pages/essays/same-sociality.md
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+---
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+title: That Same Sociality
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+---
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+---
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+
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+This is a post I submitted to
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+[r/ScriptureStudy](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScriptureStudy/comments/3a3vf6/dc_1302_the_same_sociality_which_exists_here_will/)
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+with some selected comment threads. If you wish to be credited for your
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+comment please let me know and I'll add your name to your comment.
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+
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+---
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+
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+I had a discussion about the idea represented in
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+[this](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/130?id=2)
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+verse that caused me to think about this forum, in the sense of being able to
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+ask a question without worrying (too much) about being criticized in some way
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+for thinking too much.
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+
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+First, let me disclaim any criticism for any church leader, past or present.
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+That is not my intent, nor desire.
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+
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+Everything I can find from the church, or authority, that discusses this
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+scripture, or even mentions it in passing, focuses on the family unit we'll
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+have in the eternities. I don't have a problem with that, and I don't
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+disagree. If the family unit is the basis for everything else, it makes sense
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+to focus on the main building block.
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+
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+But that's not what the sentence means, at least not fully. There is no
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+qualifier that limits what form of sociality is being talked about here. Well,
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+perhaps the phrase 'coupled with eternal glory' is a qualifier, but it's not
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+specific at all.
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+
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+It seems to me that we can infer that the inverse is true as well, though
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+I cannot find anything to back it up. I.e., the sociality which exists here
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+existed in the pre-mortal existence, coupled with a--perhaps different kind
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+of--eternal glory.
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+
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+Further, we can assume, based on the use of the broadly defined word
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+'sociality', that not just church related society was being discussed, but all
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+the myriad forms of social groups we have now.
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+
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+We can assume that not only did we have, and will have, wards and stakes and
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+bishops and Elder's Quorums and the like, but we did have, and will have,
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+dancing troupes and popular singers and cooking stars and sports and ... the
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+list goes on. We might even have had, and will have, forums where we discuss
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+things of interest to us, which we'll access through our own little white
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+stones. :]
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+
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+I realize I'm founding this belief on a single verse, and am quite possibly
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+over analyzing this, but I don't think so.
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+
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+My question is, does anyone have a non-emotional rebuttal to this? I mean, is
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+there something said by somebody with some authority that will put paid to
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+this theory?
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+
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+---
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+
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+> The spirits that dwell in these tabernacles on this earth, when they leave
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+> them go directly into this world of spirits. What! A congregated mass of
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+> inhabitants there in spirit, mingling with each other, as they do here? Yes,
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+> brethren, they are there together, and if they associate together, and
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+> collect together, in clans and in societies as they do here, it is their
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+> privilege. No doubt they yet, more or less, see, hear, converse and have to
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+> do with each other, both good and bad. If the Elders of Israel in these
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+> latter times go and preach to the spirits in prison, they associate with
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+> them, precisely as our Elders associate with the wicked in the flesh, when
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+> they go to preach to them (DBY, 378)[^DBY378].
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+
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+---
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+
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+[^DBY378]: This references The Discourse of Brigham Young, but I think the
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+ page number is misattributed, or used from a different version. I did find
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+ the text
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+ [here](https://archive.org/details/discoursesofbrig028407mbp/page/580/mode/2up?q=%22The+spirits+that+dwell+in+these+tabernacles+on+this+earth%22)