The LDS Church: Homogenized Milk?

Dear Amanda,

When I was younger I used to wonder what God’s favorite color was. Or His favorite subject in school, or if He was an introvert. I used to wonder if angels had the same opinions as God did---if all heavenly beings had the same favorite flavor of ice cream, or had the same taste in books.

I used to wonder if perfection implied a single type of person.

via Seth Oliver Photography

I realized  later that that clearly wasn’t true. God approved of Moses and Enoch who were shy, and James and John who were loud. There wasn’t a “more perfect” personality type. While I believe that God appreciates the beauty of all tones and hues, He could still be God and have a favorite. And that Jesus could very well prefer yellow while God the Father loves green. There is no theological problem with individuality. Our individuality is older than creation itself.

I later wondered how different we could be from each other and still live in heaven? My older, more widely-read self, defaulted to completely different. That heaven could contain all kinds and types of person, that God could make a place for everyone. But that is as obviously flawed as assuming we’ll all be the same.

We won’t waltz around heaven with our tempers and cynicism still in tact, even if those traits are strong components of our thought processes now. I can only assume that my extroversion will remain, but my glory-seeking certainly won’t be tolerated. There won't be testy or hasty souls in heaven, not because either is "bad" but they certainly aren't good traits, not in the way that God is good.

Jesus isn’t a moral relativist. There are wrong answers on this test, even if there are multiple correct responses. Jesus could love chemistry or rose-gardening or Baroque music, but He can't love Grand Theft Auto. There's a lot of things it's off limits to love, but there's a lot that remains.

So what’s the answer? How different will we be in heaven? And if we’re aiming for heaven, how homogenous/heterogenous should the Church be?

That’s the fun-sucking question of the past week. But contrary to the opinion of seemingly the entire internet, we’re not deciding between anything-goes and complete uniformity. There are more than two options. There is  place for disagreement, for dissenting opinion, for critique, for advice. There is a range of places to put your feet in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and you certainly don’t have to follow in anyone's exact footsteps . . . but the gate is still small and the path is narrow.

Hopefully, not this narrow---Mount Huashan

And he commanded them that they should teach nothing save it were the things which he had taught, and which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets. Yea, even he commanded them that they should preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people. (Mosiah 18:19-20)

Friends, I've always had questions. My entire Mormon life has been defined by difficult questions and uncomfortable silences. There are things I wish were different. The human element of the LDS Church really doesn't have all the answers. The mind of God is unknowable on so many things I wish I knew the whys of, but it never changes the answers I do have. I still don't know, I believe.

Love and hugs in all the directions,

Stephanie