keito-ninja
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- Posted: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 06:26:51 +0000
Finnigrind
It's nice to see someone in the forums who is primarily interested in learning rather than just arguing a point 3nodding Like you, I love learning, and I also love teaching, so I am happy to answer all of your questions to the best of my ability. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and so I will be speaking from the perspective of a mormon. I do not expect you to believe what I am telling you, I am simply explaining my own beliefs. If you have any questions about my response, or if you'd like me to clarify anything, please just ask.
First of all I'd like to address a question that you did not specifically ask, but which I feel like you implied: "What proof is there that your religion is true/How can I know that a certain religion is true?" You mentioned that it would be better for faith to be "a fact thing" for people, rather than just a gamble. For me, and for many Christians, faith in God is a "fact" thing, because of personal revelation. You mentioned that you think it would be wise for God to come to people to make a claim of His existence and influence in our lives--he does. For the vast majority of people he does not appear in flashy or spectacular or obvious ways--he sends the Holy Spirit to testify to us of the truth of his gospel. There are many different types of "proofs" that can strengthen one's testimony of the gospel (like logical analysis of the scriptures and personal recognition that the doctrine makes sense), and all of these types of proof are important, but they all mean nothing if not coupled with a witness of the truth from God's Spirit. Without a witness from God's Spirit it is not possible to know with a surety that God exists, and without knowing with a surety that God exists it is a gamble to believe in the gospel.
Next I will address your questions regarding prophets--first I will explain my beliefs on the nature and purpose of prophets (As a mormon my beliefs on the subject are different from most other Christians, so my explanation may be different than your current understanding). Through the Holy Ghost, God is able to communicate with every one of his children, and does so if they humble themselves and pray--we call this "personal revelation". Personal revelation can come as a witness of the truth of the gospel, as I mentioned above, or as comfort and guidance when we are facing trials in our lives, or as a warning voice against danger, or as a number of other things depending on the situation. It is called "personal revelation" because it is revelation for ourselves that applies to our own lives--it does not include revelation of prophecies or commandments or other messages from God that are meant to apply to people other than yourself. Revelations such as those are only given to those who hold the priesthood keys of revelation--i.e. prophets. The priesthood is the power and authority to act in the name of God; it is something that is passed on or bestowed by another priesthood holder--one does not simply acquire the priesthood out of nowhere. The priesthood was on the earth since the days of Adam, and Christ organised the priesthood and his church during his mortal ministry, but all the keys of the priesthood were lost from the earth when Christ died and his apostles were rejected and his true church crumbled. That means that no one on the earth, after that time, had the power or authority to prophesy in God's name. As latter day saints we believe that God appeared to Joseph Smith (in the 1800s) and restored the keys of the priesthood and the organisation of his church to the earth. Those priesthood keys of revelation have since been passed down in Christ's organised church, and are currently held by the current prophet Thomas S. Monson. Why have a prophet at all?--To receive direct revelation from God for the whole church. How do you know if the prophet is genuine?--he holds the priesthood keys of prophesy.
Your description of our premortal existence with our Heavenly Father may very well have been given to you by a mormon, because you've basically described what we believe to be our purpose in coming to earth. You ask "why", but to which part I am not sure. Why did He send us to earth?--as you said, to be given a choice and agency, to believe in Him, love Him, and act on our desire to be with Him again... to learn and grow and to be happy so that we can return home and be happy with him. "If God is the ultimate father to us all, what is happier than God?"--I'm really not sure what you mean by that question. If you want to ask me more specific questions regarding my beliefs about our premortal existence, our nature as God's children, and our purpose in being sent to earth, please ask away.
"Why is the idea of an afterlife so important"--in my opinion, the idea of an afterlife in not especially important in and of itself...it is one of many things taught in the gospel, so those who believe the gospel by default believe in the afterlife (though, as I'm sure you've observed, many people do find the idea of an afterlife important for it's own sake, even if they don't have any knowledge of the gospel on which to base that belief--this, I suppose, can be for a variety of different reasons, from fear of death to hope for a purpose in life). "What is the purpose of an afterlife?"--asking this is like asking "why does life exist?"--the afterlife does not exist to fulfill some sort of purpose, it exists because we are spiritual beings, and while we have come to earth to gain bodies and live out short mortal lives, our spirits by nature will continue to exist for eternity. "What proof is there that there even is an afterlife or some form of “existence” outside of death?"--the idea of the existence of an afterlife is one small aspect of the gospel--to come to a surety of the existence of an afterlife one must come to a surety of the gospel as a whole, a topic which I mentioned in more detail at the beginning of my post.
"What is original sin?"--When God created Adam and Eve, they were in an unfallen, immortal state. By eating the fruit of knowledge--a sin because they were instructed not to--they fell from that immortal state into a temporal state of being. This meant that they had to live with the hardships and trials of mortality, it meant that they were able to have children, and it meant that they would always be subject to temptation and sin. The original sin effects all of us in that we are all born in a temporal state, we are all imperfect, and because we are in this imperfect and sin-prone state, none of us can become worthy and clean enough to return to Heavenly Father's presence through our own efforts. That brings me to "What exactly did Jesus die for, again?"--Jesus did not just die, in fact, dying for us was not the most significant thing he did--before his crucifixion, he atoned for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane--he satisfied the law of justice by taking upon him all of the sins of the world and paying the price for every transgression ever made and ever to be made by mankind. Because of the Atonement, the fall of Adam (original sin) does not affect us--we are born into the world in a perfectly clean state, and we are only held accountable for our own sins. Also because of the Atonement, our sins can be washed away and forgiven and forgotten, if we repent.
I think I got to all your questions--again, if you have any more questions or if you want me to clarify something I said, please ask 3nodding
