What is the Resurrection and Who Takes Part?

     After we have died and spent time in the Spirit World, we come to the time of our resurrection.  This is an incredibly important point along our stage of progression, and there are a great many things to talk about when discussing the Resurrection.  I’ll try to address these points in what strikes me as the most logical course.

     First, what is the Resurrection?  I will turn to the King James Version of the Holy Bible used by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a definition.  In the Bible Dictionary, we find, “The resurrection consists of the uniting of a spirit body with a body of flesh and bones, never again to be divided.”  It further clarifies, “…a resurrection means to become immortal, without blood, yet with a body of flesh and bone.” 

     This teaches us that, when we are resurrected, our spirits will take up their bodies of flesh and bones again.  This united body becomes our completed and immortal soul, which can never again be separated.  They become one forever after.  Now perhaps you are the type of person that loves science fiction.  You’re thinking, “Wait a minute.  I’ve seen zombies and the undead!  I don’t want to become like them.  Why would I want to take up my physical body, which will undoubtedly be a rotting corpse by then?”

     Well if this is what you’re thinking, you’ve got the wrong idea.  We won’t be resurrected with a rotting corpse.  We can turn to The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ for evidence otherwise.  Alma the Younger, one of the great prophets of ancient America, taught, “Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame—mortality to immortality, corruption to incorruption...”  (Alma 41:4)  This means our bodies will take on their natural frame, meaning they will look just as they look now, absent their imperfections.

     One of Alma’s contemporaries, Amulek, taught the same truth at an earlier time.  Said he, “The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time…”  (Alma 11:43)  A little further on, he states, “…and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body…”  (Alma 11:44)

     So our bodies will become perfected versions of what you are looking at now.  The only differences between your present state and the state of your resurrected body are:

1.       Your spirit and physical bodies will never be separated again;

2.       Spirit will flow through your body and animate it instead of blood; and

3.       You will not carry the imperfections you now carry.

In all other respects, you will be just the same as you are now.  This even includes your desires for good or evil.  If you want that which is good and in conformity with the laws of God, then your resurrected soul will also want that which is good and in conformity with the laws of God.  If you pursue evil, your resurrected soul will want to pursue evil (though it won’t have the power—an entirely different subject).

     This brings us to the next question.  Who is subject to the resurrection and will take up their physical bodies again?  We can again look to Amulek for an answer.  “Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous…”  (Alma 11:44)  In other words, everybody born into this world, no matter how long the lived or what choices they made here, will be resurrected.  This includes babies who die in their youth or are still-born.  All who are born shall have a body upon resurrection.

     Why are all people who are born into this earth allowed a part in the resurrection?  It is because they followed Christ in their first estate, meaning the Premortal Existence.  We chose to follow Him there, and so gained the blessing of coming to earth and getting a physical body that would ultimately always be ours.  Only those who rejected Jesus Christ in the Premortal Existence and were never born into this earth will not have a part in the Resurrection.

     There are still several discussion points about the Resurrection that need to be addressed, such as how resurrection came about and when the wicked and the righteous will be resurrected.  But this particular entry needs to end here, so these focus points will be talked about next week.

     Let me close with a point on faith.  Look what your faith in Jesus Christ has already guaranteed you.  You chose to believe in Jesus Christ in the Premortal Existence.  Because of this, you were given the opportunity to come to this earth and get a physical body.  And now you have the guarantee of a perfected physical body that can never be taken from you.  All because of your faith in Jesus Christ before you were even born into this mortal world.  Can’t you see how valuable He is to you?  Can’t you see how much He is your friend and gives you so much?  He does, and if you continue to have faith in Him, He always will.

The Spirit World

     Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe in four distinct parts of life after death:  the Spirit World, resurrection, judgment, and the degrees of heaven.  After we die, we enter the realms of the Spirit World.  Then the time will come when, through the power of Jesus Christ, we are resurrected and take up our physical bodies again.  At some time after this, we will be brought to stand before God and face judgment for our choices in life.  After our judgment, we shall enter into the realms of heaven.

     Since the first of these is the Spirit World, I will begin today with a focus on this state of existence.  Upon death we enter the Spirit World.  There are many questions we can ask about this state of existence, and I’ll try to answer all those I can think of. 

     First, where is the Spirit World?  Brigham Young, the second prophet called by God in the latter days, stated, “It is right here…Can you see it with your natural eyes?  No.  Can you see spirits in this room?  No.  Suppose the Lord should touch your eyes that you might see, could you then see the spirits?  Yes, as plainly as you now see bodies…”  (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, pg. 279)  So when we die and pass from this world into the Spirit World, we don’t actually leave this earth.  We simply change our state of existence.

     So what is this new state of existence?  We know we bury the physical body, so obviously this isn’t a part of it.  We, in fact, revert back to the same form we had prior to coming to our mortal lives:  spirit bodies.  Ether 3:16, found in The Book of Mormon, teaches us that God appeared to the brother of Jared in His spirit body.  We learn this same form is the form Jesus would later take in the flesh and is the form after which man was created.  This means both the spirit body and the physical body of man.  So we know our spirits carry the same form in the Spirit World as we carry here.  They just lack the physical body.

