moroni's promise vs cognitive dissonance

[_karl61]

in general, if one is brought up in the church, one will be taught that you fast and pray and God will reveal things to you - the truthfulness of something through good or peaceful feelings but if it is not right that you will feel troubled or even forget what you were aksing for. BYU students do this all the time when entertaining the thought of marriage to someone. But does truth always manifest itself from a burning in the bosom or can it manifest itself as a feeling of dispair which heals after time (see my signature). An anonymous note coming to an LDS lady telling her to watch her husband and his frequent dinners with a fellow employee may bring heart ache and anger and not immediate peace to the lady but she has found truth. Finding out about Joseph Smith courting women after his marriage to Emma may also bring about dispair like one finding out about a cheating spouse who insists on family prayer each night. Cognitive dissonance may be a better way to establish truth than any other way.

[_The Nehor]

When a command is something I don't want to do it's a very strange kind of peace combined with the certainty that it must be done.

I think negative answers are coupled more with confusion then with being troubled about a decision. When you're still unsure about what you should do you're probably on the wrong course. When you're on the right course you may dislike what you have to do but it's clear to you what you should do.

[_JonasS]

That makes sense, but then one could argue, that when finding out via worldly proof it brings heartache, but via God it is a burning in a bussom. I think there is a difference between finding out from God and finding out in life.

I personally don't experience the warm fuzzy feeling. I get goose bumps and shivers and sometimes an aweful sense of nervousness.

I was told by someone (possibly CARMS) that that (cognitive dissonance) might be what I am feeling, or something along those lines. I am not quoting because I don't remember.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

[_JonasS]

When a command is something I don't want to do it's a very strange kind of peace combined with the certainty that it must be done.

I think negative answers are coupled more with confusion then with being troubled about a decision. When you're still unsure about what you should do you're probably on the wrong course. When you're on the right course you may dislike what you have to do but it's clear to you what you should do.

Nehor, that was all mumble jumble to me, whoaaa. I would have to read this again at a future date, I think I caught a grasp of what you were saying, but frazzled my brain.

[_The Nehor]

When a command is something I don't want to do it's a very strange kind of peace combined with the certainty that it must be done.

I think negative answers are coupled more with confusion then with being troubled about a decision. When you're still unsure about what you should do you're probably on the wrong course. When you're on the right course you may dislike what you have to do but it's clear to you what you should do.

Nehor, that was all mumble jumble to me, whoaaa. I would have to read this again at a future date, I think I caught a grasp of what you were saying, but frazzled my brain.

Sorry, my brain was frazzled when I typed it if that helps. I went to bed at about 7 last night due to feeling out of it and exhausted and it feeling like every muscle group in my body was exhausted.

[_Mercury]

When a command is something I don't want to do it's a very strange kind of peace combined with the certainty that it must be done.

I bet the perpetrators of the MMM felt the same way.

[_Sethbag]

When a command is something I don't want to do it's a very strange kind of peace combined with the certainty that it must be done.

This is what I refer to as what I feel in my heart of hearts. Regardless whether I want to do something or not, sometimes I just know in my heart of hearts that I must do it, and it's inevitable. One example I think I've mentioned before was when I slammed a fingernail in a spring-loaded brake on the wheel of a workstand in a hangar at Fort Hood in 1992. Part of the fingernail was broken free of the rest of the fingernail but was still attached to the flesh underneath it. I knew that it was causing inflammation and wouldn't heal properly, and that the broken-off piece of nail had to go. I desperately didn't want to do it, but knew in my heart of hearts I needed to, and cut that piece of nail off with the scissors on my little swiss army knife.

Another time I had that certainty in my heart of hears was when, while reading LDS apologetics regarding the Book of Abraham and some reviews of "In Sacred Loneliness" I realized that the LDS Church was on the wrong side of the truthfulness argument. When it hit me I was all torn up inside, and really didn't want to have to face it, but as the pieces of the puzzle came together and I recognized that the LDS church was just as manmade as every other church out there, I knew in my heart of hearts that the church wasn't true. It wasn't a "spiritual witness" or testimony, just an honest recognition that I had that I knew came from the most trustworthy part of my mind.

[_The Nehor]

When a command is something I don't want to do it's a very strange kind of peace combined with the certainty that it must be done.

I bet the perpetrators of the MMM felt the same way.

I bet not.

[_Mercury]

When a command is something I don't want to do it's a very strange kind of peace combined with the certainty that it must be done.

I bet the perpetrators of the MMM felt the same way.

I bet not.

Hmm, that implies that they were even more bloodthirsty savages than already believed.

[_The Nehor]

When a command is something I don't want to do it's a very strange kind of peace combined with the certainty that it must be done.

I bet the perpetrators of the MMM felt the same way.

I bet not.

Hmm, that implies that they were even more bloodthirsty savages than already believed.

I think they were frightened, angry, and confused. That could constitute savagery.