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I am preparing a lesson for my congregation's women's auxilliary to be given January 12. I am very interested in exploring some of the similarities between my beliefs and the beliefs of other Christians today. I suppose that City-Data represents a decent cross-section of Christians, so I thought I'd bring my questions to you. Could we start with those in this paragraph, please. Other questions will probably arise when I see your answers.
(We can debate these if you wish, but that is not my primary goal in asking the questions.)
Assume that I am a little child and I ask you to tell me who or what God is. Keep in mind that you’re starting with a clean slate – my open and enquiring mind. Your goal is not to dazzle me with words and concepts I can’t possibly understand, but to help me know who it is you're talking about when you use the word "God." Tell me everything you can think of that I will be able to comprehend. Then tell me what my relationship is to Him. Tell me what He thinks of me (if, in fact, He even knows me). If you tell me that He created me, explain to me why.
Oh come on... please! 13 views and nobody has a thing to say? Surely the questions aren't all that difficult.
I have been reluctant to answer your questions, Katz because my views are not likely to be compatible with what you are seeking.
"Assume that I am a little child and I ask you to tell me who or what God is."
Okay . . . you asked for it:
God is pure consciousness (Spirit) and love. God's mind is responsible for everything that exists. His mind (Spirit) is what our reality exists within. You can think of it as if we exist in God's imagination. We are all His children and He loves us all. He made us like Him so we have imaginations just like He does. When we use our minds and imaginations we are supposed to produce more of the love that God is. We are to help God to produce as much love as possible.
In the beginning we were primitives and savages. We did not even know the difference between Good and Evil. We didn't produce much love at all. We didn't have very much self-control so we learned our first lesson about Good and Evil by disobeying God. Eventually we needed a schoolmaster to train us to have self-control. Primitives and savages only respond to fear and authority. So God commanded us to fear and obey Him so we would learn self-control.
Over time and after many, many generations and lessons, we developed enough self-control that would allow us to control our behavior out of love. God saw that we had developed enough control so He sent His human Son to teach us how to use our self-control to "love God and each other." We needed to see that a human being could love even our enemies and those who treated us badly.
We were still barbarians at this time and some of us did not like God's Son and did not believe Him. They had horrible savage beliefs about God and thought that His Son was wrong about God. They wanted to kill Him for what He was teaching us and trying to show us about God and our job to produce love. They tortured and crucified God's Son. This made God very, very sad. But God's Son loved us anyway and knew we were just barbarians and "we didn't know what we were doing" so He asked God to forgive us. The whole thing was like God was having a nightmare.
When God's Son died, His human mind was reborn as Spirit and joined all the human minds (Spirits) that exist. His human mind was the same as God's (Holy Spirit) so now all human minds are connected to God through the mind of His Son . . . called the Comforter . . . because He comforts us. He is always with us in our minds as our conscience. But not all of us feel His presence or follow His guidance. It is usually not our fault when we don't because we are too focused on the things outside our minds and having to survive.
We exist because God exists and we are part of Him and His love. God is saddened whenever we do not love God or hurt each other or hate each other or do not love each other. But when we love what is outside of us we extend God's love there as well. We are extensions of God's love.
I see. And so you're not going to answer the question?
Truth be told you question is to general. My only answer/ example is that God is the creator of the Universe and wants to be in relationship with those who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior on a personal level.
I have been reluctant to answer your questions, Katz because my views are not likely to be compatible with what you are seeking.
I have no pre-conceived ideas about what I'm seeking, so there is no need for anyone to strive for compatibility.
Quote:
"Assume that I am a little child and I ask you to tell me who or what God is."
Okay . . . you asked for it:
God is pure consciousness (Spirit) and love. God's mind is responsible for everything that exists. His mind (Spirit) is what our reality exists within. You can think of it as if we exist in God's imagination. We are all His children and He loves us all. He made us like Him so we have imaginations just like He does. When we use our minds and imaginations we are supposed to produce more of the love that God is. We are to help God to produce as much love as possible.
In the beginning we were primitives and savages. We did not even know the difference between Good and Evil. We didn't produce much love at all. We didn't have very much self-control so we learned our first lesson about Good and Evil by disobeying God. Eventually we needed a schoolmaster to train us to have self-control. Primitives and savages only respond to fear and authority. So God commanded us to fear and obey Him so we would learn self-control.
Over time and after many, many generations and lessons, we developed enough self-control that would allow us to control our behavior out of love. God saw that we had developed enough control so He sent His human Son to teach us how to use our self-control to "love God and each other." We needed to see that a human being could love even our enemies and those who treated us badly.
We were still barbarians at this time and some of us did not like God's Son and did not believe Him. They had horrible savage beliefs about God and thought that His Son was wrong about God. They wanted to kill Him for what He was teaching us and trying to show us about God and our job to produce love. They tortured and crucified God's Son. This made God very, very sad. But God's Son loved us anyway and knew we were just barbarians and "we didn't know what we were doing" so He asked God to forgive us. The whole thing was like God was having a nightmare.
