"Now behold, it was not expedient that man should be reclaimed from this temporal death, for that would destroy the great plan of happiness."
Alma 42:8
We don't always understand why things happen, and that is especially true for death. From our mortal perspective, it seems like the ultimate end of all things, in good and bad ways. Sometimes we like the idea because we foresee an end to pain, struggle, or even boredom. I'm not guaranteeing that death is an end to all of those things, mind you, but we often see it that way. Usually we fear it, because we don't want to lose what we have of ourselves and we can't see past it to anything else.
By temporal death, the verse means the death of the body as opposed to a spiritual death. I don't actually think that our spirits can die, but spiritual death in the scriptures means separation from God. Not that it would be much better, really. Having to live without his light to brighten up the darkness, I would think that life would be pretty bleak. In any case though, talking just about bodily death, Christ saves us all from that, no matter what. Even if we sin, even if we think that we hate God. We still get resurrected, and get our bodies back, better than they were before... perfect and unable to sicken or die. So, we are reclaimed... but not till we actually have to go through it, because taking away death entirely would take away the probation period that we get now... the chance we have to change and repent and do things differently. Maybe it is a little like going from a driving simulation to actually being on the road. There are things that you can change and fix in a sim that are going to have permanent consequences on the road. This life is the place to get it right before we go back to a place that is much, much more permanent.
Today, let's remember to use the time we have in this life wisely, and try to look at death as a doorway, rather than a brick wall. :)
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