Mormon Spiritual Witnesses | Ep. 1788 | LDS Discussions Ep. 43

Описание: Join hosts Mike, Nemo, and John Dehlin as they delve into the intricacies of spiritual witnesses within Mormonism. How do sincere seekers often end up with different answers when appealing to "the Spirit"? Can individuals be exploited by circumstances deliberately designed to create feelings of spiritual confirmation? What are the consequences when "spiritual witnesses" go wrong?

Join us as we dive into the psychological phenomena of spiritual witnesses. We examine topics such as indoctrination, repetition, and the Illusory Truth effect, as well as other psychological mechanisms like confirmation bias, the backfire effect, and motivated reasoning. This episode can provide insight to your own spiritual experiences and provide tools to recognize attempts to manufacture the experience in you.

Overview of Testimonies and Spiritual Witnesses in Mormonism: https://www.ldsdiscussions.com/testim...

Episode Show Notes: https://www.mormonstories.org/podcast...

00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:15 What is a spiritual witness in Mormonism?
00:15:30 Video: The concept of spiritual witnesses in religion
00:38:00 What makes up a spiritual witness and what strengthens it?
00:39:45 The concept of indoctrination in a spiritual witness
00:45:30 Clip: Dallin Oaks talks about sticking only to uncritical material
00:54:50 How repetition can help build and strengthen a testimony
01:01:05 The Illusory Truth effect
01:03:15 The quotes that utilize the illusory truth effect
01:07:40 Elevation emotion and its impact on testimonies and witnesses
01:08:45 A quick video on how a video can invoke an emotional response
01:17:25 Emphasizing emotions over reason (emotional reasoning)
01:22:00 The Mormon church has always used emotional reasoning
01:32:05 How confirmation bias can impact our spiritual witness
01:40:05 The backfire effect
01:43:30 The backfire effect is our brain protecting us from discomfort
02:00:30 The sunk cost fallacy and our testimony of the church
02:06:20 How the sunk cost fallacy applies to Mormonism
02:10:10 Motivated reasoning
02:16:40 Circular reasoning
02:21:45 The bandwagon effect
02:27:35 Special pleading
02:35:25 Appeals to authority
02:43:45 The use of fear and uncertainty
02:50:10 The use of equivocation
02:59:30 The cautionary tale of Paul H. Dunn
03:04:20 Think of all the stories we had a witness of that are not true
03:12:00 Mike’s strongest spiritual witness came after starting the website

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