Gaelan_Ainsworth wrote:My thoughts off the top of my head. But don't take them as 'gospel truth'. My ideas are always open to adjustment.
Why would I be taught that God became what he is, if he is meant to have never changed?
In my mind I look at the cosmos as being a work in progress. Evolution is a principal of 'reality' that is part of
everything. For all intents and purposes, to us, God is an unchanging Being. But that doesn't mean that along the spectrum...yes, eternity IS a long time...God hasn't also moved from something 'less' to something 'more'. Or from one 'thing' to something 'different'. A static universe/cosmos doesn't make sense to me. A dynamic and changing universe/cosmos does.
Gaelan_Ainsworth wrote:What is the point of a living prophet if they are fallible and human, capable of ignoring revelation, and making up revelation if the mood so takes them, without divine intervention?
To restore lost truths. To act as key holder for ordinances (salvation,temple). An organizational head and/or file leader to be at the apex of the hierarchy/kingdom. To call people to repentance, obedience to God's law/commandments.
Gaelan_Ainsworth wrote:What is the point of creation when an eternity exists outside of it, given that there is no guarantee I'll even hear about Jesus Christ? (Yes I know about baptism for the dead, if anything this strengthens my question, not answers it.)
If there hadn't been a creation, would you be asking this question? And would that matter?
Gaelan_Ainsworth wrote:Why would a just and loving being design Adam with a flaw that would cause the fall of mankind and the suffering of billions, just for the plan of salvation to work, and further how can one claim that Adam had Agency?
I would ask the question, "By what means is a "plan of salvation" able to begin or get a jump start?" Are there other ways of accomplishing the same thing? If I can't come up with a better way that is a 'one size fits all' then I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt to God as He designed the beginnings of the 'human experience' on this earth.
Gaelan_Ainsworth wrote:Why does Satan exist, any powerful entity would remove opposition that was actually a threat, and opposition that isn't a threat isn't worth mentioning?
I'm not sure exactly what you're saying here...but I'd entertain the possibility that 'Satan' is more or less a 'calling' designated 'driver' for those that are disrupting the plan of the Father. What goes on the temple seems to indicate that Satan is a 'nameplate' for an individual entity that is the CEO, you might say, of 'the threat' or 'the opposition', as you say.
Gaelan_Ainsworth wrote:Why does Satan fight, when presented with an all-powerful being that can stop your plans, and an all knowing being that can know your plans, why even try to resist, any plan you have that would work is instantly stopped, any plan that wouldn't work won't be stopped, proving it doesn't work?
In Star Wars there is the Force and the Dark power. The two are always at odds. If God is a creator/organizer of worlds and the populating of the same, He is not acting in isolation without opposing forces of darkness/evil. The more interesting question, to me, is WHY would there BE forces of darkness/evil in the first place? Why can't everything just be GOOD? The answer to that question seems to be in front of us as we look at human history, however. There seem to be two opposing forces at work in the system.
Gaelan_Ainsworth wrote:Does God interfere with his plan by answering prayer, given that he is meant to be unchanging, if he answers prayer, this suggests that there is no agency, for people just pray for what they were programmed to do so?
These are all great questions and they can't be answered, not even close, either here or ever...in any sort of complete/satisfying way...so I hope that's under consideration.
This is a question that I have looked at over and over again. I don't know of an answer that is completely satisfying. I do think, however, if we look at the concept of "all things being present before God" and "God knowing the end from the beginning"...that's a starting point for trying to resolve this dilemma. That and quantum mechanics and time/gravity astrophysics and all that stuff.
Gaelan_Ainsworth wrote:Why is Satan the bad guy for wanting to not give free will, his plan would save countless more people, and we could still experience the physical bodies, the test of creation, and the non spiritual existence?
Good questions! From the LDS perspective it all has to do with HAVING free will and the exercise thereof. One way of trying to visualize is looking at totalitarian/communistic systems. Are those people better off than those of us blessed to living in a relative state of free choice/agency?
Gaelan_Ainsworth wrote:Why would God allow his church to be corrupt for a century (or more)?
Jesus taught "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit." By it's very nature, however, a tree has to
grow and
mature before it bears fruit. Is it unreasonable to consider that along the way before the 'full corn shall appear' that there are going to be some blips and messiness along the way? As it it, the doctrine/practice and principles of the church have now come to a point in time, yeah correlation(?), where the tree is bearing fruit that is good/mature. But as I said earlier, if the nature of the universe/cosmos is that everything 'unfolds' or works through a process of evolution...it wouldn't surprise me if something is, as you say, "corrupt" before it matures.
"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
Why would God claim to reason as a man, then expect me to interpret bosom burning, signs, prophecies, and apparently ancient manuscripts?
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He claims to reason with us as one man reasons with another. But God being God, I would assume He can only reason so far. At a certain point, it appears, we have to rely on other ways that God apparently 'communicates' with mankind.
Anyway, my two cents. It's fun to consider all this stuff. The thing is, the gospel itself is really kind of simple. That's what the missionaries are sent out to do. Again, don't expect them to be able to answer all of your questions. If you do, you'd be disappointed and want to quit.
Regards,
MG