We believe that every person who has lived and died -- man, woman, or child -- will be resurrected. It is a free and unconditional gift from God, and cannot be withheld by anyone else.
BUT..."But obedience to the commandments of God is requisite if one is to be resurrected with a celestial body. Laws leading to celestial glory will be discussed at this conference. Our challenge is to learn them and abide by them."
So what about the whole truth, Logophile?
This great priesthood power of resurrection is vested in the Lord of this world. He taught that “all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18). Though he supplicated his Father for aid at the eleventh hour, the final victory over death was earned by the Son. These are his words:
“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
“No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17–18).
This power he subtly proclaimed when he said unto the Jews:
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. … But he spake of the temple of his body” (John 2:19–21).
The keys of the Resurrection repose securely with our Lord and Master. He said:
“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
“And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:25–26).
But obedience to the commandments of God is requisite if one is to be resurrected with a celestial body. Laws leading to celestial glory will be discussed at this conference. Our challenge is to learn them and abide by them.
I thank God for his Son, Jesus Christ, for his mission in mortality, and for his ministry as the resurrected Lord. He brought about his own resurrection. Testimonies of thousands, from ancient and modern times, attest to the truth that the resurrected Jesus is the Savior of mankind. He brought about a universal resurrection: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22; see also Mosiah 3:16).
His sacrifice and his glory assure that “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”
As the Prophet Joseph Smith was laboring on what we now call the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, he received a vision later recorded as Doctrine and Covenants section 76. Included in this revelation is a comparison of the three degrees of glory: the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial kingdoms. Following is a brief description of each.
The Lord compared celestial glory to that of the sun, “even the glory of God, the highest of all” (D&C 76:70; see also D&C 76:96). Those who will inherit this kingdom must do the following:
• Receive a testimony of Jesus and believe on His name (see D&C 76:51).
• Be baptized by immersion (see D&C 76:51).
• Receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands (see D&C 76:52).
• Obey the commandments and be washed and cleansed of all sins (see D&C 76:52).
• Overcome by faith (see D&C 76:53).
• Be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise (see D&C 76:53).
Those who qualify for the celestial kingdom will receive, among other blessings:
• Be of a company of angels, of the general assembly and church of Enoch and of the Firstborn (see D&C 76:54, 67).
• Receive the fulness, glory, and grace of the Father (see D&C 76:55, 56, 94).
• Be priests and kings of the Most High God (see D&C 76:56–59).
• Overcome all things (see D&C 76:60).
• Dwell forever in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (see D&C 76:62).
• Be with Christ at the time of His Second Coming (see D&C 76:63).
• Come forth in the First Resurrection (see D&C 76:64–65).
• Go up unto Mount Zion and unto the heavenly city of God (see D&C 76:66).
• Minister to terrestrial and telestial beings (see D&C 76:87–88).
• Be able to have offspring, or in other words, gain the right to become eternal parents (see D&C 131:4).
The Lord further revealed the important doctrines of salvation for the dead and salvation of little children in the celestial kingdom:
“All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God;
“Also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom; …
“… All children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven” (D&C 137:7–8, 10). Except for those whose mental abilities prevent them from reaching the age of accountability (see D&C 29:50), the age of accountability is eight (see D&C 68:25).
We do not know much about who will inherit two of the three degrees within the celestial kingdom. However, much has been said about the highest level in the celestial kingdom, or exaltation, because that is where the Father wants all of His children to live (see Moses 1:39). The Doctrine and Covenants teaches that temple marriage is the key to obtaining exaltation:
“In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees;
“And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage];
“And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.
“He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase” (D&C 131:1–4).
“If a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; … and if [they] abide in my covenant …
“Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting … because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them” (D&C 132:19–20).
More at above link.
What about it? The statement was made that a husband could prevent a wife from being resurrected. I stated that such is not the case.
Latter-day Saint doctrine is that every person who has lived and died -- man, woman, or child -- will be resurrected. It is a free and unconditional gift to all because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and cannot be withheld by a spouse, other family members, friends, or anyone else.
If we cannot agree on such a simple and straightforward doctrine, there is little point talking about what happens after the resurrection.
Though he supplicated his Father for aid at the eleventh hour, the final victory over death was earned by the Son.
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This is OFFENSIVE beyond belief. Christ EARNED it?!?!