Complex?

[MG 2.0]

A way of life that gives up the chances this life offers for some kind of human fulfilment, however imperfect, and banks everything on a life after death would be very unwise.

What are you referring to here?

Regards,
MG

I can see why some would not want to bank everything on a possible life after death from the comments shared here.

Regards,
MG

[Marcus]

Yes, such as marrying who you love, working at something you love, associating with people who don't bake gender and race bias into their religion, raising your children outside of a cult, donating to legitimate charities and not to religions that break laws and hoard money, etc. Those types of things.

Drinking coffee and allowing your wife and daughters to show their shoulders…oh wait, that’s allowed in Mormonism now.

Drinking coffee is? I saw the porn shoulder change in revelation but missed that one.

[MG 2.0]

Drinking coffee and allowing your wife and daughters to show their shoulders…oh wait, that’s allowed in Mormonism now.

Drinking coffee is? I saw the porn shoulder change in revelation but missed that one.

If a coffee revelation came would that blow you away...more?

Regards,
MG

[Gadianton]

I did mention David H. Bailey. Ever read his stuff? I did, years ago. It was cool to see that an active Latter-Day Saint person with a scientifically trained mind had been able to dovetail Mormonism with science and evolution in particular

There is no dovetailing evolution and Mormonism.

The quote you provided from David suggests that he must consider the Church leaders ill-informed on topics beyond faith and repentance, and that he simply accepts as base reality the fact that God somewhere way in the past, threw a bunch of stuff together that, like baking a cake, produced golems for Mormon spirits (parasites) to house. It doesn't take a brilliant scientist to come up with this.

Mormonism does not shed light on evolution, and evolution does not shed light on Mormonism. Evolution (quasi-evolution) is accepted at the expense of deep doctrine in order to protect the legitimacy of core doctrines like faith and repentance and baptism.

The only options are 1) reject evolution (which for a scientist would likely mean embracing intelligent design) 2) reject higher Mormon doctrines as speculation by leaders that we can ignore 3) reject Mormonism and accept reality.

We're here with a purpose beyond what we make whole cloth.

which, if true, makes evolution a whole lot of useless baggage we must just accept as base reality. Kind of like driving through every state in the nation in order to get to the 7-11 down the street for a Coke.

[Gadianton]

Ego,

Did you ever consider becoming a "lumper"? Would that help? If all these humans intermingled and produced offspring, why not embrace all as the same species? Taxonomy is very subjective, I don't think you need to take the wide variety of human species at face value, and the ability to inter-breed provides a good defense for considering them all as the image of God.

What are the drawbacks here?

[Ego]

Ego,

Did you ever consider becoming a "lumper"? Would that help? If all these humans intermingled and produced offspring, why not embrace all as the same species? Taxonomy is very subjective, I don't think you need to take the wide variety of human species at face value, and the ability to inter-breed provides a good defense for considering them all as the image of God.

What are the drawbacks here?

I had to look it up but I like that idea! I suppose if they were able to produce fertile offspring then they were close enough for nature, so they should be close enough for me.
I don’t believe hominids have any particular status as being specially in the image of God though. I think one day we will discover life on exoplanets, and thousands of years later we will discover what it looks like, and we’ll see that they are neat looking animals but definitely not human. Some might be intelligent but why should I expect them to look like humans instead of say like an octopus, a whale, or a bird? Any of these or something else entirely is possible.

[MG 2.0]

There is no dovetailing evolution and Mormonism.

Sure there is. If evolution is the means by which we find ourselves using a device to post on this board, and if there is a creator God...then that's how God created the earth and all that is in it.

Regards
MG

[Ego]

There is no dovetailing evolution and Mormonism.

Sure there is. If evolution is the means by which we find ourselves using a device to post on this board, and if there is a creator God...then that's how God created the earth and all that is in it.

Regards
MG

Ever considered the possibility that God that is neither good nor evil but rather transcendent of such human divisions? If it is true that an all powerful creator God intentionally chose evolution as the method of creation, then that could be seen as rather cruel and cold since survival of the fittest has resulted in an extreme bloodbath and arms race since the spark of life itself. If evolution were the intelligent design then I would be much more inclined to believe in a God that does not fit into the box of ‘good’. Almost gives cosmic horror vibes like the gods of the Cthulhu mythos; uncaring cosmic entities.

[MG 2.0]

Sure there is. If evolution is the means by which we find ourselves using a device to post on this board, and if there is a creator God...then that's how God created the earth and all that is in it.

Regards
MG

Ever considered the possibility that God that is neither good nor evil...?

No.

...but rather transcendent of such human divisions?

I have absolutely no idea what that "transcendence" might be. Help me out.

If it is true that an all powerful creator God intentionally chose evolution as the method of creation, then that could be seen as rather cruel and cold since survival of the fittest has resulted in an extreme bloodbath and arms race since the spark of life itself.

If evolution was the ways and means by which we got here how would you suggest God could have avoided a "blood bath"?

Regards,
MG

[I Have Questions]

Drinking coffee and allowing your wife and daughters to show their shoulders…oh wait, that’s allowed in Mormonism now.

Drinking coffee is? I saw the porn shoulder change in revelation but missed that one.

Sorry, that’s a case of poor punctuation on my part. Coffee is still a heinous crime - although you won’t face church discipline for admitting you’re a coffee drinker.

I notice that a number of temple recommend questions have been amended to include the caveat “Do you strive to…”. Which opens the door to the view that sinners are being given recommends. For instance “Do you strive to be honest?” Can be answered with a “Yes” even if you aren’t being honest in some of your dealings with people.

I think this latitude across a number of questions is an attempt to get the numbers up of temple attendees.

Note: the question about tithing does NOT include the “strive to” Get Out Of Jail Free card.