Teaching An Agnostic

Here is the setting, Elder Jackson from my home ward of Gig Harbor, is serving a mission in SLC, UT and sent me an email telling the story of Tony the agnostic. He wanted to have a better understanding of what an agnostic is. I sent him a short definition and then received this email:

Brother Himmer,

Thank you for that. that helps alot. yeah we have been teaching this guy named tony who is agnostic and he prayed to ask if god is there and he felt the spirit (well he felt warm, comforted and peaceful) and we told him that was heavenly father answering his prayer. his answer to that was that he wouldn’t except that as an answer and that he wanted an answer like joseph smith and we told him that he wasnt ready for that kind of answer. and we have trying to get him to believe that god is there and is with us everyday. we have been sharing our testimonies and personal experiences along with scriptural proof and he hasnt been taking any of it he has been agreeing with what we have to say but he still doesn’t believe that there is a god. so we are having a difficult time with that. any advice for a missionary on what to tell him or any good scriptures to use? thanks again bro himmer. and have you heard anything from brent. just curious. well i will keep you posted.

elder jackson

Here is my response:

Elder Jackson,

Suggestions for thought:

Stop trying to convince him there is a God. Take a neutral approach to it.

Say stuff like, we have learned that God answers prayers in the following manner when we are ready to hear the answer.

He will still answer your question and you’ll receive a warm heart and peace to your mind if you want an answer.

However, if you don’t want an answer, that’s ok, He’ll continue sending you messages and when you’re ready to listen, He’ll be there.

For right now have him test the process without you.

Here is a suggested dialogue to study:

Elder: Do you want to know if God exist?

Tony: yea, I suppose

E:  you don’t sound like you really want to know, is that true?

T:  no, I really do.

E:  what are you willing to do in order to determine if God exist?

T:   I want Him to answer me like Joseph Smith

E:  Since He’s God, He makes the rules. Are you willing to follow God’s rules or do you think doing it your way will work?

T:  I want to do it my way.

E:  How is that working for you?

T:  It’s not, I still don’t know if God exist.

E:  Are you willing to try different?

T:  What do you mean?

E:   You claim you want to know if God exist, but you’re only willing to do it your way. You are a human trying to tell God how to do things. Does that make sense to you?

T: Guess not.

E: So are you willing to try different and follow the rules God gave us to discover if He is there? or not. It’s ok if you really don’t want to know.

T: Ok, how do I do it.

E: D&C 9:7-9 review the Oliver Cowdery story and testify that the warm feelings will be God speaking to him and the feelings must be accompanied by a clear and peaceful mind. Two witnesses.

Then say: are you willing to put this to the test right now?

T:  yes

E:  So if you feel the spirit and have peace in your mind, what does that mean?

T:  I guess it means God is speaking to me.

E:  If you feel the spirit, then what will you do?

T:  I’ll be intrigued and think about it.

E:  You don’t seem like you really want to know.

T:  Yea I do.

E:   If before you pray, we explain exactly how you’ll feel, and it’s happened once before, and it happens again and you still won’t believe that is from God, how would you explain your lack of commitment?

T:  I see your point.

E:  So what will you do if you pray, feel the spirit, and have peace in your mind?

T:  I’ll believe that God exist.

E:  Then what?

T:  What do you mean what?

E:  If there is a God, what does that mean to you?

That’s good for now.

I hope this gives you a better idea of how to communicate with Tony.

Good luck

Br. Himmer

 

On Sep 26, 2011, at 9:17 AM, Connor Jackson wrote: