Me: My friend told me about this girl he was interested in who was married before, sealed, to her husband who died of cancer. She had three children who were obviously sealed to her and her deceased husband. My friend was curious what would happen if he decided to marry her; he could not be sealed to her because she was already sealed (and a woman can only be sealed to one man). On top of that, any children they had would be sealed to her, but not to him.
My Friend: That is a sticky situation, and one that no one can logically explain. Even still, things will work out as they should because God is perfectly just and perfectly merciful. It's interesting you bring up this subject because there is a book series by an LDS author that centers around this topic. I'll lend them to you.
Me: That sounds great!Anyway, true to her word, she brought the books in. She warned me they would be on the somewhat romantic side (and that they were...almost nauseating!) but that it had a good story (which made up for the nauseating romance). As I mentioned in a previous post, I am a bit of a sucker for love stories. It wasn't soon that I found myself hooked on this story. Luckily there were only 3 books to the series, but it still swallowed up the bulk of my free time.
Have you ever read a book that has such an effect on you that you feel the characters are real and are close friends or that you actually witnessed the scenes? I remember reading Harry Potter (particularly Order of the Phoenix) and getting so angry and frustrated at Dolores Umbrigde and wanting to throw the book; feeling the intensity of Harry's emotions in the Forbidden Forest as his parents, Sirius, and Lupin join him as he makes his way to Voldemort. Well, these books seemed to do just that...and maybe a bit more. The characters in this LDS fiction series became so real that, once the series was over I actually felt like a good friend had moved away. I then was given another series by the same author with a reappearance of the main characters from this first series. It was great! I felt like I was having a reunion with a long lost friend. And then, in the series, one of the characters dies. I still have three books left in this second series that I don't really want to read now...because my friend (the character) is now dead.
Now, I have an idea as to what some of you are thinking..."THEY'RE JUST BOOKS! The characters aren't real and you are being weird!" I agree...partly (believe me, I tell myself the same thing). However, I think media (books, music, movies) have a way of allowing you to feel emotion that you may be lacking in reality. I also believe the media has a way of taking what one feels and providing some sort of explanation that one could not come up with themselves (this sounds all very psychological, but it makes complete sense to me). I guess that's one reason why it is so important to be careful what kind of media you choose to fill your mind with. I think it has much more of an effect on us that we even realize.
Why this post? First of all, I think it was a way for me to process both the books I just read. Also, it was a sounding board for me as I tried to figure out the huge effect of the series. One thing is for sure...I need to get a person to talk to. It's nicer to have something talk back! ;)
