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2006-05-27

A Few Concepts

I've wondered a few times, if there could be found the fewest number of concepts, which when expressed, are enough to deduce the entire Gospel from it more or less?

Candidates for consideration: Free Agency, Atonement, Exaltation.

Free Agency: Man can choose between Good and Evil. Removal of Free Agency is itself an utterly Evil act.
Atonement: Man can receive forgiveness for Evil that he has chosen.
Exaltation: Men have the potential for never-ending increase.

I would almost hesitate to add anything else to this list. What do you think?

2 comments:

M.A. said...

I think that if we are trying to cover the Gospel of Christ in simply a few concepts- that the description of those concepts should include discussion about Jesus Christ.
I know that is within the subject of atonement- but without mention of Christ how is this different than ancient isrealite beliefs in atonement through sacrifice? (particularly in the day of atonement)How is it different from Islamic belief in God's forgiveness of the believers, or of any other religion that believes God will forgive some or all sin? (whether through specific conditions or not)

Jeff said...

You're right, Christ is included in the "Atonement" principle. However, I was not necessarily asking for the most important ideas, but which words are the fewest from which everything else could be derived. I realize there are still some words missing to get this far, but simply: Knowing that we have agency, and thus fall into sin, we would of necessity have a Savior, a sacrifice great enough to cover that sin.

I guess I was suggesting to play a game, where we start out with something equivalent in relatively complexity to a grain of sand, and with application of the principles, to be able to deduce the whole system from it. Similar to how whole organs of a developing human being are formed from a single cell.

I think Christ specifically is part of that complex system, whereas atonement as a minor principle is part of the small system that builds up to it. ;-) Either way, I was jut having fun with this one, so there is probably no wrong answer.