Stem wrote:I'm eager to run into a GA again and see if I can toy with their discernment by focusing my mind.
You know, I have had the same thoughts. Back in the day, my bishops, SP and mission presidents seemed such wise men, but now days when I meet them, they are just ordinary men. It would be fun to shake their hands using the same technique that GA's did in this thread, just to see their reactions. Our current SP especially would be interesting. Nice guy but very ambitious. I would expect he would be quite surprised to have a member give him that sort of treatment.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
If you can get people to believe that you have the magical ability to see into their souls, you can control those people with fear, intimidation, and guilt. Over time, I've realized just how the "power of discernment" is just a gross manipulation tactic.
I really used to believe that church leaders could look at me, and through the power of discernment, see my "sins". It was interesting to see how the ability of church leaders to see into my soul disappeared when I stopped believing that they actually had this power.
Fence Sitter wrote:You know, I have had the same thoughts. Back in the day, my bishops, SP and mission presidents seemed such wise men, but now days when I meet them, they are just ordinary men. It would be fun to shake their hands using the same technique that GA's did in this thread, just to see their reactions. Our current SP especially would be interesting. Nice guy but very ambitious. I would expect he would be quite surprised to have a member give him that sort of treatment.
Do you mean like "President, you are not shaking my hand with the hand you used last night while looking at porn are you?"