When God's Son died, His human mind was reborn as Spirit and joined all the human minds (Spirits) that exist. His human mind was the same as God's (Holy Spirit) so now all human minds are connected to God through the mind of His Son . . . called the Comforter . . . because He comforts us. He is always with us in our minds as our conscience. But not all of us feel His presence or follow His guidance. It is usually not our fault when we don't because we are too focused on the things outside our minds and having to survive.
We exist because God exists and we are part of Him and His love. God is saddened whenever we do not love God or hurt each other or hate each other or do not love each other. But when we love what is outside of us we extend God's love there as well. We are extensions of God's love.
Actually, I found that to be a fantastic answer. I would like to explore a couple of your comments in greater depth tomorrow. Right now I've got to get my beauty rest. We old ladies need a lot of that, you know.
Truth be told you question is to general. My only answer/ example is that God is the creator of the Universe and wants to be in relationship with those who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior on a personal level.
Well, that was kind of intentional. I can well imagine a child asking, "Who is God? What is He? What does He think of me? Who am I to Him? Why did He make me at all?" I specifically asked a few general questions just to get started. If you were to have answered my first question as you did, I (again, as a child with no real understanding of God apart from what you've given me), I would then ask, "Who is Jesus? What does it mean to accept Him as Lord and Savior? How am I supposed to do that?", how would you answer.
If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can.
It is good to know He's around you when you're scared in the dark or when you can't swim very good and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.
But you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and He can take me back anytime He pleases.
And that's why I believe in God.
Danny Dutton, Age 8, Chula Vista, California, for his third grade class assignment, Explain God Explain God by Danny Dutton
Well, that was kind of intentional. I can well imagine a child asking, "Who is God? What is He? What does He think of me? Who am I to Him? Why did He make me at all?" I specifically asked a few general questions just to get started. If you were to have answered my first question as you did, I (again, as a child with no real understanding of God apart from what you've given me), I would then ask, "Who is Jesus? What does it mean to accept Him as Lord and Savior? How am I supposed to do that?", how would you answer.
I sure would like to know what you define as a small child .... being I don't know of any "small" child on his\her own coming up with questions like that.
If you want to know the similarities .... there is none, not a single one.
There is no "beliefs of other Christians today" that teaches the answer to:
"Who is God? What is He?
that is similar to the LDS' answer:
"God has a body that looks like ours. His eternal spirit is housed in a tangible body of flesh and bones" (see D&C 130:22).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who am I to Him?
that is similar to the LDS' answer:
Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal [physical] body"
(Joseph F. Smith, "The Origin of Man," Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, pp. 78, 80)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Every person who was ever born on earth was our spirit brother or sister in heaven. The first spirit born to our heavenly parents was Jesus Christ (see D&C 93:21), so he is literally our elder brother (see Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 26).
Because we are the spiritual children of our heavenly parents, we have inherited the potential to develop their divine qualities. If we choose to do so, we can become perfect, just as they are.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why did He make me at all?"
that is similar to the LDS' answer:
Since we could not progress further in heaven, our Heavenly Father called a Grand Council to present his plan for our progression
(see Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 348, 349, 365).
We learned that if we followed his plan, we would become like him. We would have a resurrected body; we would have all power in heaven and on earth; we would become heavenly parents and have spirit children just as he does
(see D&C 132:19-20).
We learned that he would provide an earth for us where we would be tested (see Abraham 3:24-26).
I sure would like to know what you define as a small child .... being I don't know of any "small" child on his\her own coming up with questions like that.
Maybe 6 or 8, maybe a little older. Apparently little children do think about God, because they hear their parents talk about Him -- as evidenced in WardenDresden's answer. His link was to a delightful little essay written by a third-grader in response to an assignment, "Explain God." I asked for how you would answer a child because I wanted relatively simple answers, and not answers that would impress and dazzle a more mature mind. If you don't know any children who might wonder about God, then guess what? You can bow out right now.
Quote:
If you want to know the similarities .... there is none, not a single one.
I was looking for honest answers, twin. You don't need to post LDS beliefs either. I already know what they are. I am interested in your beliefs. I wasn't asking you to explain to a child what Mormons believe about God. I was interested in having you explain what you believe about God. Even if you believe we have absolutly nothing in common, I had hoped you would at least try to provide something more than bait for a fight. I wasn't looking for a fight. I'm sorry to disappoint you on that one, because I your post clearly implies that that's what you were after.
There's no ulterior motive here. Either contribute by answering the questions or don't post at all.
In case the way I phrased my question made some people hesitant to answer, allow me to clarify... I said,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katzpur
I am very interested in exploring some of the similarities between my beliefs and the beliefs of other Christians today.
I should have said...
"I am interested in exploring some of the similarities and differences between my beliefs and the beliefs of other Christians today." Some people seem to think I asked these questions for some reason other than out of genuine interest and as a help to me in the lesson I'm preparing. That wasn't the case.
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Reply from a child
