I recently asked a very close friend if he knows God lives. He responded with, "I know I feel something when I think about God."
I was reminded of this conversation while reading about that Mormon football player:
"You know, what would you do?" he said, adding that what he felt for his girlfriend was real. "What I went through was real. The feelings, the pain, the sorrow, that was all real."
Looking back on my testimony, I see a similar flavor of ideas.
Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame on us gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather, who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given... Zeus (1178 BC)
Joseph Smith seems to have relied on feelings. In fact, his motto may well have been "If it feels good, do it."
But seriously, think about what the world would look like if we all went by feelings:
"I feel that we can solve global warming by lobbing a 20-megaton warhead at Minot, North Dakota."
"I know with every fiber of my being that God wants me to ignore traffic laws at all times and instead trust in Him to protect me."
"The spirit has testified to me that I should not have chemotherapy or surgery for my brain tumor but that I will be cured by eating only carrots."
"It doesn't seem fair, does it Norm--that I should have so much knowledge when there are people in the world that have to go to bed stupid every night." -- Clifford C. Clavin, USPS
"¡No contaban con mi astucia!" -- El Chapulin Colorado
Bob Loblaw wrote:"The spirit has testified to me that I should not have chemotherapy or surgery for my brain tumor but that I will be cured by eating only carrots."
Just four weeks back I good friend of mine died of breast cancer. I pleaded with her to have the tumor removed and to go for the standard treatment, by which at her stage would have high probabily of full recovery. But no, her and hubby knew that their magic water, herbs and good food would be the cure.
Just a few weeks past her funeral, her hubby sees me about to leave in my car, blocks the driveway with his truck and starts telling me how I should see this new "doctor" who knows how to cure me with his magic goods.
I wanted to punch him in the face for killing his wife.
Bob Loblaw wrote:"The spirit has testified to me that I should not have chemotherapy or surgery for my brain tumor but that I will be cured by eating only carrots."
Just four weeks back I good friend of mine died of breast cancer. I pleaded with her to have the tumor removed and to go for the standard treatment, by which at her stage would have high probabily of full recovery. But no, her and hubby knew that their magic water, herbs and good food would be the cure.
Just a few weeks past her funeral, her hubby sees me about to leave in my car, blocks the driveway with his truck and starts telling me how I should see this new "doctor" who knows how to cure me with his magic goods.
I wanted to punch him in the face for killing his wife.
I have seen a few friends go through the same thing up through they years. Some clown prophets with golden promises that somehow involves money, hook some guillable and desperate people onto their schemes.
About Joseph Smith.. How do you think his persona was influenced by being the storyteller since childhood? Mastering the art of going pale, changing his voice, and mesmerizing his audience.. How do you think he was influenced by keeping secrets and lying for his wife and the church members for decades?
Say a cuss word....I didn't feel any different. Drink a cola....I didn't feel any different. Skip the awful boring Sunday school....I felt happy. Pray about the Book of Mormon...I didn't feel any different.
I am an emotional person, blubber through a lot of movies. I felt more in a lot of movies than I ever did at church. I figured, movies weren't church, so feelings had nothing to do with God.
Joseph Smith was a hedonist. Is the idea that feelings are associated to "rightness" or "wrongness", correlated to hedonistic behavior? I dunno. Could just be basic human behavior.
What really chaps my behind is people telling me what my own feelings mean. Mormonism has made that central to everything. Creeps me out.
Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction -Pope Benedict XVI
GR33N wrote:And what is love?... Can it be felt? Can it be true? Can it be real? hmmmm....
Very complicated question. There are so many things that can be loved. The word can have so many meanings. Spouses (though not always), children, pets. All these are tangible and an actual presence in one's life.
Besides the above, I love mountains, deserts, the ocean and sushi. These are all one way relationships even though they all exist in reality.
Loving God is a special case. God is not tangible and even the wisest cannot in honesty say that God even exists. I think the best someone can say is that they love their mental concept of God.
This, or any other post that I have made or will make in the future, is strictly my own opinion and consequently of little or no value.
"Faith is believing something you know ain't true" Twain.