My Cake Doctrine

Posted by Leslie | August 12, 2009 | 14 Comments

cake It seemed crazy, riding a camel up a moutain at midnight. Helpless, six feet in the air, I tried to tell myself that the camel didn’t want to die any more than I did. I listened to the sound of the pebbles as they spilled down the drop-off cliffs, and echoed as they bounced down the rocks far below me. Hours passed, as I made my way up barren Mount Sinai. I felt my dusky white camel’s sputtery hot breath as I swayed in the saddle, rocked by his rhythmic lurching step. I found myself entranced with the luminous stars peppering the inky night sky. While I had seen moonlight hundreds, thousands of times, this was the first time I had ever seen undeniable starlight. I now knew why they called it the Milky Way. It was as though I could see all the billowy transcluscent milk of the Milky Way, swirled around with space dust and gasses. The halting expanse of it all made me think of God and life and heaven.

It made me realize the thing that converts me, that makes me a Latter-Day Saint, is –heaven. Simply put, I “like” our theology about heaven. My husband finds my use of the word like an awkward one when it comes to religion, because for him it’s about truth. I argue that for me it is about truth, but still there is something about this certain doctrine that I have a delicious affinity for. Like my favorite dessert, it’s my cake doctrine.

I have many friends of many faiths. As I try to understand their rootings of beliefs, I find the lack of this developed concept of heaven to be difficult for me. It’s the part I can’t imagine living without. For most of Christianity, hell is actually defined more than heaven. I cannot really latch on to the passive vague heaven as understood by most Christians, a sort of restful, good place conjured in images of saints, harps and angels. Judaism has very little concrete doctrine regarding life after this. The Hindu concept of reincarnation feels almost sad to me. Buddhism leaves me wondering about the personal relationships of this life that mean so much to me.

I know in our modern world, religion really isn’t en vogue, and is often considered the panacea of the masses. While many can accept religious teachings as “nice teachings to encourage a good life”, heaven is especially spurious to many. Often it is viewed as the ulitmate philosophical dangling carrot to induce morality. Yet ironically, heaven is the strongest belief I have, the one I cannot deny. Nothing is more logical, more real, more exquisite than my belief in what comes after this life.

I love knowing the best is yet to come, that God is generative, creative, intimately relational. It’s like dessert to infinity. Those things resonate so deeply with the core of who I am. Loving, learning, creating are the best parts of life and if heaven as more of that–I’ll definitely take a second slice.

I think we each have it, some portion of our doctrine that hooks us, that our testimony hangs solidly on, that amidst any other struggles resonates so strongly in our soul. What is your cake (or pie) part of our doctrine? Why?

Comments

14 Responses to “My Cake Doctrine”

jendoop
August 12th, 2009 @ 8:21 am

My cake doctrine is a loving God. Knowing that he is our cheerleader, our guiding Heavenly Father makes the hard times just a little easier to bear. Knowing that his commandments are for our good, not a burden he haphazardly placed upon us. Getting down on my knees and pleading for help, asking to feel his love, and then being graced with a rush of spirit to confirm my faith in him is the panacea of this mass.

Great post- I love thinking about the many layers of the gospel and my gratitude for them.
Jenny
August 12th, 2009 @ 9:42 am

I laughed, first, when reading your post, because it reminded me of my mule ride down into the Grand Canyon. Same thoughts of my precarious mortality… but Mmmmmm…. delicious post. I find myself struggling to nail down just ONE layer of that cake doctrine for me. Maybe my top layer is the concept of an eternal family. And I guess this is similar to the heaven concept–that we can look forward to continuing relationships that are so dear, that have been severed in mortality. Yes. The sweet dollop on the top of my religious dessert.
Jill Shelley
August 12th, 2009 @ 10:11 am

I think then you would like the post I did about this very subject:
http://adventuresofgrandmahoney.blogspot.com/2009/08/message.html
Dovie
August 12th, 2009 @ 11:14 am

It is the idea that all will be ultimately mended though the Atonement. For everyone. The sadness tragedy and loss that sometimes must be passed though in this life would drive me out of my mind with grief. Not just for myself but humankind. Whether in my life or in the news or in history. Not that mortality is all weeping and wailing and sorrow, there is so much that is wonderful but when the sad and terrible happen and I have trouble seeing anything else and I need that shining hope.

