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Do you personally find living with your family appealing?

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 8:39 am
by superslob
Hello,

Part of the Mormon theology is that if you are worthy you'll get to spend eternity with your family. Is this a possitive aspect for you? Do you want to spend eternity with your parents, grandparents, children, etc. Personally if given a choice between going to heaven and living with my relatives, and living in a dump I would choose the dump.

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 8:51 am
by Henmasher
I have found throughout my life that as I become more pure that I desire to help others and be around others more frequently. I find that my issues with wanting to not be around others stems not only from their poor behavior but mine. It is like trying to look someone in the eye and lie. I would prefer to just avoid someone as to face them and clear anything wrong between us. There are times when we would like isolation from others. The Lord once said " I will go where you cannot go". He was speaking in reference to weeping and I quickly recall it was with speaking to Enoch. I may be wrong on that but He spoke of the ability to go where He could be alone. So the Celestial Kingdom is where families reside after perfection. That being said I do not believe you are forced to hang out with everybody. However as perfection comes so does perfection of thought.

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 9:02 am
by shadow
We're all family, slobs included. Repent, forgive and have charity. Then "your family" will be "appealing" and you might even be appealing to your family!

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 9:10 am
by Original_Intent
superslob wrote:Hello,

Part of the Mormon theology is that if you are worthy you'll get to spend eternity with your family. Is this a possitive aspect for you? Do you want to spend eternity with your parents, grandparents, children, etc. Personally if given a choice between going to heaven and living with my relatives, and living in a dump I would choose the dump.
I am sorry that you feel that way - there is no one in my immediate OR extended family, including in-laws(!) that I would not enjoy spending time with (I do have a sister-in-law that perhaps we would need to start out in small chunks of time together, lol!)

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 10:09 am
by Lexew1899
superslob wrote: Part of the Mormon theology is that if you are worthy you'll get to spend eternity with your family. Is this a possitive aspect for you?
To me that is the best part of Mormon theology.

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 12:32 pm
by jcricket6048
superslob wrote:Hello,

Part of the Mormon theology is that if you are worthy you'll get to spend eternity with your family. Is this a possitive aspect for you? Do you want to spend eternity with your parents, grandparents, children, etc. Personally if given a choice between going to heaven and living with my relatives, and living in a dump I would choose the dump.
I use to think that my inlaws were not good people but now I have tend to love them even more than I did before. It is not easy to live with them when they have different ideas and customs that would change my view on life. But I hope you would change your opionion on what you think of them. Only our Saviour will judge them for what they have done and do not let this bother you. :D

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 1:24 pm
by Rand
superslob wrote:Hello,

Part of the Mormon theology is that if you are worthy you'll get to spend eternity with your family. Is this a possitive aspect for you? Do you want to spend eternity with your parents, grandparents, children, etc. Personally if given a choice between going to heaven and living with my relatives, and living in a dump I would choose the dump.
You make a very honest statement and confession in that admission. I think that is admirable. It is the first step to change and improvement.

I find this concept to be one of mormon culture, that probably has no basis in actual reality; Spending eternity on a beach in one great big family reunion. But, given that, I agree with those above who say that our sentiments can change, and our willingness to withhold judgment and serve them will change those sentiments faster than anything else. Most people who don't like other people don't like something about themselves either. They call themselves names, like superslob. :ymhug:

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 4:53 pm
by kgrigio
I think the idea of families being together forever is taken a bit to far and literally in the church and at times I think it is actually a detriment to us here on earth. An example might help to illustrate my point. I was engaged to a nice young lady at one point. She was great in many ways, but she was tied at the hip to her family. They took the eternal family thing literally here on earth, to the point of almost excluding those that married into the family and stifling progression of the new family unit. I came to realize that if I married into this family that I would be forever stuck in the small southeastern Utah town and if I tried to leave I would be hated by the family, but I doubt the girl would have let me leave anyways.

I did a lot of soul searching and pondering on the topic and what I was taught by the Holy Ghost has always stuck with me, and I want to stress what I was taught, and this may not be what others have been taught on this topic. The thoughts I had were, yes, we will be an eternal family and we want to all go to the Celestial kingdom together, but we won't be tied to each other for eternity. The only people we will be tied to is our spouse who we are joined with and have become one with through our covenants. There will be so much work to do after this life that I highly doubt we will all sitting around the same house staring at each other for eternity. If we are blessed enough to have our family and their family and so on, that would be one huge house when you lump in the in-laws families who also made it and are suppose to be together as well. See what I mean, gets a bit messy. In the end, it is you and your spouse that make up that eternal family unit as your children and their spouses make up there own and so on.

