I run into members all the time. Some are old friends, still friendly, and seem to accept me for dropping out of the cult. Others either shun me or, at least, keep a distance. Tonight, I was at a local restaurant and ran into an old Mormon acquaintance (not really a friend but we knew each other a decade or so ago). I was having a glass of wine and talking with some people at the bar. He saw me and came over and starting talking. It was okay until he asked me, "Aren't you sad that you won't be going to the Celestial Kingdom?" I wasn't quite sure how to answer that. After I just smiled, he then said, it is not too late. I can repent and come back. That was okay. I then said, well, I actually go to another church and feel very comfortable there. I feel closer to Christ and have grown in the faith. He then gave me this weird look like he felt sorry for me. A short time later, he said he had to leave. These kind of conversations are always interesting.

The "Celestial Kingdom" sounds yucky anyway. And I bet they don't let dogs in either so it ain't anyplace I want to go!

Response: "I'm already in the Celestial Kingdom. Aren't you sad that you aren't already there?"

I understand the sentiment. Santa is so leaving you a lump of coal.

IMO that is a really rude question and should be treated as such. So perhaps you could respond, "If that is where Joseph Smith and Brigham Young will be, then I would count myself fortunate not to go there. But perhaps your standards for who you will associate with are lower than mine." (Or more gently, "But to each, their own.")



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2016 11:21PM by summer.

I would have said that the CK sounds like a big bore and I would just a soon go elsewhere where I can be with like-minded people

I might have answered, "No one's going. It doesn't exist."

+1

It boggles the mind how some Mormons are fixated on their imaginary after life kingdom! Really bizarre. They are so convinced it really exists they built it right into their today lives. Puts them about one step off the insanity scale!!

Him: "Aren't you sad that you're not going to the Celestial
Kingdom?

You: "Yes, but I'm cheered up by the fact that you're not going
there either.

How about this:

Why thank you for bring it up. I'm actually living in the Celestial Kingdom right now-- I have time to spend with my family and they really need it. I had no idea we'd be so much happier because you know you can't get these childhood years back...not even in the afterlife.


Kathleen

Neither is anyone else. When the lights go out it is over. There is no empirical evidence of any afterlife that I can find.

So this guy thinks he can judge where you go when you die? Wow, what classic Mormon arrogance!
This reminds me of when my little daughter cried because she realized there was no Candyland! LOLOLOL
Maybe we could go to Candyland! Or the land of Oz! They're just as real as ck.

He must have seen that you were crying buckets and terrified of losing your status in the CK? What an idiot.

I think I would have laughed out loud (a sin according to the temple ceremony) and replied, "You still believe in that Mormon poop? In my current church everyone realizes that we are all going to heaven because Jesus died for us and not because we learned a stupid handshake in a multi-million dollar building built by a corporation that is fleecing its members. I prefer the unconditional love that God grants us in my new religion to the load of garbage Mormonism teaches. And I now have the assurance that God will let my family stay together simply because they want to be together in eternity and not because they paid enough tithing to your 15 men in suits."

*These comments are not necessarily the beliefs of the poster but just something that might have fit the situational conversation. I, personally, don't believe any religion knows anything about the afterlife.

I'm quite relieved to not be going to the CK.

Who wants to live in a heavenly dictatorship controlled by Utah Mormons? At least the telestial kingdom has beer.

My point exactly. Sounds like an eternal sacrament meeting. No thanks. Not going.

I would have said...

Jesus told us to eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of Him. I guess I'll be going to the ck and you won't.

"I may not make it to the CK but I am on schedule to live with Santa Claus, at the North Pole. I had a choice and I made it.

"What?! There is no Santa Claus, no North Pole work shop? Facts prove this? But what about the facts regarding Joseph Smith and his fellow conspirators?"

I would add, Heaven is large enough for all God's children to inhabit, not just the corner reserved for those peculiar Mormons!

God's domain (and largesse,) is bigger than our preconceptions, misconceptions, and stereotypes.

For anyone to suggest he will get there before you based on his mindf*ck, well, that's simply bias and misunderstanding speaking, and plain out ignorance.

For if heaven truly does exist, there is even room for the Mor[m]ons, not only the rest of us, depending on the condition of our hearts and souls.

He sounds like a smug little a**wipe of a moron, if you ask me. Hardly the picture of humility or a Christlike figure. See what his religion did for him, and leaves him short. He is someone to feel pity for, because he's an ignoramus, and an arrogant one at that.

What an ass.

