I have a question wrote:
Good evening, I have a question:
My question: I'm really interested to hear how members think things would noticeably change if, unbeknown to them, God disappeared and was no longer involved in the Church? Would they be able to notice? What changes would they expect to notice? Etc.
Here is a response written by Cinepro, one of our frequent posters who is a believer of sorts, that I think answers the question in a roundabout way.
Cinepro wrote:I believe the surety of whether something is "true" or not doesn't rest on one piece of evidence or experience. The knowledge only comes piece by piece, question by question, almost like a sculptor chiseling away to reveal his masterpiece. So we don't have one experience or piece of evidence upon which we base our knowledge, we have dozens, or hundreds, or thousands. Different pieces of a puzzle that combine to make a coherent picture.
So, when people ask me "what would it take", I respond that I'm not looking for one piece of evidence. I'm looking for a thousand. It should also be noted that I believe the burden of "proof" rests on the person making the claim, so I need evidence supporting the Church's claims before I will believe.
If the claims of the Book of Mormon were true, we would have every Mesoamerican researcher publishing papers saying "You know, it looks like we have a colony of Christ believing Hebrews here." And over the years, that belief would get more and more evidence, not less. There would be evidences of massive battles and wars of extinction around 400AD, metal plates with odd, egyptian-like writing turning up in digs all over mesoamerica, and vestiges of Biblical beliefs in Adam and Eve, Noah's ark, the tower of babel, and the atonement turning up in central American murals and stelae. And the date of 33AD would be very, very notable for the huge change in population, and a consolidation of beliefs to pure, New Testament Christianity for hundreds of years over the entire proposed Book of Mormon geography. FARMS would publish article after article about how there really were horses and chariots and steel swords back then, instead of explaining why not.
God wouldn't hide Book of Mormon restoration evidences like the breastplate, sword of Laban, and Moroni's stone box.
Modern day spiritual claims would build up to an incredible "evidence"; you would see BYU conducting research breakthroughs in every field that surpass anything else in the world.
LDS artists, authors, filmakers, and musicians would consistently amaze us with creations that surpass the skill of any gentile talent. LDS athletes would be breaking world records right and left, and BYU would have scores of championship trophies in every sport and field; with the priesthood, Holy Ghost, and "health in their navel(s) and marrow to their bones", there just wouldn't be competition.
In every field, church members would show a level of knowledge and understanding that surpasses what could be done without the "Holy Ghost".
Priesthood blessings would work more frequently than a placebo, patriarchal blessings would be more accurate than a $5 palm reading, and faithful church members would never, ever fall for medical, financial or any other kinds of scams, especially after praying about it.
When anyone says something that isn't the Truth in Church (including urban legends and Faith-Promoting Rumor's that aren't true), the whole congregation would know instantly by the spirit.
When a member of the ward is a child molester, or cheating on their spouse, they wouldn't be called to positions of authority; leaders would be especially inspired by the "spirit" to not put a child molester in charge of the blazer scouts.
Our prophets, seers, and revelators would make prophecies that are better and more accurate than Nostradamus, translate the Book of Mormon into other languages with a seer stone instead of the BYU translation department, translate the Book of Joseph so it could be added to the Pearl of Great Price where it should be, and reveal incredible knowledge that will still be consistent with science 200 years from now.
The JST would be used by every Bible scholar, because incredibly, it just gets more things right compared to the ancient manuscripts. And the JST would even be used by the Church, instead of being a footnote to the KJV. Or President Hinckley would finish the JST, and we would take the "translated correctly" part out of the Articles of Faith, because now it is translated correctly.
Official Doctrine wouldn't need to be defined after we know whether or not the Church leader was wrong. It would be clearly stated, without equivocation.
In other words the evidence we should expect to see, if God was involved in the SLC branch of the LDS church, simply isn't there.
A similar form of this question has been asked of believers often on this form. So far, not one has been able to provide any concrete descriptions illustrating the difference between a church led by God and one led by the 15 corporate leaders.
A broader version of the same question is what differences might we expect to see in our own universe if God were not responsible for its creation and not involved in its management at any level?