"Wherefore, I, the Lord God, caused that he should be cast out from the Garden of Eden, from my presence, because of his transgression, wherein he became spiritually dead, which is the first death, even that same death which is the last death, which is spiritual, which shall be pronounced upon the wicked when I shall say: Depart, ye cursed.
But, behold, I say unto you that I, the Lord God, gave unto Adam and unto his seed, that they should not die as to the temporal death, until I, the Lord God, should send forth angels to declare unto them repentance and redemption, through faith on the name of mine Only Begotten Son.
And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation—that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe;
And they that believe not unto eternal damnation; for they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall, because they repent not;"
Doctrine and Covenants 29:41-44
This is God talking about the fall of Adam and the probationary state (life) which he set up, giving Adam, and all the rest of us, space between sin and death so that we can repent before being judged.
The idea of "spiritual death" being separation from God is instructive in conveying to us the deep wrongness of that state of being. I think we can feel this in our own lives if we have ever gone from being close to the spirit to doing something that offends the spirit... there is emptiness where something that mattered used to be, and it is a serious loss. Definitely not something that it would be pleasant to live with for a day, let alone eternity.
The way to stay sane when we sin and feel that kind of disconnection is to repent, and to reconnect to God through prayer and scripture study. Before this life we had that reassuring presence of God in our lives all the time, and we understood that he was the reason behind everything. Today, let's not allow the distractions and short-term thrills of this life to distract us from the enduring, long-term joy that God offers us. Instead, let's focus on returning to him and overcoming Spiritual Death through Christ.
But, behold, I say unto you that I, the Lord God, gave unto Adam and unto his seed, that they should not die as to the temporal death, until I, the Lord God, should send forth angels to declare unto them repentance and redemption, through faith on the name of mine Only Begotten Son.
And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation—that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe;
And they that believe not unto eternal damnation; for they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall, because they repent not;"
Doctrine and Covenants 29:41-44
This is God talking about the fall of Adam and the probationary state (life) which he set up, giving Adam, and all the rest of us, space between sin and death so that we can repent before being judged.
The idea of "spiritual death" being separation from God is instructive in conveying to us the deep wrongness of that state of being. I think we can feel this in our own lives if we have ever gone from being close to the spirit to doing something that offends the spirit... there is emptiness where something that mattered used to be, and it is a serious loss. Definitely not something that it would be pleasant to live with for a day, let alone eternity.
The way to stay sane when we sin and feel that kind of disconnection is to repent, and to reconnect to God through prayer and scripture study. Before this life we had that reassuring presence of God in our lives all the time, and we understood that he was the reason behind everything. Today, let's not allow the distractions and short-term thrills of this life to distract us from the enduring, long-term joy that God offers us. Instead, let's focus on returning to him and overcoming Spiritual Death through Christ.
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