Moments Celestial

Share

We like to look specifically at certain things when we examine our lives and the things that happen to us. Most people cast themselves in the best light possible and cast their enemies or opponents in the worst light possible. In truth, all of those things are snapshots of our lives and tell us about what we might expect from two dimensional things in a three dimensional plane. Fortunately for most people, it's a lot more complicated than that. I was talking with another professor Monday night who reminded me that heroes are not always heroes. They are people who, in a given set of circumstances, stepped forward. If they don't step forward next time, it does not mean they were not heroic in the prior moment. It simply means they are less heroic in this one.

The more I read about great men, the more I realize that we lack the right reference to accurately understand the universe. Like an ant walking a chemical trail, we are really pretty ignorant of intelligences and organization and civilizations greater than our own. Just as ants don't usually notice us, there are likely civilizations superior to us who can easily obfuscate their existence, and from their better perspective all of our relativity seems pretty silly because our relationship to things isn't exactly true. We don't even use true north when we orient maps; we use a magnetic one.

Some men recognize wisely that they are not the source of all or even ultimate truth. Men are divided I think into three main groups based on the degree to which they are open to truth and light. Paul described these groups in his first letter to Corinth (1 Corinthians 15:20-42):

There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.

Over the last few months, I have been trying to understand what these groups actually mean. In conjunction with my thoughts on the Lesser Light, I believe these refer to the ability of these groups to reflect the light of truth back. Their ability is related to their choices.

People fall into these major categories based on their attitude to their Creator. The lowest group, Bodies Telestial, are largely people who do not want there to be a Savior. They are those who say, "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die" or as I have written elsewhere "you only live once, so live it up". The second group, Bodies Terrestrial, are those who do not think they need the Savior. They are those who say they need to earn their way into heaven or that they will turn to the Messiah after they have already made things right. What need have they for a Savior? Finally, the Bodies Celestial are those who embrace the Son, stand in His light, and say "Help thou mine unbelief". Even then it's not that simple. Very few people are the same way all the time. Some people are so good that they can actually be different people in different circles or groups of friends and associates. So, what happens is that we have Telestial Moments, Terrestrial Moments, and Celestial Moments. Perhaps for you it comes easy to pray every day or to give the tithes and offerings mentioned in Malachi. For you, those are Celestial Moments. Maybe it's hard for you to deal with grief, loss, boredom, or rejection and you turn to self-medicating habits such as drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes to avoid facing your troubles and offend the Holy Spirit. Those for you are Telestial Moments. Far too many people have Terrestrial Moments, where we insist on doing something and force God to say, "Be quiet fool whilst I untie the knot". Even in my own Faith far too many of the members insist that works make men better, forgetting that works lead to boasting, and if we could earn it, what need would we have for a Savior?

Unlike Christ, we do not hang for a moment. Men make mistakes. Men can also make choices. When we let our mistakes make us by allowing actions to become habits and habits to become our character, that seals our ultimate fate in "the resurrection of the dead" according to the glory of these three groups. You can however have great moments. Even the best of God's sons had Telestial moments. That's why we have the scriptures, so we can see Lehi complain that the bows broke in the wilderness or Jonah run away from Ninevah or Balaam saddle his ass and go to curse Israel contrary to God's word. We can see other men living in Terrestrial Moments like Peter who thrice denied knowing Christ, Job's friends insisting that he needed to appease God's anger, and Laman thinking Nephi couldn't build a ship. We can watch the Celestial Moments in which Abraham willingly offers to sacrifice his son, in which Paul stands before Agrippa, and when Abinadi is burned at the stake for his testimony. We can also see men move between them as Saul repents and becomes Paul, as Jonah goes to Ninevah, as Joseph refuses to punish his brothers for selling him into slavery, and as Alma the Younger turns from evil and preaches to those who followed him how much they need to repent. The gospel of Christ is about hope that we do not have to hang for a moment because Christ already hung for us.

Each of us can have Celestial Moments. It's not a matter of having more of those than Telestial Moments, because resurrection isn't a scale. It's really about turning to Christ, about changing our direction and converting Telestial Moments into Moments Celestial. Christ makes bad men good and good men better. Judgement is not about a snapshot or a single choice or a moment, because that ignores the direction in which a man is headed. Just as a man who lives wickedly all his life cannot be justified and sanctified by a grandiose act immediately prior to his death, a man who lived as well as possible all his life does not destroy that life by one gross mistake just prior to his death. Moments make a difference. As we open ourselves to truth and light and as we open ourselves to The Truth and The Light, more of our moments will be moments Celestial. How many of your moments are Moments Celestial indicate where your true desires and your ultimate destination will be.