Sherwood Chourou - Week 30 Ponderings

        I've had a couple interesting thoughts during my personal study lately, so I'm going to share a few of them, starting with my thoughts on the Spirit World. It's a bit long, so buckle up!

For those of you who aren't familiar with our beliefs, we believe that after we die, we go to a place called the Spirit World, which in simple terms is kind of like a transition room between earth and heaven. We don't know a lot about it, but we do know that it is divided into to sections: Paradise and Prison. People who follow the teaching of Christ and accept all of His ordinances get to go to Paradise, while everyone else needs to go to Prison first, where Christ and His disciples help everyone to become worthy to join the others in Paradise. When we talk about Paradise and Prison, we usually demonstrate it two locations separated by some sort of border, though this specific imagery is just a popular interpretation. I personally think that said Paradise and Prison are more likely states of mind rather than physical locations, such that those who have peace in Christ are in a state of spiritual paradise, while those who aren't feel like they're in spiritual prison. While there in prison, they are granted that they may hear and learn the gospel of Christ so that perhaps they may repent and come unto Him, that they might cross over the boundary separating them from Paradise. By reason of scripture concerning the remaining influence that both the spirits of God and the devil alike have on these people (The Book of Mormon, Alma 34:34), I believe that Satan's followers may also be preaching amongst those in prison, spreading lies to convince them that there is no Paradise for them to enter, no repentance, no Christ, no hope. For this cause, though every soul would have opportunity to recieve the truth, accept their vicarious ordinances, and join their loved ones in Paradise, some would nevertheless fall prey to the deceptions of the devil and his angels, thereby denying themselves the privileges that they might have received through faithfulness in mortality.

What that all means is that we need to choose to follow Christ now, not put it off for later. There have been at least a few people who found the gospel too difficult to follow in this life and thusly asked someone to perform their ordinances for them after they're dead (because we believe in being able to perform ordinances in behalf of the dead who didn't have the chance to in life). However, if you aren't willing to repent in this life, it is highly unlikely that you'll ve any more willing afterward. Therefore, for anyone not of our faith who reads this, I hope that you'll take the time to get in contact with the missionaries wherever you are to learn about the gospel and learn for yourself whether or not it is true.

Now, this isn't official doctrine by any means, it's just my interpretation of what I've learned, but I hope everyone is able to get something good out of it! Matta ne!