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Well, since you asked , and since I know you are all just dying to know the LDS response to this question , here’s what our belief is (and I realize it’s pretty different from that of mainstream Christianity):
We believe that the spirit component of every individual who has ever lived or ever will live on this earth was created by God, even before He created the world in which we now live. We lived with Him in as His spirit offspring before coming to earth to live a mortal life. The firstborn of His spirit offspring was a Son, known to us as Jesus Christ. He was like His Father in every conceivable way, and shared all of His Father’s divine attributes. Another of God’s spirit offspring was one known as Lucifer. He could not have been more completely opposite from His Father than Jesus. He was arrogant and rebellious and, I guess you might say, a complete narcissist.
God, wanting all of us to have the opportunity to experience mortality, with the ultimate goal of becoming like Him, called us all together in a grand council where He proposed His plan for our growth, progress and eventual exaltation. This would involve our leaving His presence for a period of time and coming to an earth which He would create, where we would live apart from Him. We would be required to learn to live by faith, to learn how to distinguish between good and evil, and to make choices which would lead us back to His presence.
When we came to earth, each of us would be given our free will, or (in LDS parlance) our “agency.” We could choose whether to obey His commandments or to disobey them. There would naturally be consequences for our disobedience; sinful behavior would separate us from Him, and we would not be able to return to His presence after death if we were sinful. Now, we would be born without a memory of our pre-mortal life, but He would not leave us without guidance of any kind. He would call prophets through whom He would speak and these men would relay His will to mankind.
Because God realized that we as mortals would be incapable of living sinless lives, and because He wanted very, very much for none of us to have to be permanently alienated from Him, He asked for someone to be willing to be the means by which we could be reconciled to Him. Jesus Christ stepped forward and as Isaiah 6:8 says, responded, “Here am I. Send me.” Jesus agreed to take upon Himself our sins. He also agreed to be what the Revelation 13:8 calls, “the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world.” He would act as our Savior and Redeemer and would give all of the glory to God.
Following Jesus’ proposal, Lucifer stepped in and also offered to be our Savior. He, however, would ensure that none of us would be lost. He would “save” each and every one of us. He would not do so by any sort of sacrifice of his own. Instead, he would change the rules entirely, preventing us from having our agency. We would not even have the opportunity to choose between right and wrong, but would live essentially as puppets, choosing good because there was no alternative. He’d get us all back to God in the end, but he wanted the glory and honor to be his and not God’s. In other words, he would be exalted over God Himself.
God chose Jesus as our Savior, and Lucifer immediately chose to stage a rebellion. He declared himself God's eternal enemy and sought to complete thwart God's plan for mankind. All of God’s spirit children basically picked sides, and as Revelation 12:7 tells us, there was “war in heaven.” This, of course, was not a physical war, but it was, nevertheless a war of allegiance. It was those who stood with Jesus against those who stood with Lucifer. In the end, those who'd chosen to follow Jesus (i.e., two-thirds of the host of Heaven) would each get the opportunity to come to earth, experience mortality, and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, would be able to return to God after this life was over.
Those who'd chosen to follow Lucifer (Revelation 12:4 tells us it was a third of the heavenly host) would be cast out of God’s presence and would never again be a part of His family. They would forever forfeit the privilege of experience mortality or returning to His presence to receive a portion of His glory. They would be known as “sons of perdition.” Their spirits would be able to be an influence for evil in the world as long as the world existed. But following the Final Judgment, they would be cast into Outer Darkness where they would exist throughout eternity.
I would argue that Adam and Eve were as 'young babes'...they had just been created, while they did know Gods rules, they still had not been around long enough to have wisdom or maturity.
Bible doesn't say how long they were around before they sinned.
We know that Adam, for example, wasn't deceived.
and given the ability to interact with and influence our world?
If God was so wrathful at Satans rebellion, could he not have cast them 'somewhere else', (like a distant planet, or dimension, where there is NO LIVING SOUL?)
It seems odd to me, that the supposed reason for Satans rebellion was because Satan did not agree with humans being more important than angels...why then, would God cast them to earth, AMONG US? LOL
**If Gods reason for doing this was to 'test' mankind, or for us to have true free will...that would mean, Satan did not rebel at all, and it was Gods plan that he did this. ( this has some very serious implications)
Yes sir, the Kingdom is installed progressively. From the sin of Adam everything put in place for the fulfillment of the first prophecy found at Gen 3:15 has been progressive. When the end of the appointed times of the nations would come and Jesus would be enthroned as King, then his enemies would be cast down to the earth, and the new heavens would exist. This ushered the earth into the last days, in which we are very deep into, next Jesus will return to remove satan and his demons and lock them into the abyss for a millennium. No doubt you have prayed for that when you have prayed the Lord's prayer. Signs show we are near to that point of history RS.
