"Q. What are we to understand by the four beasts, spoken of in the same verse?
A.
They are figurative expressions, used by the Revelator, John, in
describing heaven, the paradise of God, the happiness of man, and of
beasts, and of creeping things, and of the fowls of the air; that which
is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal; and that
which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual; the spirit
of man in the likeness of his person, as also the spirit of the beast,
and every other creature which God has created."
Doctrine and Covenants 77:2
In High School I had a good friend that I worked with who was a Catholic. We worked at a Theatre, and so during the first act of the play every night, we had a lot of time to talk. I remember her telling me once what she thought heaven would be like... something like floating around God and praising him all day. I could have made up the floating part though... I know that not having a body after you die was something we had been talking about, and it *has* been a long time since that conversation. :) That isn't a bad thing... praising God means that you get to be one of the singing men or singing women, and that would be a blast. :) The thing is, it boggles my mind the way a lot of us envision heaven... calling it "boring" or joking that we would have more fun in Hell. You have to know that your perception is distorted when you start thinking that Hell is cool. :)
So, thinking along those lines, this scripture is awesome... it tells us a couple of things that aren't usually pictured in heaven... one, bodies, and two... animals. :) So, you know... if you get bored playing chess with God (because he ALWAYS wins) you can always go play with the dog. :) Maybe the dogs will even talk, and then we could teach them some REALLY cool tricks. :) heh heh. Seriously though, I think that heaven sounds... well, heavenly. Staying the way you are for eternity... now THAT sounds like Hell to me. Yes, change is hard... but it's a good thing. I mean, think over even just the last 5 years of your life. Aren't you glad that you changed from who you were 5 years ago? Would you want to go back? Would you like to get stuck like you are right now... forever? Boy, not me. I'd rather live in heaven where I could go down to the beach and talk to the fish (and there is this one particular parrot I would like to have a real conversation with...), and maybe (after several lifetimes of homework, I am certain) I'll even learn to take a few steps on the water, or how to move a really really small mountain. :) Our spiritual selves and our physical selves have SO much in common, if we can just get them to get along with one another. :) And there is so much to learn and to become... how could heaven ever ever *ever* be boring? :)
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