Heb. 11: 6 wrote:But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
It is not only Christianity that requires its adherents to exercise faith before they can retrieve rewards from God -- no -- Mormons believe that faith is also required in order to inherit blessings.
The great Mormon Paul H. Dunn teaches us
Paul H. Dunn wrote:“Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God” (Ether 12:3–4). (Paul H. Dunn, “By Faith and Hope, All Things Are Fulfilled,” Ensign, May 1987, 73)
I feel that my faith was an "anchor to [my] soul" weighing me down in despair because I could not be perfect and have faith.
But back to my original question: Why does God care if we have faith? Isn't that kind of an odd requirement for the Master of the Universe to put on such tiny creatures?
Seriously. Why?
Last edited by Nomomo on Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Suppose we've chosen the wrong god. Every time we go to church we're just making him madder and madder" --Homer Simpson's version of Pascal's Wager
Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool.
Religion is ignorance reduced to a system.
When I hear people praise those who have great faith I question why this is a good thing.
Is faith good if someone has faith in Zeus? Or Apollo? Or Satan? Do not people in all religious traditions have faith? Why is it good to believe that for which we have no evidence?
More to your question... I don't think there is a God/man person with primitive human emotions like us so I don't think there is anything to the idea of needing to please "Him," but I do have a sense of a collective appreciation/allurement for that which furthers peace, kindness, acceptance, unity, creativity, life, etc.
I have always struggled to differentiate my understanding of faith and hope when they're mentioned in the scriptures.
Faith to me would be like being in the WTC as you feel it collapsing and jumping out a window because you believe god has a mission for you and will save you. Action on a belief in a supernatural power.
Hope would be like running down the stairs as fast as you can because you believe that you can make it.
I also now only believe that putting unwarranted trust in people is where I have gone wrong in my life. No deity has ever asked me to put faith in it -- just the people fronting for deities.
"Suppose we've chosen the wrong god. Every time we go to church we're just making him madder and madder" --Homer Simpson's version of Pascal's Wager
Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool.
Religion is ignorance reduced to a system.
"Heavenly Father" is not someone I look to as an example of a kind loving parent.
He was a mean som'biotch.
If one of my older son's started to sway my other children to his thinking that being mean was ok, I'd do what any good parent would do. I'd tell him to knock it off and not let my other children follow him, and if they did I would not kick them out of our home and banish them to furthest part of our world.
Then, if I had kids that did not listen to me the first, second, third time, I would not fill their rooms with water and drown them like RATS.
I would not dash my children upon the rocks for not figuring out my stupid riddles.
I would not rub black or brown shoe polish on the bad kids, or wash it off when they kissed my tail end.
Sorry, but I just don't see how anyone can call that mean som'biotch the "god of love"
If they have T.V. in heaven, he is a regular on COPS for beating and killiing his kids.
The Mormon story starts with us floating around as intelligences in eternity. We encounter God. We see that he is organized in a groovy way. We want a piece of that. We agree to join his creation and follow his rules. If we really are all ultimately uncreated, then there is no basis for trusting other intelligences other than faith. Faith must be developed and grown through a relationship, and can be betrayed at any time.
If there was a God, how would you know it? By a miracle or some display of power that seemed "godly". But how would you know if this powerful being was a friend, or just some alien growing humans on a rock to harvest them for meat someday?
Now this doesn't completely answer why God remains invisible to us. But I think it does buttress the idea that God remains distant so we can learn and grow without coersion. I think those that live without God in the world will get what they're looking for, and those that feel after him will find him.
**addendum**--To address #1 of PP's objections: It looks like Satan and his followers will eventually leave the Father's creation and get a chance to try things his way (either through forced coersion or lowered expectations). The Book of Mormon and Brigham refer to this as "their own place." You don't like the way things are run here, go do something different yourself. Sounds fair to me. I do agree that the rest of your complaints don't sound Godly.