What does the Holy Ghost feel like?

[Anonymous]

Hi Denni,

DennisonE wrote:

On another occasion I had what I can only describe as “pure knowledge” that a daughter of mine was going to be hit by a vehicle and killed. I stood amazed, thinking how can I have “pure knowledge.” I have never had anything like it.

I read this first part and was truly horrified by the impending doom implications of this premonition.

DennisonE wrote:

My children were walking along a road where we were camping and nothing appeared to be wrong. A minute or so later a Winnebago sauntered past. The kids were a block away and I couldn’t see anything wrong as it approached them. I felt I needed to do something and so shouted “look out!.” A minute or so later my two children came walking back towards me. My daughter was covered with leaves and dirt. My son said “Dad when you called ___ was about to go under the wheels of the Winnebago. We hadn’t seen it, and it didn’t see us. I looked up and grabbed her throwing her into the ditch.”

Then I read this later part and was quite relieved. I’m glad your story had a happy ending.

DennisonE wrote:

I have come to believe that the most reliable messages come from feelings. I heard a quote this week made many years ago by a lady I knew and greatly admired, Stella Harris Oaks, the mother of Dallin Oaks. She was quoted as saying that the Lord often answers prayers through feelings. While I realize that we can deceive ourselves and in a sense “answer our own prayers,” I think with practice one can tell difference between true spiritual promptings and the workings of our own imaginations.

Given that the Lord may answer prayers through feelings and that feelings (whether originating in the individual or being sent as an answer to prayer) are virtually imperceptible to outside third parties, it would be presumptuous for us to tell another individual the source of their inspiration.

[Anonymous]

Except that when statistically improbable events (many times multiple events tightly connected) occur in response for protection, where else might this inspiration come from? I believe the explanation that such things are the result of ESP are as intellectually indefendable as my assertion that they consist of inspiration from the Lord. It obviously was not possible for Joseph Smith to convince others who were not present with him at his first vision, that the vision occurred or came from God. I disagree that that this reality should have prevented him from sharing the experience with others. Specifically the question in this post was “What does the Holy Ghost feel like?” Your objections could be raised to any response to this question. Of course unbelievers will always tend to unbelieve, and believers will tend to do the opposite. I can respond to a questions as was posed by the creator of this section of the blog without being concerned whether others accept or reject what I have to say. I am simply participating in a discussion. It’s not a moral issue.

[Anonymous]

DennisonE, please take a breath. I am 100% certain you are reading more into Roy’s words than he meant to convey. Roy’s a really nice guy, and he wasn’t mocking or rejecting your experience in any way.

When you’ve read more of our threads, I think you’ll see that. It’s a bit of a culture shock for some people, since they are used to being attacked when they share spiritual things, but that’s not how we operate here.

[Anonymous]

Good afternoon DennisonE,

I too have had spiritual experiences, not the same but similar to the ones you describe. These experiences are very personal, sacred, and true to me and my life – just as I imagine your experiences to be.

I apologize for how I came across. JS once said that he felt so restricted by the limitations of our language, I now feel that those limitations are only compounded by the written word. I would now like to explain myself a bit further.

The catalyst event that brought about my turmoil and eventually sent me here to StayLDS was the death of my daughter Emory. When I was reading your post about knowing that your daughter was going to be killed I had a visceral response. Another poster here had written about a spiritual experience foretelling the WTC twin tower attacks before they happened and it didn’t seem that this poster was intended to stop the terrorist attacks. So it was within the realm of possibility that the Spirit was telling you something that you were not intended to prevent. My mind reels with the possibility and what purpose and meaning you as the receiver would ultimately make out of this impending dread scenario. Yet this mind racing was moot when I came to the second part of your story.

I was relieved when you were able to prevent your daughter’s death. I am truly happy that your daughter is alive and well – both because I wouldn’t wish the death of a child upon anyone and because I now do not need to contemplate the potential reality of being told before hand by the Spirit of the death of a child and what that would mean for my life. My attempt to “put myself in your shoes” is now a much happier place.

The last part of my posting actually had little to do with your posting at all but was just a restatement of a theory of mine. Prior to your posting I had written:

Quote:

My argument went that it is quite ambiguous for an individual receiving a message/prompting to know if that prompting was sent by the Light of Christ itself or by the HG and the Light of Christ was merely the delivery method. This distinction can become important to some people because the L of C is available to everyone and the G of HG is only available to persons post baptism – so it would stand to reason that there would be some noticeable distinction between the effects and ministrations of the L of C and the G of HG. But since the distinction is in many cases unclear (even for the subject of the different ministrations) then it becomes impossible for us as third parties to set some objective standard to classify what another individual is feeling (whether of emotion, or of L of C, or of G of HG).

In response to your post I had latched on to some of your wording to validate my theory. You had written:

DennisonE wrote:

I have come to believe that the most reliable messages come from feelings. While I realize that we can deceive ourselves and in a sense “answer our own prayers,” I think with practice one can tell difference between true spiritual promptings and the workings of our own imaginations.

And I responded with:

Roy wrote:

Given that the Lord may answer prayers through feelings and that feelings (whether originating in the individual or being sent as an answer to prayer) are virtually imperceptible to outside third parties, it would be presumptuous for us to tell another individual the source of their inspiration.

