to be responsive to, is the purest reflection of who we are and what we love. That is why faith, the choice to believe, is in the final analysis, an action that is positively laden with moral significance."
Authors Terryl and Fiona Givens share five fundamental truths about the universe that the Mormon faith has taught them. “Woven together into a coherent tapestry, we find these fundamental truths a compelling, inspiring, and reasonable picture suggesting who presides over this universe, where we came from, why we are here, and what might await us.”

​"As humans, we are, like the poet John Keats, "straining at particles of light in the midst of a great darkness." And yet, the authors describe a version of life's meaning that is reasonable—and radically resonant. It tells of a God whose heart beats in sympathy with ours, who set His heart upon us before the world was formed, who fashioned the earth as a place of human ascent, not exile, and who has the desire and the capacity to bring the entire human family home again.