clark87

Good catch, Lattelady, John 10:37 was indeed a typo on my part, and I meant to write John 10:34.As for the rest, you actually got understood what I was intending to say (even though I didn't explain myself so well). My main point is that most of this "multiple god" stuff is speculation. We have very few scriptures out there on "other gods", and what few scriptures that are even out there about "gods" aren't talking about other gods like God our Heavenly Father. It seems those that used "gods" often had different intended definitions for that word. I've noticed that all through the bible, different prophets had different strengths and weaknesses. Some knew more about miracles, some knew more about events leading to Christ's second coming, and some knew about events and prophets of the past. God would teach each prophet what they needed to take care of the people. When Gordon B. Hinkley became prophet, he wasn't immediately given every bit of knowledge previous prophets knew. During that quote, he was being honest in that he didn't know much about the subject, nor did he know what the context of the quote was. Moreover, he probably didn't care to know. It's an obscure, unnecessary doctrine (in the way of salvation), made up mostly of speculation. There are a lot of other subjects with far greater importance. The "doctrines" of "God being a man" and "multiple gods" are simply a handful of quotes that we milk for information that simply isn't there. We really don't know the context of half the quotes, or even if they were quoted correctly. Even if every quote was true, then we still would have a pitiful amount of knowledge on the subject.

Thanks Dravin. That makes sense. We let children take the sacrament before they're baptized, so I figured it was safe for investigators as well.

Question During the video, it said, "You are not expected to take the sacrament. Just pass it along." What are the general rules about investigators taking the sacrament? I've always been told that investogators are welcome to take the sacrament, but they don't have to (just like children before they're baptized can take the sacrament as well). Just curious about what all of you have heard.

I personally like the Word of Wisdom. We're always referring to God as our "Heavenly Father", and this is one of the doctrines that I see Heavenly Father showing parental councel and love. As many are already aware, there are five substances that God bluntly says to avoid: - Illegal Drugs - Alcohol - Tobacco - Tea (black and green) - Coffee After listing these, Heavenly Father continues to give us council on how to take good care of ourselves. This council includes eating healthy foods, only eating meat in moderation, and avoiding unhealthy foods (which would likely include caffiene - I don't hear too many people out there claiming it's healthy). If you want to look further, in the revelation preceding the Word of Wisdom (Doctrine and Covenants 88), Heavenly Father goes further and talks about healthy habits, including going to bed early, arising early, avoiding being idle, and more. It's all great council from a loving parent. Does going to bed late or not eating so healthy condemn us, prevent us from going to the temple, or show that we're bad saints? Of course not! Obeying this council does come with blessings, however, and obeying such council is likely pleasing to God. We don't have to master it all at once. We have a whole lifetime to work on perfecting ourselves and our health habits, and we don't have to try to do it alone. We're always allowed to seek God for help when trying to become better.

Good catch, John Doe. I really don't know their financial situations, personally. However, the apostles seem to love their work. They have a good Spirit about them, and I don't think that they would have that Spirit if they were doing it for money. They've got a higher motivation, I feel.

I might recommend that, before praying to know about whether there are other gods out there (or any other complex or deep doctrine), first pray about the basics. Ask God if He really does talk with prophets today, if the message the prophets share really is God's message to the world, and if they're message is something God wants in your life. He cares about you, and he'll let you know all that and so much more. Once you know any of these things, the rest will fall into place - you may not fully understand the more complex doctrines, but you'll at least know God won't let the prophets lead you astray!

Heh, I can relate to the over-intellectualizing thing. I enjoy studying the scriptures and trying to learn things for myself. However... I've learned that sometimes I can't really come up with a satisfactory answer by my own. There are questions out there that simply finding scriptures or quotes isn't enough to really sate my soul. The time comes when you want to know enough that you start praying to God as if He was there in the room, just pouring out your soul to Him. It's times like those that you learn that prayer really does work. It's really hard to describe or give it justice (it kind of feels too personal and sacred to fully talk about). Lilac, you genuinely want to learn these things so that you can know you're right with God. When you really get into that prayer, you'll come away feeling far more satisfied than any amount of scriptural references could give you. The missionaries are right - prayer really is the way.

Truth is, if you look at the Prophet and Apostles, most of them were already very rich before even being called to such positions. I would hope that the church pays for their traveling and whatnot - it would get really expensive for them if it was otherwise. The prophet and apostles aren't doing it for money - they don't even have enough time to themselves to make the extra money worth it (I hear they get one month out of the year off, like in July). As for Norte70's claim that the church is a business, I'd like to know how many bishops and others are getting paid, let alone getting paid enough for the services they do for the church. Unlike most other churches I know, almost everybody in the church works completely for free (with the few exceptions already mentioned above). Even the missionaries pay their own way.

Good questions, Lilac. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert in this area, but I do know a bit, and I'll answer you as best as I know how. I'm guessing you're referring to the teachings of there being more than one God? To begin, I'd like to re-emphasis this: most of what church members know on this subject is largely speculation (it really is - we like to believe we know a lot on the subject, but we really don't). Outside of that one quote "As man is, God once was", most of our knowledge about their being more than one god actually comes from the Bible. I know that in John 10:34, Jesus mentions that there are different definitions for "god". In this, he refers to "gods" as those "whom the word of God came," adding the phrase "and the scriptures cannot be broken". Also, in Psalms 82:6, it reads, "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." Again, another definition of "gods" as "children of the most high". That's not even going into false gods (idols and such). You mentioned that you're meeting with the missionaries? If you want to know more scriptures on the matter, look up in the "Topical Guide" in the back of the bible "Man, Potential to Become like Heavenly Father" (I'm not sure if bibles outside of the LDS church would have a topical guide, so you can ask to see the missionary's if you need to). These will point you to a ton of scriptures from the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. Ultimately, all you have to really know is that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real, and that it is through Jesus Christ that we are saved (and not through any other "gods" or other forces out there in the universe). Are there other gods like Heavenly Father? We really don't know, nor do we really need to know (or else God would have said more about them). Like many subjects in the gospel, understanding all of this will require study and good prayer. You're just as entitled to recieving revelation from God as any of us. Good luck, Lilac! P.S. I'll try to log in later to see if you have any more questions. Let me know if this helped!

To tell you the truth, when I first heard the "God was a man", I struggled with it for a bit. It wasn't until later that a few thoughts occured to me. If a person who has never read the bible or heard about Jesus Christ were to meet Jesus personally, they would recognize a perfect, trustworthy, loving being. They would recognize Jesus as their savior, their redeemer, their God. If they were to ask Jesus about his past, they may be surprised that as that person is now (a mortal human being), Christ once was. This would probably be very surprising and new to them. However, upon learning more about the life of Christ, they would learn that mortality didn't diminish the divinity of Christ in any way. Because Christ came down into mortality, He has a full understanding of the pains and trials that we face here. Likewise, the day will come when we will be able to meet our Heavenly Father. When we meet Him, we'll recognize his divinity and perfectness. Heavenly Father has a past (a very long one, for that matter), and the "God was a man" quote implies that Heavenly Father has also faced the trials of mortality. Just as going through mortality doesn't diminish the divinity of Christ, neither do I believe that Heavenly Father's going through mortality doesn't diminish His. As for other Gods out there, what kind of life God had while a mortal, and other questions, all we have from here on is speculation. God seems to be a fan of eternal families - it would make sense if he's speaking from experience (aka He has a family, including parents, grandparents, and so forth of his own). Honestly, I think God holds off on telling us because it's not pertinent for us to know right now. Further, perhaps He's saving that conversation for when we can hold it with Him personally in heaven.