From the first post on this subject, Enduring to the End, Stephen E. Robinson, in his book “Following Christ” wrote . . . .
I once knew a man who had to decide whether or not to pay his tithing every time his paycheck came, whether or not to go to his meetings every time they were held, whether or not to take a drink every time he was offered one. Finally I asked him,“Why can’t you decide once and for all which side you are on? Why do you have to double-check your loyalty every time a decision is called for? You are spiritually reinventing the wheel over and over again, and you will never make any progress until you can build on what you already know.” A few weeks later he called and asked for a ride to our stake meetings. I was pleased he was going, and when I told him so, he responded,“You know, I wouldn’t like it if my wife told me she had to decide whether she still loved me or not, or if she told me she only stayed with me because she hadn’t found a good enough reason to leave—yet. I guess the Lord is entitled to more of a commitment than that from me. I’m ready to stop reinventing the wheel and move on with my life. I’ve decided that I’m ready once and for all to be a Latter-day Saint.” Now continuing . . .
Some people are basically saying “Well, today I think the Church is true, but ask me again tomorrow.” But there must come some point at which our commitment to the gospel and our conviction of its truth settles such questions in advance and predetermines our response to whatever challenge we may encounter to our faith, to whatever commandments we may receive, or to whatever sacrifice we are called upon to make.1 That isn’t blind faith; rather it’s a vague suspicion that has finally managed to become true faith! Faith, after all, is spiritual knowledge—not a guess, not a hunch, not a hope, but knowledge. Most often it is knowledge unsupported by physical evidence or even challenged by the available evidence. Until our faith has life and strength of its own apart from intellectual evidence, it is not yet faith. In such cases what we thought was faith was merely the strongest human argument we had considered at the time. A testimony isn’t like a hypothesis in science, which may be supported by the evidence one day and destroyed by it the next. It is a conviction beyond the available intellectual truth that some things are eternally true. The “provisionally converted” are those who have not received such a conviction (or who will not accept it) but haven’t found a good enough reason to leave—yet. Just as such a low level of commitment is unsatisfactory in marriage, so in the long run it is unsatisfactory in the spiritual marriage of the gospel. Such people need to become converted and let the question of truth of the gospel be decided, once and for all, by the witness of the Spirit. Just as a celestial marriage says, “We are sealed, no matter what,” so a truly converted member says, “I am a member of this church, and my lot is cast with the apostles and prophets, no matter what.” Above all other issues, loyalties, agendas, and commitments, this is where I stand: this is what I believe, this is whom I serve.” Then and only then can we experience the power and blessings promised to the faithful.
Without such a prior commitment, some new commandment or sacrifice or imagined (or real) offense on the part of Church leaders might challenge our endurance. It is possible to be an “active” member of the Church without such a conviction, but it may not be possible to endure to the end. The Lord spoke of those who could not make such a commitment in the Parable of the Sower—they have no root in themselves but endure only for a while; then, when difficulties arise because of the word, eventually they are offended (Matthew 13:21). We must not fear to send our roots deep—deep into the gospel and deep into the Church, for it is just as self-destructive spiritually for us to hold back part of our promised loyalty as it was for Ananias and Sapphira to hold back part of their promised offerings (Acts 5:1-11). . . . Steven E. Robinson, Believing Christ / Following Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1995),269-72 Dwarsligger® edition
