The Great "Squaring Up" of Heaven and Hell

As I promised in other blog posts about the ultimate Telestial, Terrestrial, or Celestial rewards that are available after Judgement, I am now going to provide my perspective on the time that we will spend between death and the judgement. As always, these are my thoughts and do not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, where I spend my Sundays. Mormons call this time the "Spirit World", which is kinda strange since it describes more of a condition than a place. Christians have several names for it: "Heaven", "Hell", "Paradise", "Prison", "Limbo", "Purgatory". There are likely other names as well and scholars of the Judeo-Christian Bible use them all copiously to try to describe what is going to happen after we die.

There is indeed a time between death and Judgement. How long this time lasts is quite dependent on the way you lived your life. I have come to call it the "Squaring Up", where each of us and God fulfill promises and covenants made previously.

It is useful at this point to explain that you existed before you were born on Earth. You not only just existed, you made a very important choice: you decided to take sides with Jehovah, the man you may know better as Jesus Christ. God's reward for your choice was to send you to Earth with a body and to promise that you would get to have that body again in a perfected form after you die. If you recall, Jesus was "resurrected" after he died and God promised that same resurrection to those of us who followed Christ before birth. Essentially, you are alive today because you made the right choice previously and you will be resurrected for the same reason. God will "square up" his pre-Earth-life promise of immortality with you just before you attend Judgement. You will absolutely live again - God is good on his word.

There are other things to square-up as well. As part of accepting and promising to follow Jehovah (Jesus) before you were born, you were expected to keep commandments during your life on Earth. Also, while on Earth, you may have made further "covenants" with God that involve other activities and rewards. All of these must be accounted for before the Judgement.  If you kept the promises you made, there will be very little to "square up" and your time might be short and blissful, a definition of "heaven". If you didn't do a very good job with your promises, you will have more "squaring up" to do, which seems to be unpleasant and is often referred to as "Hell".  Remember those stories about Hell in the Bible? How long you spend "squaring up" is really dependent on how much you strayed from your promises.

If you have a background in business, this "squaring up" sure sounds like business accounting. God feels like an auditor and you want to have your bookkeeping in good order before the audit (Judgement) comes. That's what this "spirit world" time is for:  make sure all the figures add up and everything on the ledger balances. If you have been a good business manager, you should be ready for your audit without much work.  If you "cooked" the books or kept your records poorly, things could get nasty. Making everything honest and balanced is going to be a painful and expensive.  Sound like "Hell" yet?

There are some things to keep in mind when attempting to make the "squaring up" time as short as possible for yourself:

• Repentance - Everyone messes up on their promises (well, except for Christ). The principle of repentance is that you can avoid the pain of "squaring up" as you make up for your mistakes in the way Jesus has prescribed.  Not sure how to make it work? We are here to help you.
• There is no Excuse for Ignorance - As part of the squaring up there will be full disclosure. No one will be left ignorant before Judgement. I suppose you can try to say you really didn't know about Jehovah's commandments (there are ten and many US courthouses put them out on the front lawn. They also feature in that Bible.) I suppose you can plead ignorance if you like, but you really do determine how long this "squaring up" takes.
• You want Mercy, Not "Fairness" - There are two things to expect from God:  justice and mercy. The smart bet is to go for mercy every time. If you start arguing with God (pretty stupid idea) that he isn't being "fair" about the squaring up process, it will just create more things to settle.

God really has set up a wonderful system - it really is up to you if you choose to take advantage of it. For my money, it's absolutely the best deal that will ever come around! So, keep those commandments! Repent when you need to do so! Don't make the "squaring up" any harder. There is a fantastic reward just waiting for you to claim!

Civilization Crumbles to Appease the Harpy's Pleasure

Feminists fought hard to get wider choices. Now that they have such, will their younger sisters make responsible choices for society? They have a rather poor track record so far.

