Answers to Prayers

[Dersman29]

Lately I have been wondering how we can truly say that emotions we have are answers to prayers (in other words, from God or the spirit). It seems that it is already likely that our emotions would “confirm” things we believe or want to believe are true, regardless of its actual truthfulness. As an example, when I was a child, I truly believed Santa was real. I might even say I felt warm and fuzzy when I wrote Santa a letter, but that didn’t make him any more real (quite disappointingly, lol).

I’d like to know your thoughts. Thanks!

[Tacenda]

1 hour ago, Dersman29 said:

Lately I have been wondering how we can truly say that emotions we have are answers to prayers (in other words, from God or the spirit). It seems that it is already likely that our emotions would “confirm” things we believe or want to believe are true, regardless of its actual truthfulness. As an example, when I was a child, I truly believed Santa was real. I might even say I felt warm and fuzzy when I wrote Santa a letter, but that didn’t make him any more real (quite disappointingly, lol).

I’d like to know your thoughts. Thanks!

Agree! But other times I feel the other side as well, and when we reach out even vocally and call for the spirit/spirits they listen, I believe, so there's that. 

Just a side note, I read about a little kid that came to his parents and told them that he came up with an experiment to see if the tooth fairy was real said he had put his lost tooth under his pillow for just a few days and then told his parents he lost a tooth afterward, and finally the money showed up, so he came to determine it was his parents all along, haha! 

[Kevin Christensen]

When asking questions about how to know how prayers are answered, I found it productive to consider that the scriptures provide a great many passages that describe how prayers are answered.  I noticed that many of these can be described as addressing emotions, but an equal number address thinking.   That is, rather than just focus on emotions, focus on how both thinking and feeling ought to be fully involved, engaged, in finally, working in concert to support one another, enlightening the mind, enlarging the soul, bringing peace, joy, reconcilliation, as so forth.  Try this following essay, beginning around page 19 for references for around 30 different ways prayers are answered.  I have personally experienced many of these.

http://oneclimbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/A-Model-of-Mormon-Spiritual-Experience.pdf

FWIW,

Kevin Christensen

Canonsburg, PA

Edited May 20, 2019 by Kevin Christensen

[rpn]

While it is true that confirmation bias exists, I have had too many experiences in which I studied things out, and sought confirmation only to have the spirit to tell me He needed me to do something I really didn't want to do, to think that spiritual impressions are just confirmation bias.

[The Nehor]

18 hours ago, rpn said:

While it is true that confirmation bias exists, I have had too many experiences in which I studied things out, and sought confirmation only to have the spirit to tell me He needed me to do something I really didn't want to do, to think that spiritual impressions are just confirmation bias.

This.

If God agrees with everything you want either you are God (unlikely) or you are creating a god in your own image.

[Robert F. Smith]

On 5/19/2019 at 10:24 AM, Dersman29 said:

Lately I have been wondering how we can truly say that emotions we have are answers to prayers (in other words, from God or the spirit). It seems that it is already likely that our emotions would “confirm” things we believe or want to believe are true, regardless of its actual truthfulness. As an example, when I was a child, I truly believed Santa was real. I might even say I felt warm and fuzzy when I wrote Santa a letter, but that didn’t make him any more real (quite disappointingly, lol).................................

Third party intercessory prayer appears to work:

Quote

...team examined the health outcomes of nearly 1,000 newly admitted heart patients at St. Lukes. The patients, who all had serious cardiac conditions, were randomly assigned to two groups. Half received daily prayer for four weeks from five volunteers who believed in God and in the healing power of prayer. The other half received no prayer in conjunction with the study.
The volunteers were all Christians. The participants were not told they were in a study. The people praying were given only the first names of their patients and never visited the hospital. They were instructed to pray for the patients daily for a speedy recovery with no complications.
Using a lengthy list of events that could happen to cardiac patients such as chest pains, pneumonia, infection, and death Harris concluded that the group receiving prayers fared 11 percent better than the group that didn't, a number considered statistically significant.  Archives of Internal Medicine, Oct 25, 1999, as summarized in Catherine Rauch, “Probing the power of prayer,” CNN Health,  Jan 18, 2000, online at 
http://articles.cnn.com/2000-01-18/health/prayer.power.wmd_1_daily-prayer-intercessory-prayer-cardiac-patients?_s=PM:HEALTH .

 

[Stargazer]

On 5/19/2019 at 5:24 PM, Dersman29 said:

Lately I have been wondering how we can truly say that emotions we have are answers to prayers (in other words, from God or the spirit). It seems that it is already likely that our emotions would “confirm” things we believe or want to believe are true, regardless of its actual truthfulness. As an example, when I was a child, I truly believed Santa was real. I might even say I felt warm and fuzzy when I wrote Santa a letter, but that didn’t make him any more real (quite disappointingly, lol).

I’d like to know your thoughts. Thanks!

I think that emotional content isn't necessarily unrelated to prayer responses, simply because workings of the Spirit may cause an emotional response in addition to or amplification of that which was received through the Spirit.  But I would have to say that virtually none of my important spiritual communications from God have involved emotional content.  I do not trust pure emotional response, in any case, simply because I have gotten the "warm and fuzzies" under situations where the Spirit was not present.  For example, a particularly satisfying movie ending, or an extremely moving music concert.  

 

[Avatar4321]

The Spirit may produce emotion in us but just feeling emotion is not the Spirit.

The spirit speaks to our minds and hearts. He gives us pure intelligence