mormondirection.com

When someone looks at the world of Christianity, there are diverse beliefs about God and the scriptures. It is no different in regard to the range of beliefs about how God answers prayers. I could write a book about it, but my purpose here is to address only a concern about how prayers are answered.

It can be hard for a floundering member of this Church when he/she doubts the doctrines taught by the apostles and prophet, then go out, investigate and compare the doctrines and beliefs of other Christian denominations, especially in terms of how God answers prayers, leading themselves to think that another church or another Christian denomination or group knows more about prayers and God. This usually happens through accounts given by other Christians of how their prayers were answered.

I have heard and read personal accounts of prayers answered from a range of people, both in and out of this Church. I have heard accounts of the results from prayers that range from the mundane to the impressive. From all of that, I heard other Christians claim that God’s Spirit is therefore always within them, as they explain about their answered prayers, believing wholeheartedly that God is working in their life and guiding them. With all the differing accounts, especially from people outside the Church, how can a member discern if what was said is true and prevent getting pulled into the deluge of false claims about God and his Holy Spirit?

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The author, Mike Thomas of “Mormonism, A Gold Plated Religion”, posted on his blog site his article of why he believes Mormons are misunderstood. After reading it, I was disappointed, expecting more, but I was not surprised. He gave only one reason as to why Mormons are misunderstood. That reason proved to be a personal and biased one and it failed to address the real cause as to why Mormons are misunderstood.  His rationale to his personal reason came out halfway down his article, where it began with a question, “So why are Mormons so misunderstood?”. Mr. Thomas first referred to an official Mormon News Service of June 5, 2007 ( http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-centrality-of-christ ), where he quoted from the article,

“What is it that people find so difficult in accepting Mormons as Christians? – While others have their opinions, ‘in our terms,’ President Hinckley said, ‘we worship Christ.’”

I attended and read the LDS news article. I found that Mr. Thomas focused on one small part of the LDS news article, selecting only one quote, in an attempt to discount what he calls “The Mormon View” of why other Christians have difficulty in accepting Mormons. Before I comment on Thomas’s claims, allow me to provide more from the same LDS news article.

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