After I read this back, I see that I was really vague about what I mean by feminist harpies. These are the current crop of Social Justice Warriors that wreak havoc on college campuses, manufacture offences, physically attack those with opposing viewpoints, and plead some higher virtue to justify their behavior. I honor the work over the past generations to give women the vote, allow them to act independently, and to work and live as they choose. The new crop have stolen the good work of previous "feminists" in providing new choices and given the term "feminist" a hideous aftertaste of intolerance to traditional values. When I say "modern feminist", I speak of SJWs that use violence and their ignorant rhetoric to fight for far less-worthy causes and encourage deviant behaviors that threaten the very existence of future generations.

The modern feminist is an interesting character. She is a creature that uses all of the built-up privilege of the classical lady to behave atrociously. Society and decent men step aside respectfully as she tromps like a beast over the feminine traditions of decorum and delicacy to become a foul-mouthed, militantly sexualized, culturally dictatorial harpy over which there seems to be no practical regulation. The modern feminist in western civilization has attained the prize of ultimate freedom of behavior and has chosen to use it to become a despicable monster and virus. This is widely considered to be a wonderful thing.

As you can surmise, I don't think much the current crop of feminists. Like most decent people, I try hard to avoid such folk and live my life among those who consider the honest needs of others before their own pleasure. I consort with those who build natural families who will populate the future. I was raised by and honor women who had a different and more worthy ethic. My mothers honored the ancient underpinnings of verdant culture - the modern feminist tears and rends the past to leave gaping holes for hedonism to fill. It is a worse world, the harpies cheer it, but I reject such.

Don't get me wrong, I like freedom. However, alongside freedom is the wide responsibility for the choices one makes and how those choices affect others. Those with fewer freedoms have fewer choices and are less culpable for happenings, which was the state of so many groups in the past, and still arguably in the present. Western society has managed to give women nearly everything they desire, hopefully short of destroying civilization in the process.

It seems that the feminist movement is excited for the chance to destroy civilization without much thought or care about the potential chaos that might follow. Something will surely inhabit the wreckage that the harpies joyously create, but I doubt it will be a better world.

In the way of clarification, the "modern feminist" seems hell-bent on destroying the traditional culture of marriage and family in favor of "anything goes" sexuality and gender confusion. We already have a problem producing enough children to keep nations afloat and it is now fashionable to praise and coddle willful childlessness and the abandonment of natural marriage. A nation cannot stand without a rising generation taught to perpetuate themselves and their culture. Transsexuals and gays refrain from procreation and family-building and set an example that ignoring these social duties is virtuous.

The feminist is all about freedom from social constraints, for herself and others. Sadly, we have seen precious little of the stuff of responsibility, especially to larger society and its health and continuance. The feminist often denies society her ability to bear children, robbing all of her genuine contribution to its future and encouraging other women and other oppressed peoples to be as self-centered and neglectful of the needs of the larger society as they tend to be. They decry women who make socially responsible choices in child-bearing and family-building as some sort of gender turn-coat: either embrace their ultimate cause of freedom to act without consequence or be crushed by their shrieking social rejection of you.

After the great battle for more choices, the modern feminist wants to ultimately dictate your choice. This indicates that they didn't really want you to have choices, they just wanted to alter your course into some new straight-jacket of the decadent feminist design. Throwing civilization under the bus of their resolve isn't even the real goal - it is just a interesting byproduct of the real vision of a universal life without consequences and void of any consideration beyond self-pleasure. It is like the justification of demolishing a shopping mall in the noble pursuit of a certain jacket - individual desires outstrip all other considerations.

One must remember that we will ultimately be judged by how we use our ability to choose. Did we make good choices that put the needs of others before our own?

More Free Stuff

I give things away all the time.  I figure that I have resources sufficient for my family's needs, so I don't really need to force others to buy my writings in order to read them. I can make more "inconvenient" formats of my books available freely. If you want to support my writing, please visit my Amazon area and buy some of my e-books for the Kindle.

I have made my latest e-book "Feeding the Soul of Steve Jobs" available on my home web server for anyone to read for free. There is a lot of other material there that is also free to read  Enjoy!

Distractions

I don't want people to think I have dropped off the face of the earth.  I am still here, but since the last post, I have left my previous work, taken up a challenging new opportunity and much of my free time is taken up with preparation for additional work as an adjunct professor this coming fall.  Busy, busy!

