Feeling the Spirit


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I found myself telling my ex-Mormon friend that I feel that I can finally tell the difference between the witness of the Spirit and the warm feeling from watching a touching movie.

 

Really?  So what's it like?

... You just have to experience it.

So it's possible I've never felt the Spirit?

... Could be.

Have you never felt the Spirit before?  Or why didn't you know before?

...  I think it is a bit like my taste buds.

You can taste the Spirit? (joking).  What does it taste like?

IN UNISON: Like Chicken...

 

... No.  It's that when I was a kid bread was bread.  It all tasted the same.  I could have had really good bread or cardboard bread @ $0.25/loaf.  I never really appreciated the good stuff.  Now that I'm more mature, my taste buds have changed, I've tasted more things, and I've become more picky about what I decide to place on my tongue, I can certainly tell the difference between a cardboard loaf, Wonder, and the fresh baked French bread loaves at the checkout isle at the supermarket.  Oh, yeah, baby!  You know what I'm talking about.  The taste, the texture, the smell that just makes you want to dive into a swimming pool full of bread... ok maybe that was taking it too far.

 

No, actually.  I don't know what you're talking about.  What does it taste and smell like? (joking)

... You just have to experience it. (joking back).

 

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I can remember being an adolescent in church and really enjoying the presence of the LORD.  I thought, "I wish my classmates could sense what I do--they'd convert in an instant!"  Summer Bible camp was rich in such times as well.  Those who've never tasted cannot understand.  On the other hand, when we are drenched in that Spirit, others can sometimes sense that we have something wonderful they are not experiencing.

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I am completely convinced that there is a paradox concerning "feeling" the spirit.  I do not believe that we mortals are capable of discerning on our own what is actually the spirit and what is a cleaver counterfeit.  I say this from my own experience.  There have been times that the spirit has spoken to me so softly that I have not recognized it as a sacred spiritual prompting until after not complying that I have realized my folly.  I have also talked to individuals that have testified that the spirit has led them to the love of their life - despite the fact that they were married by covenant with G-d, to someone else????

 

I am very sure that a person cannot discern spiritual promptings unless they are in an attitude of compliance with the covenants, commandments and will of G-d.  If they are not disciplined by holy principles (especially an attitude of repentance) they cannot distinguish the spirit of G-d from promptings of temptations and are completely vulnerable to lies - especially thinking a lying spirit to be the spirit of G-d cleverly prompting them to ever so slightly and un-discernibly (for mortals) veer off the path or way of G-d.

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I see another woman and may think:  God is love.  God is good.  Love is good.  I feel love towards this person, so it must be good...it must be God.  That's not the Spirit, that's temptation.  Some of the physical sensations may be the same, but it is opposite.  The Spirit is there, of course--bringing conviction and a sense of caution.

 

All spirit and no scripture leads to heresy.

 

All scripture and no spirit leads to Phariseeism (legalism, 'a form of godliness that denies the power thereof, etc.).

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Probably one of the most difficult areas within the gift of discernment is the ability to discern between what it is that your own spirit is telling you and what the Holy Spirit is telling you.  Elder George Q. Cannon talked about this.

 

 

I noticed when I was very young in the Church, that men who were greatly gifted of the Lord and had many manifestations, were the men who apostatized; with the exception of the Prophet Joseph Smith, nearly everyone was overthrown. I suppose the reason of it was that they were lifted up in pride and allowed the adversary to take advantage of them. I would like well enough to see these gifts and blessings multiplied among us and upon us, that as a people we should have dreams and visions and manifestations of the Spirit; but there is one thing that we have all got to be very careful about, and that is this: I have seen Elders in my experience that when they got their own spirit moved very much they imagined that it was the Spirit of God, and it was difficult in some instances to tell the difference between the suggestions of their own spirit and the voice of the spirit of God. This is a gift of itself, to be able to distinguish that which suggests itself to our own hearts and that which comes from God. And we are misled sometimes by our own feeling, because of our inability to distinguish between the voice of the Spirit of God and the suggestions of our own spirit.

George Q. Cannon

JD 22:104

 

This is where a quote from Joseph Smith comes in regarding traditions of the Latter-day Saints.

 

 

I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions: they cannot stand the fire at all. How many will be able to abide a celestial law, and go through and receive their exaltation, I am unable to say, as many are called, but few are chosen.

Joseph Smith

HC 6:184-185

 

This applies to things you hear time after time in church and is generally accepted as "doctrine."  However, some of what is considered to be "doctrine" is nothing more than the philosophy of men mingled with Mormonism.  Something gets misquoted or someone said, "Well, I heard that Joseph Smith said...," or they read something on the internet that was quoted from something else, that was quoted from something else, that was...you get the picture.  This is common in Sunday school.  I have read books and articles from church members that contained various quotes from the apostles and prophets.  When checking the references, I have found mistake after mistake.  I've even heard a bishop stand up in Sacrament meeting and misquote Elder Oaks, which changed the entire subject into false doctrine. 

 

I always check up on references to see if they are misquoted or taken out of context.  This keeps false doctrine out of my life and allows me to discern the truth of something.  The problem is that very few LDS do this and take what they hear in church for granted.

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......

 

This applies to things you hear time after time in church and is generally accepted as "doctrine."  However, some of what is considered to be "doctrine" is nothing more than the philosophy of men mingled with Mormonism.  Something gets misquoted or someone said, "Well, I heard that Joseph Smith said...," or they read something on the internet that was quoted from something else, that was quoted from something else, that was...you get the picture.  This is common in Sunday school.  I have read books and articles from church members that contained various quotes from the apostles and prophets.  When checking the references, I have found mistake after mistake.  I've even heard a bishop stand up in Sacrament meeting and misquote Elder Oaks, which changed the entire subject into false doctrine. 

 

I always check up on references to see if they are misquoted or taken out of context.  This keeps false doctrine out of my life and allows me to discern the truth of something.  The problem is that very few LDS do this and take what they hear in church for granted.

 

I believe your observations are quite similar to that criticism made of Christ by the Pharisees and Scribes and is in stark contrast to the oath and covenant of the priesthood (D&C 84)

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This is where a quote from Joseph Smith comes in regarding traditions of the Latter-day Saints.

 

 

This applies to things you hear time after time in church and is generally accepted as "doctrine."  However, some of what is considered to be "doctrine" is nothing more than the philosophy of men mingled with Mormonism.  Something gets misquoted or someone said, "Well, I heard that Joseph Smith said...," or they read something on the internet that was quoted from something else, that was quoted from something else, that was...you get the picture.  This is common in Sunday school.  I have read books and articles from church members that contained various quotes from the apostles and prophets.  When checking the references, I have found mistake after mistake.  I've even heard a bishop stand up in Sacrament meeting and misquote Elder Oaks, which changed the entire subject into false doctrine. 

 

I always check up on references to see if they are misquoted or taken out of context.  This keeps false doctrine out of my life and allows me to discern the truth of something.  The problem is that very few LDS do this and take what they hear in church for granted.

 

Is that quote a reference to plural marriage? I'm just curious. 

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