I need remember Christ is there, promising balm and healing in great measure here in this life and a full measure and beyond in the life to come. If it is another persons grief just knowing that he is there for all of us makes it possible for me to mourn with those that mourn, well I would do that anyway but to mourn with hope for them and me. That isn’t very “cakey” sounding but it is the thing about the Gospel that compels me the most.
Strollerblader
August 12th, 2009 @ 2:10 pm

The pie part of the Gospel for me is that Heavenly Father loves us, listens to us, knows us personally (much better than we know ourselves), and that he has wonderful things in store for us, tailored just to who we are.
Selwyn
August 12th, 2009 @ 8:33 pm

My huge, gooey, belly warming chunk of pie is that my Heavenly Father loves ME,loves me unreservedly, always listens, and definately absolutely wants me to be truly happy. The next several slices are all about how He wants and works to make me happy – prayer, the temple, eternal families, and the long range vision He has that I’m trying to acquire.

Pass the pie!
Faith.Not.Fear
August 12th, 2009 @ 9:53 pm

Sounds like a joyous feast to me — dittoes all around!
eljee
August 13th, 2009 @ 8:45 pm

I think my favorite doctrines have to do with eternal progression (“the glory of God is intelligence”) and pre-earthly existence, as well as our concepts of heaven. I love the idea that we are here to become someone better, and that learning never ends. The concept of premortality has been a comforting one for me as our family has navigated the path of adoption.
Camille
August 13th, 2009 @ 11:36 pm

I’m with Dovie. The glorious and tender mercies of the Atonement are life altering to me. And when they are truly applied, it’s just miraculous on all counts. That, and the understanding I try to garner every day of a Father in Heaven who loves me. The intimate relationship we share is so sacred and so personal, and it baffles me that it’s possible. I wish the world could feel what I feel when I speak to Him and I know He knows my name. My face. My fears. and my Faith.

I could just go on and on.

And now I need to go upstairs and eat some cake. dangit!
Paula
August 15th, 2009 @ 8:34 pm

You are such a good writer. From your camel’s sputtery hot breath to your plain, understandable comparisons of world religions. Wow. I’m a fan!
mormonhermitmom
August 18th, 2009 @ 1:06 am

I like that Heavenly Father is …our father. He’s a dad. He has kids. Some kids he’s proud of, some kids he’s aching for, but he loves them all. And the eldest brother looks out for the younger ones. I don’t get the idea of an incorporeal, ether-like God. Some spirit, some essence, some idea made us? No way.
Sage
August 20th, 2009 @ 7:01 am

Love this idea. Agree with all the comments. Recently, when I’ve attended the temple, I have felt how real the gospel is. Tangible. Even spirit is matter, just of a finer material. I love that. I love that Joseph Smith restored that knowledge. Our bodies are a gift from our physical, tangible God. This life is real!
Cindy
August 20th, 2009 @ 9:48 am

What a lovely idea to read about–each person’s description of where their testimony is anchored. I’d have to say that mine is anchored deeply in the Book of Mormon, because the words there never fail to help me feel the spirit. Especially the last chapters in 2nd Nephi…
Blue
August 21st, 2009 @ 7:01 am

leslie, i’ve kept this unread in google reader ever since you posted it so i’d have a chance to respond. though i, like some of the commenters, am a pie person, i loved this thought of yours…and it has made me ponder why i’m still here.

i’ve struggled with the family’s forever thing because of my family of origin, and all the messes that families have created through time. and also because i don’t presently have any guarantee that my DH will find his faith and be with me forever. i just can’t grasp that whole concept yet.

and my relationship with fathers has always been skewed because of my experiences with my dad growing up…and i’m still working on disconnecting the relationship i have with my dad from my relationship with my Heavenly Father is (got the intellectual part down…now just need the rest of it to follow).

i think that the thing that gives me the greatest comfort is connected to the atonement, and the idea that the flames of life shall not hurt us, he only designs our dross to consume and our gold to refine.

it gives me hope for myself. and my loved ones. and people i don’t even know. for the whole world. i can’t get my head around how it happens really, but i guess i have faith that it does and it is and it will. someday we’ll all be like him, while being ourselves still. that’s a happy thought for me. ♥