Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: fuzzy@portia.stanford.edu (Daniel Zappala) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Mormon Religion Message-ID: Date: 30 Aug 90 04:32:53 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AIR, Stanford University Lines: 43 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article timh@linus.uucp (Tim Hoogasian) writes: >In article wcsa@cbnewsc.att.com writes: > >>The typical polytheistic attitude is one in which there are not only >>a multiple number of Gods, but also a multiple number of agendas, one >>for each God. To be accurate, we may believe that there are many >>seperate individuals acting in the Godhead, but that there is only >>one agenda (all act as *one*) or, if you please, one God. > >why would i want to worship a small God? certainly this God-committee that >you describe falls far short of omniscience and omnipotence. this reminds >me of the question James Kirk asked in the somewhat inane movie Star Trek V: >"What would God want with a Starship?" I would reword this as "What use >would God have for a decision-making committee, where He only served as a >sort-of chairman?" if God is who He claims in the Old Testament, there is >only ONE God, and none other like Him. surely if God is omniscient and >omnipotent, then He has no need of advisors??? > The LDS idea of the Godhead as three beings does makes sense to me. You ask what use God would have for "advisors". That to me doesn't capture the sense of the belief as I understand it. God the Father is a loving God, and so he has every reason to want to have a Son who is like him. Jesus is more than an advisor, he is God's Son, and when he was on the earth as a man, he wished to do his father's will. This seems to me to demonstrate why God wanted a Son...surely he could do without him, but can't we see for ourselves how important family relationships are? In addition, the familial relationship within the Godhead provides a wonderful example for us to follow. On the other hand, I don't know why God would "choose" for the Holy Ghost to exist in his function, but I wouldn't put it past him to have a good reason. I think that many people who believe in the trinity are too focused on the "oneness" of God, and forget that the trinity also means there are three separate persons involved, with three separate "functions." So if you want to argue that God doesn't need a group of "advisors", you are in effect arguing against a trinity also...God could surely have conceived a plan of salvation for humanity as a single person too. Daniel Zappala