Hi Everyone,
I hope I do this right and don't mess anything up but I need help with my 12 year old son and don't really know where to turn. I'm a semi-active LDS married middle age lady. I admit to having problems with some issues such as polygamy and some priesthood stuff but I have always taught my children to love God, obey the commandments, pray reugulary, have FHE, attend church, give service as you can and to never make a decision that slams a door. For instance, I tell my 21 year old, lovingly, that although he might not feel close to the church now and might think he will NEVER go on a mission, he should live his life in such a way that if, at some point, he changed his mind, that would still be an option. Now our second son, who does have oppositional defiant disorder, is angry that he is not allowed, at this time, to have the Aaronic priesthood but states that he doesn't believe in God, the church or anything. I have try hard to have low key simple discussions with him, where I bare my testimony and let him know that this is a journey, that everyone questions things at some time in their life and that we are willing to help him on this journey. We have told him that no matter what he decides for now, we will ALWAYS love him. He is extremely bright and knows all the "correct" answers but doesn't seem to ever feel the spirit. I know he was disappointed when he was baptized. For some reason he felt there would be a major personal confirmation of everything. I don't know if he expected God to come down and personally witness to him or what. We have tried to explain about listening to the still small spirit that speaks to us but he seems to expect some giant miracle. I guess my question is, how do we teach someone who knows all the correct answers to actually feel the spirit? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, and I hope I did this correctly and haven't done anything wrong in asking this.
madacdemy
