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| The Principle of Eternal Law |
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And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles. (Mormon 9:19) But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God. (Alma 42:22) Clearly the intent of these scriptures is to point out how unreasonable it would be for God to cease to be God. Yet the both do so in a way in which certain conditions are set up which would deny God His Godhood. Mormon tells us that were God to change (that is change in the way he works - not in the sense of progression) that He would cease to be God. The constancy of action is somehow a critical part of the definition of Godhood. Alma, on the other hand, has a different possibility. For Alma, Justice is some kind of Eternally Real constant, and to violate the demands of justice would cause God to cease to be God. In both cases, it underlines the issue that Godhood is a state, and not a person or persons. The state of Godhood may be achieved by the children of God because there is a Way. That Wayis part of the immutable Reality. It is a Reality to which even God is subject. This eternal law governs the path of our celestialization. 36 All kingdoms have a law given; 37 And there are many kingdoms; for there is no space in the which there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in which there is no space, either a greater or a lesser kingdom. 38 And unto every kingdom is given a law; and unto every law there are certain bounds also and conditions. 39 All beings who abide not in those conditions are not justified. (DC 88:34-39) Regardless of the choices we make, our rewards are governed by aspects of the eternal laws. The Doctrine and Covenants instructs us that: "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-- And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated". DC 130:20-21. All of our known reality operates under various laws. There are many which science has discovered, such as laws of gravity and motion. There are many others which are revealed to us. Science will never discover those laws, because they pertain to a reality which transcends this earth life, and science if forced by both vision and practice to discover the laws of the universe in which we currently live. The principle of Eternal Law allows us to answer one of the classic thought pieces of historical Christianity; can God create a rock so heavy He cannot lift it? The answer is that the question is wrong (of course, that has always been the answer). God neither creates nor possesses absolute power. God IS because God has become exalted to the position of mastery over the elements - but only so far as the elements of the Eternal Reality have physical capability. The intent of the old question was to find the limits of God. The principle of Eternal Law posits the nature of those limits. They are not belittling limitations, whereby God is less God because He is in accord with Eternal Law. They are rather enabling laws. Eternal Law forms the self-existent principles by which Godhood is possible. God is the author of our individual path toward Godhood. It also follows from the Principle of Eternal Law that we can answer a philosophical problem. What is the nature of Evil? The classic problem begins with a God who stands outside of all known existence, and is creator and master of all. In such a scenario, the presence of good is ascribed to the will of that God. You cannot have a system where god creates all things, but does not create evil. This would be particularly thorny in a discussion of Free Agency, for to have opposition in all things, such a God would have to create both good and bad. While that might be argued from a logical perspective, it is contrary to every other definition of God to believe that God created evil. The principle of Eternal law neatly solves the problem. By placing God inside the system rather than outside it, more than Eternal Law can have an existence separate from God. In such a system, both good and evil are eternally existing options. God does not create evil, it simply is. Even in the prevalence of good, evil is always present in the conceptual opposite of good. In a reality where Agency is an Eternal Principle, evil and good are eternal options. They were not created, just as agency was not created. They simply form part of the definition of the really real. |
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| by Brant Gardner. Copyright 1998 |
Just as God operates
to exalt pre-existing Intelligences, He operates within the realm of pre-existing Eternal Laws. The first scriptural
hint that there are laws which even God must obey comes from a couple of unique scriptures which describe instances
in which God might cease to be God:
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