"John W. Redelfs" wrote:
> Marc A. Schindler favored us with: > > > Obviously yes because we know from the Doctrine and Covenants that the > > > Founding Fathers of the United States were inspired men raised up by God to > > > rebel against Britain. > > > >It actually doesn't say this. See below. > > But it does say that the US Founders were raised up by God to write the > Constitution. Indeed. > And it is hard to imagine how that Constitution could have > been written if we had remain colonies. This is also true, but it's a logical extension of the first, not something that's said explicitly to be inspired. I know it's a nit, but I think the Lord uses historical events, he doesn't "cause" them, else we wouldn't have free will*. His plan is so elegant that His kingdom will come regardless of what choices humanity makes. I don't profess to understand how that's possible, although some of my studies of chaotic systems in mathematics show that in principle what appears to be random and chaotic can have a pre-determined result, although not a result that can be figured out by our current mathematics (cellular automata comes close, but the problem is always knowing the initial conditions, and if the Big Bang was actually how our universe was created, those initial conditions are forever lost if we go back extrapolating in time, lost in the great singularity of the first 10^-43 seconds. *I'll give you an example. I know what I'm going to write may offend some, and I apologize for that in advance; it's not meant to be offensive. However, I do remember one GA (and not ETB; in fact I believe it was DOM) saying, referring to the famous vision of Wilford Woodruff (where he was directed to do the temple work for the founding fathers), that all the founding fathers were men who believed in Christ's divinity and atonement. But in secular history it didn't quite work out that way. Thomas Jefferson was a deist; these days he would probably be a Unitarian, and Benjamin Franklin was not an observing Christian, either, from what I remember. I'm not saying he was an atheist, but iirc, his own thinking tended towards deism as well (the difference between deism and theism is that both believe there's a "higher power" but the deist doesn't believe it's a personal entity whereas theism does). Thomas Jefferson was very much a Renaissance man, and was accomplished in many areas. One of the things he did was kind of a precursor to the modern, so-called "Jesus Seminar," sponsored by the Westar Institute. That is, Jefferson rewrote the New Testament so it only included what he felt were the original sayings of Jesus, and that excluded any references to miracles, let alone the atonement and resurrection. Again, no offence is meant, but God uses the materials at hand, so to speak, he doesn't override people's free will. > So, while "it actually doesn't say > this," it is implied very strongly. --JWR -- Marc A. Schindler Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada -- Gateway to the Boreal Parkland �Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give lustre, and many more people see than weigh.� � Lord Chesterfield Note: This communication represents the informal personal views of the author solely; its contents do not necessarily reflect those of the author�s employer, nor those of any organization with which the author may be associated. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ==^^=============================================================== This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^^===============================================================
