Dreaming About Marriage

I had a dream about marriage where it seemed revealed knowledge to me why sexual intercourse may not be present in heaven, at least not as we think of it.

I was bothered by the idea that something which seems joyful or sanctified shouldn't be present, and perhaps misunderstood some of the Fathers writings that appeared to suggest it wasn't good.

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It was revealed to me that the union between two lovers is so elevated in Heaven, so complete and joyful beyond any possibly earthly imagining, that the sexual act itself but seemed a pale reflection. That which was good and divine about sexual relations were so joyfully fulfilled that there was no question or desire of merely having the earthly state.

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This sort of understanding simply can't be comprehended by those living in a sinful state, because those sinful states specifically are excluded from this joy. They are misdirected abuses of the true understanding of marriage's divine purpose and union. Sinful states are actively separating people from God. They are sad degradations of beauty and truth. A sinner must lose himself, and what he thinks he desires, to turn and embrace true joy and understanding - the joy is beyond imagining and so to the depths of sorrow caused by sin and error are beyond realization.

If a man is so blinded that they can't see the truth, they must simply have faith and hope that something far greater exists. He must love God and trust God that His Father knows what is good, that His Father is good and truth, and let go of the lies and deceptions.

(A child may not understand why a thing is dangerous, and so the parent must simply forbid it, put it out of reach, and even punish the child. The child must obey until they can understand and know.)

Wherein Marriage Partakes of the Divine

God's primary relationship to us is love, and it is a creative love that gave birth to the universe and all of mankind.

The ideal form of marriage is that of great love between man and woman. A love that is above physical attraction, but includes it, that brings two lovers together in union.

This ideal love is so strong that it truly brings about that union, not only in a temporal act, but one which actually partakes of the divine. That is, the union is joyful, bonding, and truly creative - so creative that a child - the actual physical embodiment of that union - may be born. The parents give the child a body and God gives it an immortal soul!

Notably, Jesus Christ's first miracle involved participating in a marriage. The presence of God at the marriage is reflective of His divine presence in marriage itself and the creative marital act. The act of turning water to wine as a divine first miracle is confusing to many, but specifically reflects Him sanctifying and elevating a mortal marriage to that of divine creation.  So to, His miracle reflects the joy present in marriage, the joy of divine creation, and the joy of loving union.

It is really amazing: God sanctifies the parent's love, because marriage specifically means the union of man and woman. He makes that love immortal. He makes that union immortal by uniting their creative act to an immortal soul created by God Himself.

Moving to the Best Country

I've heard rumors of rumors of US citizens looking to expat, or trying to find the best place to live, etc.

Well, I've fond it. The wealthiest, smartest, longest living country, where people are kind, generous, and don't commit any crime. They'll even stop by regularly and help you move furniture, fix your toilet, and see if you need help with anything. Unlike almost every other first world nation on earth, it's also in no danger of extinction - they get married young and have big loving families.

Better yet, you don't have to renounce your citizenship. You don't even have to move. They'll even send a welcoming committee to your door.

So what's the catch?

You're expected to attend a local meeting every Sunday, help out in your new country, give up your bad habits, and tithe 10% (one of the lowest "tax rates" in the world). If you can commit, you can get baptized.

Mormon Life Expectancy

It is interesting how there is a lot of correlation between intelligence, income, crime rate, etc. and these all skew towards the ideal end among Mormons. Another indicator is life expectancy.

According to Wikipedia, Utah is ranked #10 in the nation with a life expectancy rate of 82.2

So what's the Mormon life expectancy?

The national average is 78.74, so Utah has an "extra" 3.46 years, but assuming that skew is primarily due to the high rate of Mormons in the state - of whom we estimate as 63% of the population - we extrapolate the average increase as actually 5.49 years per Mormon.

That gives Mormons an average life expectancy of 84.23 years!

Thinking of "Mormons" as a nation, that would make the the 5th longest living nation in the world. So not only do we have the wealthiest by median income, the smartest, and the lowest crime nation in the world, we also have one of the longest living.

Conservatives Have Been Cuckolded

Traditional conservatives have a strong sense of respect for authority. That is for institutions, religions, and nations. Conservatives also tended to be the founders, funders, and respecters of educational institutes.

Conservatives tend to argue from said authority (this Pope said, or the constitution, etc.), but of course, the institution is composed of individuals and thus living.

So tradition and conservative ideals are only respected if the present body of the institution respects those things, and liberals figured out if they take over an institution, conservatives will in good-faith continue supporting those institutions for a very long time - at least the present generation, or until respect for that institution or authority utterly dissipates.

For example, the post-Vatican II changes in the Catholic church were widely lamented by conservatives, but few actually took the step to admit their hierarchy had largely been cuckolded by modernism (which was explicitly stated as a heresy a mere 50 years earlier). So rather than remaining in obedience to tradition, they obeyed the present authority.

The same sort of thing applies to the Republican party in the US, the Boyscouts of America, and even the US government in many aspects - it certainly no longer functions primarily as a republic, but the goal was long ago changes to democracy. One could, of course, go on...

So what's the solution? Above all, obedience to God. That is, God is a living God, He did not die with tradition nor did He die with the present authority figures chose to rewrite His law and disobey Him. Therefore, ones allegiance and obedience is to be, primarily and always, obedience to God and His eternal laws.

Respect for authority is only contingent insofar as the authority in turn obeys God. No human or group of humans is immune from sin, they are always victim to it expect by God's grace.

Modern anti-Education

Traditional education, including Catholic, was primarily focused on teaching people how to think - how to reason, understand philosophy, judge if things are true or false.

Modern "public education", or better said anti-educaiton, trains the youth to be indoctrinated in established politically correct propaganda and punishes those who step out of line (i.e. those who think).

Two Kinds of Eucenism

The word "ecumenism" has been bad-mouthed by conservatives and adored by liberals, but this is again due to an abuse-of-meaning by liberals.

For the left, to be ecumenical means to undermine one's own faith, to eliminate those doctrines that don't get along with everyone else's (i.e. those doctrines that aren't liberal, progressive, modern).

A conservative should respect ecumenism by embracing allies who also love God and truly desire to do His will - and very specifically not Satan's.