Claim: "One of the things our Mormon friends tell us...is that the reason they're sure about Mormonism is [be]cause when they prayed about the Book of Mormon; when they prayed about the truth of Mormonism; they had a burning in the bosom. Well, many of us have prayed; I've prayed, and I have tremendous joy in knowing Jesus." - Floyd McElveen
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Latter-day Saints are not surprised that other Christians find tremendous joy in prayer and experiencing a personal relationship with Christ. We also enjoy this same feeling.
It is nice that Mr. McElveen calls Mormons his "friends," but his participation in a deceptive attack on their faith does not feel very "friendly."
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Claim: "Many of us have that exhilaration, but we don't depend on that. If we did, we might easily be led astray, and here's why: Jeremiah 17:9 says: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9) The heart of man is wicked. Our feelings betray us all the time. That's why there are so many cults and so many [inaudible] and differences in the gospel of Jesus Christ. So God is saying 'do not depend on your feelings.'" - Floyd McElveen
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This statement indicates that Mr. McElveen understands nothing about how members of the Church understand revelatory experiences.
LDS scripture explains that a revelation from the Holy Ghost always contains two things: heart and mind.
- Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.
- Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God? (D&C 6:22–23).
Notice the information spoken to the “mind,” and the peace then follows. And, the solution for later doubts or concerns is not reliance on “a feeling,” but an admonition to recall specific information communicated earlier.
This matches a later description:
- Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.
- But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.
- But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong... (D&C 9:7–9).
Again, heart and mind are in unity, or there is no revelation. Things must be clear, logical, and reasonable to us, not just "feel good."
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Claim: "...Our feelings betray us all the time...So God is saying 'do not depend on your feelings.'" - Floyd McElveen
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One must be careful in how one uses the word "feelings."
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Claim: "[God tells us not to trust] a burning in the bosom, not an exhilaration, not a suffussion of joy. " - Floyd McElveen
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It is very strange to hear a Bible-believing Christian claim that a "burning in the bosom" is of no importance, since it is taught in the Bible.
Following Jesus' resurrection, He walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They did not recognize Jesus, but listened to Him as "he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24꞉27).
After breaking bread with them, Jesus was revealed to the disciples, and vanished.
Interestingly, the disciples did not say to each other such things as:
- "We should have known it was Jesus because of his scriptural teaching."
"We should have known it was Jesus because the Bible (which isn't even written or collected now) tells us that He would walk with two disciples on the road of Emmaus."
Rather, they said:
- 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, emphasis added)
The experience on the road to Emmaus illustrates again that a witness of the Holy Ghost is not "just a feeling." The Holy Ghost is both a "feeling" or "experiencing" process, but it is not empty emotion. Rather, information is always transmitted with it. Thus, Jesus did not just give the disciples a "feeling," but taught them information from the scriptures which gave intellectual or mental insight and satisfaction.
The mental conclusions they drew from that information were simultaneously confirmed by the "burning" that accompanies the Holy Spirit.
Would the critics likewise dismiss Jesus' disciples' witness because it was a "burning in the bosom"? Would they characterize this experience as merely the emotional?
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Claim: "Depend on the Word of God, period." - Floyd McElveen
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This claim demonstrates how circular the critics' arguments are. One assumes that Mr. McElveen feels the Bible is the only "Word of God."
Where does God tell us to depend only "on the Word of God, period," or only and entirely on the Bible? Jesus tells us in the Bible that we should live by "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4꞉4). This statement was made prior to the Bible being compiled; none of the New Testament had been written. So, Jesus clearly taught that everything which God said (both prior to His statement, and after His statement) be depended upon.
Even if we presume that the Bible is the only Word of God, how do we know to trust the Bible? It is circular to believe the Bible simply because the Bible tells us to:
- Believer - The Bible is the word of God?
- Unbeliever - How do you know?
- Believer - Because it says so, right in the Bible!
The Qu'ran tells us to believe the Qu'ran; the Book of Mormon tells us to believe the Book of Mormon. Yet, the critics would not have us believe them.
The Bible cannot be ultimate source of authority for belief, because we needs something outside the Bible to confirm the Bible's authority. Who can confirm God's Word, save God Himself?
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Claim: "Then, you may have wonderful feelings. For instance, the Bible says, "in thy presence is a fulness of joy. At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore." And I love my relationship with Jesus; it's wonderful. Besides that, I know I'm going to heaven. But anything short of that, feelings only decimate." - Floyd McElveen
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Following Jesus' command to ask
Because the video's producers haven't experienced the testimony of the Spirit, they want you ignore it. But what did Christ say?
- And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever....
- But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14꞉16,26)
So, we are to heed the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, not ignore them. Instead, the video's producers want you to believe that God would give us a stone when we ask for bread (see Matthew 7꞉9).
And then we have the admonition of James:
- If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1꞉5)
Are we to believe then that God will not answer when we knock at the door? That he who asketh will not receive? Latter-day Saints believe in these Biblical admonitions to seek God, to commune with the Spirit, and to trust in Him.
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Claim: "When I had doubts and I prayed, I did receive confirmation that it was true. But now, looking back, I see that it was my self-will. I wanted it to be true so badly, because all the reasons why I saw Mormonism as a hope, as a goal, was to do work for my dead family." - Rauni Higley
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ANSWER
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Claim: "When Paul preached the gospel, he opened the scriptures, Acts 17:2, 3, or you can go to Acts 9, and it says Paul proved from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. You can go to Acts 18:28, Apollos, it says he mightily convinced the Jews, publicly proving from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ." - Dave Hunt
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ANSWER
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Claim: "OK, so I'm not just to go by emotion or some burning in the bosom, although I certainly have a convicting power of the Holy Spirit because the Bible speaks to my heart; it's true. But the Mormon says 'well, in spite of all the evidence, DNA evidence,' and the fact that they can't document anything—that there's no historical evidence, and so forth—it reads like a lot of nonsense in many places. They say 'yeah, but I have a burning in the bosom. Now, if you will just read it, and you'll get a burning in the bosom, and that will prove to you that it is true.'"
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ANSWER
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Claim: "Our relationship with God has to be built upon truth, not upon experience, not upon a sensation that could come from the Kingdom of Darkness. You think it's hard for the Kingdom of Darkness, who obviously has great power... "You want a burning in your bosom, sure, that's no problem; we'll give you a burning in the bosom." That's gonna get you launched down this way that you're gonna believe all this stuff, we can... you know, the Kingdom of Darkness can easily provide that." - Joel Kramer
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ANSWER
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Claim: "I don't believe what I believe because it makes me happy or because it makes me feel good. I believe what I believe because the Bible says that that's true, and I believe in the authority of the Bible." - Joel Kramer
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Mr. Kramer's argument is simply circular reasoning: "I believe the Bible is true because the Bible says it is true." The Book of Mormon also claims to be true (e.g., Moroni 7꞉35; Moroni 10꞉29), but yet he rejects the Book of Mormon. Mr. Kramer's reasoning is unsound and he fails to follow it.
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Claim: "The reason why we can't trust our emotions when it comes to knowing truth is because the scripture's very clear that the heart of man is evil from conception. So rather than calling upon an emotional experience to determine truth, I think we should take God at His word." - Brian Mackert
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ANSWER
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Claim: "If the person wants to believe something really, really bad, sure, they can conceive that they're feeling the sensation, or this emotion. But that's not, biblically, what truth is supposed to be built on. Truth is supposed to be built on truth! And that doesn't matter so much how you feel about it, or the experience that you have about it."- Joel Kramer
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ANSWER
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