Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as one Yale professor indicated recently, have a high level of personal relationship and regard for the Savior. Isn’t that the bottom line?  Isn’t that where the spiritual rub really is?  I appreciate Bloom’s independence of thought and acknowledgment of that reality. Having been immersed in the gospel of Jesus Christ for over 30 years, as a convert from Catholicism, I’ve come to enjoy, like my companions in faith, a growing intimacy with the Savior and Heavenly Father. It’s not retractable neither is it eliminated by those who may not understand it or who receive jaded information about us. We invite you to know us, to visit us, to ask us, what it is we believe.

In addition to having this personal relationship with the Savior–which is not unique to Latter-day Saint Christians–we do believe in an open canon and in a process of revelation that involves receiving God’s will through the mind and through the heart, neither independent of the other.  In this we are unique.  We believe God speaks to man and has, that He has appeared in our day, and has re-established His kingdom and Church–with power and authority necessary to access all that the Savior offers for life and godliness here and for an exalted life in His presence hereafter.

Some, in radio broadcasts in Utah, tout that “Mormons” believe in just having an “emotional” experience to rely on when seeking to affirm or disavow truth through prayer.  This is a fallacy. This is not what Latter-day Saints believe.  Our religious experience, our receipt of truth and revelation through the Holy Ghost, is one based on a pattern God revealed in the New Testament and in The Doctrine and Covenants–a volume of modern revelation to a prophet in this gospel period or dispensation.  In the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord indicates that truth is spoken to the mind and heart–neither is privileged over the earth.  This means that the Lord provides two witnesses as we seek His will confirmed in us.  He expects rigor of thought and the use of all of our faculties. This isn’t about a sensational response or a purely emotional response. This is about a spiritual witness that reaches us at both levels.

The Newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the official LDS News source), comments as follows on the religious experience of Mormonism:

The religious experience of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is based on a spiritual witness from God that inspires both heart and mind, creating an interpersonal relationship directly with the divine. It does not require one to pass a rigorous theological test. Nor does it demand the extreme self-denial and seclusion of asceticism. Rather, this unique individual experience unfolds in the natural course of everyday living. Thus, the beliefs of Latter-day Saints are not rooted in concepts and principles, detached from the realities of life. They are grounded in a much deeper level of experience that motivates individuals to action.

Furthermore, religious experience is too varied and indefinable for systematic theology to fully account for. At the same time, it is not simply relative to the passing whims of each individual believer. For Latter-day Saints, it must be founded on revealed truth. Emphasizing the important role that doctrine plays in guiding religious experience, President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles encouraged Latter-day Saints to internalize that truth: “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior.”

Thus, the religious experience of Latter-day Saints is both sufficiently anchored in rationality to satisfy the mind and sufficiently independent from intellectual systems to satisfy the spirit. President Packer described this relationship as “a harmonious combining of both the intellect and the spirit.” In a society that limits so much of human experience to the known boundaries of scientific knowledge, religious experience is often dismissed. If all religious experience was bound by a system, there would be little room for mankind’s boundless potential for spiritual growth. God expects His children to continually stretch their horizons and broaden their understanding of things both secular and religious.

Additional Resources:

Mormonism is about following the example of Jesus Christ and serving our fellowman. Learn more at the official site for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church“)

The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. Request your free copy today.

Attend a local meetinghouse.