h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What is the deal with a Mormon belief I have heard about? That belief has to do with life after death and incorporates not only being rejoined with all one's relatives but also the inheritance of an entire planet (with one's rejoined family) somewhere in the universe.

A whole planet to rule? Wow!

Can someone clarify this for me?

Wendellnc

Only adding to your question, and probably getting it all wrong, too...

A Mormon friend of mine told me that
a) there is a Mormon belief that you keep developing after death. The experiences you gathered while alive and having a body are very important, but after death you keep learning and growing and eventually you even become some kind of god, yourself, creating new worlds and stuff and
b) Jesus would happily accept anyone who has lived a good and kind life and was good and kind to others, regardless of whatever religion, if any, this person had before death.

You should keep in mind that
a) this was years back and I may not remember correctly,
b) this friend and I were about 17 at the time and this may have been his very own idiosyncratic interpretation, and
c) he knew full well that I am an atheist to whom things may have to be put in a rather plain language (hence, maybe, the phrase of becoming your own god, which may, if it exists as a belief, be phrased somewhat more subtly).

From my rather sparse contacts with other Mormons, I have gotten rather good impressions of them. Kind and willing to help, and not trying to convert me - they all accepted my atheist stance. Even those missionaries who lived in the same apartment house I did and who would water my plants when I was gone for a while.

Oh, and my friend and his brother tended to be really insane, like firing BB guns in their parents apartment. Trying to shoot out candles (never worked). Or carrying little plastic bags with powdered sugar with them and snuffing the sugar...

Y.

Hi Wendellnc,

The best way to find out about what Latter-day Saints believe is to study the revelations received by the Prophet Joseph Smith. As a prophet he learned the things of God. He was taught the plan of salvation which explains the orgin of man, the purpose of life and the ultimate destiny of man.

Latter-day Saint doctrine centers on jesus christ, and accepts his atonement as unlocking our true potential as children of God. We are to become as christ-like as possible in this life and then, because of his resurrection or truimph over death we will all be resurrected with immortal bodies of flesh and bones.

If we have obeyed the gospel when it was taught to us, being born again, and taken the spirit as our guide and then been true to what we know, we can go to the hightest heaven, the celestial kindgom, where God and Christ reign. The highest reward available is to be linked with our familes throughout eternity. This is what Latter-day saints desire, not to rule over an entire planet. Ours is a family centered faith. It is also a faith that knows that familes can be together forever.

Our ulitmate desire is to be like the Son, and therefore become like the Father. Heaven is not just a kind of place, it is a kind of people. We want to be like our father in heaven. That is his plan, his promise and our purpose in life.

You can learn more as you study and pray over what God has revealed in our day. The source of this knowledge is God not man.