My family and I are very close even though we live in several different states with a fair amount of travel between us. We call often, facetime each other, and generally keep tabs on each other, but when we are all together for more than a couple of days, it gets taxing and we are ready to go to our own separate homes and families. I picture that being how life is in the Celestial kingdom. We will be an eternal family because those of us that happen to make it there (and I am not saying I am a shoe in), will be able to still have these types of relationships and interactions, I just don't picture the whole clan being together all day every day for eternity.

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: January 31st, 2012, 5:57 pm
by kathyn
I love the idea of being part of a family unit forever. To me, it would be hell to be separated from them forever. But then I love my parents (both deceased), my husband and my children and grandchildren. Superslob, if you really don't like your family, I'm sure you won't be "stuck" with them. But I do pity you.

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 8:59 am
by ChelC
Wow, Aussie. That was a pretty disgusting post!

To answer the question, YES, I do find the idea appealing. I'm sorry you don't and were I you, I'd see how to go about changing that in whichever relationships it's possible to do so.

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 6:37 pm
by AussieOi
ChelC wrote:Wow, Aussie. That was a pretty disgusting post!

To answer the question, YES, I do find the idea appealing. I'm sorry you don't and were I you, I'd see how to go about changing that in whichever relationships it's possible to do so.


Are you kidding me?
How on earth could you possibly construe from my post that I don't, and what on earth was disgusting about it?
Seriously, I am dumbfounded that you removed that post.
Clearly irony is lost on many here amongat other things

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 8:09 pm
by ChelC
Aussie - You don't know what was disgusting? I don't believe that. I didn't remove your post, I'm not a moderator. I did report it though because it was really nasty. Second part of my post was directed at Superslob, not you.

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: February 1st, 2012, 8:23 pm
by liberty2
Superslob,

My response will assume that you are sincere and not just looking to ruffle feathers. ;)

I do have some family members that (right now) I do not enjoy spending any time with. I believe those family members have some mental illness that makes them extremely difficult to get along with.

However, I have had the blessing of seeing at least one of those family members healed of her infirmities. I saw her as God sees her. It was glorious and intensely humbling.

I still have a hard time being around her, but I try to remember that her actions now are not who she is eternally.

Perhaps in your family, you are dealing with a similar circumstance.

Have faith in the Lord and His plan. It will be made right eternally.

In the end, I think we get what we want. If we want to be alone and our stuff is most important to us, we will get that. If we want an eternal family and an eternity of joy in service, we get that.

Choose wisely. ;)

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 12:28 pm
by Rensai
kgrigio wrote:I think the idea of families being together forever is taken a bit to far and literally in the church and at times I think it is actually a detriment to us here on earth. An example might help to illustrate my point. I was engaged to a nice young lady at one point. She was great in many ways, but she was tied at the hip to her family. They took the eternal family thing literally here on earth, to the point of almost excluding those that married into the family and stifling progression of the new family unit. I came to realize that if I married into this family that I would be forever stuck in the small southeastern Utah town and if I tried to leave I would be hated by the family, but I doubt the girl would have let me leave anyways.

I did a lot of soul searching and pondering on the topic and what I was taught by the Holy Ghost has always stuck with me, and I want to stress what I was taught, and this may not be what others have been taught on this topic. The thoughts I had were, yes, we will be an eternal family and we want to all go to the Celestial kingdom together, but we won't be tied to each other for eternity. The only people we will be tied to is our spouse who we are joined with and have become one with through our covenants. There will be so much work to do after this life that I highly doubt we will all sitting around the same house staring at each other for eternity. If we are blessed enough to have our family and their family and so on, that would be one huge house when you lump in the in-laws families who also made it and are suppose to be together as well. See what I mean, gets a bit messy. In the end, it is you and your spouse that make up that eternal family unit as your children and their spouses make up there own and so on.

