[PERMANENTLY CLOSED] What does the LDS church teach about God's nature?

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smaneck

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Everytime I read about the LDS's teachings I have a feeling between confusion and concern.

Here is a good chance to clear up your confusion, but I suspect you will still have concerns. Me, I'm just curious and also upset about the way in which Mormons have been treated in this forum.
 
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Jane_Doe

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Well, it was more than forty years ago when I originally took the missionary lessons. My understanding is that things really began to change with the mass conversions in Brazil. Since nearly everyone in Brazil has at least some African blood the church would have ended up with no priesthood there. When my son began to read at an adult level, I'd buy him Orson Scott Card Sci Fi novels because they very much resonated with my own values as a Baha'i. And when you have an eight year old reading adult novels you have to be careful. I don't think it is any accident that Scott Card was a missionary in Brazil or that our hero Ender ends up marrying a black Brazilian.

I love Ender's Game!

More-on-topic, that fact that Mormon's believe in continual revelation from God is something foreign to other Christian faith, and can cause confusion/misunderstanding. Feel free ask anything you want, and hopefully we can clear it up for you.
 
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smaneck

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More-on-topic, that fact that Mormon's believe in continual revelation from God is something foreign to other Christian faith, and can cause confusion/misunderstanding.

It is not at all foreign to the Baha'i Faith, although revelation is not quite as continual for us as it is for you. We see the appearance of Revelators as very rare. Centuries or even a millennium may pass between them. But like Mormons we do think our administrative structure is divinely ordained and divinely guided.

Pentecostals, by the way, sometimes have prophets. I once visited a snake handling church in Georgia. They had an old lady serving as their prophetess.
 
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Ironhold

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The movie did not do it justice. One of the things I liked most about Scott Card's novels is the way he deals with racial and religious pluralism.

Understand that I work as a movie reviewer in addition to my other duties at the newspaper I'm with.

When the film was announced, there was a big push to boycott it because of Card's then-recent statements on homosexuality. In the eyes of the people calling for the boycott, shunning the film was akin to shunning Card (he got a lump sum payment well in advance, meaning that no matter how bad the ticket sales he wouldn't be affected anyway).

As a movie reviewer, however, it's my job to review things without bias. Thus, I went and rated the film on what I felt to be its merits. I ultimately gave it a 96%, noting that even in its present state it still forced the audience to think about some very uncomfortable topics.

Quite a few of the "boycott" crowd responded to this by flaming me and even gay-baiting me. Because they couldn't separate Card from the movie, they regarded my approval of the film as being approval of Card himself. Not only was I ridiculed as a person, so was the newspaper I work for and the town I live in.

That's my big memory of the movie, anyway.
 
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Ran77

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That's good. Do you take the references to God darkening people's skin as metaphorical or literal?

Metaphorical. Some of the verses which mention this don't work/make sense if it is taken literally.


Is God in charge of all the planets in the universe or just this one? Is there a god in charge of each planet?

I have always thought He was in charge of everything within the universe, but there isn't a lot of revelation on that topic.


:)
 
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RestoredGospelEvidences

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QUOTE="smaneck, post: 68387941, member: 269871"]Mind you, I am asking Mormons this question not Nicean Christians. I'd like to see a genuine discussion of Mormon beliefs and practices as defined by Mormons themselves, not its detractors. And I hope we will all observe the rule about not degrading, belittling or mocking the religion of others. And please, no anti-Mormon vids.

Specifically I would like to know answers to the following questions:

Does God have a physical body?
If so, does He have white skin?
Does God live on another planet?
Does God have multiple wives?

I hope you will answer these questions in the spirit in which they are asked and I hope Christians will refrain from jumping all over members of the LDS.

