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Wayfarer, let me share a garment experience with you: i had had my endowments and a few weeks later i awoke from a sleep sometime after midnight. it was in the middle of a lightning and thunderstorm. each time a flash of lightning struck i got this “prompting” (not the holy spirit) to get “naked” or to take off the garments. this happened every lightning strike. it was a manifestation of ole scratch. He spoke to me through my carnal sensitivities. it was a supernatural event. i wasn’t asleep. this really happened. why it happened i don’t know but it happened. it was a testimony to me that the ‘other’ side was well aware of my church life events.
Yes i saw that video. it was entertaining. two thumbs up for o’reilly taking on maher on live tv and he remained composed. are you a literalist heber ? I had a fb friend who is an atheist like maher and regularly puts postings that are anti-religion in nature. he posted “if money is the root of all evil then why do churches collect offerings etc…”. i called him up on it and said “it is the love of money that is at the root of all evil…”. to make a long story short he said he was just joking. at that point it didn’t matter. i had seen enough of his anti-religious posts that his last post was the last straw and i dropped him as a fb friend. life goes on. nice to not see fb posts where i feel i have to defend my beliefs
Garments, garments, garments … what i don’t like about garments is how hot wearing them is in summer. summers where i live can get pretty humid and they can get very uncomfortable. if i do ever decide to wear garments again i will have to get the mesh type. the cotton/polyester mix i just find too hot for summer. Silent Dawning said: Quote:In fact, our sometimes overcommitment to the organization often makes us fade into the background because we tend to hang around members of our own community and look inward rather than making a difference in our communities.
that is so true SD and have thought this myself. going back on your thread on needing help in your lesson on missionary work: one of the best tools we can have on doing missionary work is going out in the community and doing acts of service as a group. if people in our community see us doing Christ-like service and rubbing shoulders with the less-fortunate then what greater way to show people what we stand for as followers of Christ.As one saying goes:
Quote:i would rather see a sermon than hear one any day !
i have heard of one instance of one LDS congregation rebuilding a church for a congregation of another denomination after a natural disaster. now that is one super example of Christ-like love !
:thumbup: what better way is there, than this, to do missionary work and to show that we care about our neighbors not of our faith ? (none, of course !):clap: one of my last special experiences before i became bitter and less active was having attended church just before a man about 30 was getting baptized. you could feel a heavenly aura around him. he was ready to get baptized. the missionaries had prepared him so well. i received a witness of the holiness of the priesthood ordinance of baptism. unfortunately, he went inactive a few weeks later because of how is fiance treated him. she was a church member but caved into peer pressure to break off the engagement in the name of age difference. She was about 19. He was 30.
many church experiences in my life when i was active have included witnesses from the Holy Ghost that what I had experienced was good – including visiting church historical sites, attending a ysa conference, and participating in temple activity (which included getting my own endowment, and participating at 16 in serving as a baptism proxy for baptism of the mortally deceased).
these were choice experiences i will never, ever forget.
Hello All, i have had some very real experiences with the Holy Ghost. to say otherwise would be denying the Holy Ghost – the unpardonable sin lol !
one instance was during a very difficult time in my life around the end of my first marriage at 22 or 23 years of age. i may have the age i was at the time wrong but it was really neat.
i had resigned myself to staying in a bad marriage because i felt i deserved it for making bad choices. i feared for my daughters lives, that if i left they would end up messed up. not long after, maybe after a period of a few days or weeks i was sitting in a shopping mall in a pondering state. something came upon me, like a voice, something i could feel more than something i could hear where the voice said “do not hold yourself hostage because of your past transgressions. if you leave your daughters will be taken care of.”
another experience happened to me before that with the Holy Ghost operating in a different manner. it was in regard to a prompting i got while at work. i got this “burning in the bosom” feeling to go to my boss and tell him that i was sorry for not being very willing to work overtime. i had that burning in the bosom feeling for a 1/2 hour. my boss was out of the building and didn’t come back until an hour or so later. i didn’t follow through on the prompting. 2 weeks later i was laid off !
at 12 i woke up and had a similar experience (as above when i was in the shopping mall at 22, 23). a voice came upon me that was more a feeling than a voice that said ” you will be successful “.
i guess God had been in my life from time to time letting me know He’s keeping an eye on me ! at least that is what i have felt from time to time.
