Which Kingdom I'm going to

There's a poll at BCC. The poll asks, "If you died today would you go to the Celestial Kingdom?"

The poll has three possible answers "Yes, the highest kingdom" "Yes, some kingdom" or "No." I hate questions like this. Lets look at the possibilities


First, you could answer "Yes, the highest kingdom." My initial response to that is, "well I'm glad you think so highly of yourself." It seems incredibly vain to unequivocally declare oneself worthy of the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. For crying out loud just translate me now, because I'm already perfect! On the other hand, there is the notion that a sort of fresh-faced confidence is in a way desirable. That you are faithful, hopeful, and so desirous to be with God that of course you'll be going to the Celestial Kingdom. This kind of honest optimism is certainly a desirable trait where it occurs naturally, but it is one of those things where you can't fake it until you make it..

At the other extreme you could answer "No." Answering the question this way gets into the whole believing Christ thing. Are you saying you aren't worthy because you don't believe that Christ has the power to cleanse you of your sins? Are you not even trying to repent. Don't you want to go to the Celestial Kingdom? Or perhaps you're engaging in some passive aggressive false humility, daring other people to let you say such horrible things about yourself. Or maybe you're indulging in some nod nod wink wink rebellion, that almost says "I'm too cool to go the Celestial Kingdom. Everyone knows the real party is going to be in the Telestial Kingdom." And on the other side of this one is a sort of real humility that just feels so awkward about saying how awesomely righteous they are that they go ahead and say no.

Then there is the middle option, the "Yes, some kingdom." This is the one for people who feel self conscious about either extreme. Dangerously aware of both the positive and negative feelings on each extreme this option appears to be moderate. However, all of the implications of the other answers apply here, just slightly watered down.

If the question had been a fill in the blank, rather than multiple choice I would have said "I know I'll be happy." I refuse to believe that God would create beings only for most of them to end up left out and unhappy, that sort of God is a jerk and not worth worshipping. I will try to live the sort of life that makes me good, and makes me happy, and I'll end up where I end up.

Cross posted at Waters Of Mormon.

The hiatus is over or An LDS Blog?

I try to live my religion everyday, and not just on Sundays. While there is obviously room for improvement on this front, my religion will color everything I write because it shapes how I think. (Just for clarification I like my religion, so I want it to shape how I think. ) I wonder, though, if that necessarily makes this an LDS blog.


An instance I remember vividly was a post I wrote about modesty where a commenter took umbrage with my critical approach to the way 'we' talk about modesty. The commenter thought that 'we' meant 'the church' while I intended it to mean 'North American culture.' I do have issues with the ways modesty often is addressed at church, but that wasn't what I was talking about in that post. Perhaps I really should have clarified why I meant by 'we.'

That particular incident wasn't an especially big deal, but it did mark a change the way I thought and wrote about things that are not specifically, or exclusively LDS. I got this notion that, as an LDS blogger it was my duty to make everything I wrote somehow connected to the church. And that, while it was acceptable to have a few posts about unrelated topics, the meat of my blog should deal with hard hitting doctrinal issues. Or alternately that I should just abandon the idea of LDS blogging altogether, and write only about topics that are not specifically LDS, and that the fact that I am Mormon shouldn't be brought up at all.

So I stopped writing.

But there are things I want to write about. Things related to the church, things related to advertising and pop-culture, things related to knitting, things related to pets, things related to my kids, things related to gardening, things related to thrift, things related to feminism, things related to chickens. In other words, things I am interested in.

I'm resurrecting this blog, and issuing a warning to any who may comment here from now on; this blog is about things I am interested in. I am the cohesive unit, and I might not make it clear which particular facet of my interests and society I am addressing.

Here's to blogging, about whatever.