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How is that worse than much in the "regular" christian bible?
There is only one Christian Bible. There is no 'regular' Bible and a 'Mormon Bible'. There is nothing in the Bible about spirits that need to be born to have an earthy experience to continue to progress eternally to Godhood. There is nothing that says it is a duty to provide the way for these spirits to be able to do this by having as many children as possible.
A few pages later the punishment is explained as being damned. That is a heavy thing to shake off.
I'm sure you realize, although you probably don't give a damn, that "Doctrines of Salvation" is not and never has been a canonical source of LDS doctrine. I don't know of a single LDS person, and I can assure you that I know thousands more Mormons than you do, who is trying to shake off any fears of damnation over not having had a large family.
There is only one Christian Bible. There is no 'regular' Bible and a 'Mormon Bible'. There is nothing in the Bible about spirits that need to be born to have an earthy experience to continue to progress eternally to Godhood. There is nothing that says it is a duty to provide the way for these spirits to be able to do this by having as many children as possible.
And there is nothing in the Bible that states that all truth is found in the Bible either.
Wow. This is most certainly a strange comparison. From what I understand, when you get baptized posthumously you don't know it and neither does anybody else besides the Mormons who do the baptizing. Don't see a lot of harm there.
OTOH, I wonder how many slaves never knew they were slaves as they were enduring slavery.
Yeah, I mean whose to say in the age of the internet you might have some unknown or little known religion out there somewhere that looks up death records of everybody in the world and does some sort of ceremony/ritual for those people who have passed on and you would never know about it! Don't really see any harm there either.
The Mormons are good people, maybe just a little misunderstood.
Lets take to a totally different extreme and say there's some Satanic cult/devil worshiping group (if you believe in Satan) out there and they do some sort of Satanic ritual for every person who has died in the world hoping that that person's soul (if you believe in such a thing) goes to H-E-double hockey sticks (if you believe in such a place).
And there's this huge galactic battle in the cosmos between the Mormon's baptisms and the Satanic cult's ceremonies over the same dead person. You just never know!
St. Peter: Oh yeah, I see. You were baptized by proxy by your great-great-great granddaughter, but you chose to reject the baptism. Well, good for you! Welcome to Heaven, my friend.
So even if you are baptized by proxy posthumously, you can still reject the baptism and be admitted to Heaven. Would it be the same or a different Heaven over accepting the baptism? I'll continue the format of the humor dialogue merely for clarity here.
Person: I reject the Baptism
St. Peter: Duly noted! Come on in...
Person: I accept the Baptism
St. Peter: OK, entrance to LDS Heaven is two doors down on the left (or some variant of this directive on St. Peter's part)
So even if you are baptized by proxy posthumously, you can still reject the baptism and be admitted to Heaven. Would it be the same or a different Heaven over accepting the baptism? I'll continue the format of the humor dialogue merely for clarity here.
Person: I reject the Baptism
St. Peter: Duly noted! Come on in...
Person: I accept the Baptism
St. Peter: OK, entrance to LDS Heaven is two doors down on the left (or some variant of this directive on St. Peter's part)
Since we believe that baptism by immersion, performed by someone holding the Aaronic priesthood is essential to eternal life in the Celestial Kingdom, a person who does not receive this baptism (either during mortality or later on by accepting a proxy baptism) would likely go to the Terrestrial Kingdom. Once he gets there, though, I can assure you that he's going to find himself in the company of a great many baptized Mormons. My point being that our eventual eternal destiny is dependent upon many, many factors. Baptism is merely one of them, and being a Mormon is certainly no guarantee of anything.
Incidentally, biblical support for the idea of differing degrees of heavenly glory can be found in 1 Corinthians:15. Basically, that entire chapter is dealing with the eventual resurrection of human beings. Verses 40-42 state, "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead."This is not to say that Joseph Smith just read those verses and decided to build a theology around them. We believe he received this information by revelation and that 1 Corinthians 15:40-42 merely supports our doctrine. Then, too, Matthew 16:27 says, "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." To us, this implies that greater obedience will result in a greater reward.
One final thought: It is my understanding that to speak of any particular denomination existing in the afterlife really isn't accurate. I believe that once we die, what matters will be whether we accepted "truth" or not, regardless of its source. There's definitely not going to be "a Mormon heaven" and "a Baptist heaven" and a "Catholic heaven." And I have also heard it taught throughout my life that God knows where we will be happiest and that all of the degrees of glory will be wonderful beyond anything we can imagine. At any rate, we believe that...
Those who spend eternity in the Celestial Kingdom will receive a heavenly glory like that of the sun.
Those who spend eternity in the Terrestrial Kingdom will receive a heavenly glory like that of the moon.
Those who spend eternity in the Telestial Kingdom will receive a heavenly glory like that of the stars.
I missed where it said what you have put in bold-face type. Or was that just you trying to paraphrase something that the article actually said?
It was a direct and exact quote:
Quote:
This has outraged Jews and baffled Christians who see it as usurping the memory of their departed relatives. The Church says it cannot stem the tide of dead baptized in its own temples.
Those who spend eternity in the Celestial Kingdom will receive a heavenly glory like that of the sun.
Those who spend eternity in the Terrestrial Kingdom will receive a heavenly glory like that of the moon.
Those who spend eternity in the Telestial Kingdom will receive a heavenly glory like that of the stars.
I hope this helps.
Yes, it makes my understanding much clearer, thank you for the detailed explanation. The more you learn of Religions, the more you realize there are common threads that run between them. God placing a person in one of these Kingdoms is somewhat akin to finding out what your "Aura" would be in Astrology, or possibly having your "Chakra" balanced.
Pagan and Astrology practices often encompass worship of Nature, Sun Cycles (summer/winter solstice), Moon Cycles, etc. Additionally there is a reverence for Nature/Natural Phenomenon such as Aurora Borealis displays, etc.
The Celestial Kingdom with the Sun sounds nice and warm...
I don't see why anyone cannot continue to progress to Exaltation. Proxy sealings are done, which are a necessary component to doing so. Progression continues after death.
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