|
Home Language Facebook Donate |
- Links
-
Testimony & Spiritual WitnessesTo a Latter-day Saint, a testimony is a personal witness of a gospel truth. This witness is received through the third member of the Godhead called the Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit or Spirit. The Church teaches that all humans have a physical body and a spirit body and the Holy Ghost witnesses directly with a person's spirit through thoughts and feelings. The Holy Ghost is said to witness of all truth, secular and religious. Such a spiritual witness, they say, is more certain or accurate than any of the five physical senses or human reasoning. Overview of LDS positionThe influence of the Holy Ghost is available to all people.
However, the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost is only available to those who have been baptized into the LDS church and abide the precepts set forth by the church. The Holy Ghost can provide a witness that the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith was a prophet and that LDS Church is God's one, true church. Overview of Critics' positionWe don't doubt that many LDS have strong feelings that the church is true. However, we question whether these feelings are really a reliable guide to establishing truth. There is considerable evidence that the 'spirit' is totally unreliable as a means of determining truth. Most of the "burning bosoms" are emotion based and they stem from meaningful situations based upon our experiences in life. Many people from all religions report having the same feelings that witness to them that their religion, beliefs or church is true, but obviously they all can't be right. References
ContentsMember BeliefsA testimony is a reliable method to learn the truth. Men can deceive, science can be wrong but a true testimony is an undeniable way to establish the truth of the gospel. A testimony of the Book of Mormon can be gained by reading the Book of Mormon and putting the book to the test by praying about whether or not it is true: Moroni 10:4-5 4) And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 5) And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. A true testimony comes from the Holy Ghost and cannot be denied. Although the Book of Mormon does not say how exactly the Holy Ghost will manifest the truth to people, many LDS believe it is either a physical sensation such as the burning in the bosom or just an intense feeling that it is true. Joseph Smith revealed that the Holy Ghost will witness something to one's heart and mind (D&C 8:2). He also told David Nye White, senior editor of the Pennsylvania's Pittsburg Weekly Gazette, on August 28 1843 that speaking to Joseph Smith about revelations, "he stated that when he was in a 'quandary,' he asked the Lord for a revelation, and when he could not get it, he 'followed the dictates of his own judgment, which were as good as a revelation to him; but he never gave anything to his people as revelation, unless it was a revelation, and the Lord did reveal himself to him." (See Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, Volume 1, page 181.) Link from the official church web site: http://scriptures.lds.org/en/moro/10 How do members gain testimonies?ChildrenMany saints are essentially 'taught ' their testimonies growing up. We've all seen many Fast & Testimony meetings where a five-year old child is at the podium with his mom or dad whispering in his ear telling him exactly what to say "I know the church is true, I love my mommy and daddy, I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, etc." Primary classes reinforce this as young children think of their primary teachers the same way as their school teachers - adults that teach them true things. The primary music like "Follow the Prophet" and the primary games like "Do as I'm doing" also reinforce the ideas for these children to act like adults and have testimonies about things they know nothing about. Naturally children believe what their parents teach them, whether it be factual things like the multiplication tables and geography or things not true such as the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. To children it's one and the same. And when these children grow up they naturally hold on to the religious beliefs that they were taught as children. If those same children were raised by Islamic Extremists they would very likely support those views instead of Mormonism. See Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Adult ConvertsHow do adults that were not brought up LDS gain their testimonies? There are perhaps many answers to this question. Some say that they prayed about the Book of Mormon and got a feeling that it was true. Some claim they even got a burning in the bosom. Others just knew it was true but can't say why. Others never really got a real witness but lean on other's testimonies thinking that the other people must have real testimonies and that's good enough for them. Many converts, who have since become inactive, admitted that they were so impressed by the missionaries that they didn't want to disappoint these young men that took such an interest in their well-being, so they said they had a testimony when they really didn't have one. Missionary methodsThe following is from a study on how to make people believe something is plausible that is implausible. Those of us of who have been missionaries may recognize having used a similar process in helping investigators "gain a testimony" using Moroni's promise. Here is the conclusion of the study:
http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/mazzloft.htm In converting people to Mormonism, missionaries follow the three-step process this way:
Once the "testimony" is created, it is reinforced and further developed through social learning, positive reinforcement ("fellowshipping"), public expression in testimony meeting, and the acceptance of additional commitments by the convert. Also, see the commitment pattern as taught by the missionaries: http://lds4u.com/Discussions/commitment.htm What if you don't have a real testimony?Although the leaders of the Church would like it if everyone simply had a strong testimony of the Church, many people don't. Here's advice from The Ensign:
Critic's Point: Sounds like if you don't get any real answer from the Holy Ghost that you should just keep on following the church and do everything you're suppose to do such as paying 10% of all your income to an organization that you do not know is true or not, and maybe you will slowly gain one and that may take many years or even a lifetime. It is suspicious when the leaders tell their members that the way to gain a testimony is to follow the leaders and some time in the future you may get a testimony but don't expect anything spectacular. Burning in the bosomPer the Book of Mormon, a testimony is suppose to come from the Holy Ghost but the BOM does not specify how exactly he will manifest the truth to the truthseeker. However the Doctrine & Covenants may give additional insight. Although this was specifically referring to how Joseph was to translate the BOM, many LDS say it also applies to the BOM promise as well.
The burning in the bosom.Critics say that people who claim to get a "burning in the bosom" are just experiencing a warming sensation that is caused by the person itself and not an external force. Ever wonder where the expression "heart-warming" comes from? It's meant to describe a warm feeling you feel inside yourself. It's related to emotional responses to intense drama. The drama does not need to be true. For example, heart-warming is often used to describe watching a 'tear-jerker' movie where a beloved character dies saving someone else or reading a fictional, inspirational novel. Elder Dallin H. Oaks said:
FeelingsSince many people don't actually get a 'burning in the bosom', a testimony is often attributed to a feeling that you know something as opposed to a specific physical manifestation. Descriptions of the feeling vary greatly. If you asked 10 LDS people to define their testimony, you would likely get 10 different definitions. From conversations with numerous LDS and from reflecting upon our own testimonies of the Church when they were the strongest, it appears that a testimony is basically a strong feeling. It's an emotional response to an undefined situation. Emotions or the Holy Ghost?The whole "burning bosom" warm feeling is not uncommon in daily life for people of any and all religious backgrounds. We felt it when Superman saves someone that fell off a building, when Darth Vader turns on the emperor to save his son Luke, when Lassie finally came home and when the Grinch returned all the toys to Whoville. Some people get goosebumps, some get a lump in their throat, some get teary-eyed from watching these emotionally-charged fictional movies. Likewise, even atheists feel that "tingling, warm sensation" in many activities. You take a nature lover who climbs to the top of a mountain and looks out over the valley with a setting sun and - wham - the tingles start. The patriotic person who listens to a rousing rendition of the National Anthem or the Battle Hymn of the Republic gets the shivers. All of these experiences can cause the "burning bosom" regardless of religion. That is because they are "emotion-based." Whether something is meaningful to us is the result of our past experiences and belief system. While an American would feel the tingles during the National Anthem, a visiting Frenchman may not feel anything at all. Why? Because America's National Anthem has no meaning for him. How to purchase that feeling.The feelings are certainly not unique to the LDS Church. Bonneville Productions, the media firm owned by the Church, claims to produce that special feeling that many of us and investigators associate with the Holy Spirit. In fact, Bonneville has trademarked this term and calls it "Heartsell".
