Thank you for taking the time to post scripture to support the LDS position on eternal marriage and pregnancy.
I’m not sure I understand what you are saying here, however here is the Catechism of the Catholic Church on Heaven:
If the bible says that Adam and Eve were married by God before the fall and Jesus Christ completely overcame the fall of Adam, eternal marriage is biblical.
Of course it does. The LDS theory of religion and God is not biblical. Almost all of Joseph Smith’s concepts, as well as his following presidents is pulled out of thin air and then scripture is found to fit the concept. When scripture can’t be found, new scripture is written or “revealed”.
Where does the Bible say Adam and Eve were married?
Hmmm…okay I’m not exactly sure what that means for our discussion…
Now I’m really glad I didn’t play your game. Your evidence for eternal marriage is the quintessential example of a Mormon doing mental gymnastics to force a square peg into a round hole. You’re standing on extremely flimsy ground here and you should re-evaluate the whole thing.
I am sorry I cannot answer this question. I was also told that "God does not deal in what ifs”
That is a very good question and the answer is yes!
I was under the impression from what I have read here and elsewhere that it is the desire to be married that determines which level of heaven a LDS person achieves.
It should be evident from my comments that I’m a very simple person. So, it just occurred to me that your comments about pregnancy may be referring to some sort of “eternal pregnancy”, or in other words, a woman after having inherited Eternal Life jointly with her husband (1 Peter 3:7), then goes on to have an eternity of physical mortality-like pregnancies in the next life. My faith claims no knowledge regarding how procreation happens in the afterlife. Any comments of mine in this thread have only referred to pregnancy during mortality.gazelam:
Thank you for taking the time to post scripture to support the LDS position on eternal marriage and pregnancy.
However, from a purely practical viewpoint, can you understand why many/most women don’t envision heaven this way?
Well you said “Why did Jesus die for our sins if marriage in an LDS temple is what gets us into heaven?” To this simple CAFer, I hear you asking why anything other than Christ’s atonement is required for us to inherit Eternal Life. My response is that in the Catholic Church baptism is required in get us into Heaven, in addition to Christ dying for our sins. I hope this helps…gazelam:
I’m not sure I understand what you are saying here…
Jesus is the final judge of course. However she absolutely can go to the celestial kingdom is she chooses to remain single. We believe there are three degrees of glory, the telestial, terrestrial and celestial. But what some may not realize is that there are also three degrees or heavens within the celestial. The new and everlasting covenant of marriage is required only for the highest degree in the celestial kingdom. (See D&C 131:1-2)
With the LDS, to obtain the celestial kingdom, one has to be baptized, be married & sealed, tithe, go through all the ordinances of the LDS, profess their faith in the president of the LDS, go on a mission, accept any calling from their bishop, and appear as an upstanding member of their community. It appears faith in Christ and his atonement have very little to do with getting to heaven for the LDS.
“Eternal lives" is a term that refers to the right and power to beget children after the resurrection, granted to those who are exalted in the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. This is an aspect of eternal progression.(D&C 131:1-4).
All Christian faiths, including Protestants and Orthodox, believe baptism is required for salvation.
So Mrs. Smart, who is divorced through no fault of her own, can only reach the highest level of heaven if she remarries in the temple.
She will still be sealed to her children and to her parents in the celestial glory which is in the presence of God. However, she will be able to chose marriage or to remain single.
If asking questions is playing games it appears we both do this. Anyone can answer my three questions according to their beliefs.
Amen to that. I’ve dealt with it, too.
Nothing in these wonderful passages describes how procreation occurs in the next life; only that it does occur.gazelam:
“Eternal lives" is a term that refers to the right and power to beget children after the resurrection, granted to those who are exalted in the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. This is an aspect of eternal progression.(D&C 131:1-4).
This distinctive doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was taught by Joseph Smith… “Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood, they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the resurrection. But those who are married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life, …will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory” ( TPJS , pp. 300-301). Doctrine and Covenants, section 131,is largely concerned with this subject, and was first included in 1876.
A husband and wife who are married in the new and everlasting covenant…are promised that they shall inherit “thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers,” and their “glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever” (D&C 132:19). They are likened to gods, having no end. They share in the promises of eternal posterity made to Abraham and Sarah: “Both in the world and out of the world should they continue as innumerable as the stars” (D&C 132:30).
Eternal Lives, Eternal Increase - The Encyclopedia of Mormonism