The foolish life of living with the Spirit

[MorningStar]

1 hour ago, Kenngo1969 said:

Thanks.  How's your brother doing, anyway?  I know you posted sometime back about worrying for him because of his then pending/current assignment.

He's good. He loves putting perverts away and saving victims.    Thanks for asking!  

[Kenngo1969]

2 minutes ago, MorningStar said:

He's good. He loves putting perverts away and saving victims.    Thanks for asking!  

Please give him best regards from the son of a man who spent 43 years on the job, will you?  

[Atheist Mormon]

On 4/28/2017 at 1:00 PM, Rain said:

The story has never connected with me and I've analyzed it trying to get it to connect.  It is obvious that it has connected with others, especially when they have used it to try to help me. 

My Heck! That Holland's story tried very hard to kill me through my pre-GPS days....I can't remember how many times I lost my path in hiking and driving my FJ in Utah's unforgiving deserts.......Couple times it was a matter of survival. It was amazing though how the life changed with the coming of Garmin (which would be alot easier to worship as deity).  In those years when I took my next step in my heavy boots, it was so obvious there was nothing to elevate me except my brain......

[Meerkat]

On 4/28/2017 at 11:49 AM, bluebell said:

Like this example you provided-

We could have gotten married having felt so influenced by the Spirit in our decision to do so, only to see years later it was the wrong road and our kids might have to deal with the effects of our bad choice. 

The story doesn't tell us that 1) the spirit will allow you to go years on the wrong path and 2) you and others will suffer negative consequences because of being led to that wrong path.

In the story, they traveled on the wrong road for a very short period of time (around 500 yards), very quickly knew it was wrong, and suffered no negative effects because of it.

My wife was watching an online painter paint a Forest scene with mountains in the background, a large pond in the foreground and trees and flowers receding to the base of the mountain. It was beautiful.  Suddenly, he threw a big blotch of black paint right in the middle of the canvas.  "Oh no!"  My wife said.  "He's ruined it."  He continued to work with it, a brown line here, a yellow line there.  My wife said "How can he ever fix that?"  A touch of green, some white around the base.  Suddenly it all came together.  A stand of beautiful cat tails at the edge of the pond, with some lilly pads and perfect shadows caused by the blotch.  It was much better than before.  

We never know how the Lord is going to help paint our canvas.  But I know this, having had family members go down some dangerous dead end roads that are taking years to get through, our life is beautiful largely due to relying on the Lord when we were in our despair. We wondered if we could ever be happy again. And her we are, happy and grateful for the experience.  Grateful for the healing power of the Atonement, a gift we may never have fully appreciated.

I say if Elder Holland's metaphor lasts two decades instead of two hours, it's all good in my opinion.  He has called us all to go through some low valleys, tailor made for us.  We are "The called."  The scripture says "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."  Romans 8:28. I can testify to that.

[Guest]

On April 28, 2017 at 2:56 PM, stemelbow said:

So you are saying a person could not be influenced by the Spirit to go down the wrong road for more than 3 minutes, for such a person to learn what God wants him/her to learn?  How short of a time do we allow here?  Is one year in a person's life, relatively short?  What about 30 years in a person's existence? 

How do you know a person couldn't be led by God to get into a marriage that turned out really bad, negatively affecting other people?  I ask that because I've known many people who have had their marriages end, only to tell me that they were certain the Spirit had directed them in getting into the marriage. 

"Spirit" or not, when it comes to marriage, the only one you can assure, will be able to keep the "Spirit" is yourself. Marriages can end over countless reasons. No spouse can ever control the other, and if people finds themselves on different paths, it is not the fault of the Holy Spirit. Your example just does no bare out.