Are There Angels Among Us?

[Anonymous]

DCGSage wrote:

Brown wrote:

I want to believe these are true, but then why are angels so selective in who they rescue? Why didn’t they save my brother from the pool he drowned in?

Now I feel bad about sharing my story. I hope I didn’t hurt anyone.

Don’t feel bad about sharing it. I certainly wasn’t hurt by it. I like hearing those stories, I just wonder how God chooses who to help or if it is all just random luck we attribute to God.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

Brown wrote:

I want to believe these are true, but then why are angels so selective in who they rescue? Why didn’t they save my brother from the pool he drowned in?

It’s obvious to me that God doesn’t intervene to prevent premature death and suffering. I rationalize that He cannot violate our free agency without screwing up the plan of salvation. Apparently we must be free to make choices to see if we will choose the good over the not so good, to see if we will help others, not.

Mormons don’t have a monopoly on truth or goodness. There are good and bad people found in most any religion, philosophical system or political persuasion. Eloquent defenses of most major systems of thought can be held by reasonable people. They just aren’t free from the consequences. Think of the legacies left by are Mother Theresa and Adolf Hitler, Joseph Smith and Jim Jones.

Likewise, circumstance doesn’t favor the righteous. Rain falls on saints and sinners alike. Likewise so do hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, airplanes flying into skyscrapers. So do illnesses, accidents and every other untoward experience of mortality.

After billions of souls go thru this experience, we along with God determine whether we wanted to be more like him or not. Some of us will have 80 or 90 years of mortality to demonstrate that, while others may not have 8 or 9 minutes. The church teaches that all young children who die before 8 will go to the Celestial Kingdom. I don’t know if that’s true. But I can only take it on faith that determining the eternal fate of the young will be balanced fairly with both justice and mercy. I have no idea how that is possible without the rest of us griping ’cause we had to endure to the end.

But a rock solid fundamental principle of Mormonism was demonstrated in the council in heaven. Lucifer’s offer to everyone that he would “guarantee success” in mortality, was rejected because it would deny us the opportunity to choose for ourselves, knowing full will most of us would blow it. Additionally1/3 of the host of heaven were banished to outer darkness. Yet God rejected Lucifer’s offer and accepted Jehovah’s offer to pay for all sins and suffering in mortality, in order to guarantee the freedom to choose unfettered by divinity.

For me, one question remains. Good people’ agency is frequently constrained by others and by circumstances. From an accidental drowning to the Nazi Holocaust, bad things happen to good people. I can understand why God’s influence can so overpower people that we must be truly on our own to “prove” ourselves.

But why does God allow the likes of Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, and our latest crazy man North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un. For as Nephi reported, God said “It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.” 1 Nephi 4:13

I’m looking forward to the day I am at the pearly gates. Before I would want to walk through them, I have some questions I’d like answered.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

Before I would want to walk through them, I have some questions I’d like answered.

Me, too – and I have to believe God will smile and thank me for wanting to understand.

Also, fwiw, I like the interpretation of ancient numerology that believes 1/3 (or, more accurately, “a third part”) means “an unspecified minority” and 2/3 means “an unspecified majority”. That changes the whole math of salvation dramatically and in a way that is very important and foundational for my view of eternity. In that light, 1/3 can mean a few billion, but it also can mean a dozen or so – and I FAR prefer that ambiguity to the assumption of a literal 33%.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

I like the interpretation of ancient numerology that believes 1/3 (or, more accurately, “a third part”) means “an unspecified minority” and 2/3 means “an unspecified majority”. That changes the whole math of salvation dramatically and in a way that is very important and foundational for my view of eternity. In that light, 1/3 can mean a few billion, but it also can mean a dozen or so – and I FAR prefer that ambiguity to the assumption of a literal 33%.

That’s good. I like that interpretation, too. :thumbup:

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