Yes sir, the Kingdom is installed progressively. From the sin of Adam everything put in place for the fulfillment of the first prophecy found at Gen 3:15 has been progressive. When the end of the appointed times of the nations would come and Jesus would be enthroned as King, then his enemies would be cast down to the earth, and the new heavens would exist. This ushered the earth into the last days, in which we are very deep into, next Jesus will return to remove satan and his demons and lock them into the abyss for a millennium. No doubt you have prayed for that when you have prayed the Lord's prayer. Signs show we are near to that point of history RS.
Yes, and the bible says Satan must be released again, for a short time! LOL
I wonder who writes all these rules? Why must Satan be released again after a certain period? LOL
Seems to me, God is 'using' Satan to fulfill his grand plan...
(which of course, doesnt make sense, Satan would be aware of this, and naturally, would not have any part of it).
Well, since you asked , and since I know you are all just dying to know the LDS response to this question , here’s what our belief is (and I realize it’s pretty different from that of mainstream Christianity):
We believe that the spirit component of every individual who has ever lived or ever will live on this earth was created by God, even before He created the world in which we now live. We lived with Him in as His spirit offspring before coming to earth to live a mortal life. The firstborn of His spirit offspring was a Son, known to us as Jesus Christ. He was like His Father in every conceivable way, and shared all of His Father’s divine attributes. Another of God’s spirit offspring was one known as Lucifer. He could not have been more completely opposite from His Father than Jesus. He was arrogant and rebellious and, I guess you might say, a complete narcissist.
God, wanting all of us to have the opportunity to experience mortality, with the ultimate goal of becoming like Him, called us all together in a grand council where He proposed His plan for our growth, progress and eventual exaltation. This would involve our leaving His presence for a period of time and coming to an earth which He would create, where we would live apart from Him. We would be required to learn to live by faith, to learn how to distinguish between good and evil, and to make choices which would lead us back to His presence.
When we came to earth, each of us would be given our free will, or (in LDS parlance) our “agency.” We could choose whether to obey His commandments or to disobey them. There would naturally be consequences for our disobedience; sinful behavior would separate us from Him, and we would not be able to return to His presence after death if we were sinful. Now, we would be born without a memory of our pre-mortal life, but He would not leave us without guidance of any kind. He would call prophets through whom He would speak and these men would relay His will to mankind.
Because God realized that we as mortals would be incapable of living sinless lives, and because He wanted very, very much for none of us to have to be permanently alienated from Him, He asked for someone to be willing to be the means by which we could be reconciled to Him. Jesus Christ stepped forward and as Isaiah 6:8 says, responded, “Here am I. Send me.” Jesus agreed to take upon Himself our sins. He also agreed to be what the Revelation 13:8 calls, “the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world.” He would act as our Savior and Redeemer and would give all of the glory to God.
Following Jesus’ proposal, Lucifer stepped in and also offered to be our Savior. He, however, would ensure that none of us would be lost. He would “save” each and every one of us. He would not do so by any sort of sacrifice of his own. Instead, he would change the rules entirely, preventing us from having our agency. We would not even have the opportunity to choose between right and wrong, but would live essentially as puppets, choosing good because there was no alternative. He’d get us all back to God in the end, but he wanted the glory and honor to be his and not God’s. In other words, he would be exalted over God Himself.
God chose Jesus as our Savior, and Lucifer immediately chose to stage a rebellion. He declared himself God's eternal enemy and sought to complete thwart God's plan for mankind. All of God’s spirit children basically picked sides, and as Revelation 12:7 tells us, there was “war in heaven.” This, of course, was not a physical war, but it was, nevertheless a war of allegiance. It was those who stood with Jesus against those who stood with Lucifer. In the end, those who'd chosen to follow Jesus (i.e., two-thirds of the host of Heaven) would each get the opportunity to come to earth, experience mortality, and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, would be able to return to God after this life was over.
Those who'd chosen to follow Lucifer (Revelation 12:4 tells us it was a third of the heavenly host) would be cast out of God’s presence and would never again be a part of His family. They would forever forfeit the privilege of experience mortality or returning to His presence to receive a portion of His glory. They would be known as “sons of perdition.” Their spirits would be able to be an influence for evil in the world as long as the world existed. But following the Final Judgment, they would be cast into Outer Darkness where they would exist throughout eternity.
The court of Gentiles has always been known as outer darkness. Jesus didn't just make up something new, he was speaking about what everyone knew.
Jesus trusted us with a free will.........so satan is the optional way to go and also the testing agent for all of us......interesting hearing all the opinions out there that Jesus will ignore completely. In Gods mind everything has already happened and its just like God wanted. Satan gets drop kicked into the lake of fire at the end and its all over for him.
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, and since I know you are all just dying to know the LDS response to this question 
