Tacenda Posted January 25, 2013 Posted January 25, 2013 I grew up in Farmington, Utah, in the old Farmington Second Ward, in the house my grandfather built on west State Street. Our ward chapel was the old Rock Church on north Main Street, one of the most charming old pioneer meetinghouses in Utah. To this day, I remember distinctly the following experience from when I was about five years old:One of the most kind and loving sisters in the ward, Sister Olive Hodson, was teaching us about the First Vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith. She displayed one of the famous First Vision paintings as she recounted the story. I listened intently as she told us of how he went into the woods to pray. The Holy Ghost bore witness to my young soul that the story she told was true. It remains one of the most memorable experiences of my life. From that moment on, I would always be able to recognize the Holy Ghost. Sister Hodson taught with the Spirit, and I knew, with a degree of certainty that has never been exceeded in my life, that our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ had truly appeared to the young Prophet Joseph Smith. I would not, from that moment forward, ever doubt the truthfulness of what Sister Hodson had taught us that day.The Holy Ghost can bear witness of the truth – even to a five-year-old child. And, from that moment forward, I could and did bear witness that I knew. Olive and her daughter Kaelyn (?) taught two of my children in their Raggedy Ann & Andy Preschool several years ago. Small world for sure. Thanks for that sweet testimony!
changed Posted January 25, 2013 Posted January 25, 2013 My 5 year old will tell you that he knows that Santa is real, but that doesn't make it true.Santa is real, he just isn't alive anymore...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas
Walden Posted January 25, 2013 Posted January 25, 2013 And who was it that told him about Santa?Though I often waffled on whether to perpetuate the Santa myth, his mother and I keep it up, and admittedly, most of it is due to our own selfish desires to see the joy on his face when he sees that Santa has appeared on xmas morning and experience the xmas "magic" that we enjoyed as children. The myth can also be useful in keeping a young child acting appropriately, if he is under the impression that Santa will only come of he is a good boy.It is quite common and universal for children, particularly small children, to have a great drive to earn their parents acceptance, and a desire to impress their parents, and thus, they will tout the same belief systems as their parents.
Walden Posted January 25, 2013 Posted January 25, 2013 Santa is real, he just isn't alive anymore...http://en.wikipedia..../Saint_NicholasI can accept that Jesus of Nazareth was real.....just not alive anymore (in body or spirit).
changed Posted January 26, 2013 Posted January 26, 2013 I can accept that Jesus of Nazareth was real.....just not alive anymore (in body or spirit).the devil's in the details....
Kenngo1969 Posted January 26, 2013 Posted January 26, 2013 ... It is quite common and universal for children, particularly small children, to have a great drive to earn their parents acceptance, and a desire to impress their parents, and thus, they will tout the same belief systems as their parents.Neither of Will's parents was involved in the experience he recounted above. Will, I'm sure you just forgot to add the postscript that says, "And besides, I figured, in my young mind, that if it was good enough for my mommy and daddy, it was good enough for me!" Right?
Maidservant Posted January 26, 2013 Author Posted January 26, 2013 I've never been to Boston, but I'm confident it is real based on the reports of others. Didn't even need a spiritual witness.This "thinking" something is real isn't a clincher argument either way. You can "think" something is real and it can be or not can be. You have to use other ways of knowing.God has been encountered by others and they have reported it to us. A person can not accept these reports, as they wish, but I find it very odd on the sheer number of reports that thereafter a person doesn't accept that there is some God. It's like me mounting a campaign against Mapquest for including Boston. I'm all for people choosing their own beliefs and paths, and I respect very much atheism, I do. But I find it disingenious in my own opinion to not reckon encounters with God to have been actual. What you decide to do in relation to the fact that they are actual is another question. Boston exists, but again, I'm not likely to make it there in my lifetime.Everyone who preaches Santa KNOWS they are preaching something not real. The only people still enjoying the glamour are the young innocent.Those who preach God have a knowledge that they ARE preaching something real.It's not the same thing at all. 1
William Schryver Posted January 26, 2013 Posted January 26, 2013 Neither of Will's parents was involved in the experience he recounted above. Will, I'm sure you just forgot to add the postscript that says, "And besides, I figured, in my young mind, that if it was good enough for my mommy and daddy, it was good enough for me!" Right? My step-father was not LDS. My mother participated irregularly.If my recollections of my own childhood and my experiences with my own children are any indication, then I assert that we greatly underestimate the capacity for understanding in young children. Furthermore, I assert that the Holy Ghost is more easily able to enlighten the mind and impress its revelations upon the soul of a pure, innocent child than upon that of a jaded adult who has, step upon most bitter step, steadily lost the capacity to see and to believe. 2
Kenngo1969 Posted January 26, 2013 Posted January 26, 2013 My step-father was not LDS. My mother participated irregularly.If my recollections of my own childhood and my experiences with my own children are any indication, then I assert that we greatly underestimate the capacity for understanding in young children. Furthermore, I assert that the Holy Ghost is more easily able to enlighten the mind and impress its revelations upon the soul of a pure, innocent child than upon that of a jaded adult who has, step upon most bitter step, steadily lost the capacity to see and to believe.Yes, well ... I'm sure you're simply some kind of strange, rare exception, and that most children simply acquire religious faith through sheer osmosis down through the generations! (And while Walden (and like-minded individuals) will probably discount your experience using much that same logic, I, for one, appreciate knowing more about the genesis of your testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thanks for sharing.
Recommended Posts