This is the post I should have started with, since deciphering the symbolism in this revelation is what started me on the path to a growing sense that scripture is more likely symbolic than not. I've since looked at scripture as symbol, or metaphor, or parable, or allegory, first. Then, as literal, second.
I was in an Elder's Quorum meeting a couple years ago. We were separated into groups of two or three at some point in the meeting. We were asked to research a particular sign of the times, I believe. That part I can't really remember clearly. Anyway, at some point in the discuss with the two men I was paired with, I mentioned my belief that the burning of the wicked at the last days was not literal. Both of these men were friends, so we were able to speak fairly openly. One of them saw some merit in what I was saying, or at least tried to, or at least acted like he did. He's a deep thinker. I think he really thought about it. The other disagreed openly and found a scripture where it mentions the burning and said, See, it's a literal burning. I still disagreed. No big deal. We had a difference of opinion.
I guess I should really start long before this incident. As a young man I was taught on a regular basis the signs of the times and how things would supposedly play out at the end. And how the Savior's second coming would likely take place, and even when. The descriptions and explanations never felt right to me. They never fully made sense. What was the worst part about many of these descriptions and explanations was that they made me feel like I had no real purpose or motivation to improve myself, to prepare for a productive life, here and now. Why would I go get a college education when the world would be ending soon? What's the purpose of a secular education when the near future holds only a spiritual lifestyle, lived in the presence of Jesus Christ?
Plus, the event, the second coming itself, and life after the second coming were such mysteries to me. I believe they were mysteries to everyone trying to explain them too. I didn't understand the need for such mystery. But, think about it, we're often motivated by the lowest common denominator towards motivation: fear. Human beings often are most motivated by fear. What's scarier than being told "the great and terrible day of the Lord is near." And by the way, the wicked will be burned. I didn't even know if I was wicked or not. Often I felt I was. Burning sounds like a terrible way to die. Especially, when following the excruciating pain of burning, you're cast into hell.
When I saw that the scriptures relating to the wicked being burned were also more often than not paired with roots and branches, I realized there was more to this revelation. It lead me on a new path. One where scriptural imagery was just that.
In the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, last weekend, Elder Quentin L. Cook said this about roots and branches and burning:
Our Father’s plan is about families. Several of our most poignant scriptures use the concept of the tree with its roots and branches as an analogy.In the closing chapter of the Old Testament, Malachi, in describing the Second Coming of the Savior, vividly uses this analogy. Speaking of the proud and wicked, he notes that they shall be burned as stubble and “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Malachi closes this chapter with the Lord’s reassuring promise:“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Yes, our Heavenly Father's plan is about families. When we talk of families we talk of roots and branches and trees. As do the scriptures talking of the burning of the proud and wicked.
Burning is a terrible way to die, I'm sure. But being without the ones you love would be worse.
There's a couple of things to consider when we think about a literal burning and an analogy of burning. In the first case, it would seem to me that God would have to take part in some way in literally lighting his children on fire. I don't know how it would happen, but it seems he would have to do something, or enact something that would set his children alight.
In the second case, God has asked us to follow the laws of heaven, by accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ, and receiving the ordinances, or ceremonies, or performances, that save us. One of those ordinances is being married, or sealed, to our spouse, in the holy temple of God. Along with that, we're sealed to our parents, our grandparents, and on and on (our roots), and to our children, our grandchildren, and on and on (our branches). What the revelations are saying is that those who choose not to receive these ordinances, those who do not believe in the laws of God, or who choose to rebel against them, will pay natural consequences. They will not be linked with those they love in the next life. Their relationships will not be recognized or accepted. It takes no further action by God. He's set up his law and we can choose to accept it and obey it or not. Our rewards and consequences will naturally follow.
I can imagine that the pain, or the hell, of not having your spouse, your companion, your children, etc. linked to you in the next life will be something similar to the way gay people feel now, who seek to have the government and people recognize their bonds. I'm not in their position, so I cannot speak definitively about this, but I can imagine they feel they are in limbo. If they live in a place where their relationship is not recognized, I can imagine it occupies their mind daily. They feel it's mean, it's unjust, and it's painful.
I've battled minor injustices in my life against bodies that were much larger and more powerful than I. I always feel my angriest, my most out of control, my most revengeful, when I'm fighting against someone or something that is bigger than I am, who has the final say on my fate in that particular situation. I always feel like what they're doing is unjust. That makes my anger and pain so much more potent. I'm being treated unjustly and I have no control over correcting the wrong. They have all the control.
In this life, gay people have a supreme court and legislatures that are becoming more and more compassionate to their cause. There's hope for them. They may see their relationships sanctioned by most governments in the near future. In many places they already have. But imagine fighting this battle in the next life, where there is no supreme court, no legislature. Where there is no recourse. God has decided that families consist of mothers and fathers and children, etc. And those families are only sanctioned through ordinances approved by him, which take place in holy temples, where the ceremonies are performed by people who have the direct authority from God to perform them. All others will be fighting to have their relationships sanctioned by God, or will relent and accept their fate, or, I hope, will have and take the opportunity to finally follow God's laws.
I believe we might be surprised just how similar the next life will be to this one. People who believe God is unjust will still believe it there. People who don't want to live God's law but want many of the benefits of doing so, will still want those things there. People who want to fight perceived injustices here, will want to fight them there. Hell is feeling like you've been dealt with unjustly and knowing no matter how hard you fight it won't be overturned. Hell is wanting something so badly it's all you can think about, and knowing you'll never be able to have it. Hell is not burning to death or sitting in a fiery place for eternity.
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