A thought to ponder
I found this quote on Individuality and thought it was pretty good. It was said by the fifth prophet of our church Lorenzo Snow.
“We are immortal beings. That which dwells in this body of ours is immortal, and will always exist. Our individuality will always continue. Eternities may begin, eternities may end, and still we shall have our individuality. Our identity is insured. We will be ourselves and nobody else. Whatever changes may arise, whatever world may be made or pass away, our identity will always remain the same; and we will continue improving, advancing, and increasing in wisdom, intelligence, power, and dominion, worlds without end.”
(CR, April 1901, p.2)
Who we are are is very important. I’ve seen alot of people lately in the religion rooms talk about how there can’t be a God because there is suffering and people are allowed to make bad choices that hurt others, and if there was a God none of that would happen.
I always think when I hear that. Why would people want to be puppets? And why would you want a God who treated us like puppets?
We Mormons hold the idea that we are individuals being raised to join the society of our Heavenly Parents. That we will be independant and thinking for ourselves. Our trials here on this earth prepare us for taking responsibility for ourselves and handling whatever responsibilities we are given. I can’t imagine the idea that we are nothing more then pieces on a chessboard to be played with for the Gods amusement can be attractive. It’s amazing how much Greek and Roman mythology has been inserted into christianity.
In our own theology what made satan evil was that he wanted to take our agency and the glory that comes with one’s power of choice. In essence, steal our individuality. Not even God will do that. He could, I supposed, but he won’t. Becoming independant, free thinking, responsible individuals is the point of this mortal probation, in my view.
The question then of course, to which so many answers can be offered is, Why would people want to give up their own power and individuality? Your answers may be different, but it is something to ponder.
May 13th, 2004 at 2:27 pm
I have a nitpick, but before I make my nitpick, I want you to know that I can see your points in your entry and understand what you are saying… I think a lot of people who question the existence or wisdom of God based on evil acts that are perpetrated feel that God should get rid of the evil people/punish them by smiting them or something… They are not asking for God to take away their choice to be evil (Just kill them if they ARE evil)… A lot of people wonder how God can let someone who is morally bankrupt be financially and socially well-off while good, moral types are barely scraping by… Which has nothing to do with individuality or choice…
Anyhoo, the nitpick is this - In your quote by the prophet he says, “Eternities may begin, eternities may end, and still we shall have our individuality.” and I just have to say that no, eternities will not end because that is the nature of eternity — It is neverending. That part of the quote just made me crazy…
May 17th, 2004 at 2:23 pm
In regards to Mari’s Nitpick and Wendy’s original post. I have an interesting take because I have the strange combination of being a “Jack” Mormon and a Physicist of sorts. Firstly, I do not beleive that President Snow was intending to be prophetic (no pun intended) when he mentioned eternities ending and begining. The current theory is that the current universal expansion (read “time”) is a continuing evolution of similar expansions and collapses. An interesting theory and it lends itself very well to the interesting “Multi-verse” that is proposed in the Mormons ultimate afterlife “Gods and Godesses in their own right…”
BtFR (Brook)