FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Question: Can one simply decide when one feels and doesn't feel the Spirit?
Question: Can one simply decide when one feels and doesn't feel the Spirit?
The scriptures affirm that we can “turn it on an off” so to speak
Some former Latter-day Saint critics and faithful members occasionally ask if it is possible to “turn the feeling of the Spirit on and off”.
The scriptures affirm that such a thing is possible. 2 Nephi 33:2 is most instructive:
“2 But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught”
Notice here how Nephi in his parting testimony is using a personal verb to describe the hardening. It is us who harden our own hearts against God and the Spirit or at least who have the power to.
The next line of response here is a discussion of the Light of Christ. In Latter-day Saint theology, the Light of Christ is something that “light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things” (D&C 88:13). The Light of Christ is given to all men (Moroni 7:16) and it is what Latter-day Saints believe that the Holy Spirit makes contact with when imparting wisdom to anyone. Through disobedience, we lose the ability to feel the Spirit since the Lord cannot dwell in unholy houses (Alma 7:21; Doctrine and Covenants 97:17). When we remain worthy of it, we are promised that we will always feel it or that it will always be with us (Moroni 4:3; 5:2).