Fence Sitter wrote:Thanks M&G
A few thoughts regarding the LDS perspective.
1. The length of this life is like the a blink of an eye (or less) in the scope of eternity. "Wasting" 70 years or so here is meaningless when you think about it. A trillion years from now it will make no difference at all as long as there are no permanent judgements based on our actions here.
And yet 70 seconds feels like an eternity if you are in pain. So why procrastinate? And if your choices breed remorse and disrupt relationships, why persist one second longer than is necessary?
2. If there is continued progression in the LDS heaven, what is the point of three kingdoms and God's promise to reward those who are obedient, when eventually everyone can achieve exaltation?
The reward is inherent in who we become. Three kingdoms? Section 76, outside the added heading, only uses the word "kingdom" in the singular. There are various kinds of beings to be sure. You see that already, all around you. Some are absolutely miserable, hell bent, and make choices that are destructive to themselves and others. Some are operating from a place of peace and are able to experience joy even in the midst of adversity. And there are all kinds of folks in between. To be in a place isn't the same as to be a being with a certain kind of "glory" or lack thereof. We are all here together now and the same sociality will exist "there" only coupled with the glory that corresponds to the laws we abide. Celestial beings will minister to (teach, lead) terrestrial beings, and terrestrial beings will pay it forward to telestial beings (D&C 76), each lifting others up and seeking to save them. This is why parents who keep their covenants are promised to have their children with them, for example.
3. Why do we assume that those things that make us happy as mortals will also make us happy in the hear after? Why do we assume that a God has need of relationships or emotions? We LDS seem to create concepts of God and eternity based on mortal perceptions of happiness. It is sort of like the little girl who cannot understand why adults don't like to play with dolls.
Because it's what we know.
Because Christ taught that the epitome of godliness was to be found in unity and if He is the Son of God, then His plea that we become one even as He and His Father are one is rather significant. Also because, if God is love, there must be something to this idea of reconciliation between beings or at-one-ment.
And yet playing with dolls foreshadows the loving connections we desire to have with others. We know loving connections are essential. Even our bodies bear this out - babies without these kinds of emotional bonds are scarred and some even die. I don't think we can possibly disregard this as fundamental to who we are or invented.
4. If happiness in this life is only found through belief in Christ, the system in place to bring people to that belief has all the hallmarks of one created by man, not a benevolent God.
I don't disagree with you here, Fence Sitter. And I think all religions, mine included, are only as healthy and godly as the individuals filling the pews. I believe that much of what we need to learn on earth, we can learn without organized religion. Life, for the humble and wise, teaches more than enough. Even Brigham Young, referring to the signs and tokens of the temple, said that the rich get them in the temple, the poor get them on the mountaintop. What I find in my church (not my faith but my church) is a community in which I can learn to live out the atonement in relationships with others who profess the same goal. We serve together, we work together, we study, learn, and pray together. And when our natural frailties disrupt the harmony, we have covenanted to forgive each other.
I appreciate your knowledge and devotion MG but I cannot reconcile a benevolent omnipotent God with how I understand the LDS religion.
No worries. None whatsoever. The way I see things, these spiritual paths we take are purposeful, and where yours leads, you are meant to go.
By the way, I am pretty sure there are those within the LDS Church (Packer is one that comes to mind) who do not believe in progression between kingdoms.
Yes there are. I recommend they return to the temple and notice the path of progression that begins in the initiatory (pre-mortal) and culminates in the celestial room. If they can show me where in the ceremony, some members of the group are separated out and their progression is stopped, I may rethink my position. The temple is the height of LDS orthodoxy.
"In my more rebellious days I tried to doubt the existence of the sacred, but the universe kept dancing and life kept writing poetry across my life." ~ David N. Elkins, 1998, Beyond Religion, p. 81
but seeing that child in Hell raises that to a level that neither of us considers funny.