Did We Have A Perfect Knowledge In The Preexistence?

[Robert F. Smith]

First you asked did "we" have a perfect knowledge, but then your follow up questions seem to focus only on Lucifer.

Neither Jesus nor Lucifer had the experience of a mortal life as God the Father did; so neither one of them had the same complete perfect knowledge that the Father had. 

Moreover, this is the difference between being and becoming, between static and dynamic.  Can anyone achieve perfect knowledge in the midst of eternal progression?

 

Alma 32:34, "And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand.

35 O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good; and now behold, after ye have tasted this light is your knowledge perfect?

36 Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither must ye lay aside your faith, for ye have only exercised your faith to plant the seed that ye might try the experiment to know if the seed was good.

37 And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit."

 

Perfect knowledge is a process and comes about in increments.  That process may have plateaux, but it never finishes.  Never is complete.  For the process is infinite and eternal in scope.

Edited September 12, 2015 by Robert F. Smith

[mfbukowski]

 

Moreover, this is the difference between being and becoming, between static and dynamic.  Can anyone achieve perfect knowledge in the midst of eternal progression?

 

Alma 32:34, "And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand.

35 O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good; and now behold, after ye have tasted this light is your knowledge perfect?

36 Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither must ye lay aside your faith, for ye have only exercised your faith to plant the seed that ye might try the experiment to know if the seed was good.

37 And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.

 

Perfect knowledge is a process and comes about in increments.  That process may have plateaux, but it never finishes.  Never is complete.  For the process is infinite and eternal in scope.

 

I just saw the title of this thread and saw that you had posted, as usual, you nailed it.

 

That is exactly what I was thinking when I saw the title.

 

The whole point of "progression" is to PROGRESS.

 

If we had all we needed at the start- that means we had no need for progression.  Why go through the whole earth-life fallen state to gain knowledge of good and evil if we had it to start with?

 

For me the question doesn't even make sense.

[mfbukowski]

Repeatedly the scriptures tell us that God knows "all things"

 

On the other hand he is always organizing "new things" as well which of course, he would have to "know" in order to organize them

 

The Greek word "perfect" means complete and finished- all over, unchanging, done.

 

In a dynamic universe in constant change the word "perfect" in the Greek sense doesn't even make sense

 

So yes, God knows all things.   Is his knowledge perfect?  Not in the Greek sense, because his universe is constantly changing.   But of course as always it depends on the definitions and contexts of the words we are using.

[jkwilliams]

Moreover, this is the difference between being and becoming, between static and dynamic.  Can anyone achieve perfect knowledge in the midst of eternal progression?

 

Alma 32:34, "And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand.

35 O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good; and now behold, after ye have tasted this light is your knowledge perfect?

36 Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither must ye lay aside your faith, for ye have only exercised your faith to plant the seed that ye might try the experiment to know if the seed was good.

37 And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.

 

Perfect knowledge is a process and comes about in increments.  That process may have plateaux, but it never finishes.  Never is complete.  For the process is infinite and eternal in scope.

That's how I've always understood it. In all honesty, this is one of the teachings of the church that I still find very attractive--that, and the notion that humans have divine potential, but then these two ideas are wrapped up in each other.

[HappyJackWagon]

 

Moreover, this is the difference between being and becoming, between static and dynamic.  Can anyone achieve perfect knowledge in the midst of eternal progression?

Alma 32:34, "And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand.

35 O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good; and now behold, after ye have tasted this light is your knowledge perfect?

36 Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither must ye lay aside your faith, for ye have only exercised your faith to plant the seed that ye might try the experiment to know if the seed was good.

37 And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.

 

Perfect knowledge is a process and comes about in increments.  That process may have plateaux, but it never finishes.  Never is complete.  For the process is infinite and eternal in scope.

I like it.

Another way to think about it is recognizing that the Glory of God is intelligence (D&C 93:36) and God's glory continually increases as he brings to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. His glory is added upon and it would be impossible for God to perfectly "know" a certain glory he had not yet received.

Edited September 11, 2015 by HappyJackWagon

[Guest]

There are few scriptures that use the concept of "perfect knowledge", except when we stand before God to be judged. Then we are told we will have a "perfect knowledge" or "recollection" of our sins. Which of course is probably the time when we do not want such an perfect gaze into the eternities. Having said that...we all, already have that perfect recollection of our sins, something that instills in such dread that we seek out forgiveness or we chose to disbelieve and become agnostic or atheist. In the Bible in the Book of Revelation, we are told that we will have a new name and a white stone, that will give us access to all knowledge and in our own teachings the earth will become Celestialized, where the earth will become a U&T, where all things past, present and future will always be before our eyes and all questions will be known or "can" be known.

[Robert F. Smith]

 

I like it.

Another way to think about it is recognizing that the Glory of God is intelligence (D&C 93:36) and God's glory continually increases as he brings to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. His glory is added upon and it would be impossible for God to perfectly "know" a certain glory he had not yet received.

Yeh, eternal increase in a variety of ways.