If you own a business you can also employ "Heartsell" by hiring Bonneville to consult for you. At first, we couldn't believe that they would blatantly admit that they can manufacture such feelings but they do. References:
Spiritual witnesses from SatanJoseph Smith said "Some revelations are of God: some revelations are of man: and some revelations are of the devil." From David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, p.30-31 [It will be on slightly different pages in different editions of Whitmer's pamphlet. Emphasis added] We were waiting on Martin Harris who was doing his best to sell a part of his farm, in order to raise the necessary funds. After a time Hyrum Smith and others began to get impatient, thinking that Martin Harris was too slow and under transgression for not selling his land at once, even if at a great sacrifice. Brother Hyrum thought they should not wait any longer on Martin Harris, and that the money should be raised in some other way. Brother Hyrum was vexed with Brother Martin, and thought they should get the money by some means outside of him, and not let him have anything to do with the publication of the Book, or receiving any of the profits thereof if any profits should accrue. He was wrong in thus judging Bro. Martin, because he was doing all he could toward selling his land. Brother Hyrum said it had been suggested to him that some of the brethren might go to Toronto, Canada , and sell the copy-right of the Book of Mormon for considerable money: and he persuaded Joseph to inquire of the Lord about it. Joseph concluded to do so. He had not yet given up the stone. Joseph looked into the hat in which he placed the stone, and received a revelation that some of the brethren should go to Toronto, Canada , and that they would sell the copy-right of the Book of Mormon. Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery went to Toronto on this mission, but they failed entirely to sell the copy-right, returning without any money. Joseph was at my father's house when they returned. I was there also, and am an eye witness to these facts. Jacob Whitmer and John Whitmer were also present when Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery returned from Canada . Well, we were all in great trouble; and we asked Joseph how it was that he had received a revelation from the Lord for some brethren to go to Toronto and sell the copy-right, and the brethren had utterly failed in their undertaking. Joseph did not know how it was, so he enquired of the Lord about it, and behold the following revelation came through the stone: "Some revelations are of God: some revelations are of man: and some revelations are of the devil." So we see that the revelation to go to Toronto and sell the copy-right was not of God, but was of the devil or of the heart of man. When a man enquires of the Lord concerning a matter, if he is deceived by his own carnal desires, and is in error, he will receive an answer according to his erring heart, but it will not be a revelation from the Lord. (http://sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP3.htm p. 49) In discussing the "Canadian Copyright Caper" B. H. Roberts quotes this entire passage in Comprehensive History of the Church Vol. 1 pp. 162-66. So just how do we know what revelations are from God, from the devil or from the heart of man if even the Prophet Joseph Smith couldn't tell? Counsel from General AuthoritiesElder Boyd K. Packer in an address that was printed in the 1983 LDS Ensign magazine in an article titled "Candle of the Lord" (http://www.lds.org/ensign/1983/01/the-candle-of-the-lord):
This address from Elder Packer was likely prompted by many letters to the church concerning "false positives" of the spirit. We've seen this happen many times. One incident in particular stands out. There was a returned missionary who fell in love with a woman shortly after returning home from his mission. They dated for a time and then he prayed and asked God whether she is the "right one" to marry. He got a very strong tingly feeling that confirmed, in his mind, that God revealed that she, indeed, was the right one. They married. Not a few months passed when it was discovered that his wife was having an affair with another man (who just happened to be a bishop of another ward with a large family). He was also shocked to learn that she was having affairs with this man all during their dating and courtship including the time he was praying about marrying her. He was devastated and had the temple marriage annulled. Most LDS members have a hard enough time getting ANY type of "witness" at all and now we're faced with the dilemma to somehow differentiate between whether it comes from God, their emotions or the Devil. To make matters worse, Elder Packer in his address offered no way to discern between them. If the prophet Joseph Smith couldn't tell the difference between revelation from God and from Satan how can the rest of us possibly say with surety that any revelation or witnesses we get are indeed really from God? Identifying SatanFor devout believers in the Holy Bible, Satan can appear as an 'Angel of Light' and can possess many of the other attributes we associate with truth and goodness. It's possible that Joseph and others were deceived by the 'Master of Lies'. For those adamantly opposed to polygamy and some of Joseph's other teachings, this is a possibility. Please read this article 'How can we know when information is from Satan?' by Richard Packham. References
What about those people who sincerely pray about the Book of Mormon and get a different answer?Many people, that the missionaries give the Book of Mormon to, sincerely pray about it and do not get a witness that it's true and therefore do not join the LDS church. How are we to reconcile that? Should not the Holy Ghost bear witness to all sincere seekers of the truth? The often heard trite answers such as 'he wasn't ready' or 'you expect too much' don't really make sense when you think about it. The promise as stated in the BOM is conditional only upon asking with a sincere heart, with real intent and having faith in Christ. Virtually everyone who wants to know if it's true has that. The missionaries even instruct people on how to pray if they need it. So why doesn't the Holy Ghost tell all these people that the BOM is true as well? The church would have you think that if everyone read the BOM, prayed about its validity that they would all receive a witness to its truthfulness. But simply put, many more people read the BOM, or at least parts of it, and do not believe it to be true than those that read it and accept it to be true. From former LDS members:
What about faithful members who lost their testimonies?Advice often given in church for those that are struggling with their testimony is to rely on others testimonies as you develop your own. But how do we know that other members really have valid testimonies? Growing up in the Church I knew a very staunch member who was one of the pillars of the ward. He was a stake high councilman with a strong testimony that he shared often. He would bear his testimony at most every Fast & Testimony meeting using the typical phrases such as 'I know this church is true' and 'I have a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon'. Some years later he left the church over historical issues of the church that he felt were too serious to ignore. So what are we to say about his former rock-solid testimony of the church? If he really had a real testimony of the church then how could he have lost it over historical facts? Many would say he perhaps never had a bona-fid testimony from the Holy Ghost. If that's the case, then how can we trust anyone else's testimony? How do we know that all those people that bear their testimonies every week aren't just like this righteous high councilman that only 'thought' he had a testimony? In the early days of the church even many apostles lost their testimonies. How could this be? If apostles' testimonies can be so weak and not real than what does this say about the average member's testimony? Some say that it was different back then and modern-day, high-ranking church leaders don't lose their testimonies. Jerrell Chesney served as the president of the Oklahoma City temple from 2000-2005. His wife served as the temple Matron. He and his wife had worked hard in the temple and had earned a reputation for sustaining good attendance figures. Prior to being a temple president, Jerrell Chesney had served in numerous church leadership positions, including Stake President and bishop several times. He had been again serving as a bishop of his home ward in Shawnee, Oklahoma when he and his wife resigned their church membership in 2006 reportedly over problematic historical issues he discovered about the church that the LDS leaders could not resolve. If you search the church's website for his name you will find it mentioned in The Ensign as he was a very respected church official. Scores of bishops, several church Education System teachers, at least five stake presidents, at least one Temple President, at least two Mission Presidents (Wendell Hall) and several Church Historians also have left the church in the past few years over historical problems with the Mormon Church. These are just the people we happen know of (as of Jan 2008). Most people leave quietly so who knows how many other members in high positions have also left? Also, many more members remain in the church after losing their testimony (not unlike some of the writers for this site). One CES employee told us that he knows of 11 CES instructors that have lost their testimony as a consequence of studying church history. At least 3 CES instructors that we know of have publicly resigned in the past decade. The Santa AnalogyThe following is from a conversation of a former believing member and his bishop:
Bearing your testimony when you don't have onePerhaps it's not official church canon, but we've all heard something like this in wards throughout the world; 'if you don't have a testimony, still bear one and that's how you can gain one', 'a testimony is gained in the bearing of it', 'your weak testimony will grow stronger when you bear it often'. In a talk by Richard Wirthlin, he quotes Elder Packer:
In the April 2008 General Conference, Dallin Oaks made the following statement:
The people following this counsel repeat things over and over, until they convince themselves that they're true. Just keep telling yourself, "I know it's true...I know it's true...I know it's true..." and before long, you'll believe it! The advice is essentially to lie enough times until you believe it yourself. Just think about this for a minute. If you don't have testimony, bear one anyway. Does this make sense? Lying is wrong. If you say 'you think you know' or 'you believe' that's fine. We can all accept that as that's a truthful statement. But to say 'you know' when you don't really know is lying plain and simple. To the church, such "technical distinctions" between belief and knowledge don't seem to matter—why? Because the church is true anyway, so the ends justifies the means. Peer PressureThe peer pressure involved in bearing testimonies is enormous. In any leadership position you are expected to bear your testimony, regardless of whether you have a genuine one or not. We personally would much rather prefer to only hear people's real accounts of their beliefs and not 'made-up' testimonies given in order to help others gain one. I admit that I did it when I conducted church meetings as I was expected to bear my testimony first to kick off the meeting. And how do we know that the people we hear bearing their testimonies every month are not just following Elder Packer's advice and bearing testimonies when they don't really have them? Believing false testimoniesWhat would happen if the spirit bore witness to something that we found out wasn't true? Paul H. DunnPaul H. Dunn was a General Authority of the LDS Church. He was a member of the First Quorum of Seventy for many years. For years he broadcasted personal experiences of his life that were completely untrue and undetected in the presence of the prophet, apostles, seventies and huge amounts of saints. Elder Dunn wrote, for example, how God protected him as enemy machine-gun bullets ripped away his clothing, gear and helmet without ever touching his skin and how he was preserved by the Lord. These stories motivated at least two people that one of us knew to be baptized during his mission - because they "felt the spirit" when listening to him speak. The "spirit" was strong, yet the whole thing never happened. So what exactly was the "spirit" testifying to? Obviously it was an emotional reaction based upon those riveting lies and Dunn was a master of manipulating the "spirit" to testify of things that were not true. Eventually Brother Dunn's deceptions were exposed. He apologized and said something about how he liked to tell exciting, motivational stories. He became the very first General Authority to gain "emeritus" status and was quietly removed from public church life. I personally had dinner with Elder Dunn many years ago. I liked the guy and enjoyed listening to his stories during the conference he spoke at. But even though