Thoughts on silliness

Of things deemed "not silly", we have frequent experience. One example is gravity. We don't know how it really works but our experience tells us that it is consistent and will not fail, although there can be no method of making sure. Daily experiences are positively reinforced in their reality and consistency because of their frequency. The experiences of fulfilled promises from God, those that create a testimony, that reinforce the reality of God with it's frequency and personal relevancy, cannot be shared by words just as colors cannot be described by words, they must be experienced. One day of experience may cause faded memory and doubt of experience; with more experiences the mind interprets the experiences as increasingly real and reliable. Priesthood blessings and other such miracles cannot help one to gain a testimony unless experienced by the person, and frequently enough to reinforce their reality. Even so, the interpretation of some events, particularly those of a spiritual nature, are to be done on an individual level, which subjectivity makes it subject to any interpretation. So, a miracle may be seen as pure coincidence. It would seem, and is in accordance with scripture, that greater miracles are experienced by those who display greater faith in God as the creator of those miracles. These miracles would seem much more unusual to one who is not familiar with the workings of God and relies on his own or the world's understanding. Miraculous health recoveries, revelations of clairvoyance, protection from harm or malicious intent that stand up to no scientific or psychological interrogation we can currently present. Stories of great miracles appear in the scriptures, and for many it is easy to identify the incongruence between "reality" and the events of these stories and thus label them "silly". But to experience some of the miracles that do happen in these days that are similar in nature to those of ancient days, one realizes that what was "silly" was just what he had not experienced enough to calculate as practical. A blind man has no experience of color, and has no reason to believe they exist; indeed, his experience would merit labeling the idea of color as "silly". The same goes for the deaf and sound. Those who see and hear are so familiar with such things that the idea of them being silly may sound silly itself; we know them well enough to calculate the wavelength of light they reflect and how to reproduce many of them. The Book of Mormon is something that, were it something in ancient scripture, might seem silly. Yet it exists today as a tangible object. It makes no more sense to suggest that it was written or created by Joseph Smith or those who worked with him. There would be absolutely no incentive to do it, and even then, the idea of someone writing such a book in the relatively difficult conditions and short period of time in which it was written could be deemed a very "silly" idea indeed, except in this case there would be no exterior evidence nor previous experience with which to suppose it otherwise. Yet we have the book, as solid an evidence of God as those who fight against it will likely experience, unless they choose to entertain the idea that the things of God are not "silly" simply because they have not experienced them, while many others give testimony that they have. And it's not hard, you just have to trust in the idea that believing in God is not silly, and take it little by little. Then those things which were silly will begin to happen, and your paradigm will shift. And will continue shifting and increasing. If it were stagnant there would be no progress. Man has constantly shifted his paradigms as he increases in knowledge. "To deny the actuality of miracles on the ground that, because we cannot comprehend the means, the reported results are fictitious, is to arrogate to the human mind the attribute of omniscience, by implying that what man cannot comprehend cannot be, and that therefore he is able to comprehend all that is. The miracles of record in the Gospels are as fully supported by evidence as are many of the historical events which call forth neither protest nor demand for further proof. To the believer in the divinity of Christ, the miracles are sufficiently attested; to the unbeliever they appear but as myths and fables." (James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, page 149) The scriptures give clear the invitation to have spiritual experiences: "Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge. But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words." (Alma 32:26,27) Experience dictates to our minds reality. The scriptures tell of experiences, and those who follow the method prescribed in the scriptures testify of similar experiences. Thus it is within our power to experience and know the reality of this deity we call God as described by many different people both ancient and current.