Mormon Dilemma 76

08 October

The Burning in Your Bosom & Man’s Deceitful Heart

Moroni 10:3-5;Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

D&C 9:7-9; “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. 8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. 9 But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.”

Ezekiel 13:2-4; Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD; 3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!  4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

Jeremiah 17:5, 9; Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD… The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Proverbs 28:26; He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

1 Timothy 5:6; But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

Genesis 8:21; “…for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.

While the prophecy in Doctrine and Covenants was originally intended for Oliver Cowdery the Mormons use it for their lives today, thus the inclusion of this reference.

What we need to do as Christians is pay attention to the exact wording of these prophecies and instructions of prophets and weigh them against the word of God. His word is the standard by which we live – not our standard and not what our hearts say!

And on top of that, if the Mormons are going to carry the Bible around with them when they go knocking on people’s doors there is a level of understanding these people are going to believe in the product they’re trying to sell to us, right?  Why is it the Mormons don’t believe what they’re carrying around with them?  Aren’t they acting in direct violation of what they’re trying to sell to you?  The 13th Article of Faith comes to mind which says;

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul…

The passage in Doctrine and Covenants says “…if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you…But if it not be right you shall have no such feelings…

They tell us through their writings they believe the Bible only as far as it is translated correctly yet the missionary showing up at your door can’t tell you which thing has been translated incorrectly so what good does that do you or them?  If they haven’t had a burning in the bosom about the Bible why are they misleading people by taking it with them?

But back to the main subject at hand…God tells us not to trust our hearts.  Countless verses warn us of the dangers when we trust ourselves so why does the Church tell its members to do otherwise?  Does their admonition out-trump God’s?

This is one of the reasons Mormons don’t trust the Bible or know how to use the Bible to apply it to their personal lives.

For more information on this, read our article on burning in the bosom here:

http://lifeafterministry.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/burning-in-the-bosom

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4 Responses to “Mormon Dilemma 76”

  1. notsamson October 8, 2011 at 7:38 pm #

    The bible says that the true worshippers of God will worship God in spirit and in truth…(john 4:23-24)

    So i was wondering, how does one worship God in spirit?

    PLEASE ALSO POST YOUR VIEWS ON http://www.notsamson.com SO THAT MY READERS CAN ALSO VIEW YOUR OPINIONS…. THANKS

  2. shematwater October 11, 2011 at 9:40 pm #

    Luke 24: 32
    “And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”

    Acts 2: 37
    “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

    Romans 5: 5
    “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

    Romans 10: 10
    “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

    Galatians 4: 6
    “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

    Ephesians 3: 17
    “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

    Out of five references given in the article, only two actually spoke to the heart as being evil. Here are six that testify that it is through the heart that we experience and communicate with the spirit of God. Paul himself, in Romans 10: 10, says that it is through the heart that we believe; the disciples on the road to Emmaus declare that they felt a burning in their hearts when Christ spoke; and it was in the heart that the people were pricked by the words of Peter on the day of Pentecost.
    Why is it so evil for us to wish the same testament of the spirit that the early saints experienced, and to rely on divine communication to us through this well established medium?
    God has always communicated with men through the burning of their bosom, and there is no reason to believe he does not do so now.

    (Note: I would venture a guess that the vast majority of members have received such a witness about the Bible, and many have told me such personally. Don’t assume we haven’t just because it is not talked about as much.)

  3. shematwater October 11, 2011 at 9:40 pm #

    NOTSAMSON

    I don’t have a lot of time now, but I will answer your question soon.

  4. shematwater October 12, 2011 at 9:33 pm #

    NOTSAMSON

    You worship God in spirit by bending your spirit to his will. When you have a prayer continually in your heart, and are constantly listening for His promptings through His Spirit, and acting on those promptings, then you are worshiping in spirit.
    Of course, God will not send his spirit to those who do not believe and do not obey, so one must live their life in a manner as to invite the guidance of the spirit, and live to his glory, and not ones own.
    This is worshiping in spirit.

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