I’ve spent some time over the years thinking about questions that remain in regards to the logistics of the afterlife.As I was pondering upon this topic and watching, ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ I realized that no matter what it’s like in the celestial realm, there will most certainly be some positive changes:
- Home teaching. If God’s capable of reading the minds, and hearing/sorting through prayers from seven billion people speaking 1,000+ languages and dialects simultaneously here on Earth, surely he has a grip on the status of everyone in the afterlife. And after all, isn’t it only blue skies and crying babies anyway? So, I’m guessing that the monthly calls that everyone tries to avoid will be a thing of the past.
- Moving. There was a time when we were moving 2-3 families a month into and out of our Ward. I’m nearly moved-to-tears at the idea of not moving anyone in the eternal abode. They’ll catch their own ride to their assigned home planet and start the procreating without any boxes, U-Haul, etc. Wahoo!
- Church Welfare. I’m not sure how many of you would enjoy sitting across a desk from a neighbor and telling them to dump cell phones, cars, RV’s, etc., to reduce monthly expenses, but I dread it. With the celestial streets paved in gold, welfare shouldn’t be an issue. Although it brings up further questions: is the gold only in the Celestial Kingdom, or do all three come equally-equipped in this area, and more importantly, if a resource isn’t rare anymore, is it really worth anything? But I digress…
- Church Meetings. Now here’s an interesting one to me. After we’ve ‘made it’ will we have to go to any Church meetings anymore? Since we’ll already know everyone else’s thoughts, I assume that we’ll know what that person would give a talk about, before the talk is even given. I think I’m safe to say that Sunday may turn out to truly be days of rest in the hereafter. Don’t get me wrong – I suppose that sitting in a chair for twelve hours every Sunday could be considered resting to a guy that works in construction, but…
- Travel. There were few things that I hated more while raising my kids here on Earth than long car trips with children under five. With all the child-rearing that will be going on eternally in the netherworlds, I’m really hoping that there aren’t celestial maxi-vans and that travel will be more-or-less instantaneous, like what we see on Star Trek, but with much larger teleportation pads that can facilitate a few thousand kids at a time.
- In-laws and extended-family reunions. Since we’re all, ‘brothers and sisters,’ will we still be expected to visit in-laws in the hereafter? I can’t imagine having extended-family reunions either, since a gathering of tens of billions would take some massive coordination, and that doesn’t even include the Neanderthals. On that note, are the Kingdoms going to be species-segregated, or will we all get lumped together? I enjoy the thought of seeing Fido again, but not so much being chased by the saber-toothed tigers and velociraptors.
So, what are the to-die-for changes that you’re most looking forward to in the afterlife?
Bishop Mike Young
