Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Thu, 10/04/2008 - 19:59.
Carl, you may well be right; it would be interesting to survey people on that point as well. My data don't address that issue.
I have discussed the question with people more informally. Some say that they put such questions "on the shelf", like a book they don't need/want to read at this time, but may return to later. They seem to expect an answer to the question, but don't know what that answer will be. Sometimes they say this in such a way that it conveys apprehension at what the answer might be.
Others appear to have considered the question more fully and reached an answer. For example, one man I know remarried when his first wife died, and made a deliberate choice with his second wife to _not_ marry for eternity because they did not want a polygamous relationship in the hereafter. The marriage ceremony was held in the temple, but they were married for "time" but not "eternity". (The LDS way of saying "'til death do we part".) I don't know of any publicly-available statistics that would indicate how common such a choice is. I do recall hearing a change in policy that disallowed that option; I believe that if a marriage is performed in the temple now, it cannot be a time-only marriage.
It would be interesting to investigate people's beliefs in the afterlife, and how they conceive relationships. I am not aware of any systematic research on that question.
You may be right
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Thu, 10/04/2008 - 19:59.Carl, you may well be right; it would be interesting to survey people on that point as well. My data don't address that issue.
I have discussed the question with people more informally. Some say that they put such questions "on the shelf", like a book they don't need/want to read at this time, but may return to later. They seem to expect an answer to the question, but don't know what that answer will be. Sometimes they say this in such a way that it conveys apprehension at what the answer might be.
Others appear to have considered the question more fully and reached an answer. For example, one man I know remarried when his first wife died, and made a deliberate choice with his second wife to _not_ marry for eternity because they did not want a polygamous relationship in the hereafter. The marriage ceremony was held in the temple, but they were married for "time" but not "eternity". (The LDS way of saying "'til death do we part".) I don't know of any publicly-available statistics that would indicate how common such a choice is. I do recall hearing a change in policy that disallowed that option; I believe that if a marriage is performed in the temple now, it cannot be a time-only marriage.
It would be interesting to investigate people's beliefs in the afterlife, and how they conceive relationships. I am not aware of any systematic research on that question.
~Michael
Unregistered user