In my view, mystical and magical are just other words, though not entirely accurate, that people try to apply to spiritual, miraculous and divine. Sometimes I’ve used the word magical to convey a sense of awe and wonder about religious topics.

I think I’ve started to understand why General Authorities in the recent past have spoken out somewhat against intellectualism. The gospel is a feeling. It’s closer to an emotional thing than a mental thing. The breadth of the various dimensions of what’s been revealed so far about the gospel (of Jesus Christ) cannot be fully comprehended via intellectual means, because intellectual/mental efforts only view a limited spectrum of limited dimensions of the gospel.

Perhaps we use mystical as a loose synonym for spiritual, a shortcut to bridge understanding, much like Ammon agreed with Lamoni that God was The Great Spirit: not entirely accurate, but close enough to get the discussion rolling.

IQ smarts are not enough to digest, understand and comprehend the gospel of Jesus Christ. Great numbers of highly intelligent people subscribe to a wide variety of religions, and a wide variety of Christ-believing religions.

The retort I want to make when I read atheists condescendingly and antagonistically accuse Christians as being stupid for believing in the supernatural is that, logically, such an accusation applies against almost all religions. Yet the anti-Christian atheists rarely direct similar invectives to Jews, Buddhists, Siks and Muslims.

Requiring the reading of the whole BoM would be a good policy for those who are baptized at 8 and remain continuously active. But what’s the _doctrine_ on the matter? What were the missionary requirements in 35 AD ? Did they have to read the entire Old Testament?

We sometimes seem to take the “mystical” approach — if you read the Book of Mormon you will have a mysterious, inexplicable response.

I think in the right circumstances there will be an effect but I’m not sure I’d call it mystical.

In some ways I’m a poster boy of the logical side of Book of Mormon effects. I’ve been overwhelmed time after time with the internal consistency, puzzling questions, and impossible* origin of the Book of Mormon. The book, its message, and its provenance have each had a profoundly practical influence on my life and its course.

*Luke 1:37

I have not experienced a profound spiritual experience in regards to the Book of MOrmon as a whole, but have received answers or impressions about certain passages. My testimony is logical. Joseph Smith could not have written that book as a young man on the frontier with limited education and experiences; unless he was inspired of God.