What I know, what I believe, what I doubt. Can I balance it?

[Anonymous]

Dear mackay11,

Thanks for this post, I appreciate your honesty and how you organize your thoughts into knowledge, belief, and hope. That looks like a good exercise for me to go through also. Your comment about not patronizing yourself and not denying your own experiences really resonated with me. I’ve had a few deeply moving, spiritual experiences that I can’t deny and can’t explain yet, but when I hear about other people having similar experiences I’m skeptical. I don’t have much else to add because I feel much the same way you do, and was uplifted by you.

On another note, I may ask for the collection of essays for Christmas.

[Anonymous]

Roadrunner wrote:

Dear mackay11,

Thanks for this post, I appreciate your honesty and how you organize your thoughts into knowledge, belief, and hope. That looks like a good exercise for me to go through also. Your comment about not patronizing yourself and not denying your own experiences really resonated with me. I’ve had a few deeply moving, spiritual experiences that I can’t deny and can’t explain yet, but when I hear about other people having similar experiences I’m skeptical. I don’t have much else to add because I feel much the same way you do, and was uplifted by you.

On another note, I may ask for the collection of essays for Christmas.

Hi Roadrunner, thanks for your comments.

I used to feel the need to discount people of other faith’s spiritual experiences as I felt we had an exclusivity of truth. Over the last few years I’ve come to believe that all faiths have that right and opportunity. This either means we are all able to commune with God in our different ways or are all triggering some subconscious emotional reaction in our practices. I continue to hope it’s the first.

I think the reason so many Mormons loose all faith if they leave the church is that if the conclude the church is based on a fraud, then they can’t reconcile how they have had seemingly strong interaction with God while doing or praying about something that has been discredited.

I think the reason I cling on to Mormonism, (amongst other cultural/family/personal fulfilment reasons) is I’m worried about reaching a similar conclusion.

For now I simply celebrate people of all faiths having found THEIR one ‘true/best/ideal’ way to connect with Deity and give their life meaning.

[Anonymous]

mackay11 wrote:

Roadrunner wrote:

Dear mackay11,

Thanks for this post, I appreciate your honesty and how you organize your thoughts into knowledge, belief, and hope. That looks like a good exercise for me to go through also. Your comment about not patronizing yourself and not denying your own experiences really resonated with me. I’ve had a few deeply moving, spiritual experiences that I can’t deny and can’t explain yet, but when I hear about other people having similar experiences I’m skeptical. I don’t have much else to add because I feel much the same way you do, and was uplifted by you.

On another note, I may ask for the collection of essays for Christmas.

I used to feel the need to discount people of other faith’s spiritual experiences as I felt we had an exclusivity of truth. Over the last few years I’ve come to believe that all faiths have that right and opportunity. This either means we are all able to commune with God in our different ways or are all triggering some subconscious emotional reaction in our practices. I continue to hope it’s the first.

I think the reason so many Mormons loose all faith if they leave the church is that if the conclude the church is based on a fraud, then they can’t reconcile how they have had seemingly strong interaction with God while doing or praying about something that has been discredited.

I think the reason I cling on to Mormonism, (amongst other cultural/family/personal fulfilment reasons) is I’m worried about reaching a similar conclusion.

Hi mackay11. Quite agree, and I realize that when I say I’m skeptical of others’ spiritual experiences that I’m being both judgmental and hypocritical (Not that you’re saying that…) When I hear testimonies, lessons, etc, I sometimes wonder where on the faith spectrum they are and I try to think that it doesn’t really matter and that I should I support them but it’s hard for me not to apply my own experiences and beliefs to others. Really like what you say here.

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