     There is a difference between the spirit bodies before they come to earth and after they depart it.  That difference is the experience they gained while in mortality.  We come to mortality to learn and grow, using the physical body to help us develop our strengths and eliminate our weaknesses.  All that we learn here in this state is carried with us into the spiritual realms of the hereafter.  This includes our knowledge, our strengths, our weaknesses, and our entire character. 

     If we developed the strength to withstand certain temptations of the flesh here, we will have those strengths hereafter.  If we indulged in the weaknesses of the flesh here, our spiritual character will yearn for the pleasures of the flesh there.  All those many attributes we choose to develop here will follow us.  So our character here will determine the state of mind we are in there.

     This brings us to the discussion of the division in the Spirit World.  Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognize that there are two distinct states of being in the world to come.  The one is Spirit Paradise, and the other is Spirit Prison.  I know this division applies to their state of mind, developed through the choices made in this life.  What I don’t know is if there is actually a physical division between these two states of being.  We know that when Jesus entered the Spirit World, He bridged the gap between paradise and prison and started missionary work among those dwelling in prison.  Does that mean a physical division remained between the two?  I doubt it, but I really don’t know.

     I do know there is a division as far as the state of mind of these two.  This division exists based on their choices here, as I stated earlier.  In large part, this has to do with the separation of the physical and spiritual bodies.  Without our physical bodies, we don’t have the ability to satisfy physical urges.  Those who knew the gospel of Jesus Christ and chose to follow the higher laws of God would make their spirits the masters of their physical bodies and wouldn’t be tormented by those temptations they became the masters of.  Their faith in the healing power of Jesus Christ would wash away the pain of the rest and leave them in a state of paradise.

     On the other hand, those who chose to indulge in the pleasures of the flesh would be slaves to the flesh.  So the loss of the flesh would be exquisitely painful to them when they couldn’t satisfy the urges that come as a part of this slavery.  In a sense they would suffer withdrawal pains.  They would be in a state of prison.  Without the physical body, it is also more difficult to become the masters of the physical body.  So it would be more difficult for them to master these urges in the spirit world in order to alleviate these “withdrawal” pains.  Without the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, these spirits never would be free of them.

     Those who died without knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ also dwell in a state of prison.  Now we must acknowledge the fact that many people die without this knowledge and yet are good people who would love Jesus Christ and follow Him if given the chance.  Why should they be in a state of prison?  Simply put, they lack the knowledge they need to bring them into a state of paradise.  This is why Jesus bridged the gap between the two states of being and opened up missionary work among the dead.

     Through missionary work, those who died and entered spirit prison could hear the messages of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  If they accepted these messages, they would find the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  Through this power they would be able to eliminate the prison-like state.  They would join the righteous in Spirit Paradise.

     To rap this entry up, I want to point out one fact.  The power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is not bound by death.  It can heal us here, and it can heal us hereafter.  All it requires is faith, in its entirety, in the Savior Jesus Christ.  And then healing can come in mortality or after death.

The Call of Death

     In the temporal world we now live in, there is a certainty that all of us must face some day.  That certainty is called death.  Every person born into the temporal reality of mortal life is subject to its beckoning call.  Death can greet us in a variety of ways.  No one knows when or how it will come upon them.

     For some the call of death comes upon them like a tidal wave, crashing upon them with tremendous force and swiftly ripping the breath of life from their lips.  For others death comes like a thunder storm, slowly but surely drifting across the horizon until it overshadows their lives with flashes of pain and rolling claps continuously reminding them what lies in store.  Others find death comes upon them like an autumn breeze, gently blowing across their faces and sweetly, calmly beckoning them into a peaceful winter’s rest.

     Death carries many voices.  At some time in the future, one of these voices will call upon you.  You may hear its voice, or it may come so swiftly you won’t have time to know it’s there.  Either way it will come.

     Now the truth about death is that it is a hard subject to discuss.  Most people live in fear of death.  For most of these people it isn’t death they really fear, it’s the unknown.  There is the unknown method with which death will come upon them.  Will it hurt or will it be peaceful?  Will you know it’s coming or will it be swift?  Will you have time to live a full life or will it claim you in your youth?  You simply don’t know.

     For many people the fear comes due to the unknown that comes after death.  What lies beyond the doors of the close to this life?  What happens to us after we die?  What happens to those loved ones we have lost to death?  Are they okay and will we see them again?  Will we be okay when it’s our turn?  So many people lack this knowledge. 

     This latter concern is the reason I choose to write on death today even though it’s such a difficult subject to discuss.  I can’t address the first unknown because I don’t know how death will come to any of us.  But I can address the second unknown because I have knowledge of what comes after death.

     And where, might you ask, did I get this knowledge?  I got it from the best source possible, God the Eternal Father.  It has come to me through revelations given to the prophets of God, both anciently and today.  And the Spirit of Truth has testified to me personally that the revelations given to the prophets are true. 

