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Wonderful post. I’ve always believed that the only real purpose of a church is to bring its followers to a profound love of God. That there are many in other churches besides LDS who have experienced this state is a truth we ignore only at our peril. Once this unspeakably comforting love abides in our hearts we are truly free and can realize a new confidence which no mere church organization can ever impart.
Thanks again for sharing your wisdom.
For once I find something I have no disagreement with in content. It’s a shame that folks over on Mormondiscussions not have reasoned response to this rather than invective.
I’m not surprised, noel. It’s pretty much dogma there that I’m without any redeeming character traits, utterly insincere and completely depraved.
A very strange place.
Thanks, Dan, for yet another wonderful explication of the beauty and power of truth, and for placing it in the context of apologetics. The angle you took in this essay was brilliant: that the truth is not just more credible than its various counterfeits, but that there is a beauty in truth that strikes such a spiritual cord within us. That, in concert with clear explanation, is the power to convince.
Dare to believe, my friend, dare to believe.
Bro. Peterson has always been a great expounder of gospel truth. It is easy for one to sense or discern that his life is worthy of the words that he imparts. His words are a manifestation of the virtue of his very soul. Thanks for not only teaching the gospel, but living it too. It’s good to have him in the Kingdom.
Thanks to you and others here for the very kind words.
Daniel you are amazing. Again those quotes from C. S. Lewis have great worth, and are simply inspiring. The veil is mentioned and commented about in an elegant way, and I would like to bring to it what I have come to understand. What I perceive with great conviction is that the veil is not constructed by our Heavenly Father, but is in fact the natural affect of the laws of the universe. The spirit and flesh do share common ground, but they are still separate parts. They have thought and desires independent of one another. Of course the flesh is mostly ravinous and hungry for the things of the flesh and the world, and the spirit is held captive by the very flesh that it once could not live without. The spirit is longing to join once again those parts of the universe, and other beings that brought it joy. So again the veil is naturally constructed and is only weakened by the experiences that come through inspiration, dreams, prayer, and meditation and the desire to have a meaningful relationship with that very being who caused you to feel that joy and peace of a former life that cannot be recalled fully while in and of the world.
Oh Daniel, how often have I felt in my life that inexplicable yearning for beauty and completeness of joy. I often assuage this hunger with the acquisition of knowledge, which can sometimes lead to those ethereal moments. But you have made me realize how much I have desired this further search for the transcendent and sublime. I look forward with eagerness to seeing what this broadening of the mission of the Interpreter Foundation brings.
Best wishes to you and all who read this for sweet moments during the precious Christmas season!
The irony is that even Nagel and Nietzsche, in their failure to prove religion “false”, actually add strength to the truth of the gospel by helping define new ways to show it as “rational” to be a believer. By affirming the importance of hermeneutics in the creation of an individual’s world, Nietzsche’s arguments largely only apply to a creedal interpretation of God, in my opinion, ironically helping the Mormon position considerably. Nagel, try as he might, could not deny the “reality” of subjective experience including religious experience, leaving himself only “hope” and no strong argument in favor of his atheism. I am convinced that we have a strong apologetic case yet to be fully explored. Thanks Dr. P!
Daniel-
Thanks for this post!