An email to my friend with some of my beliefs and thoughts

You are right.  God is pretty clear against witchcraft.  And we are to avoid even the appearance of evil.  I may have to rethink one of my two basic Halloween costumes - the witch and the fancy lady.  don't think I look like an evil witch?  When I was a kid, my go to was Indian or hobo - probably not politically correct these days. We members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints don't take Halloween at all seriously.  It's just a time to have fun.  Some people like way too much gore for my taste.  on the other hand, there are probably members who avoid Halloween - they avoid Harry Potter and the like.  (I am ok with Harry Potter and our leaders have even quoted it). But mostly we just take the fun.  My problem with Halloween is that it gets more attention than I think it deserves, but people like to dress up, pretend, and have treats.  For me it's way too close to Christmas to spend much money on!  I have 8 children, 5 children-in-law, and 8 grandchildren.  I can barely do presents for them so extended family and dear friends are lucky if I get them a card.

Ha ha.  I agree with you about completely white-washing a person's character.  Just because you died doesn't make you good!  No need to do a lot of dragging through the mud and bashing - we are not supposed to judge.  But why pretend the person was so good when they were not?  Maybe there are those who saw different sides of a person and no one is ALL bad, but dying does not purge one.  That made my ex-husband's funeral a little interesting.  I didn't go, and he was not totally wicked.  There were good things to be said about him and of course, you can just review his life facts.  But it was a little weird for my kids to have people offering them sympathy when they had not lost anything.  He didn't have a good relationship with them. That was the sorrow, not the loss of his presence. 

The idea of singing away the dead person's sins, well I should not judge, but that sure doesn't work with me.  Each person must repent of his own sins.  No one can cleanse us but Christ and that on the conditions of repentance.

How we live and the choices we make will determine our eternal destiny.  We have been taught that this life is the time to prepare to meet God, but we also believe in eternal progression.  I am not sure how it works, but I know we continue to learn, especially if we have tried to learn, grow, and obey in this life.  We will continue to do so. Righteous spirits minister to and teach spirits who did not receive the gospel of Christ in life. I think and HOPE we can continue to repent and grow. I don't know if we can change kingdoms, but I think we can at least level up within a kingdom.  But it won't be easier, we will still be who we are.  If we do not choose good and TRY to follow God, we probably will have much the same attitude - possibly even when we can see the consequences.  Although, I must say, we have all lost someone who we hope sees the light and chooses better in the after life.

Part of the good news is we believe in degrees of glory.  Three main degrees of glory with levels within.  And a degree of NO glory that is hell.  Those who follow God and make and keep sacred covenants with Him will be able to dwell with Him in the Celestial Kingdom.  In the middle kingdom, the Terrestrial,  will be good, but not fully righteous people.  People who were not very good, but not did not knowingly and willfully deny the Christ will be in the lower level, the Telestial World.  From what I hear, this is still a great place, better than earth (and I pretty much like earth, well without war, disasters, and illness).  Those who stubbornly and willfully deny the Holy Ghost and Christ will be in Outer Darkness, hell.  They have rejected God's light and will be without it.  Personally I think a LOT of people will be in the two T's and will be mostly happy about it.  I kind of think we will achieve our idea of heaven - what we believe in and aim for, but that is my personal interpretation.

Like you, we believe that the spirit is eternal.  We believe our spirits lived before this life in heaven with God our Father.  We believe we came here to gain a body and to learn and be tested.  We believe that because of Christ's triumph over death, we too will be resurrected - spirit and body restored to each other forever, with the body perfected.  I sometimes wonder about the science of all those people getting their bodies back, the science of how much matter is there on earth?  But God is a much better scientist than any of us and I believe His promise.

We believe that if we make and keep sacred covenants, we can not only dwell in the presence of God, we can keep our family organizations.  I don't know what happens if we don't.  I am pretty sure we will remember and know our friends and family, but we will not have the same claim of association.  Not sure how it works.

I tend to like cemeteries and think of them as peaceful places. I have never been in one at night.  I don't know if  some inner superstition or something would come out if I were. Of course, I am nervous being alone outside at night anywhere except my own yard. Of course, I don't think the person is there, but I understand people wanting to visit.  We think that the body should be treated with respect.  We believe our body is a temple for our spirit.  In respect, it is good to take care of the cemetery. 

I have thought about my own burial and been drawn to this cemetery or that in the past.  But this summer, I purchased rights to a tree in a forest in Mendocino County (Better Place Forests) where I will have my ashes placed and my family can have their ashes placed too.  This was a big step for me because in the past, I was kind of anti cremation.  I thought the church opposed it, but the policy is not clear, and the church recognizes that in some places cremation is the only legal choice.  I have slight fear of being burned alive, but I have the same fear of being buried alive.  That has happened in past centuries.  I told my children to just make sure I am well and truly dead.  I would rather become one with a tree than molder in box. From parts of the forest you can see the ocean.  It is lovely there.  I hope to visit my tree several times before I need it.  I spent a fortune, but we can place the ashes of 10 people before having to pay for more.  So I and my 8 natural born children are covered.  In-laws and grands will have to pay.  Divided out, it is much cheaper than a regular burial.  I am going to look into body donation.  Help science and get the cremation paid for.  A friend did that which made things much easier for his wife. But I am also interested in being an organ donor and and I don't know if one can do both organ and body donation.

I am supposed to be preparing for a trip to Washington State to visit my family there.  My granddaughter, Acadia, is leaving next week to serve a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Oregon.