Dear Gramps,
I really like this website, plenty of good answers to gospel questions I’ve often wondered about. In my searching of your site I have not found an answer that addresses one of my questions I’ve often wondered about concerning race. I come from a Tongan upbringing. I love my culture and everything but now as i’m looking to raise a family of my own I’m wondering if I should raise my future children in the same culture..my question is what role does culture play in a gospel sense, if it plays any role at all? Will earthly cultures continue to exist in the afterlife? In the afterlife, will we still keep our ethnic identities? just curious. Please give me an honest answer, I will not be offended at all. I just want to know.
malo,
Tulu
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Tulu,
The variety of cultures and races within the church are a thing of beauty to me. It demonstrates in an unmistakeable way how the Gospel applies to all people equally. There is no difference in what is taught in a church located in Tonga compared to what is taught in a church in Germany. Sure, the language could be a task to work through, but the doctrines, principles, and standards apply equally around the world.
How you raise your children will be a matter between yourself, your spouse, and Heavenly Father. As long as you hold to the standards Jesus Christ has established for his church, and live as an example to your children of those standards, the measure of your personal culture will only serve to enrich your family with a unique identity and closer connections to each other.
The afterlife will be a fascinating time. Ultimately, we are all of one culture, and that of Heavenly Father. On one hand I have heard that racial differences only apply during this life. On the other hand, we are promsied in the resurrection a perfect physical body which could include the difference in skin color, etc.
My take is that of Jehovah’s when Samuel was trying to find the first King of Israel, and the Lord had to remind him that physical appearances aren’t what matters in the eternities, but the contents of the heart are the true measure of a man.
We will surely remember our mortal lives, and all the things that made us unique personally, and culturally. There’s no way Heavenly Father would want to take that from us.
-Gramps
