It is a time of caring and support when families gather in a spirit of tender regard for one another. One of the most solemn and sacred meetings of the Church is the funeral