Satan in the Mormon understanding.

This one Caught me off guard, not because I didn't know that it was what Mormons theology taught but because I had actually never heard one talk about it.

 It was Satan's plan to make sure everyone had it easy and that everyone would be guaranteed a win. 

What I did Today

Wow, that is all I can say at first, I mean wow. See I am one of those people who has read more philosophy then the average person, I think I can say that without being dishonest. I mean I am far from a philosopher, all my philosophy was philosophy of Religion and all taught by the same professor so it is not the most impressive philosophy education but it is something. and they were all graduate level so that has got to count for something right?  This statement just causes a huge explosion in the problem of pain and suffering category of philosophy.

Okay basic Philosophy lesson time- the Problem of pain and suffering centers around a simple question. why do good people suffer? basic stuff I mean Job, quite a few Psalms ask this question, and Solomon deals with this as well in Ecclesiastes. Now here is the argument. For God to be truly worthy of worship he must be all powerful and Good. If God is good and all powerful then there will be no suffering. because A. God is good and therefore would not want his creation to suffer, and B. He is powerful enough to keep people from suffering. there is suffering so either God is not all Good or all powerful. If he wants to keep his creation from suffering but has not the power to stop suffering then he is not worthy of worship because he is not all powerful. If he is all powerful but does not stop suffering then he is an evil God and not worthy of Worship.

Okay I know that there are many arguments about why the premises are wrong it fails to take into account sinful nature, free will, and other things but that is not the point. The point is that this statement that What I did Today is making is saying that Satan is not the source of our pain and suffering. he wanted to do that which the philosophers say that God should have done which was make it so all people always choose the right, good, and noble thing all the time. They say that a truly Good God then he would make a world where people would always choose the good so no one would ever suffer, or need to suffer. Particularly if it is truly God's will that all be saved. this statement makes it seem that Satan wanted to stack the deck in our favor and God decided to stack the deck against us.

This to me says that God is a God who has the power to allow his creation to never suffer but refuses to make use of that power, more so that God is making us suffer on purpose. That really makes the God of Mormonism out to be a rat bastard.

Lack of Compassion, Charity, and Love

So Amy wrote an interesting post a couple of days ago that is just full of things I want to talk about. So I am going to type up a series of posts on the topics that come up from her post and from the people who commented on her post. The whole things started when Mormon Mommy Blogs announced that she was taking questions for the President of the Relief's Society, an organisation of women in the LDS Church. a lot of women jumped at this and asked questions ranging from why don't women have the priesthood, to how can i fight the guilt I feel for having to work instead of staying home with my kids, to I really have a lot on my plate does it have to be a requirement for me to do X, Y, and Z? I read through the questions and thought you know 

I feel bad for these women. Like this one a women's Son has been convicted, she wanted the ward in the area to be there for her son and help him get through this trying time, instead he was excommunicated. another women has three children and she wants one more but she is struggling with the fact that her husband doesn't want any more and the people at church keep asking her when she is going to have another. a women asks why she and her husband can't be sealed to each other even though they have done everything that is required of them. another women talked about how she felt guilty for having to work outside the home and couldn't be home with her family. 

It seriously looked to me like these where women in the church that were hurting and they really had very few places to turn. 

I found this post through Amy's Blog 'My Infernal Journal' and I I was surprised to see her reaction post. It was a post about how these women needed to just stop being so whiney, and how they were acting like they expected their lives to be trouble free because they were part of the church. How dare they complain about things. she was venting and I get that but then this was followed by comments that were agreeing with her and patting her on the back, kind of a "you tell um." It's like these women can possibly have something that they are going through, they can't possibly be anything but a bunch of complaining bitches. There was no compassion, no Charity, no love for these women. I may believe a lot of things that are not good about the Mormon religion. Yes I think that it is heresy. but my experience with Mormon people has always been that they are the most loving and 'christian' people. So this kind of came as a shock to me from a Mormon mommy blog that I mostly lurk on. Grant it now she knows I lurk there...opps. It really made me thankful that the Church I go to is full of people I can go to if I am struggling and they will listen. They know what I struggle with and even if I don't get better at the rate they think I should they still love me. 

Besides this there were other topics that came up that I will take a post for each to talk about. Women and the priesthood, the purpose of the church, Happiness and Truth, responsibly of Church Leaders, Satan in the Mormon understanding.