Doctor Scratch wrote:I just think it's interesting that Dr. Peterson seems at last to be "coming out of his shell" insofar as he's more willing to try and use his rhetorical gifts as a means of bearing his testimony. The sense I've long had with top-tier Mopologists is that they are--on some level--"embarrassed" about what they actually believe. I think that Dan Peterson actually believes that, if he lays his hands on his kid's head and prays, that it will dislodge a stubborn piece of meat that has been stuck in said kid's throat. Dan thinks that, because of his Priesthood affiliation, Heavenly Father will "do" something in order to "release" the meat. I think that DCP really believes such things--he can say otherwise if not. I don't think this is a "misrepresentation" of his actual beliefs in the slightest.
On that note, I would be curious to know whether or not Hamblin, Hoskisson, Midgley, and Welch also believe in such things as meat being dislodged via prayer.
Well, see, Doctor Scratch, this is where the analogy concedes certain things that it wasn't supposed to. In a marriage, having a good relationship or a bad relationship is based on the spouses meeting each other's needs, how much they care about each other, and a variety of other factors. It is not based on there being an open question of whether your spouse
is a real person or a figment of your imagination. And while people who get divorced sometimes have bitter feelings about their former spouse, they never say upon divorce that their former spouse
never actually existed.
Similarly, faith in your spouse means you trust him or her. It does not mean that you have learned to be confident that if you turn around, your spouse will not disappear into the ether.
The analogy by Peterson, which has more or less been stated by General Authorities as well, is that a "testimony" is a misnomer, because it is not about the Holy Ghost divinely imparting to you absolute knowledge of eternal truths. Rather, a "testimony" is nothing more than shorthand for
how you feel about the Church. That's why, as in a marriage, you feel a stronger "testimony" when you are closer to the Church, and a weaker "testimony" when you feel further away from the Church. And Latter-day Saints are taught to equate feeling good
about the Church with epistemology of certain factual propositions on which the Church's truth claims rest: the existence of a Nephite civilization, the Book of Abraham being an authentic ancient document, the priesthood really being restored, the Church being guided by inspiration, etc.
In short, whether intended or not, Peterson is conceding the point that a "testimony" is not knowledge at all, but just feeling comfortable and cozy about having a place in the culture you are accustomed to.