Are Families Really Forever?

[clackamascoug]

I admit to reading this on CB, but it's been a topic of conversation in our household for the past couple of years. What really constitutes a Family in Heaven, and why should I care?

I've long thought the Families are Forever mantra in the church is more of a Public Relations program than a doctrinal reality.

From what we know about Heaven, there is no essence of time, there is no eating, we are all the same age, our brains will function at their highest abilities, there is no commerce, and our primary relationship will be with the spouse and not the children you bore on the earth a gazillion years ago. If quantum mechanics hold true, polyandry would be factor in, and your current spouse wouldn't even be your primary relationship in heaven, let alone a family.

The closest I can come to understanding the phrase "Families are Forever" is the ability to continue to procreate, and raise children to some maturity cycle in heaven, where they move out and get their own apartments, while your wife is pregnant with a replacement child. If that bears out, then the Church is flowering our sidewalks with mumbo jumbo about our current family structure.

Any better ideas on the structure of the family in heaven?

[Sullyute]

I've long thought the Families are Forever mantra in the church is more of a Public Relations program than a doctrinal reality.

Maybe the church just printed too many of these stickers and they are using the same marketing method they did with the overstock of BOM's in the 80's.

[Jacob]

From what we know about Heaven, there is no essence of time, there is no eating, we are all the same age, our brains will function at their highest abilities, there is no commerce, and our primary relationship will be with the spouse and not the children you bore on the earth a gazillion years ago.

I'm interested to know how "we" (you?) know these things about heaven. Besides the whole time continuum, that's all news to me.

[creekster]

I admit to reading this on CB, but it's been a topic of conversation in our household for the past couple of years. What really constitutes a Family in Heaven, and why should I care?

I've long thought the Families are Forever mantra in the church is more of a Public Relations program than a doctrinal reality.

From what we know about Heaven, there is no essence of time, there is no eating, we are all the same age, our brains will function at their highest abilities, there is no commerce, and our primary relationship will be with the spouse and not the children you bore on the earth a gazillion years ago. If quantum mechanics hold true, polyandry would be factor in, and your current spouse wouldn't even be your primary relationship in heaven, let alone a family.
The closest I can come to understanding the phrase "Families are Forever" is the ability to continue to procreate, and raise children to some maturity cycle in heaven, where they move out and get their own apartments, while your wife is pregnant with a replacement child. If that bears out, then the Church is flowering our sidewalks with mumbo jumbo about our current family structure.

Any better ideas on the structure of the family in heaven?

Can you elaborate on the bolded statement?

[clackamascoug]

Can you elaborate on the bolded statement?

:flush: NO... I will not elaborate any further. It's too far out, even for this liberal bunch. But if the theory really held true, what really is a family?

[creekster]

:flush: NO... I will not elaborate any further. It's too far out, even for this liberal bunch. But if the theory really held true, what really is a family?

Well, it is alittle difficult to answer if one doesnt knwo what theory you are referring to.

I am at a bit of a loss to realte quantum Mechanics to the constancy (in either act or identity) of my spouse.

[LA Ute]

I admit to reading this on CB, but it's been a topic of conversation in our household for the past couple of years. What really constitutes a Family in Heaven, and why should I care?

I've long thought the Families are Forever mantra in the church is more of a Public Relations program than a doctrinal reality.

From what we know about Heaven, there is no essence of time, there is no eating, we are all the same age, our brains will function at their highest abilities, there is no commerce, and our primary relationship will be with the spouse and not the children you bore on the earth a gazillion years ago. If quantum mechanics hold true, polyandry would be factor in, and your current spouse wouldn't even be your primary relationship in heaven, let alone a family.

The closest I can come to understanding the phrase "Families are Forever" is the ability to continue to procreate, and raise children to some maturity cycle in heaven, where they move out and get their own apartments, while your wife is pregnant with a replacement child. If that bears out, then the Church is flowering our sidewalks with mumbo jumbo about our current family structure.

Any better ideas on the structure of the family in heaven?

I'm curious as to how you think we "know" the bolded items and if we do, how we "know" them any differently or better than we know that families are forever? Your reasoning here seems selective.

[UtahDan]

Clack I'm not going to dogpile you by nitpicking your assumptions. I'll just add that I do think it is interesting to ask what "families" in that context means. If each of my children get sealed, then their primary relationship is to that person, not me, just as my primary relationship is to my spouse and not my parents. Some people have posited (here I think) that sealing is really just to the human family which is interesting to me but I don't think it has any support from an official source, none that I am aware of anyway.

