Re: Liberal Mormon has questions....
Arden Eby (arden@teleport.com)
Tue, Mar 7 1995 01:18:17 GMT
In article <1995Mar5.022301.26863@cs.cornell.edu> croatia@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu (You Better Work!!) writes:
>If you believe all things come from God, then even logic itself is an
>emmination of God.
But I don't believe *all* things literally come from God. At least I haven't
been raised to believe such and I haven't felt a compelling reason believe
this. Mormonism teaches that matter and human intelligence are self existent,
just like God. God, in this setting, is totally good and the most powerful
self existent being, but not the only one. He is omnipotent in the sense that
he can do everything that can be done, given the nature of the universe. But
because of the nature of the universe, some things *can't* be done...by anyone.
>>2) He is totally good--thus desires to prevent all the evil he can.
>Maybe he lets evil exist for a reason. Baha'u'llah makes mention, plus
>people who have had NDE's, that it is our choice to come here, from the
>Kingdom, where there is no evil. Life here is a school, a spiritual
>shortcut. Here God tests his servants. Evil is really a result of our
>free will. We have the choice to do evil.
These beliefs sound very Mormon. Mormons believe that humans existed in a
pre-mortal life, first as "raw intelligence" (uncreated) then as "spirits" a
higher form of reality organized by God. It further teaches that humans had
the choice to leave God's presence and experience Earth life in precisely the
manner you describe.
Interesting.
On the other hand, if God is the source of *everything* then the concept of
"having a reason" breaks down, IMO. Since God can do whatever he wants all
his actions are expressions of his preferences--his will. I'm not sure such a
being could have a "reason" for anything except his "will." This is why it is
so hard for me to accept an omnipotent God. He is ultimately responsible for
*everything* and he doesn't need a "reason" for it. This would be OK if
everything were perfect, but its not. Do you see my problem?
>This is saying that the laws are above God.
Some of them, yes.
>If all of creation was made
>by God, then how could he be limited?
I already addressed this. I'm not expecting you to accept it, but it is where
I'm coming from.
>The above is my personal opinion. I don't think anyone has THE Baha'i
>view. You have to examine the Writings and the world around you, and
>come to the conclusion yourself.
Thank you. I want to repeat that I'm not trying to start an argument and
that I really accept many (if not most) elements of the Baha'i faith. I'm
just on a quest to sort some things out for myself.
Arden