-John- > It is my understanding of Mormon doctrine that the laws by which > Heavenly Father became and exalted being are coeternal with him. > They are uncreate. And it was by obedience to these laws that > he because God.
My understanding follows Jim's quotation of Joseph Smith's teachings and of the scriptures; that God *instituted laws* among us. Whether those laws were pre-existent or not seems of little import. Remember, Marc's comment was that God is "subject to 'natural law'". This is demonstrably untrue; God is above nature, has created nature, and has instituted her laws. Physicists now postulate that our universe was born perhaps 13 billion years ago, and that the laws of physics that we observe came into being at that point. If this is the case, then since we Latter-day Saints consider God to have been the creator of this universe, we could certainly imagine that he might have chosen whatever other set of physical laws to exist instead. We might also imagine that, as creator of the universe, he exists in such a state as to be able to effect whatever changes in it that he sees fit -- that is, he is "above" the universe, not subject to it. He could, for example, "travel faster than light", an event that doesn't even have a well-defined meaning to us. I don't pretend the above is LDS doctrine. Rather, it is compatible with LDS doctrine, and is the closest I can come to reconciling doctrinal truth with scientific understanding. In any case, I feel quite sure that God is the Lawgiver, the creator of the universe, the God of nature, and thus to claim that he is "subject to 'natural law'" is incorrect. > The idea that he made all the laws included those by which he > progressed to become a God is a Protestant idea. Hardly. Protestantism rejects as blasphemous the very idea that God "pregressed to become a God", so they certainly have no opinion on whether he created the laws that led to that exaltation! Besides, the laws governing God's exaltation are not the point under discussion; rather, we're talking about "natural law" and whether God is subject to it. Stephen ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
