DiscussMormonism.com

Last Sunday in priesthood, the lesson was about the attributes of God, and as these things are wont to go, God ended up being all the positive attributes in their perfection with absolutely zero of the negative attributes.

All the positive attributes got synopsized into "love" and God was deemed to be perfect love, and we were all admonished to go and do likewise.

(I actually came in at the end of the lesson because I had ducked out after Sunday school to go visit a friend whom I home teach who was recovering at home from surgery. He wasn't in so I made it back in time for the last 15-minutes or so of the lesson.)

When it was over, I mentioned to a couple of high priests my heretical thought that we diminish God when we restrict his attributes to only the one that we find most positive, and suggested that maybe God has all attributes, both "negative" and "positive" in their perfection.

Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

The Lord thy God is a jealous God.

I added that maybe 2 Nephi 2's discussion of "opposition in all things" indicates that God could not be God if he were possessed only of "positive" attributes.

Thoughts?

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

consiglieri wrote:When it was over, I mentioned to a couple of high priests my heretical thought that we diminish God when we restrict his attributes to only the one that we find most positive, and suggested that maybe God has all attributes, both "negative" and "positive" in their perfection.

Very Jungian. You should read Psychology and Religion; I think you'd like it.

Well, he was capable of drowning everyone on the planet save Noah, his family and (if Nipper is correct) a group of zoo keeping monkey's.

I don't consider that very loving.

Drifting wrote:Well, he was capable of drowning everyone on the planet save Noah, his family and (if Nipper is correct) a group of zoo keeping monkey's.

I don't consider that very loving.

Ditt-O

CaliforniaKid wrote:Very Jungian. You should read Psychology and Religion; I think you'd like it.

Really?

I hate it when some upstart grabs my really cool ideas ahead of me.

I will have to see if I can find myself a copy of that book.

Thanks for the reference!

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

P.S. I do see this as a way of better resolving those actions of God (such as the Flood) that do not seem very loving.

What's love got to do with it?

Yes. You might also call him Eros. Your acceptance of God would be very similar to the union of Eros and Psyche.

Please consider.

quark wrote:Yes. You might also call him Eros. Your acceptance of God would be very similar to the union of Eros and Psyche.

Please consider.

Oh, yes! Beautiful. Now I need to find a depiction of Psyche for my altar.

Love this!

consiglieri wrote:Last Sunday in priesthood, the lesson was about the attributes of God, and as these things are wont to go, God ended up being all the positive attributes in their perfection with absolutely zero of the negative attributes.

All the positive attributes got synopsized into "love" and God was deemed to be perfect love, and we were all admonished to go and do likewise.

(I actually came in at the end of the lesson because I had ducked out after Sunday school to go visit a friend whom I home teach who was recovering at home from surgery. He wasn't in so I made it back in time for the last 15-minutes or so of the lesson.)

When it was over, I mentioned to a couple of high priests my heretical thought that we diminish God when we restrict his attributes to only the one that we find most positive, and suggested that maybe God has all attributes, both "negative" and "positive" in their perfection.

Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

The Lord thy God is a jealous God.

I added that maybe 2 Nephi 2's discussion of "opposition in all things" indicates that God could not be God if he were possessed only of "positive" attributes.

Thoughts?

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

Do you think God's Justice is an attribute of God's Love?

CaliforniaKid wrote:Very Jungian. You should read Psychology and Religion; I think you'd like it.

Good Lord CK, just toss him a loaded gun why dontcha?

Why inject a God you intend to honor with negative attributes? If you desire goodness, then why not seek goodness full throttle? The Old Testament seems a primitive mishmash of frequent bad deeds masked over in the name of God. These deeds do not need to be carried over in some anthropomorphic embodiment of good and evil. Imagine for the best.