AboutHannah Expertise I can answer questions concerning standard doctrines, scriptures, curiousities, Mormon culture and society. I will not respond to debates. I'm sorry, but there are some things that I simply will not answer, not because I don't want to, but there are some things that the LDS people do not discuss casually--it's only talked about within the temple. Though I am a member, I do not believe that anyone could convert anyone to a religion over something as impersonal as the internet. So I won't even try to.
Experience I have been a member of the LDS church for 8 years. Though I'm still a young person, I can answer most things about the church.
Question QUESTION: You wrote: Mormon: One of my favorite scriptures (next to Jeremiah 1:6 and a couple of others…) anyways, this is beside the point. God doesn’t change, as we discussed in the Malachi scripture.
Moroni: This is the same way as in Psalms.
How can we understand anything other than what the words mean and are written in the Bible or the BoM. How can we trust anything from a logical point of view if what is written is not what is truth? Lets just look at two verses, one out of the Bible that you have discounted as liberal writing, does not the Bible claim to be inspired by God himself? If this is the case, and Joseph Smith knew that when he wrote the Bom, Than how can we so quickly discount the “truth” as it is written in the Bible and in the BoM? I am sorry but I just cant see how we can just say “that is beside the point”. I feel this is the very point, if God was wrong and Joseph was wrong when they wrote these two scriptures, than how can we believe any of the writings at all?
Psalm 90:2 (King James Version)
2Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Moroni 8:18
18 For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity.
ANSWER: I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I wasn't meaning to say that the scripture was beside the point. I was trying to say that I was getting off on a tangent. Rereading the post, I totally understand the ambiguity, and I wasn't very clear. Sorry about that.
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QUESTION: From reading Psalm 90:2 and Moroni8:18 I think it is very clear that God has always been God and never changed from all eternity to all eternity, I am not sure how anything else could come from this...It tells me God is, was and will be God, always and never different.
Once I get the Idea of the Nature of God, I feel that we can powerfully identify what he is...if he changes than what he is now can be different from what he was...I hope this can clear things up a bit.
I have just recently gone though a study with friends about "Truth" and we have determined that there can be only one "Truth" from a logic perspective, so as you can see, for me, at this point in my life, it is imperative to determine "Truth" beyond any doughty before I am able to submit to any ideas that I feel may be contrary to "Truth"
Charlie
ANSWER: I agree that there can only be one truth. I'm glad that you're considering other options. I happen to feel that the scriptures are irrefutable truth that God is God now and that he is eternal, but not necessarily that he popped up out of no where. So, I feel that we must agree to disagree. Thank-you for your respectful attitude. It really is appreciated.
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QUESTION: You are certainly one of the most respectful persons I have ever had the privilege to talk to about my faith, thank you very much. But I do not think that we do necessarily disagree, I think that you hit the nail on the head that God cant just "POP" into existence...that would be illogical... I am curious, were did the First God come from? if he did not "POP" up, than wouldn't he have to be self existent and for ever eternal? if not, than were did the beginning come from? you know, the very first "GOD"...from nothing comes nothing.
Answer You know, that's one of those questions that I've always wondered about. I think it will be the first question I ask in heaven. I have spent so many hours trying to figure out that one. He'd have to be eternal, yes. But in our mortal states, it's sort of easy to understand going on from here forever--something with no end. But it's a bit harder for all of us to comprehend something without any beginning, with the exception of numbers.
So, basically, I'd say, I can't comprehend it. I don't think any ordinary person does.