Thank you.[/QUOTE]

These are interesting & fair questions. From a Mormon's perspectives, one that is a researcher, not an official representative, I offer some of my own insights here. First, to understand the bigger picture & whole point in having a physical body. 1st: Mormons believe that the gospel taught by Christ & his apostles was restored & refreshed by modern prophets & apostles, beginning with the Prophet Joseph Smith. Restored was not only doctrines & beliefs, but the spiritual gifts & positions of leadership, as in Christ's church, they were also restored too, (1 Cor. 12-13, Eph. 4:7-14, etc.) Thus, through modern revelation to modern Prophets & Apostles, the early beliefs have been clarified, & also enlighted, & the horizons of knowledge have been extended because of new revelations. The restoration of the gospel has thus been interpreted & re-interpreted throughout Mormon history, as further clarifications have been offered & speculations on meanings offered by early to later leaders, members & LDS scholars. Some of those beliefs & speculations have been vilified by critics, & thus have been responded to, & repeatedly responded to as new insights come along.

One of the early beliefs was that Christ was in the image of God the Father, as man & women are in the image of God the Father, & Goddess the Mother. During the creation, there being a male & female made in "our" (plural) image, thus Adam (Male) & Eve (Female). The idea of a family in heaven, as there is a family on earth, is part of the whole on going drama, (Eph. 3:15). Families often consisting of Fathers, Mothers, daughters & sons. As this earthly family has a long line of fathers & mothers that goes back through the generations, so also the family in heaven. (Eph. 3:15; Gen. 2:4-5). Mormon scholars & researchers have noted how earlier bibles begin with the concepts about a family in heaven before the creation of the earth. In the generations of the heavens, before there was a man on the earth, (Gen. 2:4-5), lived the spirit sons & daughters of the Divine Parents. Divine Parents that have physical glorified perfected bodies. The pre-Adam life as spirits, is called the pre-existence. In the pre-existence, the spirits there had their free agency to choose to progress or retrogress. To have different types of life experiences by descending down to the world, earth, that was created for the purpose of offering a physical world to live out a physical life, as each spirit was thus to be sent down to gain their own physical body through the birthing process. Even Christ went through this, being the only begotten Son of God in the flesh. But he is also the first born spirit Son of God, in the family in heaven, & is even called the first born in scriptures & in some of the writings of the early Christian fathers. (Shepherd of Hermas, for example).* As the first born, he was in council with God the Father before the physical creation. Thus, Christ is called a fellow-council member with the Father. The whole point of us humans in being born into each our own physical body, was so that we could experience & learn physical lessons, & become as "one of us" the Divine Parents, in learning new experiences what we couldn't have learned, while just spirits. Thus, we have a physical body because God the Father & Mother each have their own separate physical bodies, but theirs' are glorified & perfected, ours' are not. But will eventually be resurrected, glorified & perfected, each according to the degrees of glory mentioned (1 Cor. 15). Christ being the highest example of the whole process of deification, glorification, & the changes that came about in his physical body, born to Mary, growing up, & the resurrection, after his death on the cross, three days later, (1 John 3:1-3). The passages in the New Testament that make reference to Christ, as the only begotten son of God, are interpreted as being literal. (Even the early anti-Christians, like Celsus, 2nd cent., must have known this was interpreted as literal, for he mocked Christ's literal birth as being done by sex! Saying that Mary must have been such a beautiful woman for God the Father to want to have sex with her. (A. S. Garretson, Primitive Christianity And Early Criticism, (Boston: Sherman, French & Company, 1912), R. Joseph Hoffmann, (translator) Celsus On The True Doctrine, (A Discourse Against the early Christians), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987). The references to the human family being sons & daughters of God are literal in that we are spirit sons & daughters. Christ sometimes also made reference to his Father & our Father in heaven as being & meaning that Christ's Heavenly Fathers is also ours. Which is why he had us pray, "Our Father, which art in heaven." The Jews didn't like Christ use of Abba-Father, for that is what the Jews called their own fathers. One of their complaints was how Christ was claiming he was the actual son of God the Father. To the Jews, this was one reason why Christ was "guilty" & should be punished, & crucified.


[Note * The Shepherd of Hermas, tells how, Christ: "The Son of God is indeed more ancient than any creature; insomuch that he was in council with his Father at the creation of all things." Hermas 3, Similitude 9:110, in The Lost Books of the Bible & the Forgotten Books of Eden, (USA: World Bible Publishers, Alpha House, Inc., 1926), p. 255. Another translation reads: The Son of God is older than all His creatures, so that He was a fellow-councillor with the Father in His work of creation: for this reason is He old. The Shepherd of Hermas, Book 3, Similitude 9, chapter 12.]


