Thursday, January 16, 2014
WHY??
I was recently struck by a scripture that has cause me to wonder- WHY? The scripture says, "For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage. These the Lord taught, and gave them power to come forth, after the resurrection from the dead, to enter into his Father's kingdom, there to be crowned with immortality and eternal life.." This is about where people go when they leave earth life. I have had no problem understanding why we would want to be able to return to live forever with Jesus and our Heavenly Father, as well as with those we love and those who have chosen to be good people. But as I have watched my mother's capacities slowly dwindle, and as I have observed suffering of body and spirit, I think of leaving the body as a release and a relief. Why would the dead "look upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage"?? I seriously can't grasp why we would want to return to bodies when there is so much pain, confusion, and sorrow in them. I understand that having a body to begin with was important because there is so much we have to learn that really works best with a physical body, more than just a disembodied spirit. And , as I said before, I understand wanting to be re-connected with loved ones. But why consider the absence of a body, after having lived in it, as a bondage? Maybe there are things we can know in our bodies that we can't know in just a spirit--? But we are told that whatever principle of intelligence a man attains in this life will rise with him in the resurrection. And we are also told that the same sociality we enjoy here will exist later. So why is it so desirable to have a body? I would really appreciate the thoughts of anyone who might read this and understand something I obviously don't.
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4 comments:
Where did you read this scripture from - book chapter verse? That might help me understand.
My two cents worth - One of the reasons we came to earth was to gain a body. Even though on earth our body has to deal with the frailties of earth life, when we are resurrected we are promised a perfect body. Maybe our spirits will remember some of the knowledge we had before and know that for our souls to be perfected we need that body, but in its perfect form. We decided on the plan of salvation in the pre-existance so we could have those bodies. We've been through a lot to get them. Even though they give us trials, we know somewhere deep inside how important and a necessity they are to our souls. Again, just my 2 cents.
I think the many things that are difficult about having a body--illness, disease, disability, age--are related to the bodies we have now on earth. They are imperfect and subject to weakness and disease. But a perfected, heavenly body would not have those problems. I think of the great joy I have in feeling the sun on my face, smelling new buds of spring, holding a loved one's hand, hugging someone, so many wonderful things that we can enjoy through our physical bodies. I think not having these physical experiences would be missed. And how great to have those experiences without the accompanying aches, pains and problems that come with our current bodies. We know the followers of Satan wanted bodies so much, they took over the bodies of pigs to obtain them when exorcised from a human body. This must mean that not having a physical body is a deeply felt loss.
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