Happy to be here

[Anonymous]

Just saying hello and that I’m always a little envious and in awe of someone who feels safe using their real name here.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Ann.

[Anonymous]

benbritton wrote:

Thanks, Roy. I think spiritual anchors (experiences and answers to prayers) are really important. I feel like they can hold open the space we need to nurture our faith where even great logical arguments and evidences don’t always consistently fight off our doubt.

Old-Timer wrote:

I just need to point out that we need to be sensitive to people who don’t have spiritual anchors (for various reasons, including, “God maketh no such thing known unto us.”) and recognize the additional difficulty they face in a church that emphasizes spiritual anchors.

I wanted to refer you to a great talk on this very issue: http://www.fairlds.org/fair-conferences/2007-fair-conference/2007-spiritual-experiences-as-the-basis-for-belief-and-commitment

My favorite quotes are:

Quote:

every person has a purpose in human life to learn from experiences given wherever they are in their progression. It must be a part of our faith that the people who are born in the deepest jungles in Africa, who will never hear the Gospel during this life, have as much purpose in their life to learn from their life experiences as we do; and that they will gain, thereby, an increase in light by so doing. And I tell you that it is simply true that faith in Christ is an eternally and universally valid principle and basis for knowing and experiencing truth and performing miracles. Faith in Christ is as valid a principle for Augustine as for President Hinckley and as operative in the day of Martin Luther as it was in the day of Joseph Smith. That’s our faith.

Quote:

Now, I will also argue that it is a mistake to take spiritual experiences as evidence for anyone but the person who has the experience. The fact that I’ve had an experience doesn’t mean that you have some reason to believe.

Quote:

D&C 46 suggests that some have a spiritual gift to know for themselves through the spirit; others have a spiritual gift to have faith in the words of those who know. That seems to me to entail that not everyone will have such direct spiritual confirmation…

I suggest that this implies that there will be people, even though notwithstanding the promise in Moroni 10, for whom they will not have a direct religious experience. I know lots of faithful Latter-Day Saints, notwithstanding earnest study and long prayer, have not received the burning in the bosom of which I speak.

some really great stuff! :thumbup:

[Anonymous]

Well welcome ben.

I see you are an educator.

I teach 7-12 agriculture/shop. Good to see a brother, in more ways than one, on the board.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Cwald. That’s fun to hear. I teach music and I have taught lecture classes so I can certainly relate.

[Author]

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