- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
The world is full of black & white thinkers – ALL religions are black & white, as are most political parties. It’s just the nature of most people to not question their assumptions. From a Fowler perspective, Stage 3 (the majority of people) are very black & white. That’s probably 80% of the world. Honestly, the Stage 4 folks can also be very black & white, just the opposite of what they were at Stage 3. You’re in a great place because you are starting to see that life is full of gray. That’s the path to spiritual maturity. It doesn’t mean you don’t have to behave or that what you do doesn’t matter. It just means life is more complex than you thought. Remember that the things people say at church are about them, not binding to you. And it’s OK to say “I don’t believe that.” I have been fortunate to hear plenty of people at church stand up when they don’t agree with something and challenge the conventional thinking, and I am one of those people. You can’t do it in a way to be disruptive, but just to be true to yourself.
pentium3 wrote:Today was hard again. The lesson was harsh, despite the teachers efforts to focus on the positive. Talking about who gets assigned where in Heaven and why is no fun, I especially didn’t like the comments. I was so glad my DH wasn’t there. I’m not proving to be very proficient at letting go of the painful doctrine…I have a long road ahead of me I think. Time for a Sunday nap.
The three degrees of heaven lesson was one of my major roadblock moments in trying to stay LDS. I ran head long into the dichotomy of Grace vs. Tiered Salvation. It didn’t make sense to me! If grace fills the gap then how do some people receive grace but not enough for exaltation?
Some good friends here gave me an interface concept. If grace covers our mistakes as long as we keep our faces towards the source of the light AND grace forestalls our personal final judgment until we have either reached our full potential or stopped progressing by our own fully informed choice to turn away from the source of light and quit trying THEN grace and tiered salvation/eternal progression can occupy the same space in my head.
The more detailed explanations from my original dichotomy moment and the wonderful perspectives offered on this board can be found here:
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2288&hilit=wins&start=20 It is good stuff!
pentium3 wrote:Today was hard again. The lesson was harsh, despite the teachers efforts to focus on the positive. Talking about who gets assigned where in Heaven and why is no fun, I especially didn’t like the comments. I was so glad my DH wasn’t there. I’m not proving to be very proficient at letting go of the painful doctrine…I have a long road ahead of me I think. Time for a Sunday nap.
My less-active wife chose to come along and unfortunately got that lesson without me with her. I know what the teacher’s like. It wasn’t a good experience for her.
I just read the entire thread that Roy shared. Thank you so much for sharing that! It makes so much sense & is no longer scary or sad to think about the after life when it’s viewed with eternal progression for ALL. I’ve learned so much during my short time here. Thank you for all of the uplifting insights and support. I feel like I’ve found a group of kindred spirits. No problem! Welcome to the group!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.