Elizabeth Smart's father announces he is gay

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mtolympus said:
Marriage is not required for salvation. Salvation, in our language, is life with God in the celestial kingdom. The key to this is faith, repentance and baptism. We are allowed to ask questions, but some things will remain a matter of faith.
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Blessings of the Temple and Marriage

Objective: Marriage for eternity is an essential part of Heavenly Father’s plan of Salvation. Heavenly Father will guide you in your decisions about eternal marriage as you seek direction from Him.

Questions:
  1. What is the purpose of Marriage in God’s Plan?
  2. What is the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage?
  3. How does an eternal perspective of life, including an understanding of the Plan of Happiness, the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage and the importance of family help me to find an eternal companion?
  4. What characteristics do I want in a companion? Are my characteristics just as lofty?
The Purpose of Marriage in God’s Plan

Marriage and family are under attack because Satan knows that they are essential to obtaining eternal life—as essential as the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Having failed to destroy any of those pillars of the plan, Satan seeks to destroy our understanding and practice of marriage and family.

With Heavenly Father’s plan as a fixed point of reference, the purpose of marriage comes clearly into focus. The commandment to leave father and mother, cleave to one another in marriage, and multiply and replenish the earth makes His plan possible. Through marriage we bring His spirit children into the world and become partners with Him in helping His children participate in His plan. Anything that thwarts eternal marriage is contrary to God’s plan for the eternal happiness of His Children.

“The Father’s plan provides us the way to inherit eternal life, the life our heavenly parents lead. In the plan, “neither is the man without the woman, [nor] the woman without the man, in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 11:11) The very essence of eternal life includes the eternal marriage of man and woman, which is an essential part of becoming like our heavenly parents.” (Elder Robert D. Hales, The Plan of Salvation: A Sacred Treasure)

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2015/10/the-plan-of-salvation-a-sacred-treasure

The New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage

Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4.
  • In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees;
  • And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage];
  • And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.
  • He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase.
http://ysalivingfaith.org/2016/01/31/blessings-of-the-temple-and-marriage/
 
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What do you know! There is a teaching on eternal marriage being necessary for eternal life.
 
SunshineGrandma said:
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mtolympus:
Marriage is not required for salvation. Salvation, in our language, is life with God in the celestial kingdom. The key to this is faith, repentance and baptism. We are allowed to ask questions, but some things will remain a matter of faith.
Click to expand...
Blessings of the Temple and Marriage

Objective: Marriage for eternity is an essential part of Heavenly Father’s plan of Salvation. Heavenly Father will guide you in your decisions about eternal marriage as you seek direction from Him.

Questions:
  1. What is the purpose of Marriage in God’s Plan?
  2. What is the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage?
  3. How does an eternal perspective of life, including an understanding of the Plan of Happiness, the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage and the importance of family help me to find an eternal companion?
  4. What characteristics do I want in a companion? Are my characteristics just as lofty?
The Purpose of Marriage in God’s Plan

Marriage and family are under attack because Satan knows that they are essential to obtaining eternal life—as essential as the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Having failed to destroy any of those pillars of the plan, Satan seeks to destroy our understanding and practice of marriage and family.

With Heavenly Father’s plan as a fixed point of reference, the purpose of marriage comes clearly into focus. The commandment to leave father and mother, cleave to one another in marriage, and multiply and replenish the earth makes His plan possible. Through marriage we bring His spirit children into the world and become partners with Him in helping His children participate in His plan. Anything that thwarts eternal marriage is contrary to God’s plan for the eternal happiness of His Children.

“The Father’s plan provides us the way to inherit eternal life, the life our heavenly parents lead. In the plan, “neither is the man without the woman, [nor] the woman without the man, in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 11:11) The very essence of eternal life includes the eternal marriage of man and woman, which is an essential part of becoming like our heavenly parents.” (Elder Robert D. Hales, The Plan of Salvation: A Sacred Treasure)

October 2015

The New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage

Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4.
  • In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees;
  • And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage];
  • And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.
  • He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase.
http://ysalivingfaith.org/2016/01/31/blessings-of-the-temple-and-marriage/
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I wish I had more hearts to give than just one! It’s always great to see pure light on CAF. Now, about that claim that Latter-day Saint women must marry RMs in order to obtain Eternal Life, have you found that one yet?
 
Limoncello4021 said:
Just google it please if you are interested and don’t own a Bible.
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Very well…

Matthew 22:29, 30 Jesus said to them in reply, “You are misled because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven.

Often referring to the underlying Greek can help as it does in this situation. Ben Witherington writes:
Jesus’ response, which begins at v.24, suggests that the Sadducees are ignorant of both the content of the Hebrew Scriptures and the power of God. Jesus stresses that in the age to come, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Notice what Jesus does not say. He does not say there will be no marriage in the age to come. The use of terms γαμουσιν and γαμαζονται is important, for these terms refer to the gender-specific roles played in early Jewish society by the man and the woman in the process of getting married. The men, being the initiators of the process in such a strongly patriarchal culture, “marry,” while the women are “given in marriage” by their father or another older family member. Thus Mark has Jesus saying that no new marriages will be initiated in the eschatological state. This is surely not the same as claiming that all existing marriages will disappear in the eschatological state (see, for example, Tertullian, On Monogamy 10, who specifically denies that God will separate in the next life those whom he has joined together in a holy union in this one). Jesus, the, could seem to be arguing against a specific view held by the Sadducees about the continuity between this life and the life to come, a view involving the ongoing practice of Levirate marriage. (Ben Witherington, The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2001], 328-29)
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gazelam said:
I wish I had more hearts to give than just one! It’s always great to see pure light on CAF. Now, about that claim that Latter-day Saint women must marry RMs in order to obtain Eternal Life, have you found that one yet?
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How is it pure light on CAF when an LDS poster is found to be disingenuous?

