DiscussMormonism.com

I think we’ve all had spiritual experiences that perhaps have served as mile markers in our lives, or at least we later look back and see more clearly where those experiences were leading. I’ve learned over the years that God works in mysterious ways. I think we should all not be too quick to dismiss one another’s spiritual experiences, and sometimes even our own.

JohnW wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 25, 2022 2:53 am

Great thoughts Kishkumen. Agreed, spiritual experiences are often difficult to understand ourselves, let alone for someone with a whole lot less information. I think a lot of what we see (good and bad) in the church is the natural messiness of a community of humans. I'm not sure how easily you would moderate this sort of thing. Sometimes the more you try to moderate the worse things get. I know it was sometimes nigh impossible to manage testimony meetings. There were lots of times I just hoped the congregation understood the background of the person and gave them a bit of a pass.

No telling what the congregation thought the one time I got up and spoke at F&T service. I spoke of a deeply personal spiritual experience. It was very different than anything I heard from anybody else.

Right after that, in Relief Society, the woman who was speaking, was reading from The Teachings of The Presidents of The Church: John Taylor. It was the chapter, The Origin and Destiny of Man. She got to a part where she said something to the effect that it is only through Christ, and she froze. In my mind, I said to myself, “Something is going on. You’re [God] doing something.” It was like time stood still. I looked around to my left, right, and behind me and it seemed like no one else even noticed. Then, she picked up reading where she left off. I think I got to see her having a spiritual experience of her own.

I kind of think of spiritual experiences like puzzle pieces. For a time we see the partial picture on the one piece, then, later in life as we get more puzzle pieces, the larger picture begins to come into focus.

I have a question that I think might fit with the topic. Twice in the last couple of months or more, I have seen comments to the effect that assume that when believers believe that God spoke to them (or some similar encounter with the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost) that believers experience a tingly feeling or a warm fuzzy feelings.

Is that what LDS expect to experience and if so, is that what is taught formally or culturally?

If this doesn't fit, I'll happily delete upon request, Kish.

A Fair Exchange.
Let's see who gets it

May I ask, please:

1. What is it about an experience that makes you classify it as a 'spiritual experience'?

2. How different do you think that experience might have been if you had been brought up in a family that practised a different religion?

3. How different do you think that experience might have been if you had been brought up in a family that was confidently and calmly atheist?

JohnW wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 25, 2022 2:53 am

Great thoughts Kishkumen. Agreed, spiritual experiences are often difficult to understand ourselves, let alone for someone with a whole lot less information. I think a lot of what we see (good and bad) in the church is the natural messiness of a community of humans. I'm not sure how easily you would moderate this sort of thing. Sometimes the more you try to moderate the worse things get. I know it was sometimes nigh impossible to manage testimony meetings. There were lots of times I just hoped the congregation understood the background of the person and gave them a bit of a pass.

I am very ambivalent about testimony meetings. In my experience there are those who feel obliged to get up every time, and that gets old. There are those who just want to catch everyone else up on their personal lives. In the end, these meetings seem more like exercises in a kind of community building than they are spiritual, although there can be the latter aspect too.

msnobody wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 25, 2022 3:19 am

I think we’ve all had spiritual experiences that perhaps have served as mile markers in our lives, or at least we later look back and see more clearly where those experiences were leading. I’ve learned over the years that God works in mysterious ways. I think we should all not be too quick to dismiss one another’s spiritual experiences, and sometimes even our own.

I agree, msnobody. Everything you said above seems true to me.

Jersey Girl wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 25, 2022 5:22 am

I have a question that I think might fit with the topic. Twice in the last couple of months or more, I have seen comments to the effect that assume that when believers believe that God spoke to them (or some similar encounter with the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost) that believers experience a tingly feeling or a warm fuzzy feelings.

Is that what LDS expect to experience and if so, is that what is taught formally or culturally?

If this doesn't fit, I'll happily delete upon request, Kish.

It’s a great question. The phrase I most recall is “burning in the bosom.” But “the warm fuzzies” is kind of an informal colloquialism that stands in for that in casual conversation. I don’t think warm fuzzies does it justice. There are a lot more powerful, transformative experiences that people have.

Chap wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 25, 2022 8:03 am

May I ask, please:

1. What is it about an experience that makes you classify it as a 'spiritual experience'?

2. How different do you think that experience might have been if you had been brought up in a family that practised a different religion?

3. How different do you think that experience might have been if you had been brought up in a family that was confidently and calmly atheist?

1. It is a powerful, rejuvenating, even transformative experience I have in connection with my spiritual understanding.

2. I doubt it would be all that different. The specific content or mechanisms may be different, but ultimately the experience would be fundamentally the same.

3. Atheists have powerful experiences that lead them to convert to a religion. Other atheists have profound experiences that enrich their lives as atheists. They do not connect these profound experiences to God.

Kishkumen wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 25, 2022 11:23 am

Chap wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 25, 2022 8:03 am

May I ask, please:

1. What is it about an experience that makes you classify it as a 'spiritual experience'?

2. How different do you think that experience might have been if you had been brought up in a family that practised a different religion?

3. How different do you think that experience might have been if you had been brought up in a family that was confidently and calmly atheist?

1. It is a powerful, rejuvenating, even transformative experience I have in connection with my spiritual understanding.

2. I doubt it would be all that different. The specific content or mechanisms may be different, but ultimately the experience would be fundamentally the same.

3. Atheists have powerful experiences that lead them to convert to a religion. Other atheists have profound experiences that enrich their lives as atheists. They do not connect these profound experiences to God.

Thanks for your quick and clear response. So would you agree that anybody who has "a profound experience that enriches their life" that may also be "rejuvenating, even transformative" might reasonably be said to have had what you would call a "spiritual experience", even if religion plays no part in their life at all?