These early beliefs, of the physical aspects of "god(s)" evenually fell under attack & were rejected by the Jews, Greeks, Romans & others who couldn't accept the literalness of the doctrines. To the Jews, Christ being a man who maketh himself God, this was blasphemy, (John 10:24-39). To those who had anti-body beliefs, a physical resurrection was strange & to be rejected. In time, the physical aspects of the Godhead was challenged, rejected by many & argued over for centuries. How God the Father & His Son, Jesus Christ, & the Holy Spirit were to be depicted in art, became difficult issues too. Thus, symbolism & other ways to de-humanize God the Father, as not having a physical body, but spirit only, these became later issues & points of debates in later centuries of Christendom. The Godhead was depicted in art according to the Nicene Creed decrees, which resulted in different types of interesting symbols. The three in one Godhead was thus later depicted as three rabbits in a triangle shape design, three triangles, three circles joined, three heads on one body, three faces on one headed body. But also three separate men, three identical men, three different aged men. Or just the hand of God extending, the dove, & Christ. The physical aspects of God the Son, also became issues to debate over. As Christianity spread, each culture often would depict Christ according to their own races. I've seen, for example, numerous examples of an Asian looking Christ. In Black homes, I've been in, I've seen Black versions of Jesus looking like an African-male. The Germans & English have their "Aryan-Christ" a white-man, & so forth. But these are just art works according to cultural representations.

When the restoration came about during the 1830s onwards, the modern prophets have testified that God the Father & Christ are separate beings with glorified & perfected resurrected bodies of flesh & bone, & that we are made in their images. Thus, the earlier issues still being argued over, have been a point of religious polemics between Mormons restored versions, & the traditional versions passed down through the centuries amongst Christians.

As to God being a polig., that is only speculative in the comments made by earlier Mormon leaders. The comments made during LDS days of poligamy, are often used by critics who continue to want to vilify Mormons in general. Why aren't Christians being bugged for their earlier Old Testament prophets' polig lives & wives, like Mormons are? It's ironic, especially when bible believing Christian-anti-Mormons continue to use this issue!

Does God live on another planet? Mormons can only speculate on that one, as Christians might also, for where is the resurrected Christ now living? Somewhere in the heavens? Who knows? For Christ to one day return, suggest that he's out there somewhere in time, space & realms. We know from early to later Christian history & art work that Christ travels & wanders the whole world, & goes in & out of different realms of existences too. He descended to earth to be born, he descended into the underworld (called also: hell, limbo, purgatory, the abyss, the pit), he ascended into paradise, & into heaven too (interestingly, a lot of depictions of Christ's ascension, show just the hand of God the Father extending down to clasp the hand or wrist of Christ's hand, as Christ is welcomed into heaven). Then, after his resurrection, Christ wanders, or went to visit many areas of the world too. So where does a physical God, a resurrected God live & stay? Who knows.

As for the Book of Mormon's & other racial issues in Mormonism: Earlier Mormons were converts from different Christian sects. These different sects had their own racial beliefs that might have been so ingrained that some elements could have been the influences as to how converts to Mormonism looked upon the different races during the 19th & 20th centuries. Some of these Christian beliefs & superstitions were how the color black was associated with evil, the devil & demons. Demons & the devil, in art, lore & legends, were depicted wtih black skins, sometimes as a black man. Even centuries earlier, black skins were said to be the results of pre-mortal sins done during the pre-existence. Thus, if someone was born blind (John9:2), or with black skin, it was an early Christian belief that survived down to later centuries, that such a ones were so born as a consequences of their pre-mortal sins. In attempting to stop these beliefs, Emperor, Justinian threatened to anathma all those who taught that those born with black skins was a results of pre-mortal sins. He did this during the Council of Constantinople, 553 AD. But, by this time, Christendom had been flooded with the beliefs that later had ripple effects down through the centuries to the days of slavery.

