That is "The Plan of Salvation." It is a fairly simplistic version. If you look you can find far more involved diagrams. But this is the one children are taught from the begining and it is used in adult classes too. The basic spiel is this: We all lived with god before we were born (Pre-Mortal Existance), but god knew that we would need to have bodies in order to grow and progress and, yes, become gods and goddesses too. So he made a plan . . . Earth! he made Adam and Eve, and they, of course, ate the apple. They had to, in fact. It was the only was for them to become self aware enough to have children. And breed they did! But because of the Fall, mankind needed a savior . . . Christ. Jesus came and died and then was resurrected. and because he did we all can. Now, we don't remember the pre-mortal existence, nor the war in heaven, nor Satan and 1/3rd of the hosts of heaven being cast down to earth because at birth there is a "Veil of Forgetfulness" set in place. That is because life is a test of faith.
So. here we are on Earth. With our physical bodies. Now we get to grow, but we have to do certain things on earth . . . with our bodies . . . to reach the highest level of Glory. Not heaven, mind you, "glory." We have to be baptised, get our temple endowments, and be married. And all of that requires a body. When people die, if they have been baptised (by priesthood authority at the age of 8 or older--not just any old baptism) then they go to a kind of waiting room--Spirit paradise--part of the Spirit World. Those who were not baptised go to a kind of spirtual holding cell--spirit prison--also part of the spirit world. The two worlds aren't separate, they mingle. That way the ones in paradise can do missionary work and teach the ones in prison and while they do that, the faithful, still alive on earth, will do the baptisms and temple work for the dead. Every wonder -why- mormons are so phenomenally good at geneology? That's right. They have to baptise all those prisoners.
Once all the prisoners are baptised they are ready for the next stage--Ressurection. This is the reuniting of the spirit with a perfected and immortal body. You will still be you, only hotter, thinner, more hair, whiter teeth, all imperfections gone. Ressurection is a free gift. It is the product of Christ's death and ressurection. Everyone is ressurected. The good, the bad and the ugly. No exceptions.
Judgement is the part where who and what you were in life matters. it is what determines your glory. you will be judged by Jesus and all the apostles . . . I always was glad Judas would be among the judges . . . and we will be judged on our works.
after Judgement we all go to one of four kingdoms of glory:
Celestial--the highest, you live with god, and you have your family forever. This is the only group that will become gods and goddesses and go on to create worlds and spirit children of their own. You have to be married, and sealed in the temple to be here. (and just like that we are back to polygamy!) This is where the faithful and repentant go. Any who have been baptised, either in person or by proxy in the temple. By the way, the dead who are baptised get to choose whether or not they accept the work.
Terrestrial--you live with Jesus. It's still pretty awesome, but no god the father, no eternal families, no progression, no worlds and no spirit children. This is for decent people who chose not to accept baptism.
Telestial--you live with the holy ghost. This is where the bad people go. it's . . . . well . . . it's not like any other hell you have heard of. often Joseph Smith is credited with saying something to the effect of, if people could see the telestial kingdom, they would be killing themselves to get it. Nice that, really. this is where suicides would go. No progression. but you live forever safe and happy. you never see god, or Jesus and that is the deepest grief.
Then there is "Outer Darkness" or the kingdom of no glory. This is hell. and it is really really hard to get in. you have to have "known the truth" and then denied it. This is more than a loss of faith. It means you knew, empirically, unquestionably, and still turned away. so . . . . um . . . . YOU won't be going here . . just in case you were worried.
And that is the mormon heaven in as close to a nutshell as you can get it. Here is a link to a lesson manual page about the kingdoms to give you a more formal snapshot than I did.
Do you have a question about mormons, or mormonism? send it on to me at askanexmormon@gmail.com
Wow. This is way different from most brands of Christianity. It's highly deviant in the idea that mortals can ascend to a sort of 'Godhood'.
ReplyDeleteMost protestants express belief in God and only one God. While the idea exists that one can develop riches in heaven, there's not any delineation between different realms of existence other than Heaven and Earth and Hell.
It really is very different. I was raised with it, so I didn't realize how different it was till I got out. That was when I first understood why it was other Christians didn't consider mormons to be christian. It's because if the comparison is doctrinal . . . they aren't.
ReplyDelete"It's because if the comparison is doctrinal...they aren't." What does that even mean?
ReplyDeleteSomeone is a Christian if he or she believes that Jesus Christ died for our sins and tries to emulate follow his teachings. Mormons do these things and are therefore Christians.
Your site takes a mostly objective stance, but statements like this completely discredit you.
I disagree, Disappointed, as one comenter pointed out in the post about Mormon's being Christian, there is a semantic issue here. Yes they are -- if your definition of Christian is strictly belief in Christ. But if your definition is broader, as in, one with and part of the body of other Christian faiths, then no. They aren't.
ReplyDeletealso, please note, I don't claim objectivity. I offer a personal perspective and I do try and point out where I am subjective rather than objective. But I very much appreciate your comment!