There is absolutely no reason to fear the truth. Too many people fear what God might reveal to them. They do not know or believe that he is perfectly loving and all wise. Instead, they react to further light and truth as Herod reacted when he heard the prophecy of the birth of Jesus: “he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” (Matthew 2:3) Both the Roman governor and the ruling religionists feared an upset of their current system. If they had trusted God, they would have rejoiced no matter the predicted change, as whatever God sends to those that love him is uniquely designed to maximize their happiness.
God’s mission is to free us from the prison of ignorance and incorrectness. Isaiah wrote that the mission of the Lord’s servant is: “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” (Isaiah 42:7) When the Lord performed his mortal mission “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.” (Matthew 4:16)
To sit in darkness is described here as being a prisoner in a dungeon. Those who ask, “why would I want to subject myself to disillusionment?” are like prisoners in a dungeon who ask, “why would I want to get out of here?” The darkness allows them to ignore their plight. They do not see their surroundings or their shackles.
Learn to trust God and submit yourself to his correction:
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.
5 Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. (Psalm 141)
It has been said that nothing real can be threatened and that nothing unreal exists. What are you afraid of losing, if by acquiring truth all you can lose is what is false?
People who do not yet trust God have a list of things God has commanded people to do in the past that they would never do. Sometimes, they get rid of that list by transferring it to a list of things they believe God would never command them to do. There is no difference. These people sometimes say things like, “the God I believe in would never command me to ___.” In a way, they are right. As Jesus said, “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what [whom] we worship.” (John 4:22) We know him because we have met him, and this is always the result of those who worship God in spirit and in truth.
Those who do not yet trust God believe in a God of their own creation. He does not have power to reveal himself to them, and he does not have power to save. We are saved as a result of knowing the true God, not believing in a God of our own creation. We are saved because he possesses intelligence that exceeds our own, not because he matches what we in our fallen state consider to be right or wrong.
Ironically, those who put God in a box do so out of fear. They fear that if they let God out of their boxes, he would end up less loving, less merciful, or less good than they presently imagine him to be. That is ironic because it is only by removing your limitations of him that you can see just how loving, merciful, and good he really is! This realization far exceeds anything you can imagine when you box him up in false traditions. If you look at every person in the scriptures who came to know God, you will struggle to find someone who found him less godly upon getting to know him. Instead, you see the opposite. You see deep, loving, worshipful reverence increase in proportion to how well someone knows God.
Putting God in a box does not protect you from disappointment. It keeps you from a portion (a considerable portion) of his goodness and glory. You may have experienced God in some way—spiritual gifts, revelation, joy, or even visitations—but your experiences are limited and diminished compared to what he could show you if you were less inhibited by your preconceived notions. In the scriptures, there are those who had miracles, those who had revelation, those that experienced great joy, those that saw him, even those that touched him. But of the set of everyone who experienced God in some way, how many were able to abide in his glory? The answer is surprisingly few. With almost every experience, he held something back, sometimes considerably so. Every commandment you refuse to consider diminishes your potential glory, but it also diminishes the quantity of the Lord's glory you are able to abide. For each thing “your God would never ask you to do,” you remove yourself from the opportunity to experience that much more of him.
I believe in a God who killed perhaps billions of people in a worldwide flood. I believe in a God who commanded Abraham and Isaac to lie. I believe in a God who allowed Hagar to be cast away. I believe in a God who commanded Moses to slay cities of men, women, children, and animals, none of which had ever previously met their attackers. I believe in a God who chose to heal only one of the countless handicapped at the pool of Bethesda. I believe in a God who considers heeding a single prophetic dream sufficient to decide between the life and death of millions of people. I believe in a God who called David, a man who killed Uriah to cover the adulterous relationship with his wife, a man after his own heart. I believe in a God who asked Nephi to kill Laban.
Does your theology account for all of these things? If not, you must confess that this God is not the God you worship. Not yet, at least. What are you doing about that?