The three fold repetition here seems to suggest that you think I'm not answering your question. Very well, how about this: From the Book of Mormon: Alma 27:9: "But Ammon said unto him: It is against the law of our brethren, which was established by my father, that there should be any slaves...
Before I make my comments about prophets, I want to recognize that you have tacitly already rejected them, so I recognize there is no amount of reasoning I could do that will have any value to you. So. I'm defeated before I start. However, for me in evaluating what the other "prophet" has...
It's not complicated and I've alluded to it already. LDS believe that because all on this earth are God's children with equal standing before God, we consider it manifestly unjust to force someone into involuntary servitude without there being some justification for it such as debt. To force...
It constitutes a coupling, through the use of reason, of scientific information and scripture. I believe the two are reconcilable, and I attempt to do so.
In another thread, I suggested that atheists seem to take delight in insulting people of faith by calling them ignorant. I was pounced on for suggesting that atheists take such boorish attitudes towards anyone. Yet here you are calling me ignorant. I happen to believe the reports of prophets...
What gets me there are the rejection of two concepts: nothingness and oblivion. It is said that the universe is expanding. I ask, expanding into what. The answer is that it is expanding into nothing, that it is creating space/time as it goes. This makes no sense to me. I cannot conceive of...
No, it isn't the only form mentioned in scripture, but I consider it to be the only form allowed by God's law who expects His children to pay their debts. No, I don't think God changed His mind. Society has changed and come to consider it immoral to require people pay their debts and God does...
I consider reason to be a verb, an activity which every mind does to some degree or other. The problem comes when people using disparate methods of reasoning and different items of evidence to apply that reason to, attempt to tell others what they should be reasoning on and how to go about it...
Slavery simply means involuntary servitude. That says nothing about the reasons behind it being involuntary. For you to have asked that question, means that you completely ignored what I said. In our present culture, we allow for the declaration of bankruptcy or some other means for escaping...
The willingness comes from considering the idea that man does not and indeed cannot know all things and that on the continuum of intelligence there just might be an entity in the universe that knows more. The SETI program seeks to find intelligent life in the universe by people who at the same...
I think it is a given on a couple of levels that slavery is not something desired by God for any of His children. LDS believe that the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were inspired of God. We believe that all men are created equal and that each soul has a divine destiny...
Yes, I do indeed understand various types of rhetorical devices in scripture and consider myself better equipped to decipher their implications than an atheist. And to answer your question, I have both a formal education and continuous self teaching. Your own myopia seems to prevent you from...
As hard as if may be for you to accept (as if it made any real difference to you), yes, I give precedence to scripture. How could I not? By my not doing so, would be a tacit admission that I really didn't believe it. You just might consider that the reverse is true. You have a confirmation...
I am LDS (Mormon), so I accept the Bible (KJV), The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price as scripture. I disagree with your assessment that Abrahamic scripture endorses slavery. What it seeks to avoid is the spilling of blood over the issue. I believe God...
As I said, I recognize that the "temporal and finite universe" we perceive had a beginning, The mechanism that began it isn't what I'm questioning. It is the cause of the event in the first place that is in question. What I am doing is attempting to find commonality between scientific...
Well, there you go. You are admitting up front that any suggestion I might make concerning the veracity of scriptural accounts would be suspect for the reasons you just gave. It would be pointless for me to go any further.
No, because upon my investigation, they do not provide what I consider an accurate description of the origin and destiny of souls in terms of eternity.
Yes, it is a refusal of current scientific perceptions which you choose to call facts. Even some scientist acknowledge the idea of parallel universes. I am merely stating that the unseen universe (I call it the Celestial Kingdom) is a place where according to scripture, entropy does not exist.
Actually, I differ with the premise that the universe had a beginning... of course depending on what one considers the universe to be. I think what we perceive as the universe is actually a subset of a larger whole. The subset may be of finite duration, but the whole (of which the subset is...