Hey @Canonandcreed did you correct him about how 2 Nicaea is specifically anathematizing the imperial iconoclast co-opters of the Church—not at all directly applicable to modern non-Orthodox groups that reject image veneration?
If that’s one of his reasons for leaving Orthodoxy maybe you can help him be objective in his search for truth by passing this along. People who leave or join a group on false basis are liable to revert later when they learn their reasons were mistaken. So no matter how one looks at it, you would be helping him either maintain or make a decision that has a more solid basis.
@Primary_Pianist There has never been any need for anyone to recreate, reform, or “restore” the Church that Jesus established in 33 A.D. because Jesus has kept His promise to the Church that “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Matt. 28:20
From the fact that you don't see a way, it does not follow that there is not a way.
2nd your opinion here depends on how well informed you are on the topic. What competence do you have in this area of philosophical theology?
3. On the LDS view, your gods know what people will do before embodiment, and yet they facilitate that embodiment. How are they not culpable for Hitler, Stalin, et al?
In sum, you have only moved the problem, not solved it.
Seems like you never took a single college course in Greek philosophy because if you had, you’d know that pagan Greek philosophers believed in the pre-existence of souls and in creation ex materia—just like the Mormons.
LDS doctrine is Christianity mingled with Greek philosophy, Masonry, and some other stuff Joseph Smith made up.