Yay, Discussion
I’ve left the last post up for awhile to see if it would generate discussion. To my surprise I got two responses.
While I was commenting on the eternal nature of who we are as individuals, what got commented on was the use of the word “eternity” or “eternities”.
Most people see the word eternity and think forever, just as the first to comment, Mari posted: “In your quote by the prophet he says, “Eternities may begin, eternities may end, and still we shall have our individuality.” and I just have to say that no, eternities will not end because that is the nature of eternity — It is neverending. “
Before I could reply a second comment by Brook was entered in response to Mari’s comment: “Firstly, I do not beleive that President Snow was intending to be prophetic (no pun intended) when he mentioned eternities ending and begining. The current theory is that the current universal expansion (read “time”) is a continuing evolution of similar expansions and collapses.”
There is more to the two comments but I wanted to talk about this idea of what eternity may mean. I personally believe that the mention of eternity is a figure of speech. While my mormon beliefs do believe in forever, we also will use eternity as a name for anything beyond mortal limitations. Which is what I think President Snow was trying to emphasis. That no matter what happens in the universe, Who we are, what we are, always is.
May 19th, 2004 at 1:04 pm
Okay since I am the poster of the second comment, I want to clarify something. This is a subject that interests me both entymologicaly and “spiritually” (my definition and probably not yours).
Eterinty, as a concept of time, is always something that has interested me as soon as I started studying religion (read ordainment in the Aaronic preisthood for those members who read this or 12 for non-members)
Websters defines eternity as, “time without begining or end” or “a timeless state following death” thus Webster’s and Wendy seem to agree and maybe President Snow as well. But then, as both a benefit and bane to my religious studies, I also picked up a beleif in Physics especially those physics of time.
Physics defines time as a process from a state of order to a state of entropy (disorder) so therefore if there is a state where things are ultimately ordered (Big Bang or Creation) or a time when there is “nothing” to be disordered, then eternity must not apply, at least the first definition.
As for me, I do beleive in eternity as an existence after death, I just choose not to define that existence as anything but “an existence” it could be as energy which as we know, can never be created not destroyed but only transformed. Or is could be as spirit or “soul”.
This, of course, is why I no longer consider myself a Mormon, I was raised that good mormons don’t question such things, but I still find the question interesting.
BtFR
May 19th, 2004 at 3:23 pm
BTW, yes I do realize I think about trivial things way too much
May 20th, 2004 at 8:25 am
You too? ;-D