Mike(BLC)
bc_pg wrote: (musings about inspiration point 2) Quote:2) Spiritual feelings that you should marry someone are only valid if the other person feels it too. So if it can be wrong about who you are to marry how can you trust it for other things? This happened to me personally as a teenager and caused me to make a huge fool of myself by continuing to pursue someone who wasn’t interesting – the spirit made me a stalker! (I’m still mortified.) There are many more examples of people having “false” marriage promptings where only 1 of them got the prompting.
i can so relate to this bc_pg. similar situation happened to me. it was a nightmarish social circumstance for me that lead to me becoming inactive as a result. difference was i was in my late 20’s and in ysa at the time.the real kicker was i had planned to move away because it seemed like an impossible situation. i even approached my bishop about going into the SA program. he denied my request. all this was happening and then, get this: i was approached by the stake presidency at the time to take a call as a counsellor in the elder’s quorum presidency. i took the call and didn’t move. to make a long story short – life in my ward got bad to worse and i ended up inactive. so here i am over a decade later – a participant in this Mormon forum telling my story.
i guess the question to ask is are we getting a false prompting ? or is it a case of us misinterpreting or mishandling the prompting ? it could be just a case of God letting us know that a certain individual might be good for us and to give the person a second look. and in such an instance the other person might not get a prompting.
i read your posts. it was unfortunate your sister encountered abuse. how is she doing ? is she still active ? is she attending another ward or is she simply inactive ? you use “abuse” as a term. do you really mean she was bullied ?
what is so hard about being bullied in an lds church setting is culturally we are taught to “endure unto the end” and we go to church come hell or high water. i lived a similar experience. i had become an object of gossip. how does one deal with that type of abuse and carry on attending a congregation where that happens ? in my case i got very angry and resentful. i stopped attending church.
i think in cases like that where you feel disrespected, gossiped about, and very socially isolated or ostracized you need to get out, and get out quick. thank goodness i still have my testimony of divinity, the priesthood, etc. some people just stop believing period and maybe get anti-mormon in their stance against the church.
i have seen a former branch president be very critical of individuals in his branch and was quite vocal against the person or persons. that happens. i’ve seen it. but, in retrospect, i see it as just a lack of experience and immaturity on the part of the branch president. i have been in leadership positions in the church and i know that when you see individuals not towing the line you can get critical. “yeah he doesn’t do his hometeaching but yet he sees no problem about renewing his temple recommend … “.
we have to watch out for uncharitable thinking of others and try not to be judgemental of others but i’m sure, at times, it isn’t easy lol !
Hi iLoveChrist77, i get what you are saying and i might have even come across this person’s work online. it reminds me a lot like those who oppose abortion and who will go to an abortion centre and will tantalize anyone who comes and goes there. as Ray says – it’s a good thing to oppose evil – just not good to be fanatical about it.
Mike
SD said: Quote:I got some reallys startled looks when I keyed off one quote in the manual about not being annoying in sharing the gospel. I commented that I found righteousness can be very annoying. They looked really surprised, and I commented on how people can take matters of personal conscience and turn them into doctrinal-like concepts — all based on their own interpretation. How we need to avoid coming across self-righteous to our neighbours.
well that was interesting ! would you mind posting the quote here SD ? i think you nailed it right on the head, SD, about how being self-righteous can be a real turn off to those we may contemplate doing missionary work with. putting ourselves on a figurative pedestal is never a good thing.well, obviously, you have already given your lesson but when it comes to sharing the gospel i think the approach one needs to take is to consider the gospel as something that everyone needs. you live your life such that people will be drawn with you to come to church and to participate. when it comes to a church community, everyone who attends needs to help visitors feel welcome.
i think the church can be a place of great social benefit but it has to be one where the social atmosphere is positive and where people genuinely care about each other.
it reminds me of a quote from the Doctrine and Covenants where Christ is speaking about how his apostles behaved toward one another: (D&C 64:
Quote:My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another and forgave not one another in their hearts; and for this evil they were afflicted and sorely chastened.
with that kind of toxic social environment Christ is speaking of, do you think that we would feel inspired to bring our friends to church if that was the kind of social environment that was being fostered there ?interesting to think that in spite of Christ’s loving example being amongst his disciples, he still had to “sorely chastise” them for their resentful behaviours.
