Todd Compton's Credo

[_truth dancer]

Hey MG...

There are plenty of people who claim to have the gift of channeling.... :-)

Joseph Smith was not the first or the last! There are a couple of folks right here on this board who claim God speaks to them. Just visit Barnes and Noble for a collection books by folks who claim to have a message from God.

Or is it the other way around? God begets/creates people, knows them, gives them want they want or are capable/able of living/accepting, then lets them live/function within a portion/slice of truth along a spectrum, according to the way the world works within the environmental conditions/situation they live in.

If this were the case, we are all a bunch of puppets... god playing around, sometimes telling us whatever, and sometimes keeping us in the dark. Sounds pretty cruel to me but then again this whole thing may be a dream. ;-)

I suppose it could be that we are all little players being directed by a grand puppeteer somewhere in outer space and we would never know.

Then again we could make up all sorts of little stories to explain the unknown.

Seems people having been doing this for a very long time... :-)

~dancer~

[_BishopRic]

...until I get that "God 1:1" straight from the horse's mouth...

Do you mean a personal visit/appearance from God...to you?

If so, that would entail a lot of personal visits from God to a heck of a lot of people. And I thought is was a miraculous thing for Santa to get to all the homes of the good boys and girls to deliver presents on Christmas Eve. <g>

Regards,
MG

Surely the God that men have created to be all powerful and all knowing would be able to out-do the Pagan Santa, wouldn't he? As many conflicting messages God has given just the few Mormon prophets would be reason enough to straighten it out to us normal folk...especially if it means whether we get to live with him (or not) forever...don'tcha think?

[_Yoda]

...until I get that "God 1:1" straight from the horse's mouth...

Do you mean a personal visit/appearance from God...to you?

If so, that would entail a lot of personal visits from God to a heck of a lot of people. And I thought is was a miraculous thing for Santa to get to all the homes of the good boys and girls to deliver presents on Christmas Eve. <g>

Regards,
MG

Surely the God that men have created to be all powerful and all knowing would be able to out-do the Pagan Santa, wouldn't he? As many conflicting messages God has given just the few Mormon prophets would be reason enough to straighten it out to us normal folk...especially if it means whether we get to live with him (or not) forever...don'tcha think?

OK...just had a flashback to the famous South park "Santa vs. Jesus" episode.



;)

[_mentalgymnast]

...until I get that "God 1:1" straight from the horse's mouth...

Do you mean a personal visit/appearance from God...to you?

If so, that would entail a lot of personal visits from God to a heck of a lot of people. And I thought is was a miraculous thing for Santa to get to all the homes of the good boys and girls to deliver presents on Christmas Eve. <g>

Regards,
MG

Surely the God that men have created to be all powerful and all knowing would be able to out-do the Pagan Santa, wouldn't he? As many conflicting messages God has given just the few Mormon prophets would be reason enough to straighten it out to us normal folk...especially if it means whether we get to live with him (or not) forever...don'tcha think?

Yes, I believe that a God who is real would be able to out do the Pagan Santa. Of course, the Pagan Santa really can't do anything. So a God who is real would be one up on Santa by intervening now and then even a little bit...or a lot if He thought it appropriate to do so according to his own mind and will. Not ours. For his purposes. Not ours. Afterall, how could we hope to force our will upon the creator of the universe? Besides trying to nudge him one way or the other through prayer, of course.

Are you or have you been LDS? If so, did you ever have an experience related to what at the time you believed to be the Spirit of God or a witness of the Holy Ghost?

Regards,
MG

[_mentalgymnast]

Hey MG...

There are plenty of people who claim to have the gift of channeling.... :-)

Joseph Smith was not the first or the last! There are a couple of folks right here on this board who claim God speaks to them. Just visit Barnes and Noble for a collection books by folks who claim to have a message from God.

I'm aware of that. You know my dad. He's into that stuff and we've had some interesting conversations in regards to channeling, astral beings and the like.

Or is it the other way around? God begets/creates people, knows them, gives them want they want or are capable/able of living/accepting, then lets them live/function within a portion/slice of truth along a spectrum, according to the way the world works within the environmental conditions/situation they live in.

If this were the case, we are all a bunch of puppets... god playing around, sometimes telling us whatever, and sometimes keeping us in the dark. Sounds pretty cruel to me but then again this whole thing may be a dream. ;-)

I suppose it could be that we are all little players being directed by a grand puppeteer somewhere in outer space and we would never know.

What do puppets and a puppeteer have to do with allowing man his free agency? I'm not seeing the connection you're trying to make. I'm describing the actions of independent beings, not puppets.

Regards,
MG

[_BishopRic]

Are you or have you been LDS?

Yes. For forty years of my life. BIC, raised in SLC, SL Valley seminary president in 76, mish to Japan in 77, temple married for 23 years. Four children raised in the covenant. Bishopric (thus the name -- my name is Rick), bishop, high council.... I'm fifty now. Divorced for six years, engaged to a beautiful fellow exmo, both have raised four kids kids -- some in the church, some out; had some questions, studied with Grant Palmer in 93 while he did research for his future book, "Insider's View..." Love the man and admire his work.

If so, did you ever have an experience related to what at the time you believed to be the Spirit of God or a witness of the Holy Ghost?

Absolutely! I still believe it was. I just interpreted it differently than I do the same experiences today. I believe they are the EXACT same experiences people of other faiths experience. They are beautiful, powerful, and serve to bond humanity and nature together. I crave and seek them today as much as ever...I find them most powerfully (for me) on a hike to the top of the Wasatch Mountains. They are no more, nor no less, than the experiences Mormons get. We're all doing the best we can with what we have been given.

[_harmony]

17 Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments;
18 And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets—
19 The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither ctrust in the arm of flesh—
20 But that every man might aspeak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world;
21 That faith also might increase in the earth;
22 That mine everlasting acovenant might be established;
23 That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers.
24 Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding.

Regards,
MG

And I'm supposed to believe him this time? Why? When he showed quite clearly that he would lie, unabashedly, standing up at the pulpit, looking his wife in the eye? When he repeatedly showed what kind of man he was, and how little he understood his task? Why should I ever believe a word he wrote?

[_Gazelam]

BishRC,

I believe they are the EXACT same experiences people of other faiths experience.

How could you possibly think that God would give different plans of salvation to different people? What sense does that make?

[_BishopRic]

BishRC,

I believe they are the EXACT same experiences people of other faiths experience.

How could you possibly think that God would give different plans of salvation to different people? What sense does that make?

No sense at all...if "God" is how you perceive "him." I don't perceive "God" as the perfected man humans have created.

She is much more.

[_Gazelam]

Sorry Bish, I guess I just read too much into the whole "Father" title he chose to be known by.....silly me.