>>You said I used the term "mere" a bit too loosely in conjunction with creation.
>>Well you use the term "creation" a bit too loosely above. Joseph Smith taught that
>>matter was eternal--opposing Hebrews 11:3. Joseph also clearly taught that this eternal
>>matter was "organized."
Eternal is one of god’s names. Eternal damnation (God has damned X) Eternal Punishment (God’s punishment), Eternal Life (God’s way of Living in heaven) Yep, Jesus organized God’s matter when commanded to by his father who is also our father.
What? Too Convenient for you? That’s what Mormon’s believe and it all works out, no contradictions. The Trinity stuff works, the creation works Stephen’s vision does not have Christ bending over to stand upon his right hand, etc.
>>In case you haven't noticed, there's a big difference if I tell you to "organize" your
>>house versus "building it from nothing."
If I make the boards, then organize those boards into a house, haven’t I done both? (We believe both, create and organize)
Yeah, how convenient for Joseph Smith to have come up with this angle after the fact (after the fact of referring to hell as eternal in the BoM). Note the date when Joseph first wrote about this in the D&C, and then compare it to the BoM publishing date.
So the original BoM golddust writers couldn't redefine "eternal" properly and so every BoM reader along with every Bible reader got it wrong for years all until Joe's D&C commentary came along?
Note...this redefinition is still not in the BoM, meaning that when LDS missionaries ask folks to read & pray about the BoM, they don't know that even basic phrases like "eternal hell" have been totally redefined.
So, you're telling me that when the BoM describes heaven as being "eternal" it's not really eternal...[that we're all gonna get a heavenly pink slip some day]...that heaven is only called "eternal" because God is "eternal." [Gotta be consistent, ya know]
Wow! What a comforting doctrine! Especially knowing your god is evolving (he may want to take a transfer to a Kolobite satellite moon some day).
There ya go again w/that "looseness." Even if you could claim that you grew the tree from a seedling from which you got the wood and then "made" the boards, I got news for you: The seed, the tree, the wood, was not original from you. You cannot get a patent on that wood and that tree and that seed.
The biblical doctrine of creation is that Christ has a patent on creation, and that it's ex nihilo (Latin from out of nothing)...all based upon Hebrews 11:3 and other passages.