Ask a Mormon, Part 4

Well, "math" as we know it is actually a human invention.

Do you think God could make a triangle with 4 sides?

But aren't we God's inventions? Math is not a human invention regardless and math is universal. So by definition it has to be created by God as it predates man, unless it predates God then that means God has extremely limited power. If he didn't create math then he didn't create the universe, and if he didn't create the universe there is no point worshiping him.

Yes he could make a triangle with 4 sides. He is supposed to be all powerful.
 
I wouldn't call it extremely limited on account that he can't defy logic.

On the other hand, we can have it your way too, and say God can and can not defy logic.

(I'm not a mormon btw, just commenting).

EDIT: @Luckymoose
 
Luckymoose, virtually no Christian thinkers, Mormon or otherwise, have thought that God could do the logically impossible, because it is a fundamental Christian belief that God is rational.

What makes the logically impossible impossible is the fact that it contains contradictions. If a concept contradicts itself then it is the concept of an impossible object. A four-sided triangle is impossible because a triangle is, by definition, a three-sided figure; if it had four sides it just wouldn't be a triangle. The laws of logic, including the laws of maths, don't have to be "created" by anyone, God or otherwise, because they are not entities that exist - they are abstractions that describe what is necessarily true. For example, it is necessarily true that 2+2=4 (I mean the proposition expressed by those mathematical statements is necessarily true, not that the fact that they express that proposition is necessarily true). Omnipotence is normally understood to be the power to do anything that is (in itself) possible. The inability to create something that is (in itself) impossible does not show that a being is not omnipotent. And it's a bit of a pointless question in the context of this thread anyway, given that Mormons don't think that God is omnipotent even on the traditional understanding of omnipotence.

As Atticus implies, if you think that God can do even the logically impossible, then anything goes. If God can make four-sided triangles then God can also make it the case that he both can and cannot make four-sided triangles; he can even make it the case that he does and doesn't exist, or any other inconsistencies that you please. But then you'd never be able to use any reasoning at all, and certainly not any reasoning about God and his abilities. You couldn't say "If he didn't create math then he didn't create the universe", because even if that's a valid inference, God (on your view) isn't bound by the laws of validity. He could make it so that he did and didn't create the universe, and so that his failing to create the universe both follows and does not follow from his failure to create maths. He could make it so that you're right and wrong at the same time and that everyone else is, too. In which case, why say anything at all?
 
I am not quite so down on the BYU honor code (or the Notre Dame one, for that matter, per the comments) as you are, largely because I am too boring to violate it (except my stubble, but that was Mrs. of Arcadia's idea). But I am not a bit surprised that BYU acted the way they did.
 
Why do Mormons seem to be so boastful ? example would be this Mormon Utah rugby club who boast about their win loss record, of course they do not mention that when they played NZ A grade first fifteens from high schools they got hammered 80 to 3 on average.
They seem to believe they are the greatest.
http://www.highlandrugby.net/

Are Mormons encouraged to call upon the power of a non Christian god ? like they are doing here by aping my culture.

Now Kamate is a peruperu haka which calls upon Tumatauenga the god of war.
Are these Mormons ignorant or just confused ? notice the whiter shade of pale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cXTVYQTixM

Notice the difference here ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHW1K2LeQXE
 
Eran,

What's YOUR favorite version(s) of the bible? I.e. not the ones you're required to read.
 
(By the way, I have seen churches lobbying both for and against recognition of same-sex marriage . . . I hope everyone has consistent opinions on both groups.)

From the Utah thread...

IIRC Mormons do agree that Homosexuality is a Sin, however they tend to not be too "In your face" about it, which IMO is the attitude Christians should have (The way I think of it, its no different than any other sexual sin.)

That said, the question is, what is Mormon thinking on this? While I can certainly understand being tolerant, wouldn't supporting gay marriage be in effect condoning their behavior? What is the Mormon position on this? Or if there's more than one view, what are the different views, and which one makes the most sense to you?
 
From the Utah thread...

IIRC Mormons do agree that Homosexuality is a Sin, however they tend to not be too "In your face" about it, which IMO is the attitude Christians should have (The way I think of it, its no different than any other sexual sin.)

That said, the question is, what is Mormon thinking on this? While I can certainly understand being tolerant, wouldn't supporting gay marriage be in effect condoning their behavior? What is the Mormon position on this? Or if there's more than one view, what are the different views, and which one makes the most sense to you?

I'm not totally sure what you're asking. Are you asking about how we feel about political lobbying about gay marriage? The church lobbied against gay marriage in Hawaii and California, but also caught a pretty significant backlash from California's Prop 8.

Most Mormons do not support Gay Marriage. I do, although I do not support gays being married in LDS temples.
 
I think there may be more Mormons who are okay with same-sex couples getting civil unions that provide all the benefits of marriage without the title - at least, that's the impression that I get. The Church went so far as to say something along those lines not long after Proposition 8, if I recall.

My own views on this matter are pretty complicated, and not really the same as anyone else's I am aware of, to say the least . . .
 
^that's correct Eran, and the church has actually supported anti discrimination legislation, or even legal benefits, in the Salt Lake area. It happened shortly after prop 8, to little fanfare.
 
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