Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Unlike the god of traditional Christianity, the god envisioned by Smith did not create the eternal spirits of humanity—he only organized them and provided them with a plan to follow in his footsteps. [57] God was God not because he was an ex nihilo creator, but because he had the greatest intelligence. [58]
In Christian theology, original sin is the term used to describe the sin of Adam and Eve, the progenitors of humanity. With the fall of man, they lost sanctifying grace and communion with God. Original sin hinges on the participation of humanity in the same human nature of Adam and Eve rather than in the participation in their actual sin. [32]
The rest accepted the plan, coming to earth and receiving bodies with an understanding that they would experience sin and suffering. In Mormonism, the central part of God's plan is the atonement of Jesus Christ. [49] Mormons believe that one purpose of earthly life is to learn to choose good over evil.
Roman Catholic doctrine also sees sin as being twofold: Sin is, at once, any evil or immoral action which infracts God's law and the inevitable consequences, the state of being that comes about by committing the sinful action. Sin can and does alienate a person both from God and the community.
Mormons would say that theirs is the truest form of Christianity while acknowledging that other Christian denominations hold a lesser truth. While accepting the validity of the traditional Christian Bible, Mormons also attribute scriptural authority to the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.
According to Brigham Young, the Adam–God doctrine was first taught by Joseph Smith before his death in 1844. However, the evidence that Smith originated the doctrine consists only of Young's own assertions, [39] an 1877 recollection of Anson Call, [40] and some circumstantial evidence collected by Mormon fundamentalist writers. [41]
The distinguishing doctrine of Universalism was that God would save all of humanity regardless of their righteousness or wickedness. To a Universalist, eternal damnation was an excessive and unjust punishment that far outweighed any sin a person could commit, and antithetical to a merciful God. [2]
According to the classical definition of Augustine of Hippo, sin is "a word, deed, or desire in opposition to the eternal law of God." [ 15 ] Many medieval Christian theologians both broadened and narrowed the basic concept of Good and evil until it came to have several, sometimes complex definitions [ 16 ] such as: