Brothers and Sisters, today I would like to share with you my testimony. But this is no ordinary testimony. This is truth that has been given to me by the "Higher Power", and is a sure a knowledge as any I have gained in my life. I testify to you, and I truly know with all my heart, that since the creation of this Earth, it has been, and always will be, throughout all eternity, raining.
You have all been deceived by these anti-rain books, those so-called "Farmer's Almenacs". With so many authors writing from unreliable and unverifiable sources, they simply cannot be trusted. Information is being misinterpreted and misrepresented -- changed, even -- to support the unknown agendas of these authors.
So this I leave with you. It is always raining.

Okay now -- let's take a deep breath and a walk outside. Time to talk.

Perhaps it so happens that it is raining now. The believer's claim has only been strengthened, and he gets to live another day peacefully, his testimony unchallenged.
But maybe it's a beautiful, clear, and sunny day. ASSUMING BASIC SENSES AND PERCEPTION ARE NOT CALLED INTO QUESTION AND THE POSSIBILITY OF ANOTHER TRUTH IS ACTUALLY CONSIDERED (that's a huge topic in itself and can be left for another post..), the believer is forced to rewrite their so-called "unshakeable" and "divinely-given" testimony. Now able to see the light (no pun intended), what is he to make of the personal truth that he has been forced to leave behind?

Clearly shown here, an objective and complete observation beats faith. Whoa, hold on now -- I don't intend for this to be demeaning towards the importance of faith in any way. Truth isn't always so easily observed, and especially in connection to religious beliefs, in such a direct and tell-all manner.

The believer may be unable to step outside. Imagine that he lives in a steel box -- no door, no window, no connection to the outside whatsoever.

This is where conclusions must be drawn from observation.

Believer and non-believing Box-Mate are at odds with each other.

CASE 1: There is a constant tapping all over the roof. Believer is all over this, citing this as proof of the constant rain. Box-Mate is unconvinced, believing instead that perhaps their house is simply at the base of a waterfall or something similar.
CASE 2: This time there is silence. The "rain" falling on the top of the box cannot be heard. Box-Mate presents this as evidence that it is, in fact, not always raining. Believer easily explains this away, suggesting that maybe their box is covered by something. Perhaps their box is in a cave!

In each case, the truth could not be directly determined, so indirect observations were made, leading to some kind of conclusion based on those observations. Each person had an objection to the conclusions that were drawn by the other. As much as Believer, Box-Mate, or even you as a viewer may dislike it, nobody's claims can be objectively denied. Each person has their own "personal truth", and until the box is broken out of, any statement made can be called "a (personal) truth".
Can you tell me which of these people are correct?

Time to round it all in.
The local church authorities/official doctrine and I are in disagreement. They bring Scripture, testimony, past experiences and miracles, feelings, and the like to the table. "The Church is true (whatever "true" means). The BoM is true. The Priesthood has been restored. We are the only truth." All conclusions based on your (or someone else's, if you're not thinking) observations. I find problems with the conclusions that they've drawn.
I present evidence supporting this religion being fabricated (see MormonThink). "The Church is not true. The BoM is not true. The Priesthood has not been restored. This is not true and you do not have a monopoly on truth." They find fault with or choose not to accept the information presented and the resulting conclusion.

When it all boils down, all that has been presented so far are claims. Someone may say "I know", but it's really still nothing more than a belief. Nobody can observe what is "outside the box", so-to-speak, and we are left to draw our own truths.

From personal experience, when I took a step back from my beliefs and understood this, I gained an understanding of the position I and everyone around me is in. I'd like to add that I do still consider myself to have a strong faith (I won't go into it here -- it's an ongoing journey), despite the changes as a result of my leaving the LDS church. I don't mean to undermine its importance at all.
When I did this and came to the conclusion (after a long period of attempted objective research) that my belief in tscc was false, the first thing I felt was, strangely enough, love. Love for everyone around me, and a desire to love them as best as I possible could, for the purpose of..well, love. That's just my personal experience. I don't pose this as the be-all-end-all for anyone trying to put their old beliefs aside. Everyone is in their own situation that has its own solution. It's not my intention to offend, and I apologize if I have. Sorry, I'm getting off-track here..

Anyways, this is a part of my musings today. Perhaps what I've said is self-evident, but writing things down like this helps me understand it all the better, and this time I thought I'd share.

This post developed from something I read a while back that came to mind today, and I'll finish with that. Sorry it's not a direct quote..
Is truth really so vague? There are as many truths and interpretations as there are people and opinions. A truth remains as long as it isn't observed and denied. Without observation, any statement can be held up as truth.

And yes, it was a rainy day for me today :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2013 11:33PM by msp.