Monday, May 18, 2015

Alma 40:21-23 -- On In-Between Opportunities

"But whether it be at his resurrection or after, I do not say; but this much I say, that there is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, both soul and body, and be brought to stand before God, and be judged according to their works.
Yea, this bringeth about the restoration of those things of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets.
The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame."
Alma 40:21-23


This is an interesting selection, talking about the in-between time between death and resurrection.  Alma is explaining to his son how it works, and mentions both that we will be in happiness or misery based on our choices in this life, as also that it is before the final judgment.  Like the space that Adam and Eve were given before death as a space to repent, this seems like some time that God planned into the system so that we could accomplish some things, like temple work.  Temporary misery in life doesn't have to mean misery forever, and hopefully misery in this in-between time doesn't always have to mean that either, if we do the work to get everyone saving ordinances.  Obviously, this doesn't mean that we can go and take back our actions in life and replace them with others, and those actions will be part of our judgment and will be restored to us.  But people who didn't get baptized for instance, we can make sure that ordinance is done, so that everyone has a chance at salvation.
Today, let's take advantage of our in-between time of life and work on repenting and learning and loving and helping others, so that we don't have to suffer even temporary misery after this life.  And as we have the opportunity, let's go to the temple and help others as well. :)

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