There's a joke that Catholics like to tell among themselves. It goes like this:

St. Peter greets a new arrival at the Pearly Gates. He ushers the new arrival straight through, but cautions him to tiptoe past the first door, prominently marked, "Catholics Only." "Why must I tiptoe," asks the newcomer? "Because the Catholics think they're the only ones up here," responds St. Peter.

I hear that there's also a door marked, "Celestial Kingdom." ;)

it sounds awfully boring...

http://i.imgur.com/xd59xvf.jpg

I'm not going to the Celestial Kingdom.

However, I'm going to the bakery, not the one on the corner but the one down the block. I'm going to pick up one of their little $8 cakes and surprise the girls.

Bakeries rock; CKs walk.

I wouldn't have known what to say to such a passive agressive comment.

But I thought for a minute, and I remembered what this one author recommended when someone says something outrageous and boundaryless:

You just look at them and say "EXCUSE me?" That puts them a little off balance, because they wonder if you didn't hear them, if you can't believe what they said, or if you are daring them to say it again.

The look you give them might be adjusted to your own personality or intent. You might look at them like you are amused, disgusted, angry, incredulous, like you pity them, or whatever. Or pull out your resting bitch face.

The whole point is that rather than responding to their ridiculous comment, you put it back on them to either reassert it, revise it, or back down.

If they say it again, you could do 'broken record' say "excuse me" again. Or by that time, maybe you'd have come up with something to say.

It's always fun to try to pin them down as to what exactly they will be doing there, and why they want to do those things.

Streets of gold, sitting on thrones, creating worlds, passing out vague dictates, sitting in meetings, etc. I tell them the only good part is I'll be having sex with countless wives, but I'm not sure if that's guaranteed anymore.

Then there's the missionary work and temple work and home teaching. Doesn't eternal home teaching get you fired up? Through the eternities, "This is the last week of the month. Got your home teaching done?"

I usually relate my experience as EQP in 3 wards trying to get guys to home teach. I finally realized it wasn't worth it, and few members like church. And I always had a headache from callings, talk and lesson preparation.

I'd rather just spend time with family and pursue my hobbies. Anybody honest will tell you the same. And any decent god would be happy with their kids enjoying themselves.

I also like to remind members of the basic principle of the gospel called free agency.

And I also point out if we are all to live in mansions for eternity, should we look down on those in this life in the suburbs or trailer parks? Is that unacceptable?

TBM: Don't you want that little two-year-old to go to the Celstial Kingdom?

Me: She's not going to stay two forever. What age will she be in the CK?

TBM: I think we will see the insides of each other instead of the outsides in the CK.

Me (walks away scratching head)...

I think that for your acquaintance to say something like that in that setting means he was trying to be pompous and condescending. He was trying to put you on the defensive so he could look superior. If he were a sincerely loving or concerned friend he would have shown some respect by ASKING if you still believed, or asking why you left, or using some other wording of the question. But stating it in a way that assumes you know and believe in a CK and are just acting in a way that is unacceptable to God out of rebelliousness is most certainly his attempt to be superior and to make you feel small. You gave a perfectly respectful reply to a disrespectful question. You were the better man.

I figure anything "heavenly" is going to be "celestial" compared to earth life. Calling Celestial Kingdom the highest heavenly body out of three is such a misnomer. A heavenly home compared to earth is by its nature a 'celestial' realm.

It's another play on words that is jargon but meaningless unless it incorporates all heaven, if indeed it even exists - as I believe it does in a separate dimension from this.

No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.


You know what's weird? TSCC is the All American religion, right? The idea of a kingdom is sorta unamurr'can.

I mean, I didn't vote for the guy.

I would write this freak off.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2016 04:31AM by Cheryl.

"What....they only allow cheap wine there??"

Gatorman

I would have laid the self righteous prick out after telling him I wouldn't want to be in any shithole that would have him as a member.

RB

Some one said something similar to me. And they ended with "you can do it! You can come back!" I was all, "Excuse me. It's not a goal." It is not that I can not do it. It is not even real! It is infuriating when they act as if you have failed.

I think the Op response was great. There is no need to be rude in turn. The OP let the rude comment pass and let the guy gently know the OP has moved on theologically. Unfortunately TBMs are too invested in their belief system to understand anything outside their world.

In a gospel doctrine class I remember the comment being made that the celestial kingdom would also have people from other religions there. At the time I thought "then what's the big deal about being a Mormon?" In reality there is No celestial kingdom or terrestrial or telestial.