I've been reading a book by Elna Baker The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance . Elna is a Mormon and also the originator of my favorite quote of 2009.
And like you can't go to a Mormon Dance dressed like a giant vagina!
Anyway, in a rather stirring chapter of the book she describes asking former boyfriend, who was also an atheist, to prayer to God to find out if he is real. Sometime later she asks if he tried and he says that he did, but then realized that the answer might come to him only because he wanted it to make her happy. He used words more eloquent than mine, but hopefully my choice conveys a similar idea.
I used to truly believe in certain aspects of Mormonism, and I can even recall times and places where my prayers about those aspects were answered. In hind-sight though, I realized that I wasn't praying to find if they were true, I was praying for a confirmation that they were true, with a very fervent and strong desire that I receive the right answer. I believe that in effect, I answered my own prayers and confused that with an answer from a divine source.
I have since prayed again about those things, far more sincerely and with more urgency, but with the question of Are they true and not Please, please tell me that they are true. So far the answer has not yet come.
I found this video on another blog which touches on that idea, as well as others which we sometimes fall victim too.
I really enjoyed that video at the end. I'm tempted to share this with my mom if she tells me one more time that she knows the church is true because of her first hand "experiences." She expects me to take her testimony as fact because she KNOWS how the universe works and I don't have a "perfect knowledge" like she does. It's almost as if saying you "know" something is so much more valuable to admitting the limitations of your knowledge (even if the evidence supporting your knowledge is only anecdotal).
ReplyDeleteI would be tempted to share it too, but I suspect that it would have little, if any effect for good.
ReplyDeleteOn a similar subject though, have you seen Dr Neil Tyson's explanation of the argument from ignorance with respect to UFO's?
I think I'll stick it out in a new post later today. Showed it to my son last night, and I thought the poor kids was going to suffocate he was laughing so hard...
"Brain Failures!!!"