I thought I 'felt the spirit' during his recounting of fascinating events of his life, I now know that many of those stories were fabrications and I was mislead by whatever spiritual feeling that came over me while I listened to his stories. We've been told countless times by well-read people who know all the scientific and historical evidence against the LDS church, that despite the evidence, they "still know it is true because of spiritual experiences". Condescendingly, a man told me that he felt sorry for everyone else who didn't have these spiritual experiences like he did, so that they could also know the 'truth'. One of our members has had these spiritual experiences throughout his life, including at the death of his daughter, and also as an LDS missionary. So let's consider these spiritual witnesses. References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_H._Dunn Sunstone article (page 28 excellent article): Ensign talk from Paul H. Dunn: If Thou Art Willing Personal stories from former LDS members:- A stake president gave a serious invitation for myself and my wife to move to his stake at the drop of a hat, to help populate a struggling ward with an extra priesthood body. He mentioned the "blessings" that we would receive as a consequence. I replied that our Stake president had just called me to be EQP and asked him the question "Which revelation is more correct - yours or his?". He fumbled with this question and went onto some other topic. I suddenly saw a very human way of operating by a stake president. - One friend of mine had his mother receive a "priesthood blessing" of "counsel and comfort" where the mother was told his father was to die shortly - as you can imagine this caused life changing turmoil both for the mother and son. This occurred some 19 years ago, and the father is still alive and well. - My daughter and boyfriend went to the temple to get inspiration as to whether they should marry. She got a 'yes' answer. He got a 'no' answer. - My parents felt inspired that a monetary investment would pay off well. They lost money. - Our Primary President felt inspired about calling a certain sister to a Primary position. The bishop vetoed that inspiration. - A couple, who are our friends, went to the temple for an answer as to whether he should attend law school. He got a 'yes' answer, and she got a 'no' answer. - A neighbor had revelation that 'Twin Girls' were waiting to be born to her family, so she became pregnant by deceiving her husband who wanted no more children. She had a single boy. Then there is the disconnect where people pray and find lost keys, while others pray about lost cousins who aren't found until after they have asphyxiated in a trunk. Missionary story
The Hawaii Temple Bombing
Personal testimonies of the principle of "Adam is our God" yet linger from former-latter-day-saints. Try reading the words of Eliza R. Snow in "Women of Mormondom" (available in modern reprint), and you be left with no doubt about the Holy Ghost's witness to her about Adam—it certainly gives a whole new meaning to "O My Father" in the hymn book. We suspect that all of us have heard similar stories where the inspiration, revelation, and spirit whispering have not turned out the way they were supposed to turn out. Then we start rationalizing. "The answer was No. His ways are not our ways. In His time, not ours." Do we twist answers to make them fit what we desire? Are we programmed and conditioned to practice self-deception? Are we letting emotion override reason because we '"feel good about it"? Do we emphasize magical thinking? Do we let testimony trump multiple lines of scientific evidence and fact? Who can tell which experiences are externally valid, and which are within our own brains?" Special witnesses of ChristWe've all heard that one of the important reasons that we have a prophet and apostles in modern times (as well as ancient times) is for them to act as a 'special witnesses' of Christ. What does this mean? Many members believe it means that these 15 men may have actually seen Christ or have had some sort of definitive experience that would eliminate any possible doubt as to the validity of God's true church on earth. We've heard that when missionaries are visited by apostles and they give them the opportunity to ask them any questions, it almost always come up that someone asks the big question 'Have you actually seen Christ?'. The usual response is something vague like 'If I have, it would be too special to talk about'. A member of my stake presidency was talking to me about Gordon B. Hinckley's interview with Mike Wallace and said that Wallace asked him if he'd ever seen Christ (this may have been off-camera). Hinckley responded that he has not seen Christ. The stake presidency member said that GBH had to say that to Mike Wallace so it wouldn't be paraded around on National TV but that we all know that GBH has seen Christ. It's obvious that many Latter-day Saints believe that the special witnesses, that we call prophets and apostles, have actually seen Christ. What do the apostles themselves say? President George Albert SmithMar 25, 1950 - President George Albert Smith writes,
Critic's point: George Albert Smith was not just and Apostle when he wrote this, he was Church President, THE PROPHET etc. His testimony as a prophet doesn't really sound like he's a 'special witness'. His testimony is similar to the average member. Apostle Neal Maxwell and Apostle Dallin OaksIn an interview with Steve Benson (President Ezra Taft Benson's grandson), Apostle Neal Maxwell and Apostle Dallin Oaks were reportedly asked "What personal spiritual experiences have you had which gave you your testimonies as special witnesses for Christ?" Per Steve Benson:
All the accounts we've ever heard about the prophets and apostles are similar to these. Their testimonies are simply no different than any other member's testimony. There's nothing special or divine in their testimonies that eliminates the room for doubt about the LDS Church being God's one true church on earth. In fact these testimonies, as well as the average members' testimonies, aren't really any different than the testimonies of members of other faiths. To see how average their "special" witness testimonies are, read them here. Think about how many apostles left the church in the early days. Many left after hearing Martin Harris say publicly that he did not see the plates with his natural eyes but only in a vision or imagination, and the same was true for all the other witnesses. If these 'special witnesses' of Christ really had a special witness then they would not have left the church merely over what Martin Harris said. Prominent Church members led astrayLDS leader James Strang claimed to be the true prophet that succeeded Joseph after he was killed. Many people followed Strang after he sent a letter claiming he had received a revelation that he should be prophet. The letter convinced most of Smith's family and several other prominent Mormons that Strang's claims were genuine; John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Martin Harris, Hiram Page, John E. Page, William E. McLellin, William Smith, Smith's first wife and widow, Emma Hale Smith, the sisters of Joseph Smith, William Marks, George Miller, and others, including Joseph Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith. Lucy wrote to Reuben Hedlock: "I am satisfied that Joseph appointed J.J. Strang. It is verily so."(ibid) According to William Smith, all of Joseph Smith's family (excepting Hyrum Smith's widow), endorsed Strang. (Palmer, 211) Here we have all of the living Book of Mormon witness, except Oliver Cowdery, as well as most of Smith's family and several other prominent members of the early LDS church accept Strang's claim of being a prophet by merely reading his letter. How much credibility can we give these people and their testimonies when they accept someone so easily as a prophet who later turns out to be a fraud? David Whitmer's testimonyAfter David Whitmer left the church he said "If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens, and told me to separate myself from among the Latter-day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, so should it be done unto them." (Address to All Believers in Christ, p. 27, 1887). Critic's point: So which testimony of David Whitmer is wrong? Martin Harris's testimonyMartin Harris joined the Shakers for about two years. The Shakers had a large number of witnesses who claimed they saw angels and the Roll and Book. There are over a hundred pages of testimony from "Living Witnesses." The evidence seems to show that Martin Harris accepted the Sacred Roll and Book as a divine revelation. Clark Braden stated: "Harris declared repeatedly that he had as much evidence for a Shaker book he had as for the Book of Mormon" (The Braden and Kelly Debate, p.173). Critic's point: So which testimony of Martin Harris is wrong? References
People of all faiths have similar testimonies of their own religionsAlthough they might phrase things somewhat differently, people of virtually all faiths, Christian and non-Christian, believe that the church that they belong to is 'correct' and approved of from God. This is especially true of Catholics, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, RLDS (Community of Christ) and other non-protestant religions. Shamans have spiritual experiences and visions, as do Buddhist Monks. Yet all these faiths are mutually exclusive. Although many protestants do not necessarily believe that their church is absolutely correct and another protestant church is totally wrong e.g. Lutherans are correct and Baptists are wrong, most have a burning testimony of Jesus. However, their perception of God and Jesus is different than the one attributed to Mormonism. They reject the God and Jesus as taught by the LDS faith so their testimony of Deity is different than the LDS member's testimony of the Godhood. Both cannot be correct. Do we discount the spiritual experiences of others because "Everyone has the light of Christ, which they misinterpret, but we have the fullness of the Spirit"? Is thinking that our spiritual experiences are more valid than others the epitome of arrogance and conceit? The following are a few accounts of actual 'testimonies' of real people from various religions: CatholicFrom a Catholic forum website, there are numerous examples of people with amazing similarities to LDS testimony accounts. The topic of this thread on the forum was "So why did you convert?" Here are some excerpts of these Catholic conversions:
There are many more examples on this Catholic forum, some others of note are #17, 18, 25. Jehovah's WitnessThe Jehovah's Witnesses came to my door one day when I was 15-years-old and I bought their literature and let them come to my home for a weekly "Bible study". One day I read something in their literature that gave me "the burning in the soul" and I immediately "knew" that Jehovah had sent the Jehovah's Witnesses to my door because I had been praying for this moment for years (even though I was only 15). And I became a Jehovah's Witness. MuslimI had never in my life heard of The Holy Qur'an. I began to briefly read some pages. While I was reading I knew that what I was reading was true, it was like a slap in the face, a wake up call. The Qur'an is so clear and easy to understand. http://thepeopleofthebook.org/islam6testimony.html RLDS (Community of Christ)I go where I feel God is directing me to go. I go to this church because I feel so lead by the Holy Spirit as supported by the many spiritual experiences, blessings and testimonies that have been a part of my life. I go to this church because based on my background, my study of the scriptures and church history, it makes so much sense to me and brings so much joy to me, that I feel complete. I go to this church because I believe it to have a greater fulness of the gospel than can be found anywhere else without the stain of getting caught up in the trivialities of a few scriptures or the errant teachings of man. I go to this church because of the joy that I feel when I am serving the Lord. Terry FLDSThere are many people who have received spiritual witnesses just as many LDS have, for completely different "truths." We were amazed as we read through several testimonies of FLDS folks. They sounded just like they came from LDS testimony meetings, except there were a few things that were different, but the spiritual witnesses were the same. Here is an excerpt of one that is not particularly unique, but you can see the standard LDS pattern in it, except this person had a strong witness from the Holy Ghost that GBH is not a prophet and that James D. Harmston is a prophet. There are many such FLDS testimonies. The LDS witnesses of the Holy Ghost are no more or less correct or compelling that these FLDS testimonies, or the testimonies of born again Christians, or Muslims.
