Another Revelation Thread...this Time It's Personal

[mfbukowski]

Only in the scriptures i provided in the post you responded to.

Get used to it.  This will never end.

[mfbukowski]

deleted.  It's useless.

[Ahab]

deleted. It's useless.

The proper word to use here is "futile"... as in resistance is futile.

Sheesh, when will you learn?

[mfbukowski]

The proper word to use here is "futile"... as in resistance is futile.

Sheesh, when will you learn?

I think I have.

[jkwilliams]

I found another scripture: In Enos 1:4-10, he talks about “my soul” (v. 4 and v. 9), “me” (v. 5), “the spirit” (his—v. 10), and “my mind” (v. 10). I don’t know if he was using the D&C 88:15 definition of “soul,” but he does not seem to use these terms synonymously.

 

Thanks for that. I was responding to your last post and hadn't seen the post with the scriptures. I'd never noticed that distinction before, so I appreciate you pointing it out. I wonder how one distinguishes between the mind and the spirit. Maybe it means that the mind is the part of consciousness affected by the body/brain. Something to ponder.

[jkwilliams]

Don't tell anyone this, but I think Satan is more of a construct and a metaphor than an actual anthropomorphic being. 

 

That's how I see it too. Satan is a convenient excuse for our own bad thoughts and actions.

[jkwilliams]

The proper word to use here is "futile"... as in resistance is futile.

Sheesh, when will you learn?

 

I think Mark gets frustrated with me because he thinks I'm just trolling him or ignoring what he says. I think the problem is that we both talk past each other, and I take responsibility for my part in that. I think I'm a decent enough fellow and reasonably intelligent, but I understand why some people don't agree. It does make me sad that I've so badly burned bridges with Mark. He seems like a good man, and he's definitely very intelligent. We just don't communicate well with each other.

[CV75]

Thanks for that. I was responding to your last post and hadn't seen the post with the scriptures. I'd never noticed that distinction before, so I appreciate you pointing it out. I wonder how one distinguishes between the mind and the spirit. Maybe it means that the mind is the part of consciousness affected by the body/brain. Something to ponder.

Cool--I found a few more;

 

King Benjamin said he was “subject to all manner of infirmities in body and mind,” yet was “kept and preserved by [God’s] matchless power, to serve you with all the might, mind and strength which the Lord hath granted unto me.” (Mosiah 2:11) – Then it is clear in the verses that follow that he was very healthy spiritually and could “answer a clear conscience before God this day,” and instruct the people in the principles of spiritual righteousness.

 

“Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.” (2 Nephi 9:39) To me, this indicates that if our minds are not on the matters of the whole soul, or the full capacity of our spirit, we are spiritually dead, but if our minds are on the matters of the whole soul, or the full capacity of our spirit, we both spiritually alive and physically alive in the resurrection.

 

James 1:8, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” To me, this indicates that a man can have one spirit, one body, but more than one mind (not in the sense of being possessed, but in the sense that he can vacillate between carnally-minded and spiritually-minded).

 

It is interesting to me that “The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form… even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt.” (Alma 11:4) This tells me that the capacity to remember is dependent on the spirit having a body, both in mortality and in the resurrection. It is possible to me that without a body, the spirit doesn’t know “even as we know now,” but knows in a different way than we do now, meaning it uses a different kind of mind when it is not connected with its mortal or immortal element. This may be one reason why it isn’t so easy to repent in the spirit world, and preaching the gospel in the spirit world offers no special advantage at all (everyone gets tested one way or another).

[emarkp]

I think you make a major mistake by putting God and Satan as opposites

Opposites in power they are not, but Satan is opposite in intention to God.

[CV75]

The Gospel is "proclaimed by the weak [body] and the simple [mind] unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers." (D&C 1:23) But of course they are faithful and true spirits who are sustained by the Holy Ghost (D&C 42:11-13).

[knowone]

So in light of the "Modern Revelation", "Psychic Healer", "Those Who Have Left" and "Holy Spirit" threads, I want to readdress an old topic.

 

When we are receiving what we believe to be a personal revelation (whether of the inspiration or more direct kind) how do we KNOW that it's from God?

 

I have had direct answers to my prayers, promptings, strokes of insight, even heard spoken words.  I believe they came from God.  But how can we KNOW?  If I pray to know that something I want to be right is right and I get a positive response, how can I know it's God and not me.  If I pray to know if I should do something that I don't want to and I get an answer not to do it, how can I know it's God and not me?  If I read the BOM and like it and want it to be true and then follow Moroni 10:4 how do I know the confirmation isn't just "self-fulfilling" or if I read it full of doubt and get no answer or even a bad feeling is that just self-fulfilling revelation too?

 

I know this is an old question but I would like some new opinions.  Our own emotions and thoughts are so strong and influential in our decisions and desires and God never overrides our agency.  So how do the board members know when it's from God and not from another source?

 

according to mckonkie, you can receive inspiration or revelation from God or the demon.  you have the ability to test this inspiration to see where it is coming from.  this can be done in simple prayer.  God asks that you test where isnpiration is coming from.

[thatjimguy]

 If I read the BOM and like it and want it to be true and then follow Moroni 10:4 how do I know the confirmation isn't just "self-fulfilling"

 

 

 

It is self fulfilling because of my personal fave; Alma 32

 

"Faith is a hope in that which is not seen which is true."

 

You believe it because you want to.

 

That is what finally happened to me. I spent a year reading, searching, looking up controversies for at least an hour a day (no exaggeration). Finally, Elder Freeman, a soft spoken Missionary, asked me "What do I have against getting baptized?" At first I had no answer, then one came to me...

 

I was searching and going to church, not because I wanted to find it false, but because I wanted it to be true.

 

At that point I was baptizsed.

[EllenMaksoud]

So in light of the "Modern Revelation", "Psychic Healer", "Those Who Have Left" and "Holy Spirit" threads, I want to readdress an old topic.

 

When we are receiving what we believe to be a personal revelation (whether of the inspiration or more direct kind) how do we KNOW that it's from God?

 

I have had direct answers to my prayers, promptings, strokes of insight, even heard spoken words.  I believe they came from God.  But how can we KNOW?  If I pray to know that something I want to be right is right and I get a positive response, how can I know it's God and not me.  If I pray to know if I should do something that I don't want to and I get an answer not to do it, how can I know it's God and not me?  If I read the BOM and like it and want it to be true and then follow Moroni 10:4 how do I know the confirmation isn't just "self-fulfilling" or if I read it full of doubt and get no answer or even a bad feeling is that just self-fulfilling revelation too?

 

I know this is an old question but I would like some new opinions.  Our own emotions and thoughts are so strong and influential in our decisions and desires and God never overrides our agency.  So how do the board members know when it's from God and not from another source?

I will just offer some suggestions, not that I actually know much.  I do not think that Heavenly Father or the Holy Spirit or who ever will tell you to do anything that is contrary to scripture. So that is all the more reason to know your scriptures well. Two of the most important times I god direction from the Holy Spirit, I had a deep longing for help but I was not actually praying. I was in the depths and knew it and Heavenly Father came to me. That is all I have.