I believe passionately in the concept of communal salvation - that they without us and we without them cannot be made perfect (whole, complete, fully developed). I really dislike the idea that our eternal end is purely a personal pursuit. It justifies WAY too much arrogance and condescension and neglect - and even blatant abuse and disregard.
I believe in organized religion, since I believe in interpersonal sociality and cooperative progression. I believe ALL organizations must be open to modification and reformation and periodic restoration - but I also believe "restoration" is just as much about forward-looking growth and building as it is about backward-looking re-institutionalization. I believe in "restoring" wholeness and harmony - even if that wholeness and harmony never really existed in acutal mortal history.
I like the use of "restored" in Alma when referring to the resurrection, since, if you think about it, that "restoration" is to a state in which we've never lived previously. It really is a paradigm shift, but I think it's an important one.
Cries and Dolls
3 weeks ago
1 comment:
THis is a great thought, Papa D. It is interesting to juxtapose it with the notion that the process of conversion is a 1-by-1 event, not a congregational experience (with perhaps a couple of key exceptions). To be sure, the Book of Mormon is clear that our salvation depends on how we interact with one another (and the Bible, too, for that matter -- 2nd great commandment, and all).
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