I will get back to posts at some point in the future, but it may be several months until I can get the free time needed to do a decent job. I hope you will not give up on me yet!

Comments Fall on Deaf Ears

I feel the need to reveal something to those who comment on my posts here:  I don't read them.  To be more honest, I actually CAN'T read them.  That sounds weird, so let me explain.

I wrote some time ago on the subject of internet comments and the fact that I had turned this feature off when I began using Blogger some six years ago.  As time passed, several features have been added to Blogger and I was put in the position to have to re-enable comments to make various features work as intended.

I still feel the same way about comments - I don't really want them. I try to keep commenting features disabled to avoid the inherent rudeness of giving the impression that I encourage comments when I actually don't want them at all. A strange thing happened though - commenting here on my blog is still enabled, but it is broken! I couldn't see people's comments even if I wanted to do so (which I really don't).  However, I see statistical evidence that people leave comments that I simply am unable to see. I can only think that people consider me a terribly obnoxious jerk for not acknowledging any comments.  I am sure there is plenty of evidence of my inherent jerkiness, but I am actually not displaying this in relation to the unseen and therefore unanswered comments.

I am surely able to be contacted, if you really feel the need and want to be encouraging. I don't make it easy but it can be done.  Just don't suppose you are talking to me via blog comments as it doesn't work.  May the bear yet save the world by finishing me off.

Perhaps a More Clear Perception of the Ultimate Judgement

I am going to reiterate, yet again, that although I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) and the basic outline of the afterlife that it espouses is the basis upon which I draw, I cannot say that what I present below is either factually true or an accurate depiction of the official LDS conception of life after death. I just love coming up with fresh ways of disclaiming everything I say!

I got so excited about sharing my thoughts of the telestial (lower), terrestrial (middle), and celestial (higher) rewards that God makes available to us that I forgot that I am describing the after-life out of order!  These rewards come at the far end of a rather drawn-out after-death process.

I think a lot of things I was taught in relation to the after-life were allegorical, especially if it is drawn from biblical descriptions. As an example, the whole concept of Hell was apparently based on a burning canyon of refuse a bit away from Jerusalem that was pretty nasty to behold (smell) and into which some people might have been thrown if the authorities didn't like them. It would be a great way to display the idea of hellish punishment to people who cannot be convinced to be decent otherwise. Christians believe in Jesus and Heaven and I hear that slightly more people trust that there is a Satan and a Hell. For my part, I think there is a Hell as well, but probably in a way that is different than most, but I will save that for another post.

When the term "Judgement" gets used, I think of a courtroom and I imagine a lot of other people do as well. There are lawyers, one defending you and another prosecuting you, bringing in witnesses and evidence either for or against a happy result. There is also a judge that we are told will be so correct that we cannot offer anything but ascent to his decision. Christians hope Jesus, as the defense lawyer, will do them a good and merciful turn. however, it seems the idea is something akin to the picture below - good folk going to some nice place and the bad folk being dragged off to a horrible punishment.

One view of Judgement, complete with effeminate angels and disgusting demons that might be jerking or alluring you toward Heaven or Hell.  I don't really know why everyone except the apparent workers are naked - perhaps they need to go shopping and haven't had a chance yet.

Is Judgement just an abstraction like Hell, to help us be concerned about our future and put out the noble work needed to justify a good verdict? Personally, I can definitely see this analogy being employed by a kind God who is trying to convince his more unenthusiastic children to live a better life. He isn't clear about specifics but the possibility of an adversarial and unpleasant court scene may turn a few heads and hearts for the better.

For all we know, Judgement will be an interview between God, the Savior, and the individual being judged, where we are shown how we REALLY are.  Can I be honest here? A lot of people think they are really wonderful (far more so than you or me), sycophantic people have sung their praises, and they think they deserve a wonderful reward beyond what their true natures justify. For instance, a lot of politicians probably fall into this "swelled-ego" category.  On the opposite side, some people think very much less of themselves, distrust most praise (I do this to an unhealthy level), and will think they deserve far less than God does.  Sometimes God needs to build our perceptions up, other times he needs to cut us down to true size, to help us see ourselves clearly. In my view, Judgement is all about finding such clarity and, once we see ourselves as we truly are, we will choose which glory fits our then clear perception best and God will simply concur.

