Sometimes when we don't understand how something works it is called magic. If it has an effect on us and we aren't sure why it may be called magical. Really though haven't some just resorted to a default explanation of a phenomenon even though they most likely believe that magic isn't real?
Is the creation of life a miracle or just another thing that happens all too often? Isn't it a miracle if it is you? Really we all are miracles of existence and yet this particular science of creation we understand quite well in some regards. How is it that our body can heal wounds? How is it that we create children that look like us yet are so distinct that there is no other like them.
Was it magic or science when Jesus performed his miracles for witnesses that did not understand them? Is it a miracle or science when a surgeon performs an operation on a person that years ago would have died? If that person is you it will surely seem like a miracle.
Isn't science one of God's gifts that helps us to discover the wonders of creation? Science is knowledge and God is all-knowing. True religion and faith in things that exist but that we can't see is science or knowledge waiting to be discovered. Some truths we find by the scientific method, and others through the spirit of God, which is the spirit of truth. Without both, the other can take on the whims of individuals and their philosophical musings. Human wisdom has a very short life cycle. With some level of education and experience, and applied experience in their fields some think they are wiser than they are.
We observe the truth in action every day. We have discovered it in chemistry, psychology, astronomy, oceanography, medicine and other sciences. There are consistent laws of physics on which we make determinations for building things and making them work. It is called engineering. Even so, much of science is theory yet to be proven.
We have discovered technologies that have allowed us to travel further, faster and more safely. We communicate at the speed of light. Why wouldn't we be able to travel at the speed of light someday? We see farther into the universe than ever before and down to subatomic particles, and yet the greatest of our advances in science are less than 100 years old.
None of these advances, however, is new, except for us. They have always existed. If they had not always existed as a part of eternal truth they could not have been discovered now. They have just been discovered for the first time on this planet. Can you imagine what the state of our scientific discovery would be had it been around for 10,000 years? It is less than 200 years old.
These understandings have all been achieved by faith. Someone believed that they could discover a principle and took action to do it. Faith is the principle of action in all rational beings. Our scientific advances shouldn't discourage our faith in God. God is, after all, a rational being. The problem isn't God, it is men without authority that have created an irrational deity of mysterious proportions.
Because truths are natural and we see them every day are they to be discounted as not being something of eternal truth and therefore a witness to the nature of deity? Are they not a manifestation of the workings of God?
Would God use the methods of quantum physics and on a level perhaps of which we are familiar and also not familiar? Would he not be a master of all the sciences, known and unknown to us? Is evolution some part of the creative process? Contrary to some religious scholars, God was not in a hurry when creating the world.
As an organizer of worlds, he would be a climatologist and a master of the elements and cosmology. There is no knowledge that he does not know or possess yet he is not the creator of knowledge or truth. All truth exists independent in the natural arena for all existence and creation. At most observations, He doesn't seem to use magic.
As an organizer of worlds, he would be a climatologist and a master of the elements and cosmology. There is no knowledge that he does not know or possess yet he is not the creator of knowledge or truth. All truth exists independent in the natural arena for all existence and creation. At most observations, He doesn't seem to use magic.
Science looks into the vast cosmos with telescopes and crawls to the bottom of the ocean in submarines. Doctors dissect and operate on the human body with increasingly greater precision. From the knowledge gained over centuries of discovery, we do know much about these things.
Even with advancing, technology scientists disagree over the theories established in their various communities as they speculate about their next discovery. The medical profession is still considered practice as many diseases continue to elude healing.
The recorded history of man is only some 6000 years. Why isn't it something substantial like 100,000 years old or a million years old rather than a mere vestige of time that wouldn't even register on the scale of eternity? The reason is that man's current state of existence is to lead us to a higher purpose and we have only been here for a short time.
Science can document the history of creation with some accuracy to show that the elements are ancient. While demonstrated existence in current forms is said to be in the billions are they not in fact ageless? Here we are in the midst of eternity with a history so short it isn't even a blink of the eye in the eternal scheme.
