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Recently I came across a post that talked about asking “the right questions.” I thought it would be interesting to ask some of you what questions you have or are asking along your journey spiritually. I have often asked why is it so difficult to have a personal relationship with God if He is supposed to be my loving Father? So often I wish I could talk to God like I did with my earthly Father and feel His closeness and loving me. I have heard some say that they hear people pray to God as if He were right there in the room. They seem to know how real God is. I have had some really powerful and special moments where I felt God was there with me and really understood me, but those are rare moments when I am at my most desperate times. I have felt He talked to me through a talk at church or a lesson in RS. Some tell me God only talks to us through His scriptures and that is how he answers prayers. I just find it difficult to understand God sometimes or this earth life. Here are some major ones I have 1. If the way to find the truth of the the church, BOM, BOA, etc is to pray and you will receive a witness, how do I account for the fact that every religion says that and most people get the answer that their church is correct. What is the difference between the devout Muslim and the Mormon. They both prayed and got an answer. So how can one church be true and the other not.
2. If my eternal salvation in so contingent on my performance in this life why does god make me live so much by faith. If he really was going to assign me to some lesser kingdom based on earthly performance could he at least communicate more directly to me that I was in trouble?
3. Why is it that an emotional feeling is suppose to be more powerful than logical thought. Why must I set aside science and reason to make the cosmology fit and then depend on a warm fuzzy to carry the day?
4. If modern day revelation is so important why is it that we get no modern day revelation? Sorry the Ensign and New era do not count.
5. Just how does polygamy work in heaven. Doing the math I still find about a 50/50 spilt men vs women. So what, are a bunch of men going to be kept out to balance the equation.
6. Why is it that some people no matter how hard they try never get a witness that they feel was an answer?
7. If tithing brings blessings why are so many mormons in Utah declaring bankruptcy? (this one may be a bit of a stretch)
8. Why did that seminary teacher in high school tell me their were no dinosaurs (OK I just threw that in for fun)
I could think of about 50 more but my point is there are lots of questions but very few answers other than just believe and have faith. I wished that worked for me.
In the past I have always looked for answers instead of questions. I think that questions are much more important then having all the answers. That is at least my theory on the idea. Keep them coming I love what has been said so far, and frankly some of them are giving me a good laugh. By the way, the reason your seminary teacher doesn’t know about dinosaurs is because he doesn’t pray to the dino God. And he’s not concerned about going to dino heaven. Just a thought…
😈 I rarely bother asking, “Why?” I try to focus on asking, “What?” A right question for me: “What can I learn from this experience?” :geek: A wrong question: “What will others think about me if I act or say how I really feel?”
😳 Another right question: “Will this teaching benefit me or my family by living it?”
Another wrong question: “Is what others say correct or incorrect according to my version of truth?”
🙄 One more right question: “Is BYU a great football team, or the greatest college football team EVER!”
Last wrong question: “Can I please have some more trials to help me grow?”
😯 Not to get too philosophical but… Since our lives are essentially experienced through our brain, I love to ask myself where thoughts and feelings come from. Not literally (it’s the brain, I think). Rather, what made me have that thought? What made me feel that way?
I’m just super-fascinated with how humans think and feel, especially since we’re such emotional creatures.
Regarding thinking and feeling: We’ve generally thought that all thought (as well as feelings) origninate and are experienced in our brains. Swimordie mentioned that “… our lives are essentially experienced through our brains…” I think this is an erroneous assumption. I think our lives are experienced through the cumulative makeup of our essence (call it body and spirit, or soul, or whatever you want). I don’t want to discount the miracle of engineering between our ears that makes all the physical existence possible, but do want to mention some evidence that perhaps there are other important organs involved in the WHO and the WHY and the HOW of us.
How about Electro Cardiology? Cellular memory?
What about the way-cool research of Gary Schwartz and others who accidently discovered that subject A’s EKG pads could pick up the heart wave of subject B in a different room? This was the “duh” moment when researchers realized “of course” the distinct and unique electro-magnetic wave generated by a paticular heart beat spreads out in limitless fashion across the world. What about the subsequent research showing clear indications that some people can detect disruptions in the wave pattern of those they are familiar with, those they love? They “feel” that something is wrong, or out of balance… or that there is a “disruption in the force”, sort of like star wars. Could this be the communication mechanism for what we refer to as “spirt” or “spiritual promptings”? Maybe the heart has more to do with feelings and communication than we thought? Maybe there is a reason the heart was traditionally the organ connected to love? Maybe some of our ancestors had it right or close to right when they surmised the heart housed the soul? Maybe the heart is the organ most closely conjoined with the spirit?