HinduFrom an LDS member: The Mormons resort to asking you to pray about the truthfulness of the church. I had several people that claimed they did the same thing with their church and felt the same feelings we often described for the truthfulness of the church. In fact a friend of mine, without knowing anything about the Mormon Church described the exact feelings we would use as Mormons, only he was given a hug by a supposed reincarnated being from the Hindu religion. He bawled like a baby. How about that, try as I might I could never doctrinally justify God responding to another person with a conflicting message. Brasilman American IndianThe Colorado Indians experienced a ... culturally induced delusion when they climbed to a mountaintop to fast until the Great Spirit came to them. Every Indian boy who had to pass through this rite of puberty wasn't allowed to eat anything until he reported that the Great Spirit spoke to him. Every young man in the tribe actually hallucinated hearing and seeing the Great Spirit. But his hallucinations were not psychotic; it was simply something that the whole culture believed in to the point of mass delusion. See also Vision Quests An UntestimonyI believe that God or nature gave us brains to use and that the use of them will help us to survive. If God gave us the ability to reason, it should not be wasted. Now saying that, do you believe in revelation? If you believe in revelation and that a believing member of the church will get an answer from God when a sincere question is asked, then what do you make of the following? This is my personal story of revelation:
Testimony of modern-day, non-LDS scriptureChristopher Marc Nemelka wrote (translated) what he claims is the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon, aptly titled, The Sealed Portion. More information is found here: http://marvelousworkandawonder.com/tsp/whatistsp.htm. You can read The Sealed Portion online by clicking on the "Read Now" links from that page. Here's the testimony of a few of his followers:
Study of Spiritual Experiences Among FaithsThis study on spiritual experiences among various faiths is very telling: http://www.theamateurthinker.com/2011/02/how-can-we-find-truth-part-4/ Basically it has spiritual experiences dictated and one is supposed to be able to match the religion with the experience. You honestly cannot tell the difference.You read each experience and think - that happened to me as a Mormon - that happened to me as a Protestant, etc. Here's the test: A Short Experiment – Comparing Descriptions of Spiritual Feelings from Different Religions It is interesting to read people’s personal descriptions of religious experience. People from very different religions often use similar words to describe their spiritual experiences. I’ve collected a sample of people’s descriptions of religious conversion or spiritual revelation. The following twenty quotes are from practicing Atheists, Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus, Muslims, Mormons, New Agers, Protestants, and Universal Unitarians. Try to guess which quote comes from which religion (some religions are used more than once). I have standardized the language (changes indicated by brackets ), so that differences in terminology between religions will not tip you off (thus, mosque, temple and church are all become a [church]; the Bible and all other religious texts become a [text] or [sacred text]). Try to match these 8 religions to the following 20 quotes. The answer key is below: Atheist 1. “I felt a burning in my heart, and a great burden seemed to have left me.” 2. “But what can I say? How can I describe an experience so profound and so beautiful? Shall I say that it was the most blessed experience of my life? Shall I say that [God] touched my heart and gave me a feeling of peace I had not known before? Shall I describe the tears that flowed freely from my eyes, affirming my . . . faith, as I . . . beg[ed] [God's] blessings for myself and for those I love?” 3. “The sense I had of divine things, would often of a sudden kindle up, as it were, a sweet burning in my heart; an ardor of soul, that I know not how to express.” 4. “As I read these books in a . . . bookstore, . . . I felt a burning in my heart that I should come and investigate.” 5. “[Even as a child], [w]ithout understanding much about the complex [doctrine] . . . he was attracted to [church]. There he often felt a strong feeling of peace flowing through his body.” 6. “I was praying . . . when I felt a burning shaft of . . . love come through my head and into my heart.” 7. “I truly [sic] wanted to know [the truth]. After a few weeks, I stumbled onto [texts] which . . . answered my questions in a way that I had not heard of before. I read everything . . .and I even tried the experiment of asking [God] for . . . his divine love. After about 6 weeks, I felt a burning in my chest and a sensation that was unlike anything I had ever felt. It was pure happiness and peace. I knew then that [God] had sent His love to me.” 8. “A feeling of peace and certitude would tell me when I had found the answers and often after people would help me by pointing in the right direction.” 9. “We gave up a lot of things. What did I get in return? I received a feeling of peace, hope and security. I no longer lay awake at night worrying. I stopped cussing. I became much more honest in all aspects of my life. [God] has changed my heart and my life. My husband’s heart is changing also. We pray all the time and really feel [God’s] presence in our marriage. My perspective has changed. My view of life has changed about what is truly important.” 10. “Many women described a feeling of euphoria after they committed to following [God] . . . . One woman described a feeling of peace; she said: ‘It is like you are born again and you can start all over again, free from sin.’” 11. “A feeling of peace seemed to flow into me with a sense of togetherness . . . . . I felt very peaceful from inside and also felt [warmth] . . . .” 12. “I felt a burning sensation in my heart.” 13. “That inner light, that we all have or had at some time in our existence, was nearly burnt out for me. But in the [church] . . . I found a feeling of peace, inner solitude and quietness that I’d also found in reading the [text] and pondering over its meaning and trying to practice what it tells us.” 14. “For the first time I not only felt accountable for my past sins but I had to fight back tears. I knew that I had let down [God] [and] my family . . . . However, I also knew I was forgiven! [It] gave me a feeling of peace that I have never felt it in my whole life. I felt like I had a huge weight lifted off of me and that I was finally home and free . . . . I felt like a new person.” 15. “Every time I am there [at the church building], a feeling of peace overcomes me.” 16. “Every time I was with the [church members], I felt this warm feeling, a feeling of peace and for the first time in my life since my church-going days, I wanted to follow [God] . . . .” 17. “About 10 years ago, when Jenny and I decided to start a family, we began looking for a spiritual community for our kids. During my first service at [the church]. . . I was hooked. I recall the feeling of peace that I felt when I was attending [services].” 18. “The power of [God] came into me then. I had this warm and overwhelming feeling of peace and security. It’s hard to explain. I had to . . . stop myself from falling backward.” 19. “[The religious leader] looked into my eyes deeply for a moment, and I experienced a feeling of peace and love unlike anything I had ever experienced before.” 20. “[After praying,] [i]mmediately I was flooded with a deep feeling of peace, comfort, and hope.” 21. “I recently spent an afternoon on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, atop the mount where Jesus is believed to have preached his most famous sermon. . . . As I sat and gazed upon the surrounding hills gently sloping to an inland sea, a feeling of peace came over me. It soon grew to a blissful stillness that silenced my thoughts. In an instant, the sense of being a separate self—an “I” or a “me”—vanished. . . . The experience lasted just a few moments, but returned many times as I gazed out over the land where Jesus is believed to have walked, gathered his apostles, and worked many of his miracles.” The answers are in the next paragraph. My point here is not to say that any of these people’s experiences are invalid or that they are not valuable, or that religion is bad (I am an active church-goer myself). Nor am I trying to say that this proves any certain religion to be true or false – just that spiritual experiences are a universal human emotion, and that, just like any emotional experience, they are not enough by themselves to be reliable indicators of absolute truth. This is easy to demonstrate using religious experiences, since the claims of most of these religions are contradictory. Thus, if one of the above religions were true in the absolute sense, many or most of the others would be false. Many or most of the above people’s religious experiences, therefore, could not have been reliable indicators of the truth. Answers: 1. Protestant; 2. Islam; 3. Protestant; 4. Catholic; 5. Hindu; 6. Catholic; 7. New Age; 8. Islam; 9. Protestant; 10. Islam; 11. Hindu; 12. Protestant; 13. Islam; 14. Catholic; 15. Buddhist; 16. Mormon; 17. Universal Unitarian; 18. Catholic; 19. Hindu; 20. Protestant; 21. Atheist Critic's comment: If members were to take the time to ask believers who’ve experienced Baptist, Pentecostal or Evangelical revivals what they felt, they would recognize the symptoms: heart-warming, mind-stimulating peacefulness and assurance that God loves and gives them truth. Hindus will attest that of the seven chakras the heart and mind centers are designed to follow higher understanding and intuition. Proper use of these chakras will yield intense elation, peace, higher truth and a refined sense of consciousness that only the diligent can achieve. The chakras experience is occasionally head-to-toe sensations and can become a full-time guiding essence if one seeks such constant experience. And so forth and so on with elements of all major religions that believe in spiritualism. There are members of other walks of life that will describe their spiritual renewal with terms reflecting the burning of bosoms and enlightenment of mind to higher states. Are these really inferior to LDS Holy Ghost witnesses? How do you know? Conclusion1. I've had spiritual witnesses that my church is true. Other spiritual witnessesMany faithful LDS have a tendency to turn almost any situation into a spiritual one. If their car breaks down on the way to the temple it shows that the church is true because Satan was trying to thwart their efforts but if it ends up being a smooth trip it shows the truthfulness of the church as God helped them get to the temple. If church membership starts to shrink this shows that the church is true because Satan is working against it but if church membership is growing then the church is true because people are accepting God's true word, etc. Encounter with SatanAccount from an LDS member:
Critic's point: Other than being deceived herself, Lynne recounted this experience to many audiences as a real 'spiritual' encounter with the other side. So anyone that first heard the story believed it as a real event whereas she admitted later that she was deceived by a psychological phenomenon. And the people that heard her 'testimony' of seeing demonic beings probably passed these false stories on to other people that would believe them as well. Act of God or coincidenceAccount from a former LDS member:
