Part 2 - What is Doctrine? What is Truth?
Material Studied - Is God Subject to or the Creator of Eternal Law? by James McLachlan
We started the discussion with these quotes from the essay:
Is God, in his omnipotence, subject to the rules of logic? According to Lehi, law must exist for there to be anything beyond the sheer chaos of nothing or no-thing.
There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated.
Footnote 8: Greek philosophy, with its static ideal of perfection, demanded a God without body, parts, or passions, and this is one source of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, which appears to be non-biblical. Ex nihilo creation, that God created the universe from nothing, protects the absolute omnipotence of God, but is also a source of the problem of evil. If God is good, why couldn’t God have made a better world?
In brief, were the laws decreed by God, were they made clear by God, or did they emerge with the relation between God, other spirits, and the world?
The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge.
Footnote 10: Do the blessings depend on an infinite or finite number of separate laws, or do all these laws depend on obedience to one basic law, love of God and neighbor?
Discussion:
God has to govern within the laws for eternity. God has a law of marriage.
What are the doctrines? Creation—Fall—Jesus Christ Atonement—Priesthood—Resurrection—Eternal marriage - Family
Elder David Bednar: “Doctrines explain why we are here, what our purpose is, and how we can achieve eternal progression. Examples of Doctrines: The nature of the Godhead, the plan of salvation, the Atonement of Christ, and the role of prophets are all examples of doctrines. . . .The core doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ are relatively few in number.”
Eternal laws that God follows or that He makes?
An eternal law is a truth and a doctrine
Without law, there is chaos—created in steps
From James McLachlan's essay: “In brief, were the laws decreed by God, were they made clear by God, or did they emerge with the relation between God, other spirits, and the world? Consider the following passage drawn from three different accounts of the King Follett Discourse. I think all three interpretations are still possible here. God himself— find[ing] himself in the midst of spirits and glory— because he was greater saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself.11 The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. God has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences that they may be exalted with himself. God . . . saw proper to institute laws for those who were in less intelligence that they mi[gh]t have one glory upon another in all that knowledge power & glory & so took in hand to save [them in] the world of Sp[irits].
But he won’t force my son or daughter to come to church
Is the Atonement for everyone in the Universe or just the inhabitants of Earth?
Sacrament, Agency are both God’s Law
Michael Goodman’s essay: “ . . . a systematic review of every occurrence of the word doctrine in general conference over the last three decades (over two thousand occurrences) was made.” Footnote 25, The search was performed using the LDS General Conference Corpus at https:// www.lds-general-conference.org/
Without laws, chaos is the default
Is love a doctrine? Is it eternal, unchanging, simple, true?
Love can also be viewed as a doctrine, reflecting God's essential nature and how He is to be understood. Here's a more detailed explanation:
• Love as Law - In Christian theology, love is often presented as a foundational law or commandment. Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments as loving God and loving your neighbor. This is seen as the essence of God's law and a guiding principle for Christian life.
• Love as Doctrine: The concept of "God is love" (1 John 4:8-16) is a core doctrine in Christianity. This doctrine describes God's essential nature and how He is to be understood. It emphasizes that love is a fundamental aspect of God and a guiding principle for Christian theology and practice.
Quantum physics—good energy—makes a difference to love, and can change neural pathways by following the doctrine of love
We overuse the word love—cliche—change the general usage of the word love to be more precise about the word—use a synonym
Charity = love
Spanish - specific words - different forms for love
Japanese - not too many words to describe love
Norwegian — many specific words for love
Application - if I want to feel Heavenly Father’s love, I should use a different word - “Heavenly Father adores me”
Synonyms for the word love: adore, cherish, like, admire, esteem, fancy, fondness, treasure, etc.
“In answer to the question—Is not the reckoning of God’s time, angel’s time, prophet’s time, and man’s time, according to the planet on which they reside? I answer, Yes. But there are no angels who minister to this earth but those who do belong or have belonged to it” (D&C 130:4–5).
Trying to sort through this helps in other situations, such as during adult classroom discussions when someone states “doctrine” and it is not.
Index for scripture or topics: https://scriptures.byu.edu/
Question we started with: Is God Subject to or the Creator of Eternal Law? Consensus — (Even though we know we may not be correct.) The laws have always been there. He gives us commandments so we can be in sync with the laws.
Great closing to James McLachlan's essay: “In any case, Latter-day Saint attitudes, at least historically, toward the question of the eternity or creation of eternal law are diverse and not always clear. The question is still an open one, and this is probably a good thing. Lively debate about the meaning of the gospel can be a form of worship.”—We agree.