What is the afterlife like?

[I.J. Reilly]

So what is eternity filled with? Why do we learn to enjoy varied pursuits on earth if the after life is filled with things completely different from our earth existence? I understand the joy that would come from being in the presence of Jesus, as I do believe in Christ and find happiness in that belief, however I see it hard to think that there will be much one-on-one with the God-head. Are we to believe that the Celestial kingdom is like the temple ceremony?

In high school I was sitting with my 2 best friends and we were discussing what we thought heaven would be like. Between the three of us we had a Baptist, a Catholic and a Mormon. The Baptist friend of mine gives his version, which basically is, "In heaven we will be constantly singing praise to God and worshiping him." My Catholic friend thinks about that for a second and says, "If that's heaven, they can send me to hell. I hate singing." The Baptist then tries to recover a bit with things like, "Well, you'll have a really good voice and everyone will be in harmony, and you will do it b/c you love God..."

It was awesome, and I agree with my Catholic friend. I enjoy singing and such, but an eternity of it? No, thanks.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I think I must be lacking in some faith, I have a hard time understanding why we should live by a certain dogma without some understanding of what the end result is.

I did not mean to imply that someone has an exact answer, but rather an idea of what time will be filled with.

I remember when I was young, the concept of heaven, degrees of glory, and "earning an eternal reward" was very compelling to me. As I grow older, I am less and less interested in this concept. Perhaps it means that I find it less believable. The parts of the gospel associated with service, love, family, etc. are what resonate with me now.

[creekster]

I think we can no more understand what the afterlife might be like than we can understand the mind of God. If one assumes there is an afterlife, that we retain an indepednent consciousness and that we are imbued with all knowledge, then the afterlife will be extraordinarily different than our current existence. Everrythign will be different. Knowledge changes everything.

[byu71]

I believe in an afterlife. One day it dawned on me though that if there isn't, I won't be all that sad about it. I won't be bothered a bit.

[Babs]

Traditional interpretation of the afterlife includes perfect communion with the Creator, and that aspect alone renders that existence incomprehensible to us in our current state. We can't even fathom a unerring, infinite being, let alone fathom communion with it.

[DU Ute]

I've been waiting for a thread to post this photo of the lightning-damaged Moroni.



Maybe the afterlife will be a place where people can safely erect large, gaudy conductors of electricity high up in the air?

I guess bubble wrap is great for treating burns, whether they be from lightning or George Foreman grill.

[Jarid in Cedar]

I remember when I was young, the concept of heaven, degrees of glory, and "earning an eternal reward" was very compelling to me. As I grow older, I am less and less interested in this concept. Perhaps it means that I find it less believable. The parts of the gospel associated with service, love, family, etc. are what resonate with me now.

I concur with this statement. I look at where we are right now. If the general populous acted in service, compassion, and love on a more regular basis, we would have Heaven here on Earth. I hope Heaven is simply a continuation of the life that I already have.

[Surfah]

In high school I was sitting with my 2 best friends and we were discussing what we thought heaven would be like. Between the three of us we had a Baptist, a Catholic and a Mormon. The Baptist friend of mine gives his version, which basically is, "In heaven we will be constantly singing praise to God and worshiping him." My Catholic friend thinks about that for a second and says, "If that's heaven, they can send me to hell. I hate singing." The Baptist then tries to recover a bit with things like, "Well, you'll have a really good voice and everyone will be in harmony, and you will do it b/c you love God..."

It was awesome, and I agree with my Catholic friend. I enjoy singing and such, but an eternity of it? No, thanks.

This reminds me of an encounter on my mission. I was teaching this really cool guy. Super wealthy guy whose family owned some Christian media thing. Anyway, he'd read our standard works and we'd basically have discussions answering his questions, he had zero interest in converting but enjoyed our conversations and company. One day we get to the afterlife and he tells us basically the same thing your Baptist friend did, that he'd be an angel worshiping and singing praises to God. I said that'd get old for an eternity. So he asked me what I'd be doing and I said I'll be having celestial sex. He blew up. He thought that was the most blasphemous thing he ever heard and that he couldn't even imagine doing anything other than giving glory to God forever. So I told him fine, you can be one of my angels. He blew up again. My companion was rolling on the floor laughing.

[falafel]

This reminds me of an encounter on my mission. I was teaching this really cool guy. Super wealthy guy whose family owned some Christian media thing. Anyway, he'd read our standard works and we'd basically have discussions answering his questions, he had zero interest in converting but enjoyed our conversations and company. One day we get to the afterlife and he tells us basically the same thing your Baptist friend did, that he'd be an angel worshiping and singing praises to God. I said that'd get old for an eternity. So he asked me what I'd be doing and I said I'll be having celestial sex. He blew up. He thought that was the most blasphemous thing he ever heard and that he couldn't even imagine doing anything other than giving glory to God forever. So I told him fine, you can be one of my angels. He blew up again. My companion was rolling on the floor laughing.

Oh man, you were asking for it.

[Surfah]

Oh man, you were asking for it.

I used to get his goat all the time. He was a pretty good sport about it. One time, he tried to tell me that we're all children of wrath. He believed in predestination. I said we're children of God. He kept at it. So then I sang him I Am a Child of Wrath. My companion thought I was nuts.

[UtahDan]

They have a vision?

The thing these visions all seem to have in common is that the seer of them has a very hard time articulating what exactly it is he sees, or else he is forbidden to tell what he saw. I think the answer to the question is "we don't know."

I certainly don't know other than very, very broad strokes. That's okay with me.

[Rosebud]

I concur with this statement. I look at where we are right now. If the general populous acted in service, compassion, and love on a more regular basis, we would have Heaven here on Earth. I hope Heaven is simply a continuation of the life that I already have.

You must have a very good life...

[Rosebud]

I used to get his goat all the time. He was a pretty good sport about it. One time, he tried to tell me that we're all children of wrath. He believed in predestination. I said we're children of God. He kept at it. So then I sang him I Am a Child of Wrath. My companion thought I was nuts.

You WERE nuts... wish I could have heard it, though.

[SeattleUte]

Just like prelife?

[RC Vikings]

I believe in an afterlife. One day it dawned on me though that if there isn't, I won't be all that sad about it. I won't be bothered a bit.

Pretty funny 71.