This series The Experiential Gospel is based on some of my experiences with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It shares how I have and do experience some of the separate and distinct elements of Christ and His Gospel. To me they are the same, but also different.
As we consider that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation, and that we are saved by the power of Jesus Christ, it stands to reason that we should experience His power in our salvation.
When I was younger I thought that to live the gospel was to keep a set of commandments (go to church, pay tithing, live the Word of Wisdom, attend meetings, be chaste, etc) and by keeping these 'commandments' we 'lived' the gospel. I had never thought of the Gospel as something that we experience, and that through His Gospel we experience beauty, joy, wonder, awe; but also evil, sadness and sorrow; and so much more. At the same time we experience ourselves, others, our Savior, the Holy Ghost, and our Father.
Over the years I have had numerous and distinct experiences, many more than I could have imagined. It is clear to me why Paul said that the Gospel of Jesus Christ "is the power of God unto salvation" (Romans 1:16), and through the Gospel we experience God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost--all that we are capable of receiving and experiencing. This post is the introduction to what I call The Experiential Gospel.
Joseph Smith said, and as you read this, consider the multiple and different experiences enumerated:
In this quote are identified several individual experiences which are available to us through our mind, intellect, faculties, views, enjoyments and senses, and also through the means of light, spirit, truth and knowledge communicated from heaven. The resulting experiences of having the desire for sin taken away, of increased faith, of being wrapped in the power and glory of our Maker, and of being caught up to dwell with Him, praising God, are very personal experiences with our Father in Heaven.
My experience with the Holy Ghost has been and continues to be as Joseph described:
I have experienced my mind expanding. I have experienced an enlightening of my understanding. My intellect has been stored with present knowledge. I have experienced calm and serene feelings. I have discerned light. My whole soul and body have been exercised by the pure spirit of intelligence. I have heard His voice in His words. I have experienced pure intelligence flowing into me and the sudden strokes of ideas that follow. I can see more clearly the causes of and the events associated with endtime prophecies. I have experienced my own lost and fallen state. I have experienced my need for an atonement.
As these experiences continue, I am beginning to learn the Spirit of God, and the more experiences I have with the Spirit of God, the more I learn the Spirit of God. For me the word of God has been the vehicle by which I have experienced the Spirit of God. The word of God is truth, light, spirit, even the spirit of God.
The experiences of the Gospel (by which I mean the experiences of the power of God in the Gospel) are countless. They also change. The experiences can either be enriched or diminished depending on whether we are willing to experience more or less.
For example Alma said "It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not import only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he knows them in full" (Alma 12:9-10 emphasis added).
Often our experiences with what we call 'the gospel' are limited to actively congregating, "keeping the commandments," and religiously performing our ecclestastical duties. The writings of Isaiah, pertinent to our day, commence with his indictment of those who actively attend religious meetings, who multiply sacrifices at the the temple.
This outward form of worship remained strong among the Jews, as Laman and Lemuel asserted, "We know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statues and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments" (1 Nephi 17:22). When we limit our gospel experience in this way, we fail to experience the Gospel as the power of God, and instead we deny the power and gifts of God (Moroni 10).
A simple illustration may help. In a Sunday school class, the teacher asks what is unconditional love? The class members then proceed to answer the question while the teacher makes notes on the board. When completed we have defined unconditional love. But if the teacher were to ask, have you ever experienced unconditional love or have you ever loved unconditionally, the response of the class would be much more limited, but more real.
It is the same approach and response of far too many lessons. We attempt to define the difference between the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of God, without sharing our experiences or lack of experiences with the Spirit. Unfortunately for many their experiences with the Spirit are limited to what they may have heard others say or teach about the Spirit, or are limited by their lack of understanding of how to experience the Spirit. This is almost always the result of not recognizing that the word of God is the spirit of God. In fact "...the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (D&C 84:45 emphasis added). Instead we settle for sentiment and devotional experiences. I was introduced to Hugh Nibley by a friend who one day showed to me the following quote:
"Jospeh Smith commends their intellectual efforts as a corrective to the Latter-day Saints, who lean too far in the other direction, giving their young people and old awards for zeal alone, zeal without knowledge--for sitting in endless meetings, for dedicated conformity and unlimited capacity for suffering boredom. We think it more commendable to get up at five A.M. to write a bad book than to get up at nine o'clock to write a good one--that is pure zeal that tends to breed a race of insufferable, self-righteous prigs and barren minds. One has only to consider the present outpouring of 'inspirational' books in the Church that bring little new in the way of knowledge: truisms and platitudes, kitsch, and cliches have become our everyday diet" (Zeal Without Knowledge, Approaching Zion, Hugh Nibley).
Why settle for such limited human experiences, when we can experience the power of God in the Gospel which we have received?
I can point out many experiences identified in scripture. I have even experienced many of them, but I can only share. You must experience for yourself, but you must first be open to new and enlightening experiences (which in itself is a Gospel experience), or in other words, you must desire to receive more (another Gospel experience). This series will explore The Experiential Gospel in the knowledge that when you experience some, you will begin, not only to know that you are experiencing Him, but will actually experience Him.
Next: The Experiential Gospel: The Holy Ghost