What is Heaven like for a Mormon?

Wow.

I just had to share this post from Sister Mary Lisa's blog. Just blew me away.

The Three Levels of Heaven

Personally, I can respect the LDS belief system just fine, and am glad that many people find comfort in the knowledge that they will enjoy having families and eternal glory in the Celestial Kingdom if/when they make it there. They have every right to believe this for themselves.

Here is why it can easily seem kind of strange to others. If I were to become a Goddess and follow God's example (as described in Mormon theology), here's what it would entail:

I buy a new house. I have four children, and the house has four bedrooms. Two of the bedrooms (one being the master bedroom) are located on the top floor of the house. I decorate my bedroom and the bedroom beside it in totally lavish decorations, the best money can buy. Large and comfortable couches, chairs, silks, lights everywhere, and a king sized bed for each of these rooms. Solid gold fixtures and beauty abounds. Walk-in closets and plenty of light and space and beauty. A special intercom connects the two rooms for constant communication, and I include a big double door that swings open to connect the two rooms whenever necessary. Togetherness abounds.

The third bedroom is found on the main level, and I decorate it tastefully, but spend an eighth of what I spent on the bedroom upstairs when I decorate it. It is comfortable but not great. Single bed. Desk with one wooden chair. It is comfortably large but rather sparse in furnishings. No phone or intercom to connect to other parts of the house.

The fourth bedroom is in the basement, and the lighting is bad in there, but I don't mind. I spend about 1/20 of what I spend on the upstairs rooms, and I furnish it with a single bed but no desk, chair, or lamp. It is a small room, just large enough to fit the bed and dresser, but nothing else. I don't include any extra lamps for light, and the window is small and near the ceiling. No phone or intercom to connect to the other parts of the house.

Then I sit down and decide of my four children, which one has been most obedient and followed to the letter all the things I outlined on my posted fridge chart of rules to live by, including bathing in my special pool and believing in my Special Ghost. That one is the one who gets the nice room upstairs with me. We play, live, and have a good ol' time up there every day, all day.

My child who was also obedient, and honorable, and had a testimony of the truthfulness of my charted plan, but failed to be valiant that one time after having taken the required bath in my special pool...may only ever be visited by The Chosen Son but not by me. Ever. He will live separately and singly forever in the room on the main level. I have no intention of visiting him.

The third child is the one who did not receive the testimony of The Chosen Son at all, and who refused to even look at my posted fridge chart of rules to live by. This is he who is a liar, a sorcerer, an adulterer, a whoremonger, and he who loves and makes a lie. He will only be visited by the Special Ghost I send, but never by The Chosen Son and never by me. He is grounded in the basement in semi-darkness alone for a thousand years, after which I will allow him to emerge, and only then will he be allowed a second chance.

The fourth child is the one who once had a testimony of my Special Ghost and Chosen Son, and was once as obedient and faithful as the first child...but instead of constantly following the fridge chart rules, one day thought about it and decided that he didn't believe that a Special Ghost gave him the good feelings he felt sometimes. He felt them when he heard the national anthem, or when he watched Anne of Green Gables, or when he heard Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. I knew he must be following the Evil One when he told me this, and I can allow no forgiveness for him, for he denied the Special Ghost after having received it when he was eight. He will live in eternal darkness, torment, and misery with the Evil One and his angels forever.

And this is precisely how I want it to be for all of my children I love equally.



*****My Thoughts*****

If Mormonism were explained to 'new converts' in this fashion, I doubt that many would join up. Yet, this is how Mormons perceive Heaven, in a nutshell. I guess there is something to Boyd Packer's insistence that truth should be given in the proper spirit, with the proper authority or they risk loosing a 'testimony'. True that. It happened to me, and I am grateful to never have to be spoon-fed like a child anymore.

I used to be worried about not being worthy enough. I used to fear that I would be the one standing outside the house while my more worthy sister got the comfy room next to 'mom'. Now I know that its their perception, not mine. They think they'll be the only ones up there. That's what makes some of them so high-and-mighty in this life, judging others through their own lens. Meanwhile, they continue to tread the 'Mormon Hampster Wheel', wasting the one life they DO have, in hopes of being rewarded in the next life.

I think now I have a better appreciation for things that I experience in the present. I don't blame a devil when things go wrong, and I don't hand over 10% of my income to make sure I continue to have good things happen for me, like keeping a job or having my car run. I don't measure my worth against anyone else around me, and I certainly don't have the guilt I used to carry around for making human errors, like drinking iced tea or having a swear word fall out.

Most importantly, I don't have to guilt my children into feeling inadequate, or claim that they don't want to be with me in the CK because they won't go back to church and make their lives right before God. I don't want my children to avoid being around me for fear that I will judge them based on their church attendance, or their lack of temple work being performed. And I can't imagine that my own mother sees herself as a mother Goddess that would actually approve of such segregation for her children and grandchildren based solely on their belief in the LDS church. I can't see my very TBM sister actually choosing which of her children get to be with her in the CK and which ones she would keep below her in a lesser 'living quarters' just because they didn't keep ALL the little suggestions like the Word of Wisdom or wearing two pairs of earrings and getting a tatoo.