On March 22, 2016, I knelt down in the basement with nobody around. I prayed the following prayer [as nearly as I can remember the wording] and listened to the response in my mind and heart.

Dear God, if you are there, I am praying to ask you the answer to these questions. You know that I have searched long and hard to understand these things. Please confirm to me their truthfulness.

  • Is the Book of Abraham false (meaning it is an inaccurate book and not necessarily that there are some good things found within it). [felt good, peaceful feeling]
  • Is the Book of Mormon false (similarly, not that there aren’t good ideas within it, but that it is historically incorrect and deceitful) [felt a good, peaceful feeling]
  • Is Joseph Smith a false prophet and a fraud? [felt good]
  • I believe Thomas S. Monson is not a prophet of God. Is that correct? [good feeling]
  • I believe the Church is not the only true Church on the earth. Is that correct? [peaceful feeling. Voice in head: “the Church does not have a monopoly on truth]

Even now as I write these out, I feel extremely peaceful and serene (nigh unto joyful).

Of course, I firmly believe that our impression of God communicating with us is self-derived (we are essentially talking to ourselves). If we consider how contradictory these results are with normal LDS prayers, and the results from surveys of people of different faiths getting confirmatory answers about their faith (http://mostcorrectreligionsurvey.weebly.com/), we must conclude that our preconception dictates the feelings and “communication” we “receive”.

—[bwv549]

http://mostcorrectreligionsurvey.weebly.com/

Quick and Dirty Numbers:

  • 114 usable responses
  • 82% received an answer
  • 73% were “very sure” they received an answer
  • 22 religions were identified by God as the single most correct religion
  • 90% of the answers affirmed that the respondents’ current religion was the most correct religion, or among the group of religions that was the most correct (the accuracy of this statistic is questionable, see below)