Black skins turning white, or white turning black: These Book of Mormon concepts could best be understood in light of studies on ancient ritualistic garment color symbolisms. Anciently, ritualistic garments were often made out of animal skins, thus to have your "skins" whitened, or blacked meant that the person was either racking up the spots, dirt, blood stains of sins to the point of blackening their "skins." Or they were changing their evil ways to thus have their "skins" purified, whitened, cleasned, washed, & changed for white garments. The ritualistic types of these typologies are found in many cultures, but more so in historic Jewish, Christian & Book of Mormon typologies. Thus, what was once thought could be literal, by earlier LDS, as to actual racial skin changes in colors, is now being considered to be symbolic, & ancient ritualistic types.

While Mormons have a restored version on a Mother in Heaven, as part of that family in heaven. Christendom has their own versions of a Mother in Heaven in the Santa Maria, the Virgin Mary. She is often depicted in art along the whole deification process. When her souls is passed on from Christ's hands, her soul is wrapped in a white garment, she passes through a heavenly cornation ceremony on her way to being crowned, enthroned & seated next to the other members in the Godhead, as the Queen of Heaven. She is deified as one in many deified female saints whom also became goddesses in historic Christian versions of deification, theosis & Christian moral perfection. Thus, though different than Mormons' restored version of exaltation, Christendom has their own versions.

Bibliography:



Alice K. Turner, 1993, The History of Hell, (New York, San Diego, U.S.A.; London, England: Harcourt Brace & Company).

Angelo S. Rappoport, Ph. D., Ancient Israel Myths and Legends, (New York: Bonanza Books, 1987), 3 in 1 vols.

Anna D. Kartsonis, Anastasis, The Making of An Image, (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1986).

A. S. Garretson, Primitive Christianity And Early Criticism, (Boston: Sherman, French & Company, 1912).

R. G. Hamerton-Kelly, (Professor of the New Testament McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago), Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series 21, Pre-Existence, Wisdom And The Son of Man, A Study of the Idea of Pre-existence in the New Testament, (Cambridge University Press; Cambridge, Great Britain, 1973).

Robert Louis Wilken, The Christians As The Romans Saw Them, (Yale University Press; New Haven and London, 1984).

Roland H. Bainton, Behold the Christ, (1974).

Stephen Benko, Pagan Rome And The Early Christians, (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1984).

Vincent Cronin, Mary Portrayed, (London, England: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1968).

William G. Rusch, The Trinitarian Controversy, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980).

William G.T. Shedd, D.D., A History of Christian Doctrine, (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, third edition, 1883).

DT rough draft article about Christ's world wide treks.
 
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Ran77

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They were indeed. Even Abraham Lincoln did not believe in equality. Islam did however. Ali, Muhammad's son-in-law preached a very famous sermon where he argued that Satan's original sin was mutassub, meaning prejudice.

Baha'u'llah, who declared His own Cause in the middle of the 19th century wrote:

O CHILDREN OF MEN! Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were created. Since We have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest. Such is My counsel to you, O concourse of light! Heed ye this counsel that ye may obtain the fruit of holiness from the tree of wondrous glory.

Sounds like wise counsel.


:)
 
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smaneck

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Restored was not only doctrines & beliefs, but the spiritual gifts & positions of leadership, as in Christ's church, they were also restored too

Okay. So why are those positions of leadership confined to men?

One of the early beliefs was that Christ was in the image of God the Father, as man & women are in the image of God the Father, & Goddess the Mother.

So there is a Goddess? Do you worship her?

Mormon scholars & researchers have noted how earlier bibles begin with the concepts about a family in heaven before the creation of the earth. In the generations of the heavens, before there was a man on the earth, (Gen. 2:4-5), lived the spirit sons & daughters of the Divine Parents. Divine Parents that have physical glorified perfected bodies.

My understanding is that while many of the early Hebrews believed YHWH had a wife Asherah, but she came to be largely written out of the Bible by those who insisted on the worship of Yahweh alone and that the few references such as 2 Kings 21:7 were mistranslated as 'grove.'

