Shulem wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 4:59 pm
The founding principle upon which The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is governed is
FEAR. The principle of instilling fear into the hearts and minds of the members of the Church is the overriding factor in keeping order within the Church and maintaining testimony to the brethren who preside over the Church.
Members of the Church will obviously disagree and claim that love through Jesus Christ is the foundation of their Church. But that simply is not true and is not manifest in the Church. You see, Jesus Christ is only the imagination in the mind of each member -- he is not manifest in person. He is in their minds, forever unseen -- pure faith. Each member claims to love Jesus Christ, the person in their mind, the person they think they are feeling through vibration that runs through them which they claim is the Holy Ghost. But it’s only a claim. They can’t prove it or even touch a real Jesus Christ because their testimony is based solely on faith, not by sight. Therefore, when the member says they “KNOW”, they do not really know but think they know because their testimony is based on faith. Has Jesus Christ appeared to them and manifested himself in the flesh? No! Therefore they cannot know unless they can see and have a perfect knowledge.
It is fear that keeps the Church running. It has always been about fear. Fear is what keeps the members in line and toeing that line is required by the leaders who demand total unconditional obedience. Fear God and fear the Church!
I think as a child there was an element of fear that affected my faith but I have a feeling this existed before my parents' conversion to Mormonism. I don't think fear and faith and knowing are related. Society generally instils a "fear of God" element. In fact this was a phrase I heard often growing up (unrelated to church). "He'll put the fear of God into us" meaning (as I perceived it at the time) to be either suicide or murder related. Who knows.
The fear I felt was a fear that I wasn't good enough. That I needed to repent for every thought I had or I was a sinner. That in some way, God and or Jesus wouldn't like me. I wasn't afraid of the Mormon church. The church didn't teach me to fear God but they do talk about fearing God but I don't think they taught it in the same way as I felt it. This fear didn't keep me going to church though.
I feel everyone has different reasons for why they do things. I needed a sanctuary and church provided that. They were my safety in a very rocky time in my life and although I didn't consciously do this, it saved me. I have always felt doubt and confusion and always questioned my faith. I don't think I ever bore my testimony in the same way others did. I did once genuinely bear my testimony and I spoke of my desire to know. I admitted that I always had questions and that I struggled to feel the spirit that everyone talked about and people came up to me and said they felt the same way after.
I think when a member says they know, it is a different definition of the word know. I get what you mean. It's kind of annoying. It's like saying the church is true. It's spieled off without much care or thought to what is being said. But it probably comes from that scripture. Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things but to hope for things which are not seen which are true. Or something like that. I think it's a force of habit.
Jesus is not manifest physically in any Christian religion. I agree that people have individual relationships and visualisations of what they perceive Christ and even God to be. I don't think people vary too much so as to have a completely different version. I don't know Jesus. But we were taught to pray and read scripture to come to know and develop that personal relationship. I don't think it is intended to mean literally know him.