As Mormons, we’re taught three things:
1) Spiritual experiences are God’s way of communicating spiritual truths to us (via the Holy Ghost).
2) If we don’t behave, we won’t be able to feel God’s presence (i.e. the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost will withdraw from us), and
3) After baptism (and confirmation), we have better access to God (through the Holy Ghost) than those that haven’t been baptized (assuming we behave ourselves).
The take-away message is that we’d better stay on the straight and narrow (as we Mormons define it), or we’re likely to find ourselves wandering around in spiritual darkness.
This is a simple narrative. Unfortunately, life experience often complicates things. Take, for example, the experiences of a Christian mother at her gay daugher’s wedding:
“I begged God to change her. But instead, God changed me. . . By the time we arrived in Massachusetts for Cholene’s wedding, God was already there. I have never felt his presence and love as I did that weekend–perhaps because it was so unexpected.”
At Doves & Serpents, for the next 6 weeks (through Friday, August 17, 2012), we want you to share your unexpected spiritual experiences with us (and our readers).
This request is unique for two reasons:
1) Submissions will be read by three of us (Brent, Heather, & Dayna),
2) Selected submissions will not only be published on Doves & Serpents, but will also, at the end of the six weeks, be professionally edited and published in a small book (with ISBN) that will be available for purchase through Amazon.com (and other sites).
We are looking for accessible and honest accounts of personal spiritual experiences that were surprising or unexpected in the sense that the experiences did not conform to personal or community assumptions or expectations.
Please see our guest post guide. Click here for posts related to this theme that have already been published. Here are links to the invitations and archives for all past guest themes:
–Unexpected Spiritual Exerpiences (Invitation, Archive)
–Teaching Sex (Invitation, Archive)
Please email us if you have any additional questions: brent@dovesandserpents.org, heather@dovesandserpents.org, or dayna@dovesandserpents.org.
When you say ‘spiritual experiences’ do you mean experiences that suggest/confirm the existence of God, or experiences of awe/wonder?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_experience
It’s up to the individual to decide (?) what meaning to attach to these experiences (i.e. whether or not these experiences are evidence of God, or should be interprented as a natural reaction to certain stimuli, etc.).
I guess what I’m saying is that the meaning attached to these experiences is part of the story. . .