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Yes, I am saying that we are damned - to a degree. If we don't do what's required of a Celestial glory, we damn ourselves to something less than a Celestial glory. If you've been in the mission field, I'm sure you came across more than one Born Again Christian that claimed all we have to do is confess belief and we're saved. While belief in Jesus is the right place to start, if you don't do the works, you will be damned. You gotta do more than just believe. Same with Celestial laws. To get Celestial, you gotta do more than just Telestial and/or Terrestrial; you gotta do Celestial. If you only do the Telestial laws, you can't abide a Celestial glory. If you want to try and invalidate D&C 88:22, good luck with that. True on the Atonement, but the Atonement is more than just belief. If we're hoping that the Atonement is some kind of pixie dust that will get sprinkled on us in the Spirit World and we'll magically be teleported right into the Celestial Kingdom, I think a lot of mormons are in for a serious reality check in the next life. My take on the Atonement is that when we get to that point that we will have the opportunity of a full application of the Atonement, we'll be presented with the question "What more could you have done?" 2 Nephi 25:23 states "after all we can do", not "just as much as we want to do".

True, one is not required to live the higher laws, but imagine the kinds of blessings one would recieve if they did adhere to higher laws when they weren't required or asked to. The Lord promises blessings when we obey the law that the blessing is associated with (D&C 130:20-21). If we want to get Celestial blessings, we have to follow Celestial laws. Settling only for a Telestial law will never get us a Celestial blessing. "For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory" (D&C 88:22). Now, with this mortal life being only a drop in the bucket of the eternities, while one might not be expected to live the standard of a higher law, consider the blessings one might recieve if they did nonetheless.

threepercent, this is something new to me and I would be very interested in more details. I sent you a pm, but haven't heard back. If you'd like to just email me: [email protected] Thanks.

There's also the possibility that in the next life, when all involved are that much closer to a Celestial perspective, that RealDeseret's ex-wife may realize that Oh, hmm, maybe she didn't make the most correct choice. The new husband may realize the same. Those two might decide that they should part and RealDeseret's wife should really be back with him. Does that possibility muddy up the waters? You sure bet it does. Maybe the real solution is that people shouldn't harden their hearts once they get married, especially sealed. A rather humorous folly that often comes up among mormondom is that so many get stuck in the mindset that the happenings of this Telestial world, that we're all stuck in, are what's going to set the precedence for the happenings of the Celestial world to come.

So, by that standard, its Ok to start an Eternal family by committing adultery as long as you follow thru and get sealed to him/her later down the road? Because today you can get away with it..... um, because they are much more forgiving now.

The paraphrase that foreverafter and pam are arguing about. foreverafter: Pres. Kimball believed that those people who have a relationship before divorce are not worthy of ever remarrying in the temple. pam: Do you have a reference where he might have said this?

Concerning that paraphrase from Kimball, it comes from his book, The Miracle of Forgiveness. I don't remember exactly where in the book, and I'm not in the mood to read the whole thing again, but I think its in the middle-ish of the book. Edit: Google is our friend. Found the whole bloody book online. Looks like around page 132 onward or so, is probably pretty close to the quote/paraphrase mentioned. Again, I didn't have time to read it thuroughly; just a quick breeze-over.