The whole point of us humans in being born into each our own physical body, was so that we could experience & learn physical lessons, & become as "one of us" the Divine Parents, in learning new experiences what we couldn't have learned, while just spirits. Thus, we have a physical body because God the Father & Mother each have their own separate physical bodies, but theirs' are glorified & perfected, ours' are not. But will eventually be resurrected, glorified & perfected, each according to the degrees of glory mentioned

Will you then have spirit children of your own?

One of their complaints was how Christ was claiming he was the actual son of God the Father. To the Jews, this was one reason why Christ was "guilty" & should be punished, & crucified.

Crucifixion was the Roman penalty for treason. The Jewish penalty for blasphemy is stoning to death.

These early beliefs, of the physical aspects of "god(s)" evenually fell under attack & were rejected by the Jews, Greeks, Romans & others who couldn't accept the literalness of the doctrines. To the Jews, Christ being a man who maketh himself God, this was blasphemy, (John 10:24-39).

John also insists that God is Spirit. (John 4:24)

As to God being a polig., that is only speculative in the comments made by earlier Mormon leaders. The comments made during LDS days of poligamy, are often used by critics who continue to want to vilify Mormons in general. Why aren't Christians being bugged for their earlier Old Testament prophets' polig lives & wives, like Mormons are?

I agree with you on that point, but then Abraham also married his sister.

Does God live on another planet? Mormons can only speculate on that one, as Christians might also, for where is the resurrected Christ now living? Somewhere in the heavens?

I don't think most Christians think of heaven as in the sky anymore.

For Christ to one day return, suggest that he's out there somewhere in time, space & realms.

Or He could return the same way Elijah returned, in the person of John the Baptist.
 
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smaneck

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Understand that I work as a movie reviewer in addition to my other duties at the newspaper I'm with.

When the film was announced, there was a big push to boycott it because of Card's then-recent statements on homosexuality. In the eyes of the people calling for the boycott, shunning the film was akin to shunning Card (he got a lump sum payment well in advance, meaning that no matter how bad the ticket sales he wouldn't be affected anyway).

I was rather annoyed by the Mormon support for California Proposition 8. I mean, it is not like Mormon marriages were all that traditional! But I didn't hold it against Scott Card. I expect him to believe what his church teaches. My religion doesn't condone homosexual behavior either. The difference between Baha'is and the Mormons though, is that we Baha'is are not willing to impose our own beliefs as a matter of law upon those who don't share them.
 
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ViaCrucis

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Is Heavenly Mother a part of the Godhead? Is she worshiped?

Are you attempting to use the term "Godhead" as a euphemism for the Trinity? I've noticed this over the years. About ten years ago or so a friend of mine was visiting back home for vacation after his first year at a Christian university and was on about how not to use the term "Trinity" because the term wasn't biblical and led to confusion when talking to non-Trinitarians; so instead the term "Godhead" is preferable since the term can be found in the Bible.

Since then I've noticed similar sentiments among some Christians and it strikes me as rather odd, chiefly because it seems to be largely ignorant of what the term "Godhead" actually means. The word "Godhead" is a rather archaic word in the English language, descended from Middle English Godhede, that is, "Deity". The suffix -head is an archaic relic, meaning the same as -hood does in most other words. That is, Godhead is nearly the exact same meaning as Godhood: "the condition or state of being God or divine". As a translation it is used most noticeably in Colossians 2:9 to translate θεότης (theotes), that is, "deity", the fact or reality or state of being God or divine.

It would of course be rather troubling if the term "Godhead"/"theotes" simply means the Trinity, or the perichoretic threeness of the Divine Being, as it would would rather solidly destroy the doctrine of the Trinity itself by saying that Christ were the fullness of all three Hypostases of the Trinity in bodily form. Namely because Christ is the Son, not the Father or the Holy Spirit, the Incarnation is the Incarnation of the Son or Logos/Word. Ergo to confess that in Christ is the fullness of Deity or Godhead is simply to mean that Christ is, indeed, very God. Which is in agreement with Trinitarian dogma which asserts that the Son, being eternally begotten or generated by the Father is Himself God of God, and of the same Being as the Father. That is, what the Father is (God) the Son is also, from all eternity so. So to confess that Christ is entirely divine, being from all eternity by nature God, as He is God of God/God from God is a thoroughly Trinitarian confession. It would be entirely contrary to Trinitarian confession if Colossians 2:9 were interpreted to mean that something like "Godhead" is somehow just a pre-Trinitarian Trinitarian codeword.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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Ironhold

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Just catching a few of these quickly, as it's late in the evening on my end.

