The Sea world Dilemma
The core question—
Is ignorance bliss, or captivity? Does all knowledge lead to pain — and if so, is that pain the price of freedom?
A whale born in captivity has no concept of the ocean. Telling it about the ocean gives it knowledge it can’t use without paying a huge price — for the most part it can’t leave, and even if it could, it couldn’t survive out in an open ocean. It also means leaving the other whales in the pool it has know its whole life. Is the whale better off ignorant, or better off knowing about a world it likely cost everything to reach?
I keep coming back to this idea: people who never question the frameworks they were handed — by family, by faith, by culture — may be more at peace than people who do. But is that peace the same thing as freedom? If ignorance really is bliss, then knowledge really must cost something substantial. So why pursue it at all? I think the answer to that question is that knowledge is pain, but it’s also power. The real question isn’t comfort vs. pain. It’s comfort without agency vs. freedom with pain you didn’t have before.
What the Seaworld whale analogy means for me:
I was raised in— and still belong to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have come to a point where I have decided that I don’t believe in certain truth claims produced by Joseph Smiths revelations. And subsequent prophets, apostles, seers, and revelators. I could get into the semantics of each and every claim, but for the sake of clarity I want to focus specifically in on one aspect of the Restoration and “the plan of salvation.” Not believing in the dogma completely or not saying that it’s completely true, costs me something very real and painful. Distance from almost everyone I’ve ever been close to and love. Not because my life looks different from theirs — I try to live the gospel of Jesus Christ to the best of my ability. But by not accepting the doctrine at face value, means I’ll always be seen as deceived or fallen away by the people closest to me.
I don’t want to save anyone from the Church. I think it’s a net positive for most people in it. I just want the people who know me to look at what I actually do and believe, and respect that it’s mine to decide — including that a temple marriage and other temple ordinances are a dealbreaker for me. The 11th article of faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints states as follows; “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” Sometimes I wish members of the church would take this article more seriously— but it unfortunately is a direct contradiction to being a part of this community. Because fundamentally— not subscribing to the dogma perfectly means questioning Prophets and their authority on revelation.
To preface, I don’t take the stance that fully believing or not isn’t a binary of ignorance and knowledge — but I do believe that the Restored gospel and plan of salvation functions like a narrow canal between two open waters. Ordinances and priesthood keys that were inaccessible to nearly everyone throughout history are treated as the bottleneck for exaltation in my opinion. That doesn’t look like the design of an all-powerful God to me. It looks like a gate.
Here’s the specific problem: if someone lives the teachings of Christ as well as or better than someone who received every ordinance, and still doesn’t qualify for exaltation without these ordinances, or without someone else performing those ordinances on their behalf after death— then salvation isn’t actually “not by works.” To me it seems that this is the exact definition of “saved by works” it’s Just not always your own. I could get into the semantics about salvation vs exhalation— but in my mind that distinction does not matter. A heaven without constant companionship with Christ doesn’t seem like heaven at all to me. So I reject the premise that the distinction between the two matters —or even exists for that matter in my opinion.
I’m not claiming certainty here. I don’t know that I’m right. What I do know: God loves his children, and Christ’s sacrifice was real and sufficient. Past that, I think the thing I actually believe — that we’re saved by grace and not by our own performance. That to me fundamentally is the ocean. I allude to my analogy. I think temple ordinances, priesthood keys, and specific signs and tokens are the narrow canal that separates oceans. Or heaven and earth. My view is that it is all one big ocean— and that heaven and earth have no distance through faith in Jesus Christ— and that his sacrifice was sufficient for all who believe on his name.