1. Mortal life is the time for us to prepare to meet God. The Book of Mormon explains what happens to
our spirits between death and the Resurrection. After our spirits are restored to
our immortal bodies, we will stand before the judgment seat of God, where our
actions and the desires of our hearts will determine our eternal reward.-
The Old Testament gives little info about the resurrection.
2. Dallin H. Oaks, “Resurrection,” Ensign, May
2000.
3. D. Todd Christofferson, “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, May
2014.
5. How might people who do not understand the purpose of their
mortal lives and do not believe in life after death live differently from
people who do understand these things?
6. Alma 34:32–34 - This
life is the time for us to prepare to meet God.
7. “We understand we have come to earth to learn, to live, to
progress in our eternal journey toward perfection. Some remain on earth but for
a moment, while others live long upon the land. The measure is not how long we
live, but rather how well we live.” (TSMonson,“He Is Risen,” Ensign, Nov.
1981). It doesn’t much matter, how we die. It matters a lot how we live.
8. “There is a danger in the word someday when what it means is ‘not this day.’ ‘Someday I will repent.’
‘Someday I will forgive him.’ ‘Someday I will speak to my friend about the
Church.’ ‘Someday I will start to pay tithing.’ ‘Someday I will return to the
temple.’ ‘Someday …’ The scriptures make the danger of delay clear … This
day is a precious gift of God. The thought ‘Someday I will’ can be a thief of
the opportunities of time and the blessings of eternity” (HBEyring”Ensign,
May 2007).
9. Alma 40:6–7, 11–14. Between death and resurrection, the spirits of the righteous dwell
in paradise and the spirits of the wicked dwell in spirit prison. Spirit Prison is NOT for those who died in ignorance, but for
those who knew the ways of righteousness and rejected them. (Ogden II
p. 43)
10.Mosiah 16:6–11 Because Jesus Christ has broken the bands
of death, we will each be resurrected and receive an immortal body. The
righteous will inherit endless happiness, and the wicked will be delivered to
endless damnation.- Vs. 6- Prophetic past tense!
11. 2 Nephi 9:12–13-
Paradise will deliver up righteous spirits, and spirit prison will deliver up
wicked spirits. Spirits will be restored to their bodies and become immortal
souls.
12. Mosiah 15:21–26 -The
righteous will come forth in the First Resurrection, as well as those who died
in ignorance and little children. The wicked have no part in the First
Resurrection. (Tiered Resurrection) D&C
88:97-102-4 Trumps
13. Alma 11:40–45 All
people, wicked and righteous, will have their spirits and bodies reunited in
their perfect form and will stand before God to be judged according to their
works. Clearest
explanation anywhere of universal salvation (resurrection) and limited
salvation (exaltation)
14. Alma 40:4–5, 19–24 -
There is a time between death and Resurrection when spirits go to the spirit
world. After that, there is a time appointed for the spirits of all people to
be eternally restored to their perfect bodies and stand before God to be
judged. “Bodies will come up as they were laid down, but will be restored to
their proper, perfect frame immediately. Old people will not look old when they
come forth from the grave. Scars will be removed. No one will be bent or
wringkled. How foolish it would be for a man to come forth in the resurrection
who had lost a leg and have to wait for it to grow again. Each body will come
forth with its perfect frame.” (JFSmith, DS 2:292)
15. “The Apostle Peter referred to the fact that God the Father, in His abundant mercy, ‘hath
begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead’ (1 Pet. 1:3; see also1 Thes. 4:13–18).
“The ‘lively hope’ we are given by the resurrection is our conviction that
death is not the end.
16. Alma 5:15–21 - We cannot be saved unless we have been washed clean through the
redeeming blood of Jesus Christ. (Alma asks us to imagine ourselves before God
to be judged- Lying?
17. “I know of nothing that is more important or necessary at this
time than to cry repentance, even among the Latter-day Saints, and I call upon
them … to heed these words of our Redeemer. Now he has stated definitely that
no unclean thing can enter his presence. Only those who prove themselves
faithful and have washed their garments in his blood through their faith and
their repentance—none others shall find the kingdom of God” (TPC, Joseph
Fielding Smith [2013], 91).
18. Alma 7:21–25 - (13
DO's in vs. 23 & 24)
_______________
19. -"The “lively hope” we are given by the resurrection is
our conviction that death is not the conclusion of our identity but merely a
necessary step in the destined transition from mortality to immortality. This
hope changes the whole perspective of mortal life. The assurance of resurrection and immortality affects how we look
on the physical challenges of mortality, how we live our mortal lives, and how
we relate to those around us.