… or essentially a restatement (if poorly written) of my theory. I guess what I’m getting at is – what if you suspect that another individual is “deceiving themselves” or “answering their own prayers” via self produced feelings but they are positive that these promptings are from the spirit? How do you convince them otherwise? My theory goes that I cannot (or shouldn’t as long as they are not hurting anyone) because these spiritual experiences are personal, sacred, and true for the individual.

I did not intend any of this as an attack or rejection of your posting and I hope we have continued opportunities to get to know each other better.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I am sorry about the death of your child. The issue of why some are spared and some not really bothers me. I know it is not due to worthiness, at least in my case. I did feel hurt about the response, and maybe a little guilty as Pres Packer has said some pretty rough things about sharing spiritual experiences with others. I did it not to say I am special as I am not. I work very hard just to be a minimally decent person. Having said all of that there is one more thing that was interesting since the conversation also dealt with feelings. This was not a feeling as I usually have when worrying about something but “pure knowledge.” I feel hesitant to talk like that as I may sound like a nut or self promoter. I cannot describe it other than that. I have heard the term but never knew what it meant and probably will never have it happen again. I was so confounded by it I had to get my wits about myself to take action and shout a warning. Do I have anymore insight than that? No, I am just here to learn as much as I can from you guys.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

The issue of why some are spared and some not really bothers me. I know it is not due to worthiness, at least in my case.

That’s one thing for which I also have absolutely no answer. I’ve had a few really amazing experiences in my life, and I know people who are much better people than I who have not had experiences like mine. If nothing else, at least that understanding helps keep me a little more humble that I probably would be without it.

[Anonymous]

DennisonE wrote:

Thank you. I am sorry about the death of your child. The issue of why some are spared and some not really bothers me. I know it is not due to worthiness, at least in my case. I did feel hurt about the response, and maybe a little guilty as Pres Packer has said some pretty rough things about sharing spiritual experiences with others. I did it not to say I am special as I am not. I work very hard just to be a minimally decent person. Having said all of that there is one more thing that was interesting since the conversation also dealt with feelings. This was not a feeling as I usually have when worrying about something but “pure knowledge.” I feel hesitant to talk like that as I may sound like a nut or self promoter. I cannot describe it other than that. I have heard the term but never knew what it meant and probably will never have it happen again. I was so confounded by it I had to get my wits about myself to take action and shout a warning. Do I have anymore insight than that? No, I am just here to learn as much as I can from you guys.

Thank you Dennison and welcome.

Another thread was talking about the near death experiences of the book “Saved by the Light.” There seem to be some significant parallels to our mortal interaction with the Holy Ghost.

Quote:

But now, let’s deal with the most critical question people are asking: “Is she telling the truth and can we believe it as the truth about the spirit world?”

As for myself, I feel very comfortable with her sweet spirit and the beautiful way she shares her testimony. As far as I am concerned, those were her experiences. If I am wrong, I still have the benefit of her beautiful message of the infinite glory and wisdom in the love of Jesus Christ.

Now, to say that I believe her does not mean that I think her experiences are the only way God has of revealing the manifestation of His love in the way things are on the other side. I have my own experiences in the Spirit, and I have found that there are many ways God reveals his marvelous ways. Instead of converting each one to rigid, unexpandable, invariable reality; I accept each as a thrilling manifestation of a way to see the hand of the Lord in all things. So it is not a matter of converting it to concrete, proudly held treasures or knowledge, but instead, something to be gratefully received as an interesting manifestation of His loving concern.In other words, I take the information and carry it to my tree of life rather than to my tree of knowledge.

After all, as Paul reminded the quarreling Corinthians about being proud of their knowing great doctrines, “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge… and have not charity [the pure love of Christ], I AM NOTHING.(I Corinthians 13:2) He also said that when one receives the gift of charity, knowledge shall pass away. Mormon assured us that all things are set up to fail, since we now know in part, but charity never faileth. I want to express my appreciation for the love that I felt from her book, Embraced by the Light. It was a blessing to me, not for knowledge, but for her testimony of the Love of God. God’s hand really is in ALL THINGS. As far as I am concerned, that would include her inspiring book.

Underlining added

These paragraphs say it better than I could. I personally have a hard time with the possibility of God’s interventions because if God does intervene, why didn’t he for me? I think you and Ray hit the deeper question on the head – did God not intervene because I wasn’t righteous/faithful enough? While I personally have trouble with reports of God’s interventions, I acknowledge that this is only my personal reality and that I built it to protect myself. So it is a little interesting toggling between one side of the brain that believes you and celebrates with you for the life of your daughter and for your spiritual experience with God and the other side that still believes you but doesn’t expect those things to happen to me because they are not part of my reality (for reasons previously mentioned). IOW I take the information to my tree of life and rejoice with you for the manifestation of our Heavenly Father’s love.

So yes – “pure knowledge” is definitely an acceptable answer to what the Holy Ghost might “feel” like. :thumbup:

[Anonymous]

DennisonE wrote:

I am just here to learn as much as I can from you guys.

Den,

I’d like to learn from you too. Glad you’re here. Please feel free to post an Intro post about yourself in the Indroductions section so we can get to know you more. Thanks.

[Author]

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