Again, not to take anything away from the brain. Brain, you’re the bomb. I just wanted to bring up that there is evidence we probably literally experience our world with more organs. Maybe the brain is so powerful that it’s difficult for us to “feel” or “hear” what the other organs are saying?
What does this have to do with the topic? I don’t know.
Maybe the right questions are not questions. Maybe the right question is … listen. Listen with your whole body.
Two things I really like to ponder lately: 1. What is God?
I ponder this by thinking about all aspects of creation I see and experience around me. I exist. We exist. I have a strong sense of God. That is something that I experience. It is something I feel all the time. There are many possibilities, but I decided long ago that I would not try to turn this off inside of myself. I feel it, so why? What is it?
2. What is really going on?
By this, I mean what is the nature of my experience as a conscious being. Why am I here? Why are we all here? Call me crazy, but I can get to a point where I almost feel like I could wake up from “reality.” I don’t know how else to describe it. I try to push this sensation at times.
One of my favorite and most relaxing pass times is to sit somewhere quiet and meditate when I have a chance here and there in my busy life. I also spend time like this just letting my thoughts buzz around in my head, but I step back in a sense and just look at them dispassionately (or at least try) to see what is going on.
Cadence wrote:Here are some major ones I have
1. If the way to find the truth of the the church, BOM, BOA, etc is to pray and you will receive a witness, how do I account for the fact that every religion says that and most people get the answer that their church is correct. What is the difference between the devout Muslim and the Mormon. They both prayed and got an answer. So how can one church be true and the other not.
In response to this question, I think it is important to understand that I haven’t seen many religions other than the LDS that teach you to find truth through prayer. Most other religions teach about accepting their scriptures and going from there. Christian religions very ardently insist upon the infallibility of the Bible, and that human emotions can be manipulated. That isn’t an answer to your question, I know, but I hope it helps you understand the question better.
Cadence wrote:2. If my eternal salvation in so contingent on my performance in this life why does god make me live so much by faith. If he really was going to assign me to some lesser kingdom based on earthly performance could he at least communicate more directly to me that I was in trouble?
I also feel like it is difficult to know how well we are doing. The best I have for you is that when the Holy Ghost dwells with you and you feel accepted by that power, then you need not worry because you are doing all that is expected of you. Each of us is only expected to live according to the law we have received, and just because someone once told us something was true, doesn’t mean we’ve received the principle. We receive it when we know, when the Holy Ghost bears witness to us of its truth. If God is the liberal God that Paul teaches he is, then he is far more understanding, and not nearly so angry in his judgement as we think he his in the church culture. He sent His son to atone for our sins. Sins are when we do the wrong thing, and not ignorantly, we know we are doing wrong, and we do it intentionally. Those are the sins that Jesus paid for. So by allowing Him to take care of it with His atonement, we can feel how well we are doing by the power of the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Ghost leaves us, it is a witness of God’s disapproval and our need to repent. If he didn’t remove His Spirit to a noticeable degree, we’d never know we needed to repent. That is true guilt, not cultural guilt that comes from not doing 100% home teaching in the first week of the month. It is knowing we have really done wrong, and as soon as we repent, Christ will change our hearts again, and the Spirit will return. The Spirit justifies us, or declares us innocent. We are no cleaner after coming out of the waters of baptism than we are when we feel the Holy Ghost in our lives 20 years and thousands of sins later.
Cadence wrote:3. Why is it that an emotional feeling is suppose to be more powerful than logical thought. Why must I set aside science and reason to make the cosmology fit and then depend on a warm fuzzy to carry the day?
I don’t go for warm fuzzies or faith promoting rumors. The LDS doctrine is that we seek learning by study and also by faith. Science tends to adapt and change from time to time. God says he will tell us in our minds and in our hearts. So the point I am trying to make is that God expects us to use our logic and intellect to figure out the truth, but not all truth comes at once. For that we need to seek learning by faith. By being able to say that “I don’t know what the answer is, but I believe God does, and one day, when I am prepared, he will help me understand the answer I am seeking.” That may take decades of preparation and enduring before we learn the truth. And when we do, we can rejoice and thank God for helping us understand it in His time. We just need to wait on the Lord and be careful that we don’t expect Him to meet our schedules. He knows the end from the beginning, and He knows all things. He knows what we need to know right now where we are at according to the experiences and the lessons we have learned thus far.
Cadence wrote:4. If modern day revelation is so important why is it that we get no modern day revelation? Sorry the Ensign and New era do not count.