     Let me be blunt.  If you don’t believe the scriptures are true, if you don’t believe in the prophets of God, if you don’t believe in revelation from God, or if you simply don’t believe in God, then you won’t believe what I share.  And, unfortunately, you have chosen to live a very empty life that doesn’t give you anywhere near the amount of knowledge you could have. 

     But I know the scriptures are true.  I know God has sent prophets to give us knowledge.  I know that revelation is real.  And I know I can trust in the revelations about death given to us by God.

     So what does come after death?  Believe it or not, there is a lot that follows the closing doors of mortality.  We have spirit paradise or prison.  We have the Day of Judgment.  And we have life in the immortal kingdoms of heaven, which depends so much upon the choices we make in this life.  But the discussion about these will need to wait until later blogs.  There is so much to life after death that I can’t cover it in one blog entry.

     For now let me close this blog entry with some words of hope.  Jesus Christ was crucified upon the cross at Calvary.  Yet He didn’t die there because men took His life from Him.  Jesus carried divine life and couldn’t be killed by the acts of man.  He could only die by choosing Himself to give up life.  And that is exactly what He did upon Calvary’s hill.  He gave up His life.

     In choosing to do this, He gained the ability to reclaim His physical body and break the powerful chains of death.  Though death would claim the living, life would be returned through the power of Jesus Christ because He had the faith and courage to give up His own life first.  And because of Jesus, death is not the end.  It is merely the doorway from mortality to immortality.  And, if we live a life of faith in Jesus Christ, it is the doorway to eternity.

Doubt and Fear, the Enemies of Faith

     Recently I watched a movie called “The Great Debaters”.  It’s a movie about four teenage debaters in the early 1900s.  Early in the movie, the father of one of these young teenagers asks the boy, “What is the greatest weakness of man?  The boy thinks for a minute and responds that doubt is the greatest weakness of man.

     There is a great deal of truth to this statement.  Faith and hope working together serve as our greatest strengths.  Meanwhile fear and doubt stand against faith and hope and serve as greatest weaknesses.  So today I want to talk about these attributes.

     What is faith?  Let me give you the definition found in the Bible Dictionary of the King James Version of The Holy Bible widely used by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  “Faith is the hope for things which are not seen, but which are true (Heb. 11:1; Alma 32:21) and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation.  To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone.”  So what is hope?  Hope is the desire for something to be or to happen.

     At first glance these seem to be pretty much the same thing.  But as you spend some time thinking about it, you realize they really aren’t.  As we read more in the Bible Dictionary, we learn that faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of others.  So let me outline the process and then give you the difference.

     We are born into a world with very little, if any, knowledge.  As we grow and develop, we learn to understand language and figure out how to communicate.  Then we start listening to the beliefs of others.  Some of these beliefs relate to religion, some to politics, and some to other things.  We undoubtedly hear things we things sound wonderful and desire that they are true.  We hope for them.

     Then we start to test these beliefs we hear to find out if they really are true.  We research facts, we ask questions, we test processes, and we ponder upon what we see and hear so that our understanding of the matter grows.  During this whole process we are placing some measure of confidence in the belief we will get the desired (hoped for) result.  And the more we do get it, the stronger that faith becomes, making it easier for us to believe the next test or trial will also yield the same result.  After enough times trying the matter, we find our faith has yielded knowledge that in fact that belief was true.

     So hope is the state of mind that causes us to desire something is true.  Faith is a combination of the state of mind of having confidence something is true and the process of acting to determine if it is indeed true.  Knowledge is the reward we get from acting in faith to test the hopes we have and find out if they are true.

     Now take a look at the other side of the coin.  What is fear?  Fear is the doubt that causes us to believe something is not true or simply is not.  What is doubt?  Doubt is a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction.  So back up in the process to where we hear the beliefs of others.  Some of these beliefs are opposites of the good beliefs that we desire to be true.  As we hear these negative beliefs, we start to doubt whether or not the ones we like are true.  This doubt can lead to fear that if we placed faith in the desired beliefs and tested them, these tests would yield the results we don’t want.  This fear can prevent us from testing to find out and keeps us from the knowledge of the truth.

     So doubt is also a state of mind that stands against hope.  Fear then can prevent action and learning.  In this way it prevents us from learning the truth and gaining knowledge.  We can have hope and doubt at the same time.  However, we can only act one way upon the matter.  We can choose to act in faith and test the matter, or we can choose to act in fear and not test the matter.  If we choose to act in faith and get the desired results, faith grows and fear diminishes.  If we choose to act in fear, it grows and faith diminishes.

     I must now state there are other ways of looking at faith, hope, doubt, and fear.  But when it comes to faith in God, the simple truth of the matter is that fear will prevent you from learning the truth.  It will prevent you from spiritual growth.  And it will ultimately only lead to regret.  And doubt is what leads to fear.  This is why we can state that doubt is the greatest weakness of man. 

     And this is why hope and faith are so important in our lives.  Only through acting in hope and faith can we learn of Jesus the Redeemer.  Only through hope and faith can we learn to be like Him.  Only through hope and faith can we live like Him.