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As some of you know, my oldest sister passed away in July. According to the teachings of the Church, unless I am an active temple recommend holding member who has been through the temple for myself and have had the work done for my deceased relatives, I will never see them again. This just does not sit well with me. How can I believe in a “loving” Heavenly Father if He would keep me and my family apart? I was brought up in the Lutheran religion and always held the belief that I would be reunited with my deceased relatives. Now, having been indoctrinated in the LDS religion, I am being told I will never see my father again. I will never see my mother again. I will never see my grandparents again. I will never see my DH or DS after this life.
That seems so utterly cruel. That is one of several reasons why I find myself not wanting to return to being LDS.
Thank you for letting me vent.
I don’t know anyone who knows what happens after people die. It’s a shame that people try to speak about what happens after we die as though they know. I wish people would realize that they don’t have all the answers and feel comfortable with that. Many don’t and as such you get people that will say things like what you have been told. I agree that it seems contrary to the nature of God to have all things contingent on LDS ordinances. Good luck in dealing with all of this. I believe that you can grow closer to God within the LDS Church. It can be difficult when you feel like the majority of people there don’t see eye to eye with you. Good Luck.
I hesitate to say much here, but to be PC, I think we have very little idea about what the “afterlife” really looks like. I think religions try to take what has been written, experienced, felt…and merged that with modern understanding of time and place, and attempted to explain what we will be doing in “heaven.” Mingle that with a little “we want you to do certain things to earn your way there” sorts of coercion tactics, and “if you don’t do all this, you won’t see your loved ones” claims, and you teach guilt. (okay, I didn’t stay too pc, did I?!)
To be a little nicer, I think people really have tried to learn about it the best they could, and taught what they felt was consistent with what they thought was God’s word (scripture), and have created a workable paradigm.
But I think we actually are just beginning to understand the reality of matter, energy, spirit, time, etc, and frankly, I think if we do our best to live the Golden Rule, we will all co-exist together in whatever state exists in the hereafter.
Of course, I could be wrong….
First of all, sorry for your loss. C.S. Lewis said something profound about the inability of religion to console someone who is grieving. Quote:“Talk to me about the truth of religion and I’ll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I’ll listen submissively. But don’t come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don’t understand.”
– C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
Quote:unless I am an active temple recommend holding member who has been through the temple for myself and have had the work done for my deceased relatives, I will never see them again. This just does not sit well with me.
This is not an accurate view of the doctrine because the doctrine you refer to is incomplete – I’m not sure I’ve ever heard such a stark “worst-case” description of it before. There are several different theories about what happens after death and how eternal families work. No one really knows definitively how it all works, what the limitations are, etc. There are 3 kingdoms in D&C 76 with different descriptions of who goes in each one, but the descriptions are doubtless incomplete. It doesn’t say that people will never see each other again or that there won’t be any ability to see people between different kingdoms, etc. It just doesn’t say how it all works.
Quote:How can I believe in a “loving” Heavenly Father if He would keep me and my family apart?
I had a BYU professor once who said it was silly to think that there would be an unusually strong angel at the judgment bar who had to forcibly cart people off to where they are sent. I tend to like the idea expressed in Corinthians – now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now we know in part, but then we will be known as we know. I think who we are becoming is what matters in the long run. We will be where we long to be. We make our own reward. JS said if we saw the telestial kingdom (reserved for murderers and adulterers according to D&C 76), we would commit suicide to get there. While I think he was exaggerating a bit, the point is somewhat valid to me. We will ALL be rewarded. We will ALL be happy with it. I don’t think people in Terr and Tel kingdoms will be looking longingly at the CK. They will be very happy with their reward. It will be what they wanted. And we don’t really know much about any of it. There are too many in our church who forget our universalist roots and try to sneak a pass/fail heaven & hell construct back in that isn’t really there.
Quote:According to the teachings of the Church, unless I am an active temple recommend holding member who has been through the temple for myself and have had the work done for my deceased relatives, I will never see them again.
Kalola, Hawk already said what I was going to say, but I just want to add that I know more members who would NOT say it that way than those who would. I take great comfort in the fact that so little has been said about the mechanics of the after-life.
Fwiw, I believe that the concept of eternal progression really is a case of eternal progression.
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