On 2/22/2003 12:56:40 PM, Jennifer Wood wrote:

>My take on this (whether it comes from
>previous religious teachings as a LDS
>-Mormon - or whether I have created this
>all in my fantasy head space is that God
>had two sons one was Jesus who chose to
>live his life according to God's will
>and the other (Satan) chose the darker
>side of things and was banished to hell.
>Choices were made, roles were cast.

While I understand the LDS faith, i don't agree with putting anthropocentric (human qualities) traits on deities that in all teachings of faith, are considered as infinite. So to say a deity 'chose' is to deny their very existence as a deity. And also, what other roles were available to them? What other paths could they have taken other than what was (i'm assuming) offered to them?

>I don't think it really is any
>different. As a person you make a choice
>be it good or bad and you are held
>accountable. If you choose to kill
>someone, then the jury finds you guilty
>and you are punished. Then when you are
>standing before God on judgement day he
>says you sinned by killing this person,
>you never asked for his forgiveness;

Why would I ask for forgiveness for a sin i could not help commit? Why did God allow me in its omniscience to follow through on the act when it was controlling the strings?

>therefore your soul is punished. Jesus
>died so that our sins could be forgiven
>but you have to ask for forgiveness. You
>can't ask a jury to forgive you and not
>sentence you to jail.

Incorrect. You can ask whatever you like, but a plea of "i'm sorry, i won't act that way next time i'm faced with the same set of possible actions" won't go very far. The difference is, they were not determining your actions, and in this example God and Satan are. It's akin to asking forgiveness for robbing the bank while the teller has a gun to your head. Damned if ya do, and damned if ya don't.


>I think you bring up a good point and
>you have an interesting way of looking
>at things but I think that people make
>choices. It isn't like the henchman
>Satan is at a person's back twisting
>their arm when they decide to kill
>someone. They are choosing to follow the
>ways or influence of Satan. Therefore,
>they also are choosing to accept the
>punishment of God. It's a choice thing
>but there are definitely forces that
>influence people to choose good (God) or
>evil (Satan).

Yes, there are influences, namely God and Satan in this example. God will not always be drawing you towards itself; it might be pushing you further towards Satan for whatever reason. But it's still control nonetheless. And it's still unfair to say "one accepted to choose the path of influence that was forced upon them by a God that is puppeteering the whole charade of reality". That's an oxymoron. Either they chose it, or it was forced upon them, but not both.