I hope as I explored the differing rewards in past posts that I didn't give the impression that any of the three were comparatively bad - to my thinking, they are all wonderful in the eyes of their future residents and are deserving of the appellation of "Heaven". I also think that God is not disappointed in a person who lived and chooses the middle or lower glory. Everyone has their personal preferences and puts forth effort toward the glory that they authentically desire.  Of course, God encourages everyone to strive for the highest reward and assures us that each of his children have the capacity to attain the best - I think it really is dependent on the resolve and diligence of each person and what they REALLY WANT as displayed in thought and deed during their life.

That is what I think the Judgement will be like.

In grand backward order, I will move on, in a future post, to talk of heaven and hell, paradise and prison, rest and punishment, all terms for the same condition that actually occurs BEFORE Judgement.  Stay tuned.

The Limitless Potential of a Celestial Labor

In the previous installments of this series of posts on the Plan of Happiness and the different "glories" to which one can aspire, each had a short descriptor: the telestial was a state of "no consequences" and the terrestrial had "no responsibilities". Now, I will attempt to describe the highest or "celestial" reward which I have chosen the phrase "no limits".

I can't find a cute description or picture for the celestial reward - there is very little recorded about it. It is compared with the light from the sun as compared to the light from the moon (representing the middle reward). Brighter! Warmer! Bring sunblock?

As I have described each reward, one may have noticed that the lower and middle rewards constitute a freedom "from" something: a condition where something that was undesirable in mortality is no longer present. The telestial glory eliminates culpability for actions. The terrestrial eliminates the need for further toil. These are often portrayed as the most unwanted elements of life on earth and, in the biblical creation story, were described as the major features of existence after our first parents were cast out of the Garden of Eden.

The celestial realm is, at its very heart, open-ended and definitively earns the title "no limits". Although it also provides the better circumstances of the other glories, such as an impervious body and a lack of physical wants, it also features the continuation of the liberating aspects of mortality. The celestial people can continue to learn and to grow, access limitless materials and form them as they desire, and develop as was possible on earth. The pinnacle of this endless growth is the ability to spend one's eternity parenting and nurturing other souls toward the same abilities.

It is difficult to imagine what a celestial existence will be like, which makes it quite different from the other rewards. In many ways, it will be a refinement of the life celestial-oriented people live now - in whatever form that takes. As broad and deep as human experience can be in mortality, celestial people will have similar circumstances, though both more broad and more deep in scope. It will really be without the disabilities that limit one's capability to reach their potential in life.

In the lower glories, one essentially trades continuing development for a claim to some exemption from it. For many people who focused attention on the trials of mortality in a "glass-half-empty" way, the conditions of the lower kingdoms are a wonderful prospect. If one was constantly worried at the prospect of "getting caught" doing some forbidden activity, the telestial is a permanent exemption from this - nothing is forbidden in a circumstance where everything regenerates and one has no access to tools or ability that cause harm to others and their environment - the proverbial "rubber room". For terrestrial folk, the trade-off involves the acquisition of an eternity of leisure without guilt over not doing more. In both the lower and middle glories, each person's focus is on oneself and the selfish desire to make their own life more carefree at some point.

The celestial person chooses to continue activities begun on earth in a grander arena, in a "glass-half-full" manner that seeks to ultimately fill all cups to overflowing. Christ and his prophets alluded to this often in their pleas to put other people's needs ahead of one's own. The act of helping another to develop to their potential is the ultimate Godly labor.  It is definitely work, though a most satisfying and worthy expenditure! It constitutes a depth of effort and a breadth of love that the best we can do in life can only serve as a prelude. Celestial glory is a desirable eternity for those who did what they could in life and show promise and a longing toward doing so much more once the limitations of mortality are lifted. The old adage is true: the reward for hard work is more work - celestial types actually find this concept appealing!

In a subsequent post, it will be interesting to think about the idea of "Judgement" which can often be viewed as unpleasant. As expected, my personal view of this might be different than most. Stay tuned!