In this morning’s post for Times And Seasons, I introduce an attempt to find middle ground between simplistic metaphysical views of ordinances and mere symbolism. It’s an idea I’ve been working on for a long time, but I think this is the first time I’ve tried it out in public. I’m looking forward to getting some feedback.
2 thoughts on “Monday Morning Mormonism: Metaphysics of Sealing”
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Interesting thoughts that I would have to ponder more. However, I disagree that your first position is the default position of Mormons. In discussions in church and Institute setting (in my personal experience) the second and third views are more common. I’m curious as to why you think the first view is the most common one.
Good post. I have a lot of thoughts on this as well, most too involved to go into now. I would like to mention that I’ve been questioned by former Mormons about the reason God needs us to jump through hoops (like baptism) to obtain salvation and my answers usually center around the need for form and ritual in almost everything we do in life. I don’t believe water literally washes my sins out of my body, rather I think the symbolism is a way of signing a contract with God using a physical medium (our bodies as opposed to a pen)–to bring physics into it, it’s a “thermodynamically irreversible event.”
Likewise, in my mind the power of the priesthood was in acting as God would act. It’s not a matter of divine fiat, it’s simply becoming one with the will of God. Sanctifying the bread and water during the sacrament prayer does not entail a physical transformation of the stuff after asking God for permission. Instead it is, again, a person given the right to act in place of God performing a ritual on His behalf that we “sign” by ingesting the so-sanctified bread and water with our physical bodies. Like agreeing to a EULA before installing a video game. :)
If you’re interested in the deeper physics of resurrection, I strongly recommend Frank Tipler’s book, The Physics of Immortality. It’s not perfect and a lot of it is beyond me, but it is fascinating nonetheless.