When things work out well for THEM, it is because they paid their tithing, prayed to God, heeded counsel of General Authorities - or were otherwise "righteous" as defined by the church. When things work out well for ME (evil atheist) it is just a coincidence. Amazing spiritual expereince from an RLDS memberSpiritual Experience from an RLDS (Community of Christ) member Comment: I have asked Terry about his experience many times. He definitely believes it was a real event. I can only say that if I had this kind of vision while at the pulpit of the RLDS Church, I would likely firmly believe that the RLDS Church was true. Editor's comments: We personally have noticed many people in our wards and within our families that claim the 'spirit' helped them with everything from finding car keys to saving their life. The vast majority of these are not truly that phenomenal of events and completely explainable. They only attribute them as a 'spiritual' experience because they are LDS. We just have to wonder if that's really the case then why God would help some LDS kid find a lost toy and ignore the thousands of people starving to death or dying from diseases in third-world countries? What about spiritual witnesses that defy explanation?Although the vast majority of spiritual experiences that happen to LDS people are explainable by coincidence, natural occurrences, scientific reasoning and many other factors, there are some experiences that seem to defy explanation. We've known many LDS that are absolutely adamant that they experienced some sort of spiritual experience that is beyond earthly explanation. One of these people happens to be my wife. These would include visitations of people that died, ministering of angels, direct answers to prayers in ways that are incalculable. Although there may in fact be extraordinary explanations like sleep paralysis, hallucinations, brain disorders, etc, we accept that there may be things that have happened to humans that truly defy all earthly explanation. However, whatever these true spiritual experiences are, they happen to people of all faiths - for example Catholics see the Virgin Mary. To them of course it's evidence that their faith is correct. People reportedly see spirits and ghosts all the time. There are even several television shows that are dedicated to examining these encounters. If you read articles from the Reader's Digest and Guidepost you will find amazing, uplifting, true stories of people who had amazing spiritual experiences. But the interesting thing is that the vast majority of them are not LDS. So the LDS people, that believe in the truthfulness of the LDS Church because of some remarkable spiritual experience they had, may be interpreting that experience incorrectly. It may have nothing to do with the truthfulness of the LDS Church if people outside the LDS faith receive similar, unexplainable spiritual experiences. Here's an interesting article that discusses how 'spiritual experiences' can be reproduced in the laboratory: Holy Visions: Mystical Experience or Brain Malfunction? The power of discernmentBishops and stake presidents and other leaders of the church reportedly have the gift of discernment so they can see if someone is lying or not really worthy to hold a given calling. We question this ability. Several bishops have told us that they rely on conventional methods such as body language and hearsay to prompt the person being interviewed to give further information to the church leader. Also, many people have bluntly admitted that they were 'unworthy' to enter the temple but their misrepresentations to the bishop and stake president, as well as to the temple officiators went unchallenged. In short, we haven't seen any real instances of actual discernment coming from heaven to help our leaders discern the truth. In fact several people have smuggled tape recorders into the temple and made tape recordings of the entire temple ceremony that are available on the Internet. Surely God would have prompted the righteous temple workers to discover the nefarious intentions of these men but they didn't. Nor did God alert the bishop and stake president when these people had their temple recommend interview. An infamous recording was made in the Los Angeles Temple. A former Mormon made this recording after he was excommunicated! At no time during the process of entering the temple and making the recording did ANY members of the LDS church show that they were aware that an "apostate" of the LDS faith was in their very temple. This recording was later used to aid Chuck Sackett in the writing of What's Going On In there? http://archive.org/download/LdsTempleEndowmentCeremony1984/1984temple.mp3 - 1984 audio version. http://archive.org/download/LdsTempleEndowmentCeremony1990/1990temple.mp3 - 1990 audio version. In 2012 a man brought in a hidden camera and filmed a temple session and posted it to youtube for anyone to look at - as of {4/17/2013} it is still on the Internet. Here is a copy at archive.org. Here are his words:
Here's a true account of five people that went to the temple together who were definitely not faithful members. http://packham.n4m.org/templex.htm Perhaps the bishop's power of discernment is stated as a psychological method to try to get people to act more honorably and to think they can't get away with something instead of it being a real, actual priesthood power. Mark Hofmann and the ForgeriesBy Ken Clark. Most Mormons were at first elated then troubled by the documents that Mark Hofmann, forger extraordinaire began marching through the First Presidency's office in the mid 1980's. Members first thought that the documents would prove beyond all doubt that Joseph Smith was a true prophet; the version of history taught by the church would be vindicated and the church would be proved to be the only true church on earth. It became clear that the message from the documents was that Joseph and others were superstitious and prone to "see" heavenly beings when convenient. It was embarrassing. When the Salamander Letter was published (a forged document claiming that a white salamander gave revelations to Joseph instead of the angel Moroni), CES began to churn out all kinds of defensive statements and a packet of material to provide some damage control. I still have it in my files. The CES information indicated that sometimes a spirit was referred to as a toad or salamander. It admitted that Joseph had been prone to some superstitious practices in his younger days. Though Joseph had dabbled in the occult when younger, he undoubtedly saw God and the Son just like he said, the printed material insisted. President Kimball posed for a now-famous Church News photograph holding a magnifying glass over a forged document he thought was authentic, with Mark Hofmann (liar and forger) standing next to him-arm around his shoulders. It was not encouraging to learn that the Lord's prophet, who supposedly held all the keys of the dispensation, including the keys of discernment had been duped. He and all the other apostles didn't have a clue that Hofmann was a liar and murderer. Despite all the stories I had repeated in seminary to the kids about the all-knowing power of discernment the prophets possessed, it turned out that they were fooled as easily as anyone else. In their eagerness to suppress documents embarrassing to the church, they had shelled out over $900,000 worth of rare church antiquities and cash to Hofmann. I read books about the Hofmann affair-4 of them. Except for the one by Richard Turley where his purpose for writing was to exonerate the general authorities at all costs, the other 3 admitted that the leaders had been tricked, had been tried to suppress information from members if it was unfavorable, and perhaps obstructed justice. The authorities looked even more like old, incompetent, paranoid men when Turley's book revealed that the First Presidency's vault contained the famous McLellin papers that Hofmann had promised to produce. The Mormon leaders had no idea the documents were there-since 1908. When they were discovered in 1986, they told no one for six years, though that information would have been helpful for law enforcement. If after finding them they admitted that the collection had been there all the time it would have proven critics right who accused them of covering up information. They decided to stay tight lipped instead of turning over the documents to the police who needed them to make the charges stick against Hofmann. It was another example of cover-ups, deceit and getting caught red handed. Because the church advocates "obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law" (12th Article of Faith), it was embarrassing to be a member and learn how they conducted themselves. It made me angrier when Dallin Oaks, through self righteous posturing took the press to task for accusing the church leaders of shoddy conduct. He deliberately tried to deceive the public into believing that his error filled tirade was accurate and that the church had been a victim of unfair publicity. Facts plainly pointed to a different conclusion. I lost more respect for the church's leaders. They appeared to be just like a guilty politician when caught in a scandal-resort to lying and claim that the media is to blame for his/her troubles. I spoke to a CES colleague about the Hofmann affair after he was sentenced to life in prison. I asked him how he felt about the church's conduct and the fact that the leaders seemed to be no more inspired than the average Joe on the street. He went to great lengths to defend the leaders. After all, they were gentle and trusting men who took people at their word in good faith, he insisted. Because the colleague was my boss I didn't challenge him. But it was obvious to me that when it suited them the Mormons regaled each other with stories about the God-given power of discernment prophets possess. Now when it was obvious that they were simply old white gentlemen who had been duped, they were extra gentle and compassionate, but not incompetent. Ken Clark http://www.exmormon.org/whylft149.htm Critic's comment: Where was their Power of Discernment? Even the Tanners, which were considered some of the biggest enemies of the Church, said that the documents were likely fakes but the Church bought them anyway. Some LDS speculate that the Church bought them knowing that they were fakes but better to keep them out of critic's hands. That makes no sense. It would have been much more powerful for the LDS Church to declare them fakes and have experts verify that. But this story makes it obvious that the top leaders have no real power of discernment. If they want to admit they made a mistake then fine but whenever someone tries to hide the truth there are always consequences to deception. Even worse is when Apostle Dallin Oaks tries to validate that the document didn't really alter the Church's foundational claims by saying that the 'salamander' mentioned in Hofmann's document could be interpreted as a 'mythical being thought to be able to live in fire' (even though Hofmann said he substituted the word salamander for toad from another early church document which clearly shows that the context of salamander was a small lizard and not some off-the-wall 'mythical being' obscure definition of the word salamander). Amazing that an apostle would bend over backwards to try to justify a document to prevent it from harming people's testimonies - and then to find out that the document he was making excuses for was a complete forgery! ReferencesPatriarchal BlessingsPatriarchal blessings are often cited as special, very real spiritual witnesses given to members from deity through patriarchs. Many members take these very seriously and often say how inspired the patriarch must have been to have provided the unique and applicable blessing to the recipient. The calling of patriarch is often cited as one of the most difficult callings in the church and only given to the most spiritual of men. It's interesting to note that in the early days of the Church, the church members had to pay the Patriarch (Joseph's father was the first patriarch) for their blessing. The interview process.The patriarch will interview the recipient of the blessing prior to providing one. Why is this necessary? During the interview he will ask you many details of your life - your schooling, profession, marital status, hopes, dreams, testimony, etc. Is it just a coincidence that many of these things you tell the patriarch end up in some form in the blessing? If he was truly getting the information from 'the spirit' then he would not need to 'pump' you for information before-hand. I received my patriarchal blessing while attending BYU. He asked me many questions about my schooling and what I plan to do with my career. My PB stated many things all involving attributes of my chosen profession that I told him about and nothing at all that was unique to me. Everything else was pretty generic and could have applied to anyone despite it being a very long blessing - two full pages. Also he got my father's name wrong. I think a truly inspired patriarch would have gotten my dad's name correct regardless of what he thought he heard either when he gave the blessing or when it was transcribed afterwards and mailed to me. DisclaimersMany recipients of patriarchal blessings say that the patriarchs give so many disclaimers as to render the blessing useless. Disclaimers such as, he makes mistakes which can be corrected when proofreading the typed version, so if something gets added or left out in the written version as different from the verbal blessing, it is by his inspiration. Sometimes there are typos. Sometimes it is him speaking as a man. Sometimes things don't turn out as in the blessing because God changes his plan for us, etc. Training of PatriarchsA member writes: I served a mission in England . I was once eating dinner at a patriarch's house. He told me that he was petrified when he was called to be patriarch back in the early sixties. Right after he was called, he and a bunch of other patriarchs met at a stake center where an apostle was waiting to train them. He said that all the training amounted to was about five hours of looking through piles and piles of old blessings. There was hardly any real training at all besides reading blessings that were hand picked by the church as good examples for the patriarchs to model future blessings on. The tribeAn unusual part of the blessing is naming what tribe you're from. We don't really know the significance of this. Almost everyone is from the tribe of Ephraim. Since members of the same family can be from different tribes, it doesn't seem to be a biological tribe but some sort of spiritual tribe. However, this article from the Ensign specifically states:
Blessings that don't come true.Whenever someone's PB doesn't come true, everyone always says either it can still come true in the next life or perhaps you were not worthy enough as usually there's a statement at the end about these blessings being predicated on the subject's worthiness. However there are some blessings that cannot be explained away so easily. Blessing given by Joseph Smith Jr.
Critic's point: Hyrum never experienced any of these things in his relatively short life. Another example of a Patriarchal Blessing that didn't come true
Critic's point: Obviously there was no way that Brother Huntington could have preached to the inhabitants of the Moon. Forcing blessings to come trueFaithful members will often try to interpret any blessing as coming true. It's like the six degrees to Kevin Bacon method. An example comes from apostle James E. Faust talk 'Priesthood Blessings':
Critic's comment: With that kind of free latitude that members give to Patriarchs, they can interpret virtually any blessing as coming true - which makes the blessings of no real value. Can patriarchal blessings be harmful to people?Excerpt from former members:
Perhaps it was best for them to keep that faith in such an awful situation but it's further evidence that some patriarchal blessings cannot be fulfilled as promised. The lack of real meaning in a patriarchal blessingWe've often wondered why our blessings didn't include more counsel or reveal anything that any of us could really grab onto and help us in our lives. Many of us unjustly blamed ourselves for perhaps not being worthy enough to receive special counsel; that maybe we got ours when we were unprepared. The singular chance at such a blessing becomes quite the burden when you are faced with these doubts. Many of us have reflected on our patriarchal blessing many, many times. Most blessings are rather vague and provide precious little counsel. So ultimately what practical purpose do they serve? None of the critics that we talked to had any mention in their patriarchal blessings of having to deal with 'faith-challenging' issues in church. Perhaps a few simple statements like that would have kept them from becoming critics of the church. There was a study on PBs published it in Dialogue in the late 1990s. It indicated that during certain time periods in church history certain themes (like the Second Coming) were emphasized in public discourse and by coincidence, these same themes popped up in patriarchal blessings. We haven't found the article yet but if anyone finds it, please let us know. The Amazing RandiThe Amazing Randi is a famous magician that also spends his time exposing charlatans and psychics. He particularly goes after those that try to defraud people out of their money using magician's tricks and other deceptive practices. The following story illustrates this: Randi had a psychic look at a group of about 30 college students and write up some characteristics unique to each person much like a palm reader would do. Randi distributed each person's 'psychic reading' to them. He then asked how many people thought the psychic accurately described each person. Virtually every hand went up. Each person was amazed at how accurately their reading was. They could not understand how this psychic could have 'read' them each so well when he didn't know any of them. Then Randi had everyone pass their individual psychic reading to the person behind them. The students were shocked. Everyone had the exact same psychic reading. The phony psychic used generic, nonspecific platitudes that most people can identify with such as 'people don't understand me', 'I don't really know what I want to do with my life', 'I am more creative than I let on', etc. This reminded us very much of patriarchal blessings. Except for the parts that the blesser obtains from the blessee in the interview before he gives the blessing, most people's blessings could apply to anyone. Most are so vague and full of platitudes that anyone could really be just as 'blessed' with another person's blessing if they traded theirs for someone else's blessing or if the patriarch accidentally gave a blessing meant for one person to another person. Critic's website: http://www.salamandersociety.com/blessing/ Priesthood blessingsStatistically, the death rate from car accidents in Utah is the same as across the nation. Statistically, the death rate of terminal cases in Utah is also the same as the rest of the nation. With all the priesthood blessings being given in Utah, why don't we see a statistical difference? Are there other logical reasons why people would be healed? Time? Immune system finally kicks in? Medical and health care? Placebo effect? Body-brain connection? A healing of a deaf girl sounded like a classic case of auditory malingering. There are many other stories of various kinds of malingering. James Randi, mentioned above, also tells of healing experiences by Peter Popoff and others, but after the cameras are off, those healed are left writhing in pain. Randi also debunks Sylvia Browne, Allison DuBois, John Edward, and other psychics. His foundation offers "a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event." The million dollars has yet to be claimed. http://www.randi.org Another favorite debunking site which covers everything from 'the hundredth monkey' to 'remote viewing' and everything in-between http://www.skepdic.com Another great site is skeptoid.com which may have been created by a former LDS. Perhaps we really do need to start thinking more critically. Examples of priesthood blessings received by faithful members of the LDS Church that are not faith-promoting.Example 1...Then a close friend died. He had been a good friend of mine and a member of the Church. I had been his home teacher. I would later learn that I was his best friend. He was a good man with five children whom he loved more than anything else in life. Sure, young fathers die every day and leave wives as widows and children fatherless. I understood that. A belief in the gospel doesn't change the reality of life - it ends and sometimes it ends very awkwardly and untimely. However his life ended after a priesthood blessing which promised wellness and a speedy return to his earthly family. I was the one who was asked to give the blessing. Reverently, I placed my hands on his head with his bishop and listened for the reassuring voice of the Spirit - that same voice I had come to rely on in blessing my children and wife and knowing if the Church was true. I sat silently as my ill friend gasped for air in his hospital bed. He had survived a heart attack at forty-three. Now he was just waiting for some infection in his lungs to clear so he could go home. Several gasps later, that quiet, powerful and unmistakable voice of the Spirit told me to bless him that he would live and return home to his children. Had it told me otherwise, I was brave enough to have spoken the words of departure. But happily and reassuringly, the Spirit bore witness to me in a gentle, peaceful and undeniable way that he would raise his children and that grandchildren would bounce on his knee. His wife's face reflected that quiet confidence of a woman reassured by priesthood power that her husband and the father of her children would be okay. I left quietly giving thanks that my prayer had been answered. Five days later I received a call early in the morning, my friend had just died. He would not be going home to his wife and children. What had happened to the promise? Could I really trust my feelings? I had had faith in the voice of the Spirit and had just been an accomplice in the deception of a wife and friend. I could barely find words at his funeral. As I looked into the faces of his widow and his children during the eulogy of my friend, I again felt empty. This family had been forsaken despite an undeniable spiritual promise. I had depended on the SAME undeniable Spirit to witness to me that Joseph Smith had seen Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ; that the Book of Mormon was true; that the Church was true. If it had been wrong about my friend's recovery, could it have been wrong on other 'truths' too? And why did the most spiritual feeling I have had during the last decade occur during the powerful finale of the musical Les Miserables? My heart had burned within me as Jean Valjean sang in a heavenly chorus at the completion of a selfless life spent in the service of others. Jean was a fictional character in a beautiful, yet fictional story. Had my emotions also permitted me to feel that burning in the bosom for other fictional events too? Author: Skeptical Example 2I also started losing faith quickly when I was on my mission involving a blessing. A woman had been in a car accident who was not a member, but she had family members who were. Who better to call and give her a blessing than the Elders in the area. So we went to Grady General in Atlanta. My companion anointed, and I gave the blessing that she would live. Just like you I felt the spirit directing me to say that she would live. She didn't make it through the night. I went home after that from my mission (it was my last area) and I went into a depression. I think that was probably the point where I really started to question things. Author: Primus Example 3I was six weeks away from going home, wrapping up a tough but fulfilling European mission. I was at the top of my game in terms of language ability, relationships with local members, and had a good command of what I was teaching, and felt I was in a good spot spiritually. The mother of a local family...just a beautiful, great family...was ill with breast cancer. If there ever was a saint, she was it. Never a mean word to anyone, very giving and patient, and she fought her illness with dignity and strength. One day after church, her husband requested of my companion and me to swing by and give her a priesthood blessing. We gladly agreed, went back to our appt, had lunch, and then spent 30 minutes getting in the right frame of mind, taking the request very seriously. We then went to their house and I blessed her with a promise of full recovery, according to her faith. I felt inspired...I felt the spirit, and it was at the time a profound experience. The family was very emotional afterwards, and everyone was gracious and appreciative. Eight weeks later, she was dead. When I allow myself to think about this, the memory still haunts me. I'm ashamed that I could pretend to be able to make such promises. And I'm sickened by the idea of leaving her family with the life-long notion that their dear mother and wife didn't have faith sufficient to be healed. I'm sickened by the arrogance of it all. That phrase "...according to your faith..." is nothing new to a TBM, but I chose to invoke it. I'm profoundly sad to this day about that, and only wish that I had had someone in my life to teach me how to communicate with the dying in a dignified manner, but I had no one. I had learned by example to say words of "authority" laced prudently with conditions. If I had a time machine, that's one of three moments in my life that I'd gladly change. But life goes on. Twenty years later, I lost my sister to cancer, and I can hold my head high knowing that I spoke with her in a real way, with nothing but love, hope, and honesty. And my sister, bless her heart...she the devout Mormon...never took a single moment of her precious remaining time to convince me of the "errors" of my agnostic ways, as some would perhaps feel the inclination to do. I like to believe that with me, she could just BE...just be who she was and just feel what she felt in those last conversations we had, without pretense or judgment. She too was a saint in the best sense of the word. Author: GQ Cannonball An honest view of a member's many blessingsI've given many blessings of comfort and guidance to kids, step-kids, friends and neighbors, etc. They were for the most part positive experiences and many told me how "inspired" it felt. I have to honestly acknowledge that I quite frequently had insights about those people come into my mind during the process. I now realize that these were all people I knew pretty well. I understood some of their struggles, and never proceeded without visiting at least briefly so that I felt I understood what was on their minds and in their hearts at the time. Looking back it's quite obvious that the better I knew them and their situation, the more "inspired" I was. The converse was also true, of course. What I have since told some who are aware of my change of heart, is that I wish that rather than stand behind them and "pronounce" a blessing as if I really had some sort of special power to do so, I had sat with them where we could look each other in the eye as friends, and listened. I've found that when I truly listen, people come up with the guidance and solutions that they need on their own. A nudge here, a question there, and pretty soon they get the clarity they need, and I don't have to pretend to have magical access to some god. The other downside to all of the blessing nonsense that goes on, is that it just fosters co-dependency. Women and girls especially grow up thinking they need the help of a man to fully access their god, and that is truly sad. Author: Cassidy Editor comment: We have all witnessed and even given priesthood blessings where someone got better as promised in a blessing. Why did the people get better? We don't know. Maybe the blessings worked, maybe it was God's will, maybe the medical treatments they had healed them or possibly even the placebo effect. If it was someone we cared about the reason probably wouldn't really matter to us. However, many of use have also witnessed and even given priesthood blessings that did not come true so we can't really say with any certainly that priesthood blessings are truly effective - but they can't hurt - if they are positive in nature. The placebo effect can be very powerful in helping people get better if they think they are suppose to. Conversely, if someone thinks they are going to die and someone gives them a blessing saying as much then the person's will to live can have a powerful effect on their body. So if anyone is asked to give a blessing, and they are comfortable in doing so, it should always be a positive one. The power of prayerMany people of all faiths claim prayer has healed the sick and caused other miraculous and unexplainable events. Maybe it has helped, maybe it's coincidence or the placebo effect. Here's an article about scientific testing done in this area. (this is not LDS-focused): March 31, 2006 Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer
Editor comment: It would be an interesting study if the prayers of different faiths, namely the LDS religion could be tested for effect vs. those of other religions. From personal observation it seems that sometimes prayer in general appears to be beneficial and other times it appears to make no difference at all thus rendering prayer as a hopeful remedy to some affliction but with no guarantee of success. In other words, it can't hurt but don't count on it to really work. Another study: http://www.ahjonline.com/article/PIIS0002870305006496/abstract Feelings vs. factsThe basic fallacy of the Book of Mormon promise is that truth can be discerned from a feeling. Where does it say this? It says it in the Book of Mormon. Well if the Book of Mormon isn't true then the promise is meaningless. It also says it in the Doctrine & Covenants but if the BOM isn't true then neither is the D&C. LDS prophets also say that but if the BOM isn't true then they aren't prophets. The Book of Mormon cannot be used to prove itself if it's a work of fiction. There is circular logic to the spiritual witness paradigm that is accepted in the church. How do you know that the transcendent feeling, that burning in the bosom, that feeling of calm is a witness from God? Because you have been taught that from the scriptures and from the leaders and teachers within the church. How do you know that the leaders and teachers are teaching truth? Because it says so in the scriptures. How do you know the scriptures are true? Because you have received a witness. The circle continues with no foundation. Members of the LDS Church seem to think that there is this irrevocable law established eons ago that says you can discern the truth by having a good feeling about it. That has never been established. If it was an eternally established principle then we mortals wouldn't be so confused about everything from what religion to join to deciding whether or not someone is guilty of a crime. The concept of using a feeling to establish whether something is true or false has not been established as reliable. As demonstrated above feelings or 'the spirit' have been wrong many times. Oscar Wilde is credited with saying "You can't reason a man out of something he didn't reason himself into." We're not entirely sure that is true, but there is little question the religious mind can be tenacious in defending the absurd. Religion has done well to adopt the warm fuzzy process as a means of overcoming rational thought. Believing the emotional surge we feel within our bosom is the voice of God can be very powerful especially when socially reinforced and the fear of Satan trying to deceive even the very elect. It is this pernicious warm fuzzy process we choose to be specifically at war with. LDS and other religionists tend to primarily base their religious certainty on one or more of these ecstatic experiences and use them to justify a knee-jerk rejection of any information contrary to their spiritual perceptions. Faith then trumps reason in their minds when reason is in conflict with faith. The irony of this of course is that faith has a terrible track record when it is in conflict with reason. One person's warm fuzzy confirmation contradicts another person's warm fuzzy confirmation often even within the same religious organization. What size ego does it take to assume, as many LDS do, that their warm fuzzy is the warmest and the fuzziest of any contradicting warm fuzzy; that their confirmation from God, which contradicts literally billions of other extremely sincere confirmations from God, is confirmation of higher otherworld truths than all the rest? "God really does love me the most!" In addition it is clear from a historical perspective that the LDS warm fuzzy process, even in the experience of church leaders, is extremely faulty; not to mention that most people who actually give credence to the process have made fools out of themselves on numerous occasions when their spiritual insights have proven less than accurate. All that said, it is our opinion that the battle to free the minds of the religiously entrapped should center at the basis for their religious certainty: the warm fuzzy process itself. If spiritual knowing is to be given any credence at all it would only be reasonable to expect that when that certainty has been in conflict with science it was spiritual certainty that demonstrated itself to be more accurate than science; that it is science that most frequently bends to meet religious certainty. In point of fact we can't even name one time when religion/Mormonism and science were in contradiction where religion/Mormonism was clearly demonstrated to be correct and science incorrect. There are however countless times where religion/Mormonism has had to bend to overwhelming evidence that science was correct. It is of course true that science changes and corrects itself frequently, but it is the nature of science to aggressively question and correct itself and it is the nature of science to avoid certainty. Religion embraces certainty, particularly on issues where rational clarity is unlikely, and it not only discourages aggressive questioning, but it often marginalizes, or even punishes, those who do question; they are considered "unfaithful" while those who hold most tenaciously to their unfounded beliefs, without serious questioning, are held in high esteem. The religious thought process is only considered admirable when applied to religion, in all other aspects of our lives we would consider that thought process dysfunctional and yet it is that process that is most responsible for the maintenance of the majority of our religious institutions. A comment from an ex-Mormon:
Bottom line is don't ignore the facts. Don't dismiss credible arguments that cast doubt on the church merely by saying you have a testimony. Whether or not your testimony has any validity to it or not, the facts that seem to undermine the very foundation of the LDS Church still need to be reconciled. Scientific ExplanationsPeople who have more spiritual experiences than others, also have brains that are wired that way. A new study finds that people who have had near-death experiences are generally more likely to have difficulty separating sleep from wakefulness. http://www.livescience.com/health/060411_near_death.html Psychiatrists see a constant stream of these vagaries of the mind, which may be why psychiatrists rank at the bottom in percentage of believers. When a psychiatrist was asked how to produce hallucinations, he replied, "Fasting and prayer". One gentleman's description of an encounter with Satan sounded like a classic Sleep Paralysis experience. http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html In the last couple of decades, great progress has been made in understanding how the brain works, with explosive learning ahead. Highly recommended is a book called "Don't Believe Everything You Think" by Thomas E. Kida. He presents scientific studies in easily understandable language on the unreliability of the human mind, perception, and memory. This is why we have science which is testable, reproducible, quantifiable, peer reviewed, double blind with placebos, and all the other objective checks and balances to limit the vagaries of human perception, wishful thinking, and affirmation bias.
