Church history...

[Guest]

Hmmmm, we have almost the same questions while I was devout Catholic. Except that I have had spiritual experiences as a Catholic so I know what the spirit feels like. It's different for everybody. The Spirit speaks to us in many ways - some through dreams, some through a flicker of thought, some through specific physical events like elevated heartbeats, some through logic, some through all of them. But, the common thing between those methods is that the Spirit speaks to you in the way you understand easier.

For example, you can look through the life of Joseph Smith and see how the spirit was able to reach him through his experiences during the Religious Revolution. He used to dabble in the use of divining rods and divining hats to look for missing things... The spirit then used these experiences to prepare Joseph to translate the Book of Mormon.

In my own personal experience, I've relied on logic to know certain truths. That's my strength, which is why I became a programmer. When I study scripture, there are sometimes conflicting interpretations (what the priest says did not make sense, for instance). So I would find a quiet moment to study and I start with a prayer. Usually, when I gain the correct understanding, I then feel the Spirit because my brain would just be so crystal clear and everything makes logical sense. My vision becomes crisp.

In religious life, though, there are just some things (like the Trinity or the Transubstantiation) that can't be fully ascertained through logic. But, I've been able to get that same experience of clarity in my brain when I studied the LDS doctine of the Godhead which is how I recognize truth through the Spirit.

There are times when I sit with my family in a picnic or something when everybody is busy doing their own thin, I'm busy talking, everybody is just enjoying the moment and all of a sudden it hits me, my brain clears and it's like the moment, which is just a split second, seems to stop and the picnic and the people and the grass and the sun becomes so crystal clear and my brain becomes so clear and the thought passes in my mind, "this is exactly where I need to be at this specific moment in time". That feeling I've learned to associate with the Spirit. It's so tangible that I can experiment with it.

You may have had past spiritual experiences already, you just haven't figured out how the Spirit talks to you so you thought you've never heard God.

Hope this helps.

[Hmmmm]

Well i appreciate all the responces to my thoughts. There are quite a few thigs that are similar to our faiths and even though i personally (not religiously) do not agree with some of your teachings, i have felt at ease with talking to you. I think i will bring up more topics to discuss. They may never be settled but just talking with people about it really helps. I cannot do this with my organization....people will immediatly thimk im an apostate.

[mnn727]

You say you have not had an answer to your prayers, may I suggest two things?

1. When you pray, do you wait silently for an answer to your prayers? I had a very wise teacher once tell a class I was in, that if we pray for 5 minutes we should sit/stand/kneel (however we prayed) 5 minutes for an answer. if we prayed for 15 minutes we should wait 15 minutes, etc.

and

2. What will you do about it when you get an answer. I investigated the LDS Church for over a year, really wanting to know if it was true and praying pleading with God to know if it was, but I never got my answer until I changed my prayer from wanting an intellectual knowledge to telling Him I would do what he wanted me to do, just make it known -- got my answer within a few days of that.

[mdfxdb]

In my mind our distinction as a church is our claim to authourity. We as a church say we are the "true" church because we claim the authourity to act in Gods name.

In our church history we know that Peter, James, and John restored the priesthood to Joseph Smith. It is through that apostolic authourity that we maintain our correctness.

Other churches may or may not teach correct doctrine, but even if they have correct doctrine they do not have the authourity to act in Gods name.

From a historical perspective the restoration of the Priesthood makes us unique, and true.