Okay. So why are those positions of leadership confined to men?

Women are involved with the Relief Society, which serves as the local-level charity arm of the church *and* holds the distinction of being one of the oldest continuous women's auxiliaries in North America.

Crucifixion was the Roman penalty for treason. The Jewish penalty for blasphemy is stoning to death.

Under Roman law, it took a king or a tetrarch to sign off on an order to have someone executed. Local councils could condemn someone to death for crimes under their laws, but they then had to make the case to the local Roman ruler as to why the condemned should indeed be killed. "Blasphemy" didn't pass muster under Roman law, which is why the leadership played up the fact that Jesus proclaimed himself a king: they were trying to make a case for Jesus being a usurper and revolutionary, which did merit execution.

John also insists that God is Spirit. (John 4:24)

The "is" means that the passage is declaring a metaphor.

I agree with you on that point, but then Abraham also married his sister.

Half-sister (same father, different mother), which was apparently just fine under the societal system of the day.
 
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Zoness

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Women are involved with the Relief Society, which serves as the local-level charity arm of the church *and* holds the distinction of being one of the oldest continuous women's auxiliaries in North America.

Why are women not allowed to hold major leadership positions within the church? A distinction is not leadership.
 
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smaneck

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Women are involved with the Relief Society, which serves as the local-level charity arm of the church *and* holds the distinction of being one of the oldest continuous women's auxiliaries in North America.

Auxiliary being the key word. We don't want to be auxiliaries anymore.

Under Roman law, it took a king or a tetrarch to sign off on an order to have someone executed.

Evidence? I don't recall any Roman signing off when Stephen was martyred.

"Blasphemy" didn't pass muster under Roman law, which is why the leadership played up the fact that Jesus proclaimed himself a king: they were trying to make a case for Jesus being a usurper and revolutionary, which did merit execution.

That much is certainly true.

-sister (same father, different mother), which was apparently just fine under the societal system of the day.

Probably. Often Pharaohs married their sisters. Akhenaton did, but as a result his son King Tut didn't fare so well.
 
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fatboys

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Auxiliary being the key word. We don't want to be auxiliaries anymore.



Evidence? I don't recall any Roman signing off when Stephen was martyred.



That much is certainly true.



Probably. Often Pharaohs married their sisters. Akhenaton did, but as a result his son King Tut didn't fare so well.
I know this is not going to be an answer you want to hear but women have a role in the eternal aspect as does men. Women by nature are more spiritual than men. Because of their emotional and complex intellect women not only are nurturers but have more compassion than men do. Men on the other hand are more logical. We are problem solvers. It use to just anger my wife when she would come to me with a problem. She would ask what I thought or how she should deal with the problem. Of course I was all to happy to solve it for her. This would make her angry because she had already solved the problem and really only wanted confirmation. It took a few years to learn to listen and then ask her what she thought she should do. Rarely did she say I don't know. On the other hand men do not very often ask their wives on how to solve a problem. But I do council with my wife. I am glad that I have taken her advice many times. She gives a whole new perspective on the problem.

I personally believe that because women are more spiritual than men, the priesthood was given to men to force them to be mire spiritual. In order to magnify the priesthood a man must draw nearer to God for inspiration and guidance. It helps put men on a more level playing field. this is just my belief. So women are not less than men but have a different role to play. Things that men can not do or do not do well women do well and visa versa. Heavenly Father is not greater than heavenly mother. They just have different roles to play in the eternal scheme of things. The same is true for my wife and I. I will not be greater than her nor her greater than me. We have no idea what her role us in heaven. I do know that in the eternal perspective I can not reach my full potential without my wife and neither can she. I have often wondered why we could blasphem Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father but not the Holy Ghost.
 