We have a right to our own feelings, but we don't have a right to our own facts. Spiritual experiences are not a reliable way of ascertaining truth. An experience within our own brains is not a reality to the rest of the world. We must base our worldview on science and logic, not warm and fuzzy feelings. "The true critical thinker accepts what few people ever accept-that one cannot routinely trust perceptions and memories." -Jim Alcock, "The Belief Engine" ElevationAn emotion people feel after witnessing something uplifting is called "elevation" and is often equated to a "spiritual" experience. Dr. Patty Van Cappellen (Universtity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and colleagues conducted a study titled "Self-transcendent Positive Emotions Increase Spirituality Through Basic World Assumptions." The abstract from the study:
SourcesThese excellent sites contain scientific explanations for the spiritual experiences that occur within our own brains such as sleep paralysis, night terrors, and near death experiences. Many include additional links.
These are excellent books, particularly the first one:
Waiting for my Testimony - New Era articleIn the Church Magazine, The New Era, Feb, 2010, the following story is told:
Critic's Comment: This story is likely representative of how most LDS members obtain a testimony. She reads the BOM four times in less than a year and she receives no witness whatsoever. She then convinces herself that the BOM must be true because she appears happier now. It is obvious that she made up her mind beforehand that the BOM must be true and she was determined to find some sort of testimony even though the promise of Moroni failed four times. There are so many things that make a person's life seem happier such as getting into a serious relationship, switching jobs, getting a raise, making new friends, spending money, positive thinking, etc. Ironically, many people have said they have a much happier life after leaving the LDS Church. Living a more joyful life, for whatever reason, does not prove that a book is historical. She has to make herself believe she has a testimony, otherwise that means the church isn't true which is too difficult for her to accept - it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why did she even bother taking the test FOUR times if she apparently wasn't going to even consider that the answer could be "No"? Responses to these issues by the LDS churchWe regret that we could not find these issues discussed comprehensively in any church publication or website. However, after discussing the issues with several true believers, LDS apologists and recalling how we felt when we believed most strongly in our testimonies, we came up with the following summary that relays what most true-believing members seem to agree with: I know the Church is true. No amount of supposed damaging historical facts against the Church or psycho-babble will convince me otherwise. The Holy Ghost has borne witness to me that the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith restored the gospel and the Church is currently being lead by a real prophet of God. Critic's response.Why should I believe you over others of different faiths that also say that they have received a spiritual witness that their church and teachings are true? Also, I have earnestly prayed about the Book of Mormon and I get the strong impression that it is fiction. Furthermore there is much evidence that challenges the Mormon faith which you completely ignore by crying you have testimony. The many historical problems with the LDS Church do not go away by merely having a 'feeling' that the church is true. What if all members of every religion said they would ignore any and all evidence in favor of their cherished testimonies of their own religions? In that case perhaps no one would ever leave the Scientologists, Moonies, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. Why would prospective LDS converts even entertain questioning their Protestant or Catholic upbringing if they wouldn't even consider that the testimony, that they had of the church they grew up in, was perhaps false? Critics' SummaryThis is how a "testimony" works in Mormonism. You have an experience (subjective) and then you interpret that experience to be proof the church is true. Now it could be a warm feeling or a dream or a "vision." But the experience is never really discussed only the subsequent conclusion that was drawn from it. In fact the two get confused—like when someone says, "I have a testimony, I can never deny that it happened." You don't have to "deny" the experience to look at it with a bit of objectivity and consider possible alternate interpretations. If spiritual experiences were a good, valid source of truth, it would seem that the BYU science department would be all over the concept, answering all manner of unknown questions with efficiency and accuracy through this tool. Since they do not, it suggests that spiritual experiences are not a statistically valid and repeatable source of truth. I would submit that your spiritual experiences are not unique to Mormonism, and they are not a source of truth. I also submit that they are also very real experiences which are deeply ingrained in your mind. The challenge is to accept the spiritual and transcendent experiences as wonderful events in your life, but not necessarily indicative of any specific truth or untruth. The only way to do that is to put the Mormon dogma on the shelf and look at those experiences objectively. Losing a testimonyIsn't a testimony a personal witness that you know something is true? You always hear faithful LDS saying "I know the church is true." If you have studied, prayed, and received a divine witness from God about a deity, why would you worry about losing it? It seems pretty ironclad right? Wrong! According to many LDS it can be lost at the drop of a hat. Here is a short list of the many ways you can lose a divine magical witness from a supreme being: -skipping a few Sundays at church and so on and so on... If merely visiting a so called 'anti-Mormon' website can cause someone to lose their testimony, then how valid of a testimony was it to begin with? How can you have such a supernatural witness and then forget about it? Or was it just a warm fuzzy feeling? If you take the LDS church's definition of gaining and keeping a testimony, you would have to compare a testimony to a sieve. You are trying to keep the sieve full of water. The water represents various "testimony" building elements like prayer. I think the reason it is so easy to lose a testimony is because they don't really exist. The spiritual experiences that LDS so often talk about are experienced by non-LDS as well. My Catholic, Protestant and Muslim acquaintances and I all feel them and they're special and good but they don't testify of the truth. Perhaps they're a gift from God to ALL MANKIND or there are reasonable biological explanations for them, however you want to look at it. Watch some of these faith-healing scams or stage hypnotists and you quickly see that people can be tricked into manufacturing exactly the kinds experiences they think they're supposed to be feeling or having. These people are passing out, falling on the floor, convulsing, talking in tongues... a "burning in the bosom" is nothing compared to what people are capable of doing to themselves. It's a form of self-hypnosis, nothing more. You were told you should experience these things, and so by expecting them, your brain created them. Repeating a testimony, over and over won't change the false claims into something that can be verified factually. The testimony of feelings does not make the BOM factually true either. Repeating that Mormon testimony just repeats the lie. The Mormon testimony of feelings is nothing more than a testimony of imaginary characters and imaginary claims. My older brother told me that he told himself to pray until he knew it was true. I find it interesting that he didn't give himself the option of concluding it wasn't true. Another brother was considering suicide because he hadn't gained a testimony yet. Needless to say, he gained a testimony. People simply manipulate the outcome. The testimony-making processThey say to find out the "truth", all you need to do is pray to God, and he will tell you the answer. Sounds simple enough, but there is much more to it. The missionaries, then try to get the potential convert into situations where they repeatedly hear others say they know the church is true. They take investigators to testimony meetings, they hear missionaries, and members on splits say they know the church is true. They go to firesides, and ward socials where they hear others say they know the church is true. In other words, the same way the church conditions young children to go up in testimony meeting and say they know the church is true, is the same method investigators are conditioned into believing the church. Eventually, the investigator manufactures an emotional response that they believe is an answer. Joseph Smith picked this method, the "Burning in the Bosom" because it's obvious that this feeling is universal, and humans can make ourselves feel this under many different circumstances. Once an investigator tells the missionaries, or whoever, that they have had such an experience, they have you. They then tell you this is the "Spirit" talking to them telling them the church is true. When in fact, this feeling has NOTHING to do with whether the church is true or not. It simply means that the investigator has manufactured in some way the same feelings we get when watching an emotional movie, or moving music. After that, we then see the usual, "I know the church is true, and no amount of evidence can convince me because I had that one spiritual experience", and then there is no convincing them otherwise. LDS are counseled to "bear your testimony because no one can dispute your own personal experience with the Holy Ghost" or words to that effect. The LDS Church will lose in intellectual and historical debates regarding it's claims but no one can 'disprove' a testimony so it's no wonder the Church places such importance on members having a testimony. What would you say to someone else that said they had a testimony of their church or to some event that you know can't be true. You would question it of course. So why should other people automatically believe your testimony - merely because you say yours is true? When people say "But I know the Church is True—I have a testimony!" Yes, but that's a statement about the person, not about the church. Emotions - Warm FuzziesMost Latter-day Saints' testimonies are merely of the emotional, "warm fuzzy" variety. Very few actually claim to have anything more than this. Many people just believe because they think someone else must have a VALID testimony - something more than just an emotional response. At church it seems that the same 10-20 people get up and bear their testimony every month. What about the other 80%? Maybe the others are just shy or maybe they don't really have testimonies. I also think there is something about people in groups communing together that generates emotional buzz. Ever been to a concert and have your bosom burn? I have. For me it was indistinguishable from my Mormon experience. You can observe this buzz going on in all kinds of churches everywhere. Insincere people can also easily fake it. Have you seen the Borat movie where he fakes a conversion experience in a Pentecostal service? It's as easy to manipulate people with this kind of stuff. There is nothing uniquely LDS about it. If the feelings of billions of people in other religions can be wrong, why are you so sure that your feelings can't be wrong? Praying for an answer is not a reliable way to find answers to anything. Mormon or not. Pray about the "truthfulness" of the Book of Mormon if you wish. You may even feel a "burning in your bosom", which you may interpret as "confirmation" from