This post has nothing to do with General Conference. Rather, it's something that passed through my mind earlier today, before conference even began.
Popeye emailed me from his dad's house. He told me of a dream he had Friday night. Let me set the background as to why he might've had a dream about these two particular individuals...
Friday afternoon, Popeye got called out to a vehicle accident on the interstate. Two people, a man and a woman, were dead on the scene and the two remaining passengers were taken to the hospital - not expected to live. The deaths were gruesome (Popeye took it upon himself to show me pictures) and sad. He has seen his fair share of dead bodies so when he went to bed Friday evening, he didn't think he would be dreaming about the victims.
In his dream, he was there with this man & woman. They were in a beautiful room with beautiful peachy-colored furniture. There was another "trooper" there, but he doesn't know who that was. In his dream, he was trying to get this man - the victim, not the officer - to go with him somewhere else. The man would not go and wanted to stay with the woman. Popeye tried telling him that where they were going would be so much better, but the man still wanted to stay. That's it. That's the dream.
As I thought about it, I wondered if the room they were in signified the telestial or terrestrial kingdom and that Popeye was wanting to escort him somewhere better.
When people pass on, we know that they are given an opportunity to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and thus gain exaltation. We also know that the telestial kingdom is more beautiful than the earth is now. So when someone dies, will they even be able to comprehend the majesty and beauty of the terrestrial or celestial kingdoms? Will people, after being taught the gospel in the spirit world, want to leave loved ones behind for a more beautiful kingdom? Was this something Popeye was being told in his dream? Or was it something to make me think a little more deeply about?
I don't know if there is any doctrine out there answering these questions, but I really think people WOULD be torn in leaving loved ones behind for a more beautiful place. I mean, they're already torn here on earth - those people who accept the gospel but families are adamantly opposed to it. They have to choose, exaltation & Eternal Life with our Heavenly Father, or a lesser kingdom where their family isn't even an eternal union...
Food for thought, I suppose.
Conference was wonderful, by the way. I have much to say about that - but I won't.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
A little spiritual thought for today
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2 comments:
That's a really interesting thought. I kind of leapfrogged from it in my own mind to how we view telestial and terrestrial behaviors. They seem enticing now and "good enough" so we want to stay there in our telestial/terrestrial behaviors rather than moving up to the celestial behaviors and the wondrous rewards that we will glean from them.
I enjoyed reading those thoughts. Very interesting dream, and concepts, especially as to how limited our scope is regarding the telestial kingdom.
My grandpa once told me a story about my mom. Apparently, when she was a teenager, she came home from a seminary class and stated, 'you know, the telestial kingdom doesn't sound all that bad.'
Which is only a stunning thought, after you see how her life has progressed since.
She's done some remarkable things, but has had some grand failures as well. She says she knows the Gospel is true - and yet, she cannot find it inside to live up to her potential.
My grandpa said that thought has always hit him so hard. That she would be willing to settle for the lowest kingdom, because it didn't sound too bad. (like you said, beautiful beyond what we can imagine.)
Thanks for sharing these thoughts. ;-)
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