The following comments on this all-important subject will be read with interest:
We understand that when we are unclothed in the present state, then we are prepared to be clothed upon with immortality. These bodies will return to dust, but our hope and faith are that we will receive these bodies again from the elements—that we will receive the very organization that we have here, and that if we are faithful to the principles of freedom, we shall then be prepared to endure eternally. Can the wicked be brought forth to endure? No, they will be destroyed. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, July 19, 1857, Vol. 5, p. 53)
So far as we are concerned, we were taken from the earth, and we may expect to return to it again; and that portion of me which is pure, after the dross of this mortality is separated from it, I expect will be Brother Heber. It is that which will be resurrected; but all that is not pure will remain; that is, it will not go back into my body again; and if there are ten parts out of the hundred which are dross and corruption, they will remain in the earth. I do not expect to take up that again, but I expect to take up the purified element that will endure for ever. (Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, Volume 5, p. 107)
The Old Book talks about a city called the New Jerusalem. The passage that I refer to is in the Revelations by John, (21:8-11) "But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (George A. Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, p.61)
The resurrection of mortal bodies, on earth, began with Jesus, who on the third day rose from the grave, and after His sojourn among the children of men, took His body with Him into heaven. This was the first fruit of the resurrection. Since that time, the resurrection of man may have continued, and no doubt will continue, in the future; for many spirits have laid down their earthly bodies, and all must be raised from the grave. In the resurrection, order and law will prevail, and the just deserts of men will be kept in mind. (Dr. John A.Widtsoe, Rational Theology
Among the many teachings of the Savior‘s Gospel which modern Christian philosophy has surrounded with mysticism is the resurrection of man’s mortal body from the grave. Men do not agree on even the most fundamental reasoning. One says one thing, another something else; what one denies, others affirm most emphatically. And so on, until at present, all who listen to the pros and cons of debate are drawn into a labyrinth of inconsistent and opposing doctrine. The confusion caused by these divergent opinions, and the perplexity of mind this disunity creates, are affected by men who refuse to accept the truths set forth in their own Bibles. They wrest each passage of scripture to suit their personal ideas. They give theory superiority over fact, and allow supposition to dominate eternal truth. Of such a course there can be but one general result. The late President Brigham H. Roberts of the First Council of the Seventy, in his book, The Gospel, points to it: “Death to belief in the Bible; death to it as the inspired and revealed word of God.”
Many of the critics of Christian doctrines are professional skeptics, or hypocrites, who love to find fault with our established beliefs and doctrines. They attack our most sacred heritage. To dignify their diatribes they say that if we explain to them the several questions which they, themselves, have created, then they will believe our dogmas; that then they will regard the doctrine of Christ’s Atonement, which encompasses the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, as acceptable to them.
What they ask us to do—we who believe by faith—they, themselves, cannot do in their religion which, they boast, is founded upon sight
Before they demand from us a complete analysis of our beliefs, let them, first, explain to us many of the phenomena that abound today in natural religion of any kind. Let them explain, “What is life.” There are manifestations that it exists all about us. We experience it; we see its effects; we hope for it. Yet, what it is, we do not know. Perhaps they will tell us, “What is death?” or, explain that little corridor that divides the living from the dead. Perhaps, too, they will explain why it is that two plants placed side by side in a field, each produce, the one wheat, the other barley. Their roots intermingle in the same coarse sand; the same raindrops refresh the parched earth in which they grow; the same sunbeams warm the delicate leaves of both. Yet, one produces wheat, the other barley. How is it? Again, we do not know. But we would think it strange; we would think him deranged who would refuse to eat the beautiful white loaf, because, forsooth, he does not understand why that plant should eventually make a wheatcake instead of a barley loaf.
But that is just what the skeptic desires. He asks us to reject the doctrine of the resurrection because we cannot explain, completely, its workings. He asks for what he does not offer. Truly, we cannot explain how the resurrection will take place; neither can we explain the metaphysics of how God forgives us our transgressions, nor can we say how He answers our prayers. Yet we know He does! To reject the fact would be foolishness; and to deny it would be folly. The skeptic, however, urges us so to do. He forgets that there is a power beyond our ken in which men are lifted to heights where things merely hoped for, become realities. It is so with our belief in the resurrection of the dead
Notwithstanding our inability to prove the idea of man’s coming forth from the tomb—for proof is a mental conclusion—we are aided by many who have suggested, what to us is an unanswerable argument—“We can reason from analogy!” They say, “When poison has been taken into the system, and ended in death, the chemist is able, through his knowledge of chemical reactions, to separate every element of that poison no matter how it may have been mixed with a thousand different ingredients, and bring it out and place it before a court of justice.” The logical conclusion to this noteworthy comparison is the question we ask, “Is it presumption to suppose that the great Chemist of the Universe can separate every atom of my scattered dust and reconstruct it into a perfectness of such as, perhaps, we at this time, have very little idea?”
We can sum it all up in these words, “There is enough in revealed and natural religion to establish beyond any doubt, the hope in Christ which we cherish, and we can leave the solution of the mystery to that day when the things we know not now, we shall know hereafter.” (See John 13:7) “We can trust in a wisdom we cannot fathom, and we can lean upon an omnipotence we cannot grasp.”
The words of Amulek to Zeezrom and his wicked followers in Ammonihah are testified to by other Nephite prophets and written indelibly upon the records of the ministry of each, and show the great understanding the Nephites had of God’s Plan of Salvation.
First consider the words of Jacob, the son of the venerable Lehi:
O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit.
And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave.
And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore death and hell must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies of the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel.
O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous; and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect.
Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness.
And it shall come to pass that when all men shall have passed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the judgment-seat of the Holy One of Israel; and then cometh the judgment, and then must they be judged according to the judgment of God. (II Nephi 9:10-15)
Now, hear some of Abinadi’s instructions to the people of Lehi-Nephi:
For were it not for the redemption which he hath made for his people, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, I say unto you, were it not for this, all mankind must have perished.
But behold, the bands of death shall be broken, and the Son reigneth, and hath power over the dead; therefore, he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead.
And there cometh a resurrection, even a first resurrection; yea, even a resurrection of those that have been, and who are, and who shall be, even until the resurrection of Christ—for so shall he be called. (Mosiah 15:19-21)
And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there could have been no redemption.
And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection.
But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.
He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.
Even this mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruption shall put on incorruption, and shall be brought to stand before the bar of God, to be judged of him according to their works wehther they be good or whether they be evil—
If they be good, to the resurrection of endless life and happiness; and if they be evil, to the resurrection of endless damnation, being delivered up to the devil, who hath subjected them, which is damnation. (Mosiah 16:6-11)
Alma, the elder, who, we have noted, was one of King Noah’s priests, but who rebelled at the king’s evil practices, and, with a few, gathered at a secluded spot called Mormon to worship God according to righteousness, exhorted his followers:
Behold here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one anothers burdens, that they might be light;
Yea, and are willing to mourn with those who mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life. (Mosiah 18:8-9)
Listen to Mormon, about 500 years later:
And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all men shall be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death.
And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still. (Mormon 9:13-14)
Now hear Moroni, the son of Mormon, who also was the divinely appointed keeper of the Plates of Nephi, and it was he who delivered them into the hands of the Prophet Joseph Smith for translation so that we might receive the testimony of Jesus which brought so many blessings to the Nephite people:
And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. (Moroni 7:41)
For a further discussion upon the subject, Resurrection, See, COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF MORMON, Vol. II, pp. 179-180; also See, a complete CONCORDANCE of the word as it is used in the Book of Mormon, ibid., pp. 186-187.