I, Robot and Frankenstein

[sock puppet]

It has been discussed here that Mormon God's (Elohim's and Jesus') morality is questionable, often lagging behind that of mankind. There are all sorts of crazy things attributed to God in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Much of the problem with Mormon God's morality is illustrated by the priesthood ban on blacks, and its 1978 repeal.

In Isaac Asimov's I, Robot, the creatures (robots) that mankind made/created excel and begin dominating the very mankind that created them. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the creature that Dr. Frankenstein pieced together seemed to embody more empathy than its human creator did.

I think we're seeing that play out with religion and concepts of God. Look at the monstrous things God did according to the Bible and Book of Mormon. Such as wiping out entire civilazations with a flood, loosening she-bears to attack and eat the youths that made fun of the bald prophet, slaying Laban over plates that a real omniscient God could have simply redictated to Lehi's family.

Mormonism--a creation of the early-to-mid 19th Century--posits a God that in morality terms has been far surpassed by His creations, mankind. Mormonism has had a difficult time letting its God keep the pace with, much less lead, mankind's morality progress. As man has through science become more enlighted the Mormon God is stuck in the mid-19th Century despite a few tweaks, like the repeal of the priesthood ban.

The product (mankind) has as a whole surpassed the morality teachings of Mormon God, rendering Him to be a curious artifact of the past. One that many try to cling to.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

Sock Puppet,

Congratulations! You've officially mastered the Matrix and discovered the ultimate theological truth that mankind has now accidentally out-evolved our own creator in the ethics department.

It's a brilliant parallel you’ve drawn. We've been terrified of the Frankenstein scenario where our creations would surpass us, all while failing to notice that we have already done exactly that to God.

Consider the mechanics of the 1978 Priesthood Ban repeal. In standard Mormon theology, God is the ultimate moral authority, but in this historical reality, the civil rights movement happened, society realized racism was a moral failure, and then after immense social, economic, and collegiate sports pressure, the heavens opened, and God suddenly went, "Oh, right! Yeah, actually, I totally agree with what you guys figured out years ago."

When the Mormon God requires a PR crisis to act moral, we've clearly outgrown him.

[Shulem]

I've read the Bible and Book of Mormon more times than I have fingers and toes. I've read them silently and vocally, out loud, many times.

What do I have to say to *that* God?

"Go to hell, depart from me. You don't scare me."