Is God Ever Silent?

[Maidservant]

but I don't envision that to be a time when I am constantly told/inspired what to do.

Right.

But when the Holy Ghost is with me, as I have experienced it, everything is sacred and revelatory--from doing the dishes to spending time with kids to getting a 'wow' moment in the temple. It is not so much getting a whisper on everything (although I know that is how I wrote it), but it is just that life is rather harmonious (even as challenges continue) and you know how to be, how to act in any given moment.

Or so I hope. Not there yet.

Or perhaps I shall have to revise what I currently understand as I learn more .

[Hamba Tuhan]

But when the Holy Ghost is with me, as I have experienced it, everything is sacred and revelatory--from doing the dishes to spending time with kids to getting a 'wow' moment in the temple. It is not so much getting a whisper on everything (although I know that is how I wrote it), but it is just that life is rather harmonious (even as challenges continue) and you know how to be, how to act in any given moment.

Amen!

[inquiringmind]

I saw a Church produced video recently, where Joseph Smith Sr. was on his deathbed, and he asked Joseph "will I see Alvin?"

I think Joseph said "Alvin will always be your son" (or something like that), but how historical was this?

From what I found online, I think this scene may have been based on something Lucy Mack Smith wrote in her biography (pg. 265), but why would a Patriarch of the Church be asking a question like that on his deathbed?

Shouldn't he have already known?

Shouldn't he have been certain?

Edited March 26, 2012 by inquiringmind

[Calm]

Generally when one is dying, there is not only physical weaknesses, but emotional ones and maybe even mental disability, perhaps memory related. The man was sick, it is not surprising if he was feeling overwhelmed and wanting reassurance he would not have needed in a stronger moment.

Edited March 26, 2012 by calmoriah

[Calm]

From what I found online, I think this scene may have been based on something Lucy Mack Smith wrote in her biography (pg. 265)

What edition? It is not in my copy, copyrighted 2000.

add-on: I think it is on page 283 in my copy, JS sr. is dying and has given blessings to his children, he is talking to his wife and tells her to "be comforted."

"He then paused for some time, being exhausted. After which he said, in a tone-of surprise, "I can see and hear, as well as I could." [A second pause of considerable length.] "I see Alvin." [Third pause.] "I shall live seven or eight minutes."......He departed so calmly, that, for some time, we could not believe but that he would breathe again.

italics not mine Edited March 26, 2012 by calmoriah

[Calm]

Someone took great creative license there. I think you are talking about the movie Joseph Smith The Prophet of the Restoration.

http://madhousewife-caren.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-in-temple-square.html

Edited March 26, 2012 by calmoriah

[inquiringmind]

What edition? It is not in my copy, copyrighted 2000.

add-on: I think it is on page 283 in my copy, JS sr. is dying and has given blessings to his children, he is talking to his wife and tells her to "be comforted."

italics not mine

Is there anything in the footnotes about his being worried about Alvin?

[Calm]

No footnotes in my edition. Nothing in the index either.

Edited March 27, 2012 by calmoriah

[Avatar4321]

Why?

I don't know. Ask Him:)

[inquiringmind]

Generally when one is dying, there is not only physical weaknesses, but emotional ones and maybe even mental disability, perhaps memory related. The man was sick, it is not surprising if he was feeling overwhelmed and wanting reassurance he would not have needed in a stronger moment.

So health is a factor then?

What if I'm hypoglycemic?

If The Spirit gives me feelings of joy and peace when my blood sugar is normal, shouldn't it give me those same feelings whether my blood sugar is low or high?

I don't think I'm hypoglycemic (and this may be a little off topic again), but something happened to me this morning that I've been thinking about all day.

I felt peaceful when I was waking up, and some words went through my mind.

To be polite, it was something like "you're still a no good, disgusting sinner."

The funny thing is that I ignored them, I continued to feel peaceful, and I tried to go back to sleep.

I guess I couldn't go back to sleep because I was conscious enough to start thinking, "what do I have to feel good about if the truth is that I'm still a no good, disgusting sinner?"

I've been keeping the word or wisdom, and the law of chastity, and (if you count the day before I quite smoking) this is the second time I've had words go through my mind that didn't seem to match what I was feeling.

Would God cause me to feel peaceful at the same time He accused me of being "a no good, disgusting sinner"?

P.S. My father had a stroke over a year ago, he's incontinent, and I care for him every day (and I don't always want to get up in the morning.)

Edited March 27, 2012 by inquiringmind

[Calm]

I have been hypoglycemic, had anxiety attacks, been given drugs that suppressed the spirit, had many, many other physical ailments that affect emotional and mental state and therefore most likely spiritual state as well.

