Stargazer Posted January 11, 2016 Posted January 11, 2016 If we imagine God to be bound to the limitations we ourselves experience, and among those limitations is the arrow of time, I think we are suffering from a form of presentism that might better be called "dimensionalism". We think that because we cannot see what happens three days from now, that God cannot, either. Or that God can only pay attention to one event at a time, just because we cannot pay attention to more than one. I've said this before, to great disbelief from those who refuse to think outside the universe, that God cannot have created this Universe while inside it (because I'm unsure that even God can be inside something that doesn't yet exist). And if He is outside it, and knows it from beginning to end (which is necessary in order to be its Creator), then He sees it at all times and in all places. To Him it is a static display. He knows 3100 AD just as well as He knows 1500001 BC. Therefore, God sees your thoughts, hears your prayers, acts upon every level, for all of His Children no matter where they are in the Universe, with no limitation whatsoever. That's an enormous amount of data, but when you consider that the Universe itself is its own data dump, with a one-to-one correspondance of every point of data in every point of time, you should be able to comprehend the idea that it's perfectly reasonable. The Universe itself is its own data store. As for the arrow of time, He is likewise outside of it, too. He can look at the moment of your birth and the moment of your death simultaneously. And observe the moment that Betelgeuse will go supernova. Because to Him all of this has already happened.
Ahab Posted January 11, 2016 Posted January 11, 2016 On 1/9/2016 at 5:59 PM, Maidservant said: Idea one. I am aware that my ancestors and other lovely spirits minister to me. They are responsible for most of my "answers". I suppose if there was a problem they couldn't handle, they'd get help. Idea two. Prayer may be less about getting and more about becoming. When we pray it changes us. Our energy changes. We have the potential to become full of the God energy (spirit), and thus this allows blessings and guidance to flow through. It doesn't require someone on the other end of the prayer, we end up being the answer-er of our own prayers because of the change in us, but more connected to the right (creative and comforting) spirit or energy. I actually just got this thought just this week, so I'm trying it on for size to see if it really holds up, lol. Lots of truth in those thoughts, I feel and think. Add to those 2 the idea that our spirits and his spirit are not only "related" because of a parent/child relationship but that our spirits are still a part of his spirit and that he has developed/progressed to the point that he is totally in tune with all parts of himself... and that the same is true for our Mother as well. Our parents are actually a part of us, and we of them, because they reproduced themselves to create us, so the more we know who we are and our potential the more we know them. 1
Zakuska Posted January 11, 2016 Posted January 11, 2016 2 minutes ago, Ahab said: Lots of truth in those thoughts, I feel and think. Add to those 2 the idea that our spirits and his spirit are not only "related" because of a parent/child relationship but that our spirits are still a part of his spirit and that he has developed/progressed to the point that he is totally in tune with all parts of himself... and that the same is true for our Mother as well. Our parents are actually a part of us, and we of them, because they reproduced themselves to create us, so the more we know who we are and our potential the more we know them. We as children of a Father and a Mother are the literal fulfillment of them "becoming one flesh". 1
Ahab Posted January 11, 2016 Posted January 11, 2016 1 hour ago, Zakuska said: We as children of a Father and a Mother are the literal fulfillment of them "becoming one flesh". Yes and each of them is one flesh as well, with the 2 of them together also having come together as one.
Cold Steel Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 (edited) Skip Edited January 12, 2016 by Cold Steel 1
Cold Steel Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 18 hours ago, Tacenda said: I wasn't meaning either men were con men. Couldn't Sidney have revelation or have insight too? Oh, of course. When I talk to critics of the church, it's always about Joseph Smith. It's either the Kinderhook Plates, varying versions of the first version...same old stuff. But the church is not just about Joseph. What of Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Hyde, Wilford Woodruff and many others. So it's not just about rejecting Joseph Smith -- you have to reject all of them because they were all prophets. They all had visions, propesied and took part and/or witnessed miraculous events. Joseph was meticulous about distributing the keys and authority he was given (unlike the other religious leaders, who then and now are pompous one-man bands who consolidate their power, then die leaving no successors. So Mormonism is still far from being a one-man band. Sidney Rigdon and Parley Pratt were both enmeshed in the Church of Christ movement. To them, it was the closest thing to the original church. But they couldn't rationalize the authority issue. So when Joseph came along, Rigdon and Pratt were quick to check it out. I would have loved being a fly on the wall when Rigdon discussed Mormonism with Alexander Campbell! 1
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