My family and I are very close even though we live in several different states with a fair amount of travel between us. We call often, facetime each other, and generally keep tabs on each other, but when we are all together for more than a couple of days, it gets taxing and we are ready to go to our own separate homes and families. I picture that being how life is in the Celestial kingdom. We will be an eternal family because those of us that happen to make it there (and I am not saying I am a shoe in), will be able to still have these types of relationships and interactions, I just don't picture the whole clan being together all day every day for eternity.
Sadly, I can relate to this. My wife's family is very much like the one you describe. On the one hand, I applaud their closeness. It is a great source of strength and support to them all. On the other hand, as you point out, it can be a hinderance to new families. I remember one time, my wife came home in tears because her and her family had been fighting about me (we don't get along all that well) and they insisted that my wife choose their side because "her mother and sisters should be more important than a husband. After all, you can get another husband, but you can never get another mother or replace a sister." This of course, is diametrically opposed to the Lords view on families where he explicitly tells us to leave our fathers and mothers and cleave together. They were all born and raised in the church, yet not one of them saw anything wrong with their view except my wife.

I know some think that eternity will be one big endless family reunion, but I do not think that is the case. I think, much like here on earth, we will cleave to our spouses and spend most our time building our own kingdom with our own posterity. Doubtlessly we will still visit with each other a lot, but I do not think we will be with the big extended family all the time. That's just my opinion. I don't know that I've ever heard much about it one way or the other from any authoritative source; but Its really not worth worrying about.

One last thought for you superslob... you may not get along with family at all right now. But lets suppose that you manage to obtain perfection and your family as well so that you are all in the celestial kingdom. Do you really think two perfect people have any problem getting along with each other? One way or another, this worry of yours will take care of itself.

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 1:17 pm
by Thinker
superslob wrote:Hello,

Part of the Mormon theology is that if you are worthy you'll get to spend eternity with your family. Is this a possitive aspect for you? Do you want to spend eternity with your parents, grandparents, children, etc. Personally if given a choice between going to heaven and living with my relatives, and living in a dump I would choose the dump.
:D I like your honesty! Sometimes honesty is the funniest & saddest thing.

Alma 34:34 reads, "that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world." Considering this scripture, the way I see the after-life is a more honest expression of life. Except, in life, we can fake who we're drawn to. Yet, our spirit (the sum of our intent, our spiritual resonating & energy) cannot be faked. It is what it is. So, developing a deeper, all-encompassing love is so important if we want to be able to relate with those we love, not just in life, but after life too.

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 9:16 pm
by A Random Phrase
I don't know of any scripture that talks about families being forever, but there are scriptures that say a man and woman, together, make a unit that can live in the highest level of the celestial kingdom, that make a unit that can become gods (one cannot become a god separately and singly).
D&C 132:19-20
D&C 131:1-4

The idea that we will all be one huge family joined at the hip is, imo, false doctrine. As noted above, the scriptures specifically point out leaving one's mother and one's father and being joined to one's spouse. That is the true doctrine.

There are scriptures and/or words from Joseph Smith that say that if a couple are sealed to heaven by the power of God (not a temple ordinance, but the real thing), their children can be rescued/saved but it does not say they will all live in the same dwelling in heaven. The children will have their own lives with their own spouses, I expect.

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 9:29 pm
by AussieOi
ChelC wrote:Aussie - You don't know what was disgusting? I don't believe that. I didn't remove your post, I'm not a moderator. I did report it though because it was really nasty. Second part of my post was directed at Superslob, not you.

I can't remember what i wrote

Please, whoever removed it send it back to me so I can see.
Me saying this guy looks like he probably has objectionable personal hygiene? was that it? I mean he does.

Or my saying most humans are stupid if they think their eternal state of being is going to be the same as their corporeal state of being and they are morons for basing their eternal choice on a domestic perception. That's correct too

Can anyway tell me what I said i can't remember

edit...who cares, irrelevant

Re: Do you personally find living with your family appealing

Posted: February 2nd, 2012, 10:50 pm
by Fairminded
I personally love spending time with my family, and that's saying something because I prefer to be alone and do my own thing, and am very, very bad at socializing with people I don't know well. I especially enjoy playing with my nieces and nephews, and seeing how even the youngest ones are different and special in their own way.

I imagine in any situation where internet or books were no longer available, I'd be spending most of my time visiting with family.