I think we run into problems when we think of thoughts and feelings as one dimensional or only able to feel one thing at a time. Feelings don't occur one at a time, we feel multiple things at the same time. What can happen though is that one feeling may dominant because of its strength and like a crowd, one can only really hear the loudest voices, the ones with the megaphone.

So there is no reason imo to not believe that the Spirit is not creating a peaceful feeling in one's soul even if one's body is also being agitated by hypoglycemia or some other physical or emotional ailment that at the moment is overwhelming it.

One has to learn to tune out distractions, though sometimes this is impossible. The Lord did not give us bodies so that we could learn to ignore them, sometimes it is important to listen to what our bodies are saying as well as what our spirit is conversing with the Lord about.

It is also possible that it is yourself that is causing the negative dialogue or choosing to interpret the Lord's words that way and the Lord who is sending a peaceful feeling. Perhaps the message he was conveying is 'even the most sinful of sinners is welcomed to my peace when he seeks me instead of his sins.'

Bottomline is no one else is in your head or soul. You are the only one who is going to be able to figure out who is saying what to you, whether it is the Lord, your natural man trying to tempt you to turn your back on repentance, wishful thinking on your part or something all together different.

[Calm]

Remember we are both carnal and spiritual beings. Of course there will be conflicting dialogues to listen to going on in our minds.

And since we are the only ones who can hear it, we are the only ones who can figure out what it all means. And that takes separating them out and trying to track back to where the thoughts came from...but since only you can 'feel' and 'think' them, only you can follow the tracks.

Good luck with that, seriously. It's not easy and may take years, but then faith is something that takes consistent nurturing and won't spring up overnight from being watered with a few tears of joy or sorrow.

[inquiringmind]

I have been hypoglycemic, had anxiety attacks, been given drugs that suppressed the spirit, had many, many other physical ailments that affect emotional and mental state and therefore most likely spiritual state as well.

I think we run into problems when we think of thoughts and feelings as one dimensional or only able to feel one thing at a time. Feelings don't occur one at a time, we feel multiple things at the same time. What can happen though is that one feeling may dominant because of its strength and like a crowd, one can only really hear the loudest voices, the ones with the megaphone.

So there is no reason imo to not believe that the Spirit is not creating a peaceful feeling in one's soul even if one's body is also being agitated by hypoglycemia or some other physical or emotional ailment that at the moment is overwhelming it.

One has to learn to tune out distractions, though sometimes this is impossible. The Lord did not give us bodies so that we could learn to ignore them, sometimes it is important to listen to what our bodies are saying as well as what our spirit is conversing with the Lord about.

It is also possible that it is yourself that is causing the negative dialogue or choosing to interpret the Lord's words that way and the Lord who is sending a peaceful feeling. Perhaps the message he was conveying is 'even the most sinful of sinners is welcomed to my peace when he seeks me instead of his sins.'

Bottomline is no one else is in your head or soul. You are the only one who is going to be able to figure out who is saying what to you, whether it is the Lord, your natural man trying to tempt you to turn your back on repentance, wishful thinking on your part or something all together different.

Remember we are both carnal and spiritual beings. Of course there will be conflicting dialogues to listen to going on in our minds.

And since we are the only ones who can hear it, we are the only ones who can figure out what it all means. And that takes separating them out and trying to track back to where the thoughts came from...but since only you can 'feel' and 'think' them, only you can follow the tracks.

Good luck with that, seriously. It's not easy and may take years, but then faith is something that takes consistent nurturing and won't spring up overnight from being watered with a few tears of joy or sorrow.

You're comments here have been very helpful.

Thank you calmoriah.

Edited March 27, 2012 by inquiringmind

[Calm]

I'm glad, hopefully you will be able to find the really essential answers soon because it is hard and heavy on the soul to wonder, but they are only ones you can answer for yourself.

It would be so nice if life came with a manual that specified all this for us, but then what would we have to go to the Lord about?

I guess he just likes to make it all that more wonderful for us when we get an answer after years of digging and wondering and secondguessing ourselves, because he certainly didn't make this aspect of the path that easy (though I think most of the path is once one gets past the first hurdle of not only making the connection with God, but figuring that the connection has actually been made.)

[TAO]

Inquiringmind, we are all still sinners, still horrible sinners. I am worse than many. But I still ask God what I should do, I still pray to him and thank him, and I still seek out for the right feelings. He hasn't abandoned me yet.

I don't think he will abandon you either =). He gives us all many many many chances. Of course, we have to sieze them, but he is really really forgiving, that I know for sure =D.

[inquiringmind]

I was talking to the missionaries tonight, and they pointed out something I hadn't thought about.

I can't quote chapter and verse right now, but Alma the younger said he "prayed and fasted for many days to know the truth of these things."

That would mean that God didn't answer him on day one.

I never really thought about that before.