Basically it seems to me that we are talking about being with your spouse forever and also getting to be around your children forever. But this begs the question, in the absence of sealing, what the impediment to being around them is. I don't think there is any teaching on that point, again, that I know about. There are lots of things that work better as general concepts than they do when you start asking how they work on the granular level.

[Katy Lied]

My old institute teacher told me that in his opinion, "Families R Forever" is a PR stunt and nothing more.

Of course, he also said that AIDS was not a plague upon gays, because if it really were a plaque visited upon the sin of homosexuality, it would have been preceded by a prophetic warning of the coming punishment of God, and no prophets issued warnings prior to the first AIDS outbreak.

And, he also said that every person has some tiny degree of homosexual attraction, because without some small measure of attraction to our own gender, we can never fully enjoy heterosexual relations, which are a combination of enjoyment of our own bodily reactions, along with enjoyment of our partner's reactions. He said that gays simply had more than the tiny portion of self-love that the hetero population has.

He was a great institute teacher. I see him in ads on late night tv now.

[jay santos]

Families are forever is a beautiful concept. But deification doctrine throws a wrench in it. Why would I care more about my wife and kids than my multiple wives in heaven and billions of spirit children?

[jay santos]

My old institute teacher told me that in his opinion, "Families R Forever" is a PR stunt and nothing more.

Of course, he also said that AIDS was not a plague upon gays, because if it really were a plaque visited upon the sin of homosexuality, it would have been preceded by a prophetic warning of the coming punishment of God, and no prophets issued warnings prior to the first AIDS outbreak.

And, he also said that every person has some tiny degree of homosexual attraction, because without some small measure of attraction to our own gender, we can never fully enjoy heterosexual relations, which are a combination of enjoyment of our own bodily reactions, along with enjoyment of our partner's reactions. He said that gays simply had more than the tiny portion of self-love that the hetero population has.

He was a great institute teacher. I see him in ads on late night tv now.

Your institute teacher was definitely gay with all that rationalizing going on.

[Katy Lied]

Your institute teacher was definitely gay with all that rationalizing going on.

Nope, but I googled him just to make sure:

_____ Has been traveling and guiding tours for about twenty years. After a mission to England he earned his degrees in Ancient Near East History has given him a background in the cultures and history of the ancient Middle East adding insights into the scriptures. ___has taught in the past for CES and continues to teach adult religion classes for BYU Continuing Education. As an avid researcher, he is a sought after speaker and teacher on all aspects of scripture and history. ___is the author of the book _____. He and his wife Margie live in Arizona.

He had a lot of other sort of radical notions. I wonder if he still cops to them.

[creekster]

Nope, but I googled him just to make sure:
He had a lot of other sort of radical notions. I wonder if he still cops to them.

You do realize, I assume, that by putting that quoted material in your post you made it very simple for someone to find him. Perhaps you should have just saved yourself the trouble of deleting his name.

[creekster]

Clack I'm not going to dogpile you by nitpicking your assumptions. I'll just add that I do think it is interesting to ask what "families" in that context means. If each of my children get sealed, then their primary relationship is to that person, not me, just as my primary relationship is to my spouse and not my parents. Some people have posited (here I think) that sealing is really just to the human family which is interesting to me but I don't think it has any support from an official source, none that I am aware of anyway.

Basically it seems to me that we are talking about being with your spouse forever and also getting to be around your children forever. But this begs the question, in the absence of sealing, what the impediment to being around them is. I don't think there is any teaching on that point, again, that I know about. There are lots of things that work better as general concepts than they do when you start asking how they work on the granular level.

You mean that when someone says as a result of quantum emchanics your spouse may not be your primary spouse in eternity that your curisoutiy isnt aroused just a bit? That is more than just an assumption, IMO.

I thikn that the notion of families being together forever was very important back in the day. Recall all the vows of marriage said 'til death do us part, and at the time families were often rent due to circumstances and would never see each other agin. If your kids migrated west and were never again to cross yourt threshold, you would be greatly comforted knowing you would see them again in the afterlife.

Most of the stuff about how the sealing works and what life might be like is just that mivcy specualtion, IMO.

[Jacob]

You do realize, I assume, that by putting that quoted material in your post you made it very simple for someone to find him. Perhaps you should have just saved yourself the trouble of deleting his name.

As soon as I read it I googled it.