The assurance of resurrection gives us the strength and perspective
to endure the mortal challenges faced by each of us and by those we love, such
things as the physical, mental, or emotional deficiencies we bring with us at birth or acquire during mortal life. Because
of the resurrection, we know that these mortal deficiencies are only temporary!
The assurance of resurrection also gives us a powerful incentive
to keep the commandments of God during our mortal lives. Resurrection is much more than merely reuniting a spirit to a body
held captive by the grave. We know from the Book of
Mormon that the resurrection is a restoration that
brings back “carnal for carnal” and “good for that which is good” (Alma
41:13; Alma
41:2–4 and Hel. 14:31). The
prophet Amulek taught, “That same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the
time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess
your body in that eternal world” (Alma
34:34). As a result, when persons leave this life and go on to the
next, “they who
are righteous shall be righteous still” (2 Ne. 9:16), and
“whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life … will rise
with us in the resurrection” (D&C
130:18).
The principle of restoration also means that persons who are not
righteous in mortal life will not rise up righteous in the resurrection (see2 Ne. 9:16; 1 Cor.
15:35–44; D&C
88:27–32). Moreover, unless our mortal sins have been cleansed and
blotted out by repentance and forgiveness (see Alma 5:21; 2 Ne.
9:45–46; D&C
58:42), we will
be resurrected with a “bright recollection” (Alma
11:43) and a “perfect knowledge of all of our guilt, and our
uncleanness” (2 Ne. 9:14; Alma 5:18).
The seriousness of that reality is emphasized by the many scriptures suggesting
that the resurrection is followed immediately by the Final Judgment (see 2 Ne.
9:15, 22; Mosiah
26:25; Alma
11:43–44;Alma
42:23; Morm. 7:6; Morm.
9:13–14). Truly, “this life is the time for men to prepare to meet
God” (Alma
34:32).
The assurance that the resurrection will include an opportunity to
be with our family members—husband, wife, parents, brothers and sisters,
children, and grandchildren—is a powerful encouragement for us to fulfill our
family responsibilities in mortality. It helps
us live together in love in this life in anticipation of joyful reunions and
associations in the next.
Our sure knowledge of a resurrection to immortality also gives us
the courage to face our own death—even a death that we might call premature. Thus, the people of Ammon in the Book of Mormon “never did look
upon death with any degree of terror, for their hope and views of Christ and
the resurrection; therefore, death was swallowed up to them by the victory of
Christ over it” (Alma
27:28).
The assurance of immortality also helps us bear the mortal
separations involved in the death of our loved ones. Every one of us has wept at a death, grieved through a funeral, or
stood in pain at a graveside. I am surely one who has. We should all praise God
for the assured resurrection that makes our mortal separations temporary and
gives us the hope and strength to carry on.
We are living in a glorious season of temple building. This is
also a consequence of our faith in the resurrection. Just a few months ago I was privileged to accompany President
Hinckley to the dedication of a new temple. In that sacred setting I heard him
say:
“Temples stand as a witness of our conviction of immortality. Our
temples are concerned with life beyond the grave. For example, there is no need
for marriage in the temple if we were only concerned with being married for the
period of our mortal lives.”
This prophetic teaching enlarged my understanding. Our temples are
living, working testimonies to our faith in the reality of the resurrection.
They provide the sacred settings where living proxies can perform all of the
necessary ordinances of mortal life in behalf of those who live in the world of
the spirits. None of this would be meaningful if we did not have the assurance
of universal immortality and the opportunity for eternal life because of the
Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. (Oaks, 2000)
“Christ’s victory over death ended the human predicament. Now
there are only personal predicaments, and from these too we may be rescued by
following the teachings of him who rescued us from general extinction.” Maxwell The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book, ed.
Cory H. Maxwell (1997), 287.
President Thomas S. Monson tells of a Robert Blatchford
who, 100 years ago “in his book God and
My Neighbor, attacked with vigor accepted Christian beliefs, such as
God, Christ, prayer, and immortality. He boldly asserted, ‘I claim to have
proved everything I set out to prove so fully and decisively that no Christian,
however great or able he may be, can answer my arguments or shake my case.’ He
surrounded himself with a wall of skepticism. Then a surprising thing happened.
His wall suddenly crumbled to dust. … Slowly he began to feel his way back
to the faith he had scorned and ridiculed. What had caused this profound change
in his outlook? His wife [had] died. With
a broken heart, he went into the room where lay all that was mortal of her. He
looked again at the face he loved so well. Coming out, he said to a friend: ‘It
is she, and yet it is not she. Everything is changed. Something that was there
before is taken away. She is not the same. What can be gone if it be not the
soul?’”35(Christofferson)