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smaneck

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Men on the other hand are more logical.

No, we don't want to hear that.

We are problem solvers. It use to just anger my wife when she would come to me with a problem. She would ask what I thought or how she should deal with the problem. Of course I was all to happy to solve it for her. This would make her angry because she had already solved the problem

Which means she wasn't lacking in logic.

I personally believe that because women are more spiritual than men, the priesthood was given to men to force them to be mire spiritual.

Uh, huh. Is that the same reason why only formerly blacks weren't allowed into the priesthood; because they were more spiritual?

In order to magnify the priesthood a man must draw nearer to God for inspiration and guidance. It helps put men on a more level playing field. this is just my belief. So women are not less than men but have a different role to play. Things that men can not do or do not do well women do well and visa versa. Heavenly Father is not greater than heavenly mother.

Can't help but note that Heavenly Father was in caps while Heavenly Mother was not. If man has the priesthood because he is less spiritual, is the Heavenly Father worshiped and not the Heavenly Mother because God is less spiritual as well? Or do you worship the Heavenly Mother as much as the Heavenly Father?

They just have different roles to play in the eternal scheme of things.
Okay. Then tell me how the Heavenly Mother's role differs from the Heavenly Father's role?

I have often wondered why we could blasphem Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father but not the Holy Ghost.

Not that hard to explain if you read the references to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in its context. Has nothing to do with swearing. Jesus had just performed a miracle and the Pharisees claimed He did so by the power of the devil. This inability to distinguish good from evil is what Jesus calls blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Think of Jesus as a lamp through which the Holy Spirit shines. One might reject Jesus for all kinds of reasons, the way He is presented, His looks, His skin color, etc. Eventually a soul may work through those veils. But if one hates the light itself then there is no remedy. It is an unforgivable sin because it is a sin from which one cannot repent.
 
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Ironhold

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Auxiliary being the key word. We don't want to be auxiliaries anymore.

Actually, the average Mormon woman - if asked - would say that she's just fine and dandy where she is.

Why?

They see how demanding the leadership positions are in regards to time & effort and don't want to have to deal with it.

Evidence? I don't recall any Roman signing off when Stephen was martyred.

What happened with Stephen was just a straight-up lynching; IIRC, they didn't even stop to pass an official judgement before going after him.
 
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Jane_Doe

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Okay. So why are those positions of leadership confined to men?

Mormon women give sermons (locally and to the international church), lead prayers (locally and to the international church), teach classes (in fact I would estimate ~70% of the teachers are female), lead the music (I estimate >90% of conductors are female), plan events (vast majority of them), are charged with visiting the sick (male and female), charged with tending to the needy (male and female), lead their women's organization, lead the female youth program, and lead all the children's programs.

And people say Mormon women don't have opportunities to practice developing talents or leadership....

Yes, technically a male is always in charge of the church, locally and internationally, but that does not mean the male is "better" than the "female". Rather, it just means that boys and girls are different, and God asks them to do slightly different things, as described in the Bible. They are meant to compliment each other, not to rule over one another. In fact, it is worth noting that the highest level of Mormon heaven cannot be reached by a man without a wife at his side (and vise versa). One is never complete without the other.

So there is a Goddess? Do you worship her?

Heavenly Mother is not mentioned in official Mormon cannon (i.e. scripture). She is however mentioned briefly in Mormon hymns, older sermons, and via common sense logic. As so little is known, we do not worship her. If you're interested, here is a study which looked through Mormon literature and reported the results: https://byustudies.byu.edu/showtitle.aspx?title=8669


Will you then have spirit children of your own?

Speaking my personal opinion, I do see it possibly in the realm of infinite Heavenly possibilities. However, my mind quickly gets boggled by heavenly things, so I focus on the here-and-now and let Heaven come when it does.


Or He could return the same way Elijah returned, in the person of John the Baptist.

Do you believe that John the Baptist was Elijah reincarnated? (I'm getting that impression).
 
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