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Me too. I can be a crybaby. I actually cry less since my faith crisis. Maybe I cried out all my excess tears during the crisis. That said, your questions are my questions Sheldon, and this very issue was/is the core of my crisis. And likewise with me. I look at the mess and I am willing to keep going forward with the Mormon script, but I can’t do it without a confirmation. I am re-reading the BOM and praying each time before and after and i will see if I get such a confirmation. Sheldon wrote:And if this is the case, isn’t our conversion process unethical?
As someone that has taken multiple college classes on ethics, I would say that no… the LDS conversion process is not unethical.
The principle reason for this is those that seek to convert are full believers that what they are saying is true. It is ethical to say what one believes to be the truth, even if it cannot be proven or if it later turns out not to be true.
It should also be noted that religion generally has a sort of buyer beware disclaimer attached to it. It is not subject to the sorts of “false advertising” and other constraints that affect other sorts of institutions.
I wouldn’t say it is unethical, but I would say it is unreliable and/or inconsistent. When I started questioning the church and my husband was taking missionary discussions before he got baptized we both agreed we would church hop so he could be sure this was the church he wanted to join. We went to the Lutheran church’s Christmas service. I bawled like a baby. I was over come by the spirit like I hadn’t in ages at the Mormon church. In my heart I thought, this is it, this is the TRUE church! However going to other churches I also felt stirred when people were testifying of Christ.. looking back I feel I can be overcome by tangible emotions. If someone is angry at me I feel it. If a room full of people I don’t know are singing fervent praises to a holy figure I can feel the emotions! In a way it makes me glad that our church doesn’t have a monopoly on “the spirit” and that other religions enjoy it too 🙂 , heck go to any Evangelical church and see people put up their hands while singing to feel the spirit.I still feel the spirit even though I am non-TR holding, attend church about half as much as I did when TBM, etcetera. But it tends to be spontaneous. I still feel it at church at times, particularly when I am teaching. You asked earlier — how do you know if it’s true or if it’s just yourself. In a way, I am not sure it matters anymore. What matters is whether you feel you should act on it.
If I feel the Spirit but it has little impact on my behavior, then what influence does it have for good? You could argue that comfort is one such benefit, but beyond that, if it isn’t clear enough to motivate a person to action, then I am not sure the experience was powerful enough to be meaningful…
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