Related to Nine Moons’ post on the most profound doctrine in the church, I thought I would post this: what is your favourite Church doctrine? Which one really strikes your fancy? If you’re a convert, which one really clinched it for you?
Favourite Doctrine
To me this is a weakness in Mormondom. Rigid belief systems are the antithesis of faith and I’ve never seen one that made sense. I think it’s like the wave-particle duality in Physics; some things aren’t to be grasped in this realm. One of the things I hated on my mission in the first discussion was interpreting JS’s vision to an understanding of the nature of G-d and the G-dhead. I’m greatful Moses didn’t teach the Almighty is a burning bush.
My fave is the conception of a God who is all-powerful because he learned to be and likewise we can learn to do what he does. Very much “glory of God is intelligence”. Connected with this is God as our literal father, which gets me going as well.
Hands down, the eternal nature of the human soul.
Eternal Families.
Steve EM,
While the First Vision may not give us an all-encompassing understanding of the nature of God and Jesus, what it does give us, assuming Joseph Smith did see them both, is an understanding that they are not the persons envisioned by The Westminster Confession of Faith.
alea, I have to say that I, too, am smitten by the idea intelligence plays in the nature of our eternal existence. I like out light, truth and intelligence are all intertwined.
Steve EM, oh, please. Coming from a guy who ascribes to the Evangelical Christian notion of Saving, you know about as much about LDS Scripture and Doctrine as you do particle physics. Doctrine does not preclude faith. Have you taken a look at Smith’s _Lectures on Faith_ lately?
Kim, glad to see you guys back on MoArch.
As for which doctrine is my favorite, that would be a tough call. The nature of the human spirit and the eternal nature of the family are big, and pervade just about everything LDS. Another one that is all pervasive is that the Lord is still working to keep his covenant with Abraham, in saving Israel. Most of Christendom has lost that one, but it is still pervasive in the BofM and D&C. It shows the Lord keeps His word and doesnt play games with people. I guess I will take that one.
Kurt, we’re not there because we asked to be. Interesting we ended up in a different box than last time though.
Besides eternal families, probably baptism for the dead.
Families are Forever… hey Kim I still have a pic of you as a little boy wearing a shirt with that logo on it:) I should dig it out and post it for you :)
As Susan mentioned, baptism for the dead for sure… just came from the temple to finish off names I had to do, get a whole new stack of new ones to do and I have 68 baptism ones ready for our 12 year old granddaughter to do next month when she goes for her very first youth baptism trip Life is Grand!!
“Families are Forever”
I know we’ve discussed this before, but what does that even MEAN?
There’s one party line description, but as soon as you get into the discussion, it twists and turns in on itself.
If Family = Spouses, then it makes some sense but that runs completely counter to the everyday member’s perception of what it means.
I think my favorite doctrine is the Atonement. Without it, we would be without hope.