Unit 05 Introduction: Thinking Errors
Over the past several units, you have learned a great deal about stewardship. You have learned that you are a steward over your educational experiences, your time, and your temporal blessings. Throughout this upcoming unit, you will explore the responsibility to put off the natural man and try to see things as they really are.
As Elder Jörg Klebingat has explained, one of the adversary’s most powerful weapons against God’s children comes in the form of thinking errors (i.e. the lies the adversary tells us to distort our reality and view of the world around us).

“Whenever the adversary cannot persuade imperfect yet striving Saints such as you to abandon your belief in a personal and loving God, he employs a vicious campaign to put as much distance as possible between you and God. The adversary knows that faith in Christ—the kind of faith that produces a steady stream of tender mercies and even mighty miracles—goes hand in hand with a personal confidence that you are striving to choose the right. For that reason he will seek access to your heart to tell you lies—lies that Heavenly Father is disappointed in you, that the Atonement is beyond your reach, that there is no point in even trying, that everyone else is better than you, that you are unworthy, and a thousand variations of that same evil theme.
As long as you allow these voices to chisel away at your soul, you can’t approach the throne of God with real confidence. Whatever you do, whatever you pray for, whatever hopes for a miracle you may have, there will always be just enough self-doubt chipping away at your faith—not only your faith in God but also your confidence in yourself. Living the gospel in this manner is no fun, nor is it very healthy.” (Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence, Oct. 2014 Links to an external site.)
What methods does the adversary use against you? What steps can you take to fight back? This unit will answer these very questions.
Ponder & Record
As you work your way through this unit and its lesson content, please consider the following questions and record your answers in your learning journal:
- Why would your mind and way of thinking be part of your stewardship?
- How are the way you think and what you can accomplish connected?
- When has your self-doubt or thinking errors gotten in the way of accomplishing something? What was the result?
- When has your self-confidence helped you to achieve more than you thought you were capable of? What did that feel like? What made the difference?
- What lies (or thinking errors) do you currently feel the adversary is telling you?
Mark as done once you have completed all the instructions on this page.
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