God that it is. But the mountain of evidence that it is not true is never going away. Have you prayed to Allah to ask whether Mohammed was God's one, true prophet? Probably not, because (I imagine) you weren't raised a Muslim. If you had been, you would have been psychologically conditioned through systematic indoctrination in the Islamic faith to FEEL that Mohammed was God's one, true prophet. Such religious conditioning penetrates to the unconscious "part" of Muslims' psyches. The same is true for Catholics, the Amish, Christian Serpent Handlers, Mormons, Lutherans, etc. Catholics have "visions" of the Virgin Mary; Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, etc. do not. Why? Because the seeds of Catholic religious beliefs, such as the Virgin Mary periodically appearing to mortals, have not been planted in the psyches of non-Catholics. Editor CommentsBoth the critics and defenders of the faith have compelling points to make. The editors of this section give their own opinion: Being members of the LDS Church all our lives we've seen many instances of spiritual experiences. We naturally attributed most of these to our membership in God's one, true church. We never had reason to think otherwise. However, now that most of us have opened our minds to other possibilities, there now appears to be much more probable interpretations for at least some of these experiences. We don't doubt that many LDS have strong feelings that the church is true. However, we question whether these feelings are really a reliable guide to establishing truth. Some of us accept that some LDS members may have even received some sort of unearthly spiritual 'witness' regarding either their testimony or some other aspect of their lives. However, there is considerable evidence that the 'spirit' is totally unreliable as a means of determining truth. All of the contributors to this site can site numerous examples from our own lives, families, extended families, fellow ward members and church leaders that demonstrated instances when the spirit was completely wrong. A couple examples just from the lives of some of the contributors to this site:
We've heard much more powerful examples of how good LDS people were mislead by the spirit. The list is endless. The leaders would probably say that it wasn't really the spirit. If that's the case then how can anyone ever distinguish with any degree of reliability what promptings come from God and what are just emotions? Even Joseph Smith was mislead by what he thought was the spirit telling him to send Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery to Canada to sell the copyright to the Book of Mormon. Remembering the hits and forgetting the missesMany saints remember only the hits and quickly forget the misses. How many times have we answered the phone and the bishop wanted to extend a calling to us and we exclaimed 'I knew you were going to ask me that'? But we never think of the times when the bishop called and we thought he was going to extend us a calling but he didn't? We often only remember the things that reinforce our testimony and don't even think about the many times when our feelings didn't result in testimony-building events. Almost all LDS agree that the tingles and "burning bosom" can result from emotions and feelings within us, but they also claim that these feelings can come from God as a way to reveal truth. But there is a HUGE problem with that. How do you differentiate between the two? Answer: you can't. From a former Church Educaton System educator
Feelings vs. FactsTo base your decisions about certain things on emotions is fine. We all do that. But to simply ignore facts because you have a testimony may not be such a good idea. It's like buying a stock on a feeling and how many times are people wrong about that? We've heard faithful members say that even if the prophet of the church said it was all a fraud that they would still believe in it. This unwavering devotion to a church may in some ways be admirable but merely having a testimony that the church is true still doesn't explain why the translations of the Book of Abraham facsimiles by Joseph Smith do not match what Egyptologists say they mean or why there is absolutely no archeological evidence for the Book of Mormon peoples or why Joseph incorrectly translated the Kinderhook Plates or why the Book of Mormon mentions things that didn't exist in the Americas during that time period such as horses, elephants, wheat, barley, steel, glass, silk, etc. There are so many problems with the church history that are deserving of real answers by our church leaders. Merely mentioning you have a subjective testimony doesn't make them all go away. Having a feeling that the church may be true is fine but don't dismiss credible arguments that may cast doubt on the church merely by saying you have a testimony. Testimonies by members of other religionsI watched a news special that featured the followers of Warren Jeffs, the prophet of the FLDS Church (Fundamentalist Mormons). The members all bore testimony that Warren Jeffs is a real prophet, despite the criminal allegations against Jeffs. Their testimonies could have been taken right from any LDS Testimony meeting. They sounded so similar if you just changed the names of the prophets. We can convince ourselves of a lot of things - just look at what 19 young Saudi Arabians felt was true on September 11, 2001? Do you think they are in heaven with 72 virgins now? It strains reason, but they too had a testimony. And how about the many other Christian and non-Christian religions that also say to go with your feelings? Obviously all of these religions can't be correct yet millions of people follow the same advice and end up joining different religions. So how can you trust your feelings and be assured you are making the correct choice using feelings alone? Holy Ghost or warm fuzzies?If testimonies are so fragile perhaps it's because they are not real. That's the reason we have Fast & Testimony meeting every single month. If they were really powerful events then we would never have to fear losing them. We do believe that some people actually have felt a physical sensation when praying about the Book of Mormon. But we question if this feeling came from outside of your body via the Holy Ghost. We do not believe that it is a reliable guide to know whether or not a book is fiction or historical in nature. The church did not plant those feelings in you. What they did plant in you was the association of those feelings with the confirmation of truth. It's not a universally accepted means of determining truth like many in the church would have you believe Many people get this feeling when their sports team wins, a baby is born or watching a very emotional movie. In the movie 'Saving Private Ryan' - the guy falls to his knees at the grave of the man (Tom Hanks) who sacrificed his life to save Ryan's. I got this warm, tingly feeling in my chest. It's a psychosomatic response to emotional stimuli and was no indication as to whether the movie was true or not. We are told that we need to "work on our testimonies." This seems to be a tacit admission that a testimony is nothing more or less than a decision a person makes and has no necessary connection to ultimate reality. Our conclusion with our observations and study is that virtually all of the "burning bosoms" are emotion based and they stem from meaningful situations based upon our experiences in life. That is why the many thousands of different religions can have their own "witnesses" to their beliefs. That is why even atheists can have "tingling" feelings. That is why some testify to obvious falsehoods. That is why some get "false positives." That is why some can lie and still produce the "spirit." We don't believe God is so confusing and unreliable that He would use such a poor method to determine what is true and what isn't. A test proposed to see if the spirit is reliable?We propose the following two tests to attempt to examine how accurate listening to the spirit by faithful members may be: TEST #1)Stake Patriarchs are generally considered some of the most spiritual people in the church due to the nature of their calling of being guided by the spirit to give patriarchal blessings. Although we would expect patriarchal blessings to vary depending upon who gave them, there is one thing that should not change. Everyone receives the tribe that they are descended from. The tribal designation appears to be spiritual label as opposed to actual genealogy as members of the same family can come from different tribes. However, the tribe given should not change if you received a second patriarchal blessing. Almost everyone is from the tribe of Ephraim, however perhaps 1 in 20 people are from the tribe of Manasseh or another rare tribe. We propose finding 50 people from a tribe other than Ephraim and have those people obtain a second patriarchal blessing from a different patriarch and see if they give them the same somewhat uncommon tribe that they each received when they got their first patriarchal blessing. Naturally both patriarchs should give everyone the same tribe if they are really getting the information using the spirit. If these are really just random picks then the odds of picking 50 correctly would be astronomical. If the chances are even 10% of someone being from a non-Ephraim tribe then having 50 patriarchs choosing the same correct tribe again would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Those odds would be so far above chance that everyone would have to conclude that the patriarchs are getting their information from some unearthly source. Of course it would have to be controlled so that the patriarchs would have absolutely no knowledge that the members already had been given patriarchal blessings. This would be a fascinating study and a real opportunity to test the spirit. If you are a faithful Latter-day Saint would you be at all apprehensive about a study like this being performed? Why? Do you perhaps suspect that the Patriarchs are not really getting accurate inspiration from God? This study has never been performed (to our knowledge) but we suspect that many apologetic-type of members would already be trying to think of ideas to explain why the patriarchs did not give the members the same patriarchal lineages that they received the first time. An experiment like this would go a long way to validate the patriarchal blessings that many people take so lightly. TEST #2Find 50 good, spiritual Latter-Day Saints who are very righteous but do not know the more disturbing details of our church's history. Ask each one to pray about whether or not certain events really happened and see if the spirit guides them to the correct answer. The questions would have to be ones that the answers are definitely known and agreed to by the church leaders but seem very unlikely to the faithful members. It would also have to be established that these members don't already know about the actual history of the events being asked about. For example a question might be to ask somebody about the temple ceremony before 1990 and see if they would correctly answer whether or not the saints really performed those rituals. Or say that some critics contend that Joseph married some women that were already married and see if they agree with those statements. If the members were really inspired by the Holy Ghost to answer the disturbing questions correctly, that they would have otherwise thought were in error, then this would lend credibility to the idea that the spirit can really help people ascertain the truth. We personally have witnessed faithful members saying such things as 'they know' Joseph didn't marry 14 year-old girls and women already married to other men because they received a confirmation of the spirit as such. Yet, they were wrong. A more formal study using this approach would be very interesting.
LinksSupporting the critics:
Supporting the church:
Neutral (non-LDS)
|
RSS