As we deconstruct religion, many of us are faced with the task of rationalizing spiritual experiences and understanding them in a new light. What if the spiritual experiences we had, regardless of their source, did not mean what we interpreted from them? What logical fallacies do we make when we have spiritual experiences, and what should we do with them after we deconstruction religious ideas from our lives?
Sources
“The Power of the Book of Mormon” By President Gordon B. Hinckley, First Counselor in the First Presidency 1988
Wells, Wesley Raymond. “Two Common Fallacies in the Logic of Religion.” The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, vol. 14, no. 24, 1917, pp. 653–660
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As an active non-believing member of the church, I still enjoy attending and noticing all the logical and spiritual fallacies and pointing them out gently.
I guess I often feel like I’m the smartest person in the room because I’m not beholden to our spiritual leaders even though I may be ruffling some feathers. I suppose I should check my pride and make sure I don’t come across too arrogant, but I’m done with being overly humble (aka contrite and broken-hearted).
Side note:
Just the other day, I suggested to someone that he should look into suing the church over an injury he incurred while on church property. Not too many people would even suggest that, but maybe a lawyer could determine if there was a legal liability that the church has for people who fall down and hurt themselves.
I don’t think I would be making that suggestion 5 years ago.