Clearly you and I view both the very nature of God as well as the afterlife/eternity quite differently.
There is temporal judgement and eternal judgement.
I am neither allowed nor able to pass eternal judgement.
Thus every soul, other than the Son's of Perdition, have the opportunity to return to God's presence (in one degree or another) in the afterlife/eternity.
But during our sojourn through our Mortal Probation here on earth we are subject to Temporal Judgement.
If someone breaks into your home and murders your wife, then begins the process of going from room to room executing each of your children, and you, having an opportunity to stop him choose NOT to use lethal force thus allowing him to continue on with his murderous rampage, you will have a profound accountability before the Lord that I am not willing to accept..
How many would you stand idly by and allow to die when you could stop the bloodshed and the carnage.
How many innocent little children in the school would you allow to die before you stopped the gunman? Or for that matter, WOULD you ever stop him?
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Here are a few quotes I use to help guide me in these matters.
They are likely not familiar to you.
“There is one principle which is eternal; it is the duty of all men to protect their lives and the lives of the household, whenever necessity requires, and no power has the right to forbid it, should the last extreme arrive...”
Joseph Smith, Section Six, 1843-44, p. 391.
“We all believe that the Lord will fight our battles; but how? Will He do it while we are unconcerned and make no effort whatever for our own safety when an enemy is upon us? If we make no effort to guard our towns, our houses, our cities, our wives and children, will the Lord guard them for us? He will not; but if we pursue the opposite course and strive to help Him to accomplish His designs, then will He fight our battles. We are baptized for the remission of sins; but it would be quite as unreasonable to expect a remission of sins without baptism, as to expect the Lord to fight our battles without our taking every precaution to be prepared to defend ourselves. The Lord requires us to be quite as willing to fight our own battles as to have Him fight them for us. If we are not ready for an enemy when he comes upon us, we have not lived up to the requirements of Him who guides the ship of Zion, or who dictates the affairs of his kingdom.”
Brigham Young, JD, Vol. 11, p. 131, August 1-10, 1865.
“And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion.”
Alma 43:47
“We believe that men should appeal to the civil law for redress of all wrongs and grievances, where personal abuse is inflicted or the right of property or character infringed, where such laws exist as will protect the same; but we believe that all men are justified in defending themselves, their friends, and property, and the government, from the unlawful assaults and encroachments of all persons in times of exigency, where immediate appeal cannot be made to the laws, and relief afforded.”
Doctrine and Covenants 134:11
. Sorry but you really can't/don't believe that the atf will come visit you. I have been buying guns since 1994 when I turned 18. I have been tagged as a multiple buyer for buying a few to many guns in one day. In 18 years over 200 purchases I have spoke to a ATF agent twice, once after a heavy weekend of purchasing(they called to see what I was up to , I think I bought 8 or 10 guns that weekend) and another at the Shot Show, I inquired how long I would be getting delayed on out of state purchases. I could go on but I think I would be better off pulling a pack of frozen chicken out of the freezer and talking to it.
Maybe I should not have made such a general statement about ATF visits.
