Desmond Tutu, prayer, and truth

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DarkJedi
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Joined: 24 Aug 2013, 20:53

Desmond Tutu, prayer, and truth

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This was quoted in a talk I recently heard and it resonates with me. The quote is taken from this Ensign article, which is a Christmas message from DTC: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2015/12/be-a ... eng#note2-

During the interview the host asked a perceptive, inspired question of Bishop Tutu: “Have you found that your relationship to God has changed as you’ve grown older?”

Bishop Tutu paused and then said, “Yes. I am learning to shut up more in the presence of God.”

He recalled that when he prayed in his earlier years, he did so with a list of requests and solicitudes. He would approach heaven with what he called “a kind of shopping list.” But now, he said, “I think (I am) trying to grow in just being there. Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter, you are just there in front of the fire, and you don’t have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you.”
I think it resonates with me because I feel somewhat the same as Bishop Tutu. My relationship with God has definitely changed as I have grown older, and I think Fowler's stages indicate that changes in our faith/belief can be age related (such as his assertion that it's rare for teenagers to be stage 5). I likewise used to go with a list of requests to God. I no longer do. I do sometimes (often actually) feel peace in prayer even though I'm not asking for anything at all, including peace. The peace warms me - and I don't have to say anything.

I might add that I think this is a great example of recognizing truth wherever we find it, and I appreciate both the speaker and Elder Christofferson for sharing this truth.
In the absence of knowledge or faith there is always hope.

Once there was a gentile...who came before Hillel. He said "Convert me on the condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot." Hillel converted him, saying: That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow, this is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary, go and learn it."

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