I don’t have an answer for this other than the Ensign, which i don’t believe in. So we share this common question. A prophet’s job is to prophesy. Why don’t mormon prophets do their job anymore? They really haven’t since Joseph F. Smith, I suppose, as he wrote the last big prophecy I am aware of in these latter days. I don’t think blacks and the priesthood involved prophecy, and I don’t count telling people what they should do to be prophecy either. So I can’t say that temples, genealogy, food storage, or missionary work are prophecies. I am sorry I can’t help you any further here.
Cadence wrote:5. Just how does polygamy work in heaven. Doing the math I still find about a 50/50 spilt men vs women. So what, are a bunch of men going to be kept out to balance the equation.
One possibility is that there are more women in heaven than men. Daughters of Perdition is not scriptural, so I am led to believe that one must be a priesthood holder to go to hell. Jacob (I think chapter 5 and verse 30) says that God will command people to practice polygamy, and if he hasn’t called you to do so, then don’t worry about it, monogamy is the law of heaven. And men shouldn’t have more than one wife and concubines ye shall have NONE. God decides who will practice polygamy, so don’t worry about it being forced upon you. I don’t think God will command you to live in a polygamous relationship without giving you the understanding of the principle. Maybe he’ll do as he did with Adam and command you to sacrifice without explaining why, but sooner or later, he’ll send an angel to teach you why you are doing it, and help you to be alright with it in your heart and your mind. But that probably isn’t going to happen ever again until we get into the spirit world.
Cadence wrote:6. Why is it that some people no matter how hard they try never get a witness that they feel was an answer?
I don’t like the answer to this question. If this is so danged important for everyone to belong to the same club, then I would expect God to give a recognizable witness immediately to those who sincerely seek. One possibility is that they never ask according to the proper formula, i.e. they never truly desire the answer, or they are asking God to prove it to them rather than witness to what they have decided they feel about these things. I don’t like the answer, but it is one possibility. My doubts tell me that if we follow the formula that was given in the scripture regarding how to know its truth, then if it isn’t sincere and powerful in holding up its end of the bargain, it should be discarded. But just because you go out with a girl and don’t hit it off, it doesn’t mean you or her is not a good person, just not meant for each other, compatible, ready to be together, or any of a thousand other possibilities. Miraculously we meet up with a mate at a point in time when they are ready and we are ready and we like each other more and more at the same rate and end up getting married. But even those people sometimes get divorced later, because their relationships wither and they stop focusing on the other person. Sometimes I think forming a relationship with the scriptures or receiving a testimony is similar to that.
Cadence wrote:7. If tithing brings blessings why are so many mormons in Utah declaring bankruptcy? (this one may be a bit of a stretch)
Tithing doesn’t stop people from being stupid and living outside their means. Some people pay 10% of their income and expect God will support them in a lifestyle that is at 150% (and even more) of their income. That is not wise. A lot of those declaring bankruptcy are those trying to keep up with the Joneses. They get married in their early 20’s, and buy a $250,000 house like everyone else has in their nice neighborhood, and they buy expensive cars and are not wise with their budgeting. If you make 2,000 a month, live off 1,500 a month (and that includes tithing). And if it seems impossible to do so, take this into consideration. I don’t pay tithing, but I live off of 1,200 a month income and I bought a house on that income. It isn’t big, and it cost less than 100,000 but I qualified for it on my own credit, and it is what I can afford. I don’t have a lot of debt. I don’t drive a shiny new car, but I own it. And I don’t go to movies or eat out very often, but I am doing well. God doesn’t say “pay your tithing and I’ll give you a license to be stupid.”
Cadence wrote:8. Why did that seminary teacher in high school tell me their were no dinosaurs (OK I just threw that in for fun)
Seminary teachers study all day everyday, therefore they think they know everything, and they are too afraid of hurting an impressionable youth’s faith by saying, “I don’t know.” When they come across a question they don’t have an answer to. Mormon Doctrine and other such books are not scripture, they aren’t cannon, and therefore are just the ideas of men, though some of them pretty good ideas. That is the source of a lot of the speculation that goes on. The best answer I’ve yet heard, (this is also speculation) that dinosaurs lived on other planets, and this planet was made from the remains of other planets. The answer I like best is that in the Bible it says there were giants on the earth in those days… does that mean giant men, giant animals, giant lizards, or all of the above? So that’s the best I’ve got to help you with these questions.
Cadence wrote:I could think of about 50 more but my point is there are lots of questions but very few answers other than just believe and have faith. I wished that worked for me.
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