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Detailed response to CES Letter, Testimony and Spiritual Witness: Difference between revisions
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*The author is correct that simply receiving a warm feeling about a speech or article is not enough to call it revelation or a confirmation of the spirit. One would need to properly study the issue, get an idea of what is correct, then ask for confirmation. The witness has to be consistent with other revelation and can be compared with others witness of similar events. In the case of Elder Dunn's stories, we felt good when we heard them. Boyd Packer pointed out that feelings and “spiritual” events can come from three sources: 1) your own feelings, 2) Satan, or 3) the Holy Ghost. You must use methods to properly confirm which is occurring in a particular event. | *The author is correct that simply receiving a warm feeling about a speech or article is not enough to call it revelation or a confirmation of the spirit. One would need to properly study the issue, get an idea of what is correct, then ask for confirmation. The witness has to be consistent with other revelation and can be compared with others witness of similar events. In the case of Elder Dunn's stories, we felt good when we heard them. Boyd Packer pointed out that feelings and “spiritual” events can come from three sources: 1) your own feelings, 2) Satan, or 3) the Holy Ghost. You must use methods to properly confirm which is occurring in a particular event. | ||
*Regarding Elder Dunn's stories | *Regarding Elder Dunn's stories: he was human, just like the rest of us. He can speak for himself on this issue: [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/190407/ELDER-DUNN-OFFERS-APOLOGY-FOR-ERRORS-ADMITS-CENSURE.html?pg=all "Elder Dunn Offers Apology for Errors, Admits Censure"], Deseret News, Oct. 27 1991. | ||
<blockquote> | <blockquote> | ||
In an open letter to LDS Church members, Elder Paul H. Dunn apologized Saturday for not having "always been accurate" in telling his popular war and baseball stories, and he acknowledged being disciplined for it by church authorities. | In an open letter to LDS Church members, Elder Paul H. Dunn apologized Saturday for not having "always been accurate" in telling his popular war and baseball stories, and he acknowledged being disciplined for it by church authorities. | ||
Revision as of 01:59, 20 July 2013
| [[../Kinderhook Plates and Translator & Seer Claims Concerns & Questions|Kinderhook Plates and Translator/Seer Claims Concerns & Questions]] | A FAIR Analysis of:
[[../|Letter to a CES Director]] |
[[../Priesthood Restoration Concerns & Questions|Priesthood Restoration Concerns & Questions]] |
A FAIR Analysis of the online document Letter to a CES Director section "Testimony & Spiritual Witness Concerns & Questions"
And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? (Luke 24꞉32)
My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue. (Psalms 39꞉3)
What does a “burning in the bosom” mean? Does it need to be a feeling of caloric heat, like the burning produced by combustion? If that is the meaning, I have never had a burning in the bosom. Surely, the word “burning” in this scripture signifies a feeling of comfort and serenity. That is the witness many receive. That is the way revelation works.
—Dallin H. Oaks, "Teaching and Learning by the Spirit," Ensign (March 1997): 14.
- Response to section: "Every major religion has members who claim the same thing: God or God’s spirit bore witness to them" [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: "it would likewise be arrogant of a Latter-day Saint to deny their spiritual experiences and testimonies of the truthfulness of their own religion" [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: "If God’s method to revealing truth is through feelings, it’s a pretty ineffective method"
- Response to section: "Joseph Smith received a revelation, through the peep stone in his hat, to send Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery to Toronto, Canada for the sole purpose of selling the copyright of the Book of Mormon"
- Response to section: "I saw a testimony as more than just spiritual experiences and feelings. I saw that we had evidence and logic on our side based on the correlated narrative I was fed by the Church about its origins." [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: Paul H. Dunn [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: "a testimony is to be found in the bearing of it"
- Response to section: "how can they be sure of the reliability of this same exact process in telling them that Mormonism is true?"
- Response to section: "Why did I feel the Spirit as I listened to the stories of apostates sharing how they discovered for themselves that Mormonism is not true?" [Work in Progress]
Response Section
"If God’s method to revealing truth is through feelings, it’s a pretty ineffective method"
"Joseph Smith received a revelation, through the peep stone in his hat, to send Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery to Toronto, Canada for the sole purpose of selling the copyright of the Book of Mormon"
Paul H. Dunn
"a testimony is to be found in the bearing of it"
"how can they be sure of the reliability of this same exact process in telling them that Mormonism is true?"