I want to talk about love, not the easy kind like loving a parent, a spouse or a child, but the hard kind, like loving the murderer, the rapist, the sinner, the addict, the person with vastly different social and political views, loving thy neighbor. I think part of that is simply accepting the fact that from our limited perspectives We can't possibly see each other in our eternal glories. How much better would this life be, if we kept the perspective that we are all eternal beings, each of us on our own path, on our own timeline.
In April 2019 President Nelson said that "The adversary is quadrupling his efforts." Not doubling, not tripling, but quadrupling! Surely by now we've all felt this.
I've never known a greater political divide. Book burning has become common place with the cancel culture. Suddenly, everyone is offended and repressed. Martyrs abound though their deaths seem to be all in vain, as everyone's attention spans have seemingly shrunk to the length of a meme. When certain topics are brought up, like homosexuality. I've noticed many in our culture get quiet or submissive, as they don't seem to want to offend anyone with whatever might be said. Some may even put up a feeling of hate or disgust. This divisiveness most certainly comes from Satan, not God.
We were commanded to love our neighbor. Love them if they're not a member, love them if they're gay, love them if they're a criminal, love them if they are an addict. Why? I think it's to avoid polarization in our thinking. The fallacy that there is only a heaven and a hell. We quickly seem to forget that Christ said, John 14:2 "In my Father’s house are many mansions: ...I go to prepare a place for you." If we really believe in the plan of salvation, we believe that there is a place prepared for all of God's children. Not just his loyal followers, but for everyone in the human race. As we learn in the plan of salvation, we know that we will be resurrected into one of three states, or glories. There are "many mansions" within these glories. It was said that if we were to see the least of these states of glory, that we would even give our own lives to attain that state of being. If there were only two places. (heaven and hell) I think they would both be pretty awful, because there are some people that simply being around, would be torture to me. I think Satan wants to polarize us in any way he can in order to keep us from uniting and loving one another as God commanded us to.
In God's great plan there are three glories, celestial, terrestrial and telestial. (sea-tur-tle) The celestial glory being compared in brightness to the sun. The terrestrial glory being compared in brightness to that of the moon and the Telestial glory being compared in brightness to that of the stars. And there are many kingdoms within those glories. Too often we think in terms of only exaltation or outer darkness. Not thinking or caring that the majority of us will more than likely be in between somewhere. And that's okay. That's the plan. Also in that plan is for each one of us to be happy. That's why it's also referred to as the "plan of happiness". So why do some of us judge each other so harshly in this mortal existence? If your goal is a celestial glory, good for you! Keep at it, I'm cheering you on! So many others here are quite happy with a terrestrial glory or even a telestial one. The vast majority of us may not end up in the same glory, kingdom or even mansion. Each kingdom will likely have entirely different laws of governance. In fact, I think our judging only diminishes our own options, when it comes to the potential kingdoms and glory we might obtain. Yet another reason to simply "love thy neighbor". Who cares if someone may think, feel or act different from us at this point in their eternal progression. Let them be equals in this mortality. That's the point, isn't it? You may be witnessing an eternal being in their lowest of lows, whom you would fall down and worship if you were to see them in their high of highs. Our commandment, our focus should be simply to love God and then, love our neighbor even as we love ourselves.
It would be crazy to think that God and Christ only love and care for His exalted children. I think we can all agree that God loves all his children. That the atonement can apply to every one of us. That it's not our place to judge our fellow brothers and sisters. So why don't we instead love the sinner, or the addict, or the alcoholic, or the social media addict, or the person who committed suicide, It's not our place to judge! Are we not all eternal beings on an eternal path? It's not fair to judge someone in their low of lows when you can't possibly have seen their high of highs. It was once said that if we were to view one another in our eternal glory, we wouldn't hesitate to fall down and worship.
Perhaps if there weren't a stigma about being a gay Christian, that there wouldn't be people like me, who ended up married to someone who was trying to fit in with her parents "Christian" culture. I wasted 15 years of my life with someone who never fully loved me. Someone who when in those intimate moments of connection, would bail, out of disgust. There was virtually no attraction. Without that intimate connection, there weren't many opportunities for connection, love, and growth together.
Perhaps if it were okay in our Christian culture to not only be okay with homosexual relationships in our midst, but to be inclusive with them. To realize that they are also God's children and that there has been a kingdom in one of God's glories prepared just for them. Perhaps if this were the case, I wouldn't have lost those 15 years of my life that I'll never get back. What I wish I could say to my ex as she continually tries to avoid confrontation with her parents by attempting to hide her sexuality with heterosexual relationships. Stop wasting other peoples time and be true to yourself and don't worry about what other people think.
Satan understands and wants us to be polarized because then he can drive the wedge in farther and farther. Once the division is far enough, he can dehumanize the other guys. Whatever the other guys side or position may be. When we are dehumanizing our neighbor, it's almost impossible to love them. Not the way God commanded us to.
Please don't forget, there are many kingdoms and several glories. And we are surrounded by our spirit siblings who will be scattered throughout these kingdoms. So please, don't judge. I don't think Christ would ever want this type of division among his followers. Which is why our commandment was so simple, love thy neighbor like unto the way you love yourself.
Paradigm shift, it's okay to hang out with and even love people who will end up in different kingdoms and even glories from ourselves. It's okay to worship with these people too. After all, we are all brothers and sisters from the same God.
I say embrace the weird, embrace the difference. We can't all fit into a cookie cutter mold. And I don't think we're intended to. How boring a place would that be!
I bet if we did this, we'd find far more in common than we would our differences.
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