No I’ve said more than once I have it in storage. It’s a lesson on eternal marriage. It may take a while but I promise to post it.
 
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gazelam said:
Very well…
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Please answer the questions asked about sealings in heaven.

I’m dying to know how this all is supposed to work out, and saying “we don’t know the address” may be quaint and folksy but it sure ain’t theological, biblical, logical or philosophical.

If every Mormon family is sealed to their grandparents family and their children’s family after they’re married, and to their current husband’s family along with their deceased husbands family…everyone is together in one place.

So basically, you have the same heaven the rest of Christianity believes in.

If it is another teaching that has to be put on the shelf, then just say so. Say “it makes no sense, but I believe it anyway”.

Or explain it.
 
Horton said:
What do you know! There is a teaching on eternal marriage being necessary for eternal life
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OK, I guess I need explain some of our definitions, pardon my informal style.

"The Plan of Salvation" is the whole thing. Pre-existance, the fall of Adam, living in a fallen world (earth life), a Savior (Jesus Christ) who overcame the fall of Adam and and paid for our own sins so we can be forgiven through Christ. After death our spirits go to the spirit world. After spirit world is the final judgement and the resurrection where we will be assigned to one of the three glories.

Immortality- everyone will be resurrected and live forever “As in Christ shall all be made alive.”

Salvation is life with God in the celestial kingdom.

Exaltation or Eternal Life - eternal marriage is essential for our definition of Eternal Life which is the highest degree in the celestial kingdom. When teaching in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this is always our goal.
 
Thank you, Sunshine, for posting "Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation. I hope my previous post helps with your questions.
 
mtolympus said:
Thank you, Sunshine, for posting "Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation. I hope my previous post helps with your questions.
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Well, it’s a start. 😁

Can LDS move about between the different levels of the celestial kingdom?

For example, can an unmarried person go to the highest level from a lower level and visit married family members?
 
mtolympus said:
OK, I guess I need explain some of our definitions, pardon my informal style.

Salvation is life with God in the celestial kingdom.

Exaltation or Eternal Life - eternal marriage is essential for our definition of Eternal Life which is the highest degree in the celestial kingdom. When teaching in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this is always our goal.
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salvation means reaching the highest degree of glory that our Father has provided for His obedient children. -Joseph Fielding Smith
 
Though honestly, I view this as JS trying to avoid damnation.

Salvation means being saved. The result of salvation is eternal a life, in the presence of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Damnation is eternal life away from God. Jesus called this a second death.

Smith worked pretty hard at avoiding having to deal with, or face, damnation. Splitting God into three different rulers over different kingdoms, as though God has a split personality.

And Smith ditched Jesus’ teaching of a second death, making it nearly impossible to happen.

Mormon heaven is on more of a bell curve, with damnation and assured exaltation (second anointing), being the outliers.

Jesus didn’t teach on a bell curve. He taught, there are the sheep and the goats…just two possibilities.
 
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RebeccaJ said:
Though honestly, I view this as JS trying to avoid damnation.

Salvation means being saved. The result of salvation is eternal a life, in the presence of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Damnation is eternal life away from God. Jesus called this a second death.

Smith worked pretty hard at avoiding having to deal with, or face, damnation. Splitting God into three different rulers over different kingdoms, as though God has a split personality.

And Smith ditched Jesus’ teaching of a second death, making it nearly impossible to happen.

Mormon heaven is on more of a bell curve, with damnation and assured exaltation (second anointing), being the outliers.

Jesus didn’t teach on a bell curve. He taught, there are the sheep and the goats…just two possibilities.
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Matthew 10:41 Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward.

In this verse Jesus taught of two different rewards for those who were not wicked. And it would go without say that a wicked man would receive a wicked man’s reward, which would be a third distinct reward at very least.
 
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SunshineGrandma said:
There have been several posts with questions regarding LDS sealings that have gone unanswered.

Maybe you could give it a go.
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Sorry. I’m not going to plow through old comments. Post come questions or link to some and I may give it a go.
 
You’re just making up stuff now.

This is Jesus teaching, that when we receive his agents as we receive Him, the reward is the same for us as it is for his agents. Jesus taught of one reward, often referred to as the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life, with God.

Jesus never taught of eternal life with different gods that reign over different kingdoms. There is not one god for prophets and another god for the righteous. (The multiple personality gods of JS.)

Jesus calls his disciples to live one, authentic, personality, rooted in Him. He called his disciples his prophets and righteous men. He is explaining here, the reward for discipleship. Which was preceded by explaining the high cost.
 
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gazelam said:
Sorry. I’m not going to plow through old comments. Post come questions or link to some and I may give it a go.
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That’s okay, we will just wait for mt olympus.

I wrongly assumed you were following the thread since you answered for him regarding eternal marriage.

How do you decide when to jump in and answer and when to say you’re not willing to “plow through old comments”? The comments aren’t old at all.
 
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gazelam said:
Matthew 10:41 Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward , and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward .

In this verse Jesus taught of two different rewards for those who were not wicked. And it would go without say that a wicked man would receive a wicked man’s reward, which would be a third distinct reward at very least
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*Rewards. *
**“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

This in no way indicates there are the LDS levels of heaven. Once again you take one verse out of context in an attempt to make it sound as though it means something different than what it really means.
 
SunshineGrandma said:
No I’ve said more than once I have it in storage. It’s a lesson on eternal marriage. It may take a while but I promise to post it.
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It’s not like me to defend Mormons but even the president of the Mormon church and several of the “apostles” are not RMs.
 
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You can defend us, we don’t mind.😉 You are completely correct. President Russell M. Nelson served as a medic for two years during the Korean War but he did not, as a young man, serve a mission for the church.
 
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