View source for Question: Is a "burning in the bosom" simply a subjective, emotion-based, unreliable way to practice self-deception?

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==Question: Is a "burning in the bosom" simply a subjective, emotion-based, unreliable way to practice self-deception?==
===It is a fundamental misunderstanding or misstatement to say that the Latter-day Saint revelatory experience is exclusively or primarily “emotional”===

It is claimed by some that the Latter-day Saint appeal to "revelation" or a "burning in the bosom" is subjective, emotion-based, and thus ineffective, unreliable and susceptible to self-deception.

It is a fundamental misunderstanding or misstatement to say that the LDS revelatory experience is exclusively or primarily “emotional.”  The united witness of mind and heart is key in LDS doctrine.  Even the body is involved in many instances, hence the use of language exactly like “burning in the bosom.”  The LDS concept of human experience is not one where we are carved up into separate, rigid compartments labeled emotional, intellectual, and physical.  The LDS approach to human experience is holistic and involves all of our faculties operating simultaneously and inextricably.  According to LDS scripture, “the spirit and the body are the soul of man.” ({{scripture||D&C|88|15}})<ref>This is essentially the view that biblical scholars recognize as being advocated in the Bible. Donald R. Potts, "Body" in ''Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible'' ed., David Noel Freedman (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000) 194; Henry L. Carrigan, Jr., "Soul" Ibid., 1245; Alice Ogden Bellisb, "Spirit" Ibid., 1248.</ref>  We are greater than the mere sum of our inner and outer parts.  Ordinarily, it’s not possible, nor is it desirable, to reject and shut down any one of our faculties .  All of them combine to provide useful and valid ways of coming to know ourselves, the world, and God.  All are involved in true spiritual experience.

===A Latter-day Saint “spiritual” experience has intellectual content as well as emotional elements of peace or joy===

Accordingly, a Latter-day Saint “spiritual” experience has intellectual content as well as physical phenomena which can include elements of peace or joy. In the early days of the Church, Oliver Cowdery received the following revelation through Joseph Smith:

<blockquote>
Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.
Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter?  What greater witness can you have than from God?  ([http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/6/22#23 D&C 6:22&ndash;23]). 
</blockquote>

Notice the information is spoken to the “mind,” and the feeling of peace accompanies the intellectual gift. Further, the solution for later doubts or concerns is not reliance on “a feeling” alone but an admonition to recall specific information communicated earlier.

This matches the revelatory pattern later explained to Oliver Cowdery when he attempted to participate in the translation process of the Book of Mormon:

<blockquote>
Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.
But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.
But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong… ([http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/9/7#9 D&C 9:7&ndash;9]).
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Again, the united witness of intellect and heart are essential. If either does not agree, then revelation has not yet confirmed the matter under consideration. Anyone who relies exclusively on any one faculty – either feeling or reasoning or physical sensation – does not properly understand the LDS approach to spiritual witness.

===Talk of “feelings” does not mean simply experiencing an “emotion”===

To be sure, many Church members will talk about how they “felt” when they prayed or had other experiences with God.  However, it is to fundamentally misunderstand these experiences to assume (as critics often do) that talk of “feeling” means simply&mdash;or only, or primarily&mdash; experiencing an “emotion.”  What's lacking from these descriptions is vocabulary.  The problem with them is more semantic than it is substantial.  The LDS member is stymied, in a sense, because there is no good, available word for what happens during a spiritual experience.  These experiences are ineffable.  By definition, they defy description.  Since few of us have the poetic and metaphorical powers of prophets like Isaiah and John, we are left to try our best to convey what we've experienced in words laden with secular connotations which critics can misinterpret if they so choose.

LDS scholar,Hugh Nibley, hazarded a guess at what this process of willful misinterpretation might look like:

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He cannot conceive how anyone could possibly acquire knowledge by any method other than his. He cannot believe that any man has experienced anything which he has not experienced. . . . ‘I have never seen a vision,' says the [skeptic], ‘therefore, Joseph Smith never had one. I have seen dreams [or had emotionally moving experiences], therefore, I will allow him that.'”<ref>{{Nibley3_1|start=31}}</ref>
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===Early Christians experienced similar feelings to a "burning in the bosom"===

Justin Martyr wrote in his book Dialogue with Trypho, of his conversion that he was a philosopher until he met an old man who introduced him to the Hebrew Prophets when “a flame enkindled his heart” and he found “this philosophy (Christianity) alone to be sure and profitable.” <ref>Dialogue with Trypho 8, Ante-Nicene Fathers 1:198</ref>
 
The Shepard of Hermas, which was once considered scripture, reads “There are two angels with a man-one of righteousness, and the other of iniquity...The angel of righteousness is gentle and modest, meek and peaceful. When he ascends into your heart, he speaks to you of righteousness, purity, chastity, contentment, and every other righteous deed and glorious virtue. When all of these things come into your heart, know that the angel of righteousness is with you”  <ref>Shepard of Hermas, Ante-Nicene Fathers 2:24</ref>
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[[de:Frage: Ist das „Brennen in der Brust” ein verlässlicher Weg, um die Wahrheit zu ermitteln?]]
[[es:Pregunta: Es una manera poco fiable basándose simplemente emoción-subjetivo, "ardor en el pecho" para practicar el autoengaño?]]
[[pt:Pergunta: É um "ardor no peito" simplesmente com base emoção-a subjetiva,, maneira confiável para a prática de auto-engano?]]
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