Hello

[boblloyd91]

4 hours ago, Steve Noel said:

I am glad to hear that many of you read non LDS writings and theologies. I have spent a lot of time studying Calvinism/Arminianism. Feel free to share your thoughts on why the LDS folks here are strongly opposed to Calvinism.

Well a couple reasons.... I'll break it down to about 5

1. Some of the most prominent critics of the church tend to be reformed (a prime example being James White)

2. LDS have a very paternalistic view of God and Christ, and as Calvinism in some of its flavors, teaches double predestination, this could be interpreted as God not being a father but an amoral tyrant

3. LDS actually also believe that God plays an integral role in the lives of believers, however agency is HUGE to us. We are free to make choices and God honors those choices

4. Calvinism to LDS seems capricious and the opposite to John 3:16

5. Finally Calvinism can come across as an amoral theology where our thoughts, actions and desires are unimportant to God. This is where I think many Evangelicals think we as LDS are too works focused. I think this can be true with some individuals, however it also goes without saying that we believe God cares what kind of people we are. 

Anyways those are my thoughts and observations. I obviously have my own reservations about Calvinism, but understand there are some nuances. I personally enjoy Tim Keller. However I struggle with Calvinism in general 

[Stargazer]

On 3/29/2016 at 4:44 PM, BookofMormonLuvr said:

I have a low opinion of Calvinist doctrine, I believe it has done serious damage to Protestant theology- and believe Calvin should not have a place of honor among the Reformers. I did however enjoy Mark Driscoll when he ran Mars Hill in Seattle, he had some good sermons.

I am not your typical Latter Day Saint- and am not a member of the organization HQ's in SLC anymore. Though I fellowship mostly with the RLDS Restoration Branches Movement, my personal beliefs, theology, and scriptural interpretations don't really fit any category except "Unorthodox". I believe the Hebrew Roots Movement is inspired by the Spirit- so my wife and I keep the Appointed Times, rest on Saturday, and refrain from non-food (pork, shellfish, scavenger birds, etc...) I have an undeniable testimony of the truth, theologically and historically, of the Book of Mormon which no man can steal.

I also believe Taoism in it's most basic, primitive form is good life philosophy and perhaps the remnants of teachings of ancient far east servants of God. So I read and quote from the "Tao Te Ching" sometimes.

I just now caught your reference to Taoism and am interested that you feel that way.  I have not studied Taoism much, but what I have learned in it makes it seem quite a useful philosophy.  In computer programming, some wag once wrote a little book called "The Tao of Programming" that I found amusing and thought-provoking.  It's online: http://canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html

One of my favorite quotes from the Tao Te Ching is:

Scholars of the highest class, when they hear about the Tao, take it and practice it earnestly.
Scholars of the middle class, when they hear of it, take it half earnestly.
Scholars of the lowest class, when they hear of it, laugh at it.
Without the laughter, there would be no Tao.

[salgare]

Hey Steve, I reviewed your posts to this point and it is a pleasure to see your attitude and meekness stepping into this arena.  It is good to meet you as it were.

I post here in spurts, typically lead here by the spirit for some reason or another.  It seems to be because of you this time.  

God bless and best wishes for finishing up your degree and raising those wonderful children.  Been married to the same woman for 35 years myself, with three grown children, all married and six grand children.

Might I ask what you are doing for work right now?

Anyway, have a great day and I hope you find what you are looking for in this study.  May it serve you in the future.

[Steve Noel]

4 hours ago, salgare said:

Hey Steve, I reviewed your posts to this point and it is a pleasure to see your attitude and meekness stepping into this arena.  It is good to meet you as it were.

I post here in spurts, typically lead here by the spirit for some reason or another.  It seems to be because of you this time.  

God bless and best wishes for finishing up your degree and raising those wonderful children.  Been married to the same woman for 35 years myself, with three grown children, all married and six grand children.

Might I ask what you are doing for work right now?

Anyway, have a great day and I hope you find what you are looking for in this study.  May it serve you in the future.

Thanks for the responses on my posts. You have been helpful. I work at Charter Communications as an installer/service technician.

[salgare]

2 hours ago, Steve Noel said:

Thanks for the responses on my posts. You have been helpful. I work at Charter Communications as an installer/service technician.

I started out my career doing component level repair of electronic hardware, moved to firmware development and then to full software development.  I dropped out of High School so my spelling/grammar and over all intellectual appearance is one of Country Hick.  I wrote several assembly code languages, pascal fortran and then C from the early 1980's through 1995 when my world turned to Java which I have mostly been writing since then.

Are there career possibilities that you will pursue after this phase of your studies?  What do you see yourself doing with these inside the faith/people studies?  I'd love to hear you speak a sermon or read anything you may have written, blogs, school papers etc.

Do you have anything you could share?

[Steve Noel]

2 hours ago, salgare said:

I started out my career doing component level repair of electronic hardware, moved to firmware development and then to full software development.  I dropped out of High School so my spelling/grammar and over all intellectual appearance is one of Country Hick.  I wrote several assembly code languages, pascal fortran and then C from the early 1980's through 1995 when my world turned to Java which I have mostly been writing since then.

Are there career possibilities that you will pursue after this phase of your studies?  What do you see yourself doing with these inside the faith/people studies?  I'd love to hear you speak a sermon or read anything you may have written, blogs, school papers etc.

Do you have anything you could share?

I am hoping to be able to eventually teach, preach, and write for a living. I don't really have anything to share. I don't have any recordings from sermons I've preached or classes I've taught. I never save the stuff I write for school, and I have never been able to keep up with a blog.

[salgare]

7 hours ago, Steve Noel said:

I am hoping to be able to eventually teach, preach, and write for a living. I don't really have anything to share. I don't have any recordings from sermons I've preached or classes I've taught. I never save the stuff I write for school, and I have never been able to keep up with a blog.

Well, I would love to hear your thoughts on my Christian Apologetics Patterns thread but apparently I have been thread banned from my own thread to where I can not even read it anymore.  Perhaps you would drop me a pm with your thoughts?  I was looking forward to trying to have a discussion on the patterns I've seen, but its just too hot of a topic for the core of people here who started with this board when it was the FAIR board, and then the Mormon Apologetics Dialog and  Discussion board (MADD) and now Mormon Dialog and Discussion (MDDB)

If they do perma-ban me and you are ever interested I post under the user RockSlider on other sites. Drop me a pm on them sometime.