How much wisdom can be acquired with a minuscule viewpoint of one planet in one solar system that is realistically the only observable study done so far? There is still much speculation. Even atheists believe in eternal things. They just don't believe in eternal people. The factor of death is a stumbling block to them.
Scientists seek to discover and prove all things natural. Our individual and collective existence here on earth is an obvious fact of nature.
As Latter-Day Saints, our prophets have told us that the elements have no creation or beginning. They can only be organized to form creations. There are eternal elemental materials that form the basis of all creation and existence. Even the building blocks of what we would term as "spirit" are actual elements or substance.
Even with advancing, technology scientists disagree over the theories established in their various communities as they speculate about their next discovery. The medical profession is still considered practice as many diseases continue to elude healing.
The recorded history of man is only some 6000 years. Why isn't it something substantial like 100,000 years old or a million years old rather than a mere vestige of time that wouldn't even register on the scale of eternity? The reason is that man's current state of existence is to lead us to a higher purpose and we have only been here for a short time.
Science can document the history of creation with some accuracy to show that the elements are ancient. While demonstrated existence in current forms is said to be in the billions are they not in fact ageless? Here we are in the midst of eternity with a history so short it isn't even a blink of the eye in the eternal scheme.
How much wisdom can be acquired with a minuscule viewpoint of one planet in one solar system that is realistically the only observable study done so far? There is still much speculation. Even atheists believe in eternal things. They just don't believe in eternal people. The factor of death is a stumbling block to them.
Scientists seek to discover and prove all things natural. Our individual and collective existence here on earth is an obvious fact of nature.
As Latter-Day Saints, our prophets have told us that the elements have no creation or beginning. They can only be organized to form creations. There are eternal elemental materials that form the basis of all creation and existence. Even the building blocks of what we would term as "spirit" are actual elements or substance.
Orthodox theologians for centuries thought and taught that God made everything out of nothing by some fantastic magical power. Science has demonstrated most convincingly that matter cannot be destroyed. Why would it need to be created? Evidently to satisfy the philosophical notion of a religious creed.
Powerful telescopes demonstrate with clarity that we exist in some remote position in a sea of never-ending galaxies. Our solar system is in an infinite cosmos full of similar creations and yet we have not seen other beings yet a certain order exists.
Why do some who call themselves educated think that we are the only beings in the cosmos to exist with intelligence? The reality of our major scientific and technological discovery and progress is that it is only a couple of hundred years old at most.
What is the feasibility of the existence of others starting billions or trillions of years ago or even so long ago that it is said to have no beginning? With no lack of space, there is no need for creations to be discoverable by humans if divine beings have a higher purpose and choose to keep us separated for a time.
Such a civilization, even a government that rules over galaxies and universes would certainly use all science that we can discover. Wouldn't all of their precepts be science in that naturally occurring truth that is the source of all existence throughout an infinite cosmos?
What if the creators of this planet are eternal organizers and can reveal the truth at many levels. We may call something spiritual but even this would be the eventual scientific truth. Would there not be a natural explanation for all things? In what manner does God reveal the truth?
When Moses performed his acts of seeming to control nature were they magic or science? Is God a natural being or an unnatural being? Zealous religionists have often confused the terms of unnatural and supernatural. Supernatural just means he operates at a higher natural level. All miracles are natural science to God.
For millennia theologians shrouded God in mystery. They invented an unnatural being of a mysterious and singular nature. They wanted people to believe that God had magical powers, existing as the sole occupier of the term all powerful.
At a time when science could barely see past the moon, religious precepts said God was the creator of a single planet and that he was the only one of his kind in existence. Of course, these are nonsensical doctrines in view of what we know now as we look into the infinite cosmos.
Powerful telescopes demonstrate with clarity that we exist in some remote position in a sea of never-ending galaxies. Our solar system is in an infinite cosmos full of similar creations and yet we have not seen other beings yet a certain order exists.
Why do some who call themselves educated think that we are the only beings in the cosmos to exist with intelligence? The reality of our major scientific and technological discovery and progress is that it is only a couple of hundred years old at most.
What is the feasibility of the existence of others starting billions or trillions of years ago or even so long ago that it is said to have no beginning? With no lack of space, there is no need for creations to be discoverable by humans if divine beings have a higher purpose and choose to keep us separated for a time.
Such a civilization, even a government that rules over galaxies and universes would certainly use all science that we can discover. Wouldn't all of their precepts be science in that naturally occurring truth that is the source of all existence throughout an infinite cosmos?
What if the creators of this planet are eternal organizers and can reveal the truth at many levels. We may call something spiritual but even this would be the eventual scientific truth. Would there not be a natural explanation for all things? In what manner does God reveal the truth?
When Moses performed his acts of seeming to control nature were they magic or science? Is God a natural being or an unnatural being? Zealous religionists have often confused the terms of unnatural and supernatural. Supernatural just means he operates at a higher natural level. All miracles are natural science to God.
For millennia theologians shrouded God in mystery. They invented an unnatural being of a mysterious and singular nature. They wanted people to believe that God had magical powers, existing as the sole occupier of the term all powerful.
At a time when science could barely see past the moon, religious precepts said God was the creator of a single planet and that he was the only one of his kind in existence. Of course, these are nonsensical doctrines in view of what we know now as we look into the infinite cosmos.
Christian scholars, apologists, and philosophers have created a narrative that fits their scholarly interpretations of Bible verses. They have made assumptions that are not true and taught them for thousands of years.
For this and other reasons, there are many divisions in the theologies of orthodox Bible scholarship. Their doctrines have many contradictions and their theology and the teachings that revolve around it are inconsistent. They don't agree about such things as free will or the reason for the fall or the atonement.
Magic is the term we often use to describe something that we don't understand. It could be sleight of hand or it could be knowledge of a principle that another doesn't understand. A fire would seem magical to someone that did not understand how chemicals and elements can combine to create heat and light.
Electricity or wifi, motors, and cars would baffle those that had not seen them and only knew more elementary means of transportation or communication. Show a smartphone working or a TV to someone that had only used a smoke signal to communicate over distance and he would call you a god.
Magic as in mysticism or unexplained phenomena seeks to connect mankind to some invisible force, of which no person knows, not even the mystic that proclaims it. A magical union that penetrates all beings that have mysteriously appeared in it.
Science seeks to connect us to some comprehensible beginning that they think they can find by looking through microscopes and telescopes.
Electricity or wifi, motors, and cars would baffle those that had not seen them and only knew more elementary means of transportation or communication. Show a smartphone working or a TV to someone that had only used a smoke signal to communicate over distance and he would call you a god.
Magic as in mysticism or unexplained phenomena seeks to connect mankind to some invisible force, of which no person knows, not even the mystic that proclaims it. A magical union that penetrates all beings that have mysteriously appeared in it.
Science seeks to connect us to some comprehensible beginning that they think they can find by looking through microscopes and telescopes.
The general mainstream Christian orthodoxy set its theology in creeds and scholarship. The adherents to Catholicism, Protestantism, and evangelicalism all take on an even more diverse state as each person creates their own religious experience of either participation or nonparticipation. Some settle into a halfway zone of religion and science since the theological concepts of a three-part deity are too nonsensical to realistically consider as truth in their minds.
People may feel is okay to do their own thing because they prefer to believe that they aren't being manipulated by anything except their own wisdom, fantasies, and delusions. A person, indeed billions of people may be the source of their own philosophy and wander about in it, but they aren't the source of any form of truth or eternal salvation. Many contents themselves in a stagnant state of ignorance that appeals to the basic needs of this temporary fallen condition.
People may feel is okay to do their own thing because they prefer to believe that they aren't being manipulated by anything except their own wisdom, fantasies, and delusions. A person, indeed billions of people may be the source of their own philosophy and wander about in it, but they aren't the source of any form of truth or eternal salvation. Many contents themselves in a stagnant state of ignorance that appeals to the basic needs of this temporary fallen condition.
Some element of truth may not yet be revealed by science or other means because God can reveal things the scientist cannot or has not. True theology will usually be ahead of science in revealing the truth. Science can only discover a truth when the technology exists to reveal it and God is the one that allows the discovery of technology.
An informed theology would account for the vast infinite nature of the cosmos. As such it should not contain dogma that would limit God to existing as a single solitary being or one that creates things out of nothing. We can now see and comprehend that infinite resources already exist.
If God has been around for billions or trillions of years indeed without beginning then he would certainly be familiar with the processes. Why would the infinite resources of the universe need to be created as it were out of nothing? Such was the nature of theology where magic and mystery established the religious narrative controlled by a limited few in a corrupt priesthood.
If God has been around for billions or trillions of years indeed without beginning then he would certainly be familiar with the processes. Why would the infinite resources of the universe need to be created as it were out of nothing? Such was the nature of theology where magic and mystery established the religious narrative controlled by a limited few in a corrupt priesthood.
Such being or beings of great knowledge and power such as God would not be confined to a single planet or limited in their ability to execute their powers over universes without end. Is God an infinite creator after the pattern of the family, an organizer of the infinite resources and revealer of science or a celibate space traveler with magical powers that grew tired of being alone?
Religion consists of worship ceremonies and standardized teachings. Religion for millennia used precepts of mystery to define God because they could not explain him with sound theology or science. They termed him a mystical and mysterious being. If such was or is the case then we are not like him. Yet, they try to profess that we are created in his image and likeness and claim he had never created a world before this one.
Such is the thinking of mainstream orthodox theological scholars. Why was this so? Because after the authority of the apostles was taken from the earth men fell into apostasy. Skeptics challenge believers with statements such as why doesn't God just show up and let us know what is going on and set everyone straight?
Such is the thinking of mainstream orthodox theological scholars. Why was this so? Because after the authority of the apostles was taken from the earth men fell into apostasy. Skeptics challenge believers with statements such as why doesn't God just show up and let us know what is going on and set everyone straight?
Joseph Smith as a young boy in 1820 declares that God and Christ visited him. Immediately his witness and testimony is rejected by mainstream theologians. Even so he never deviated from it. Is his experience and revelation from the inerrant source of eternal truth and knowledge?
I and millions of others testify that God can and does reveal to the general humanity and to individuals his will. Our witness is individual and collective in a consistent pattern. An organization grew out of his prophetic calling. There is an authorized body of the priesthood. Was the true and living church of the Lord Jesus Christ restored to the earth according to these witnesses? Yes, it has been!
I and millions of others testify that God can and does reveal to the general humanity and to individuals his will. Our witness is individual and collective in a consistent pattern. An organization grew out of his prophetic calling. There is an authorized body of the priesthood. Was the true and living church of the Lord Jesus Christ restored to the earth according to these witnesses? Yes, it has been!
God has visited the earth and has given us a way to know that it is true. He can speak to each one of us individually because we are his offspring. There is a Holy Spirit more powerful than any wireless information system that can reveal to our brains and hearts understanding of truth that is discovered separately from the ways of man. We are receptors of spiritual knowledge if we chose to act on the basis of the eternal principles that allow us to become such. We are eternal beings.
The book of scripture came from prophets and authorized servants that operated under an appointed order of the priesthood. No person took this service upon himself except they are called through the authorized priesthood leaders. Any that were ordained were chosen by another in authority. Such was the case back to Adam who was ordained by God.
The prophet Joseph Smith and those that have succeeded him in restoring and maintaining the authority of God for men to act in his name are those representatives God has called. Their testimonies to the world are a call to see that truth is a natural order in the heavens where freedom of will is tested on planets like this. We can either learn God's will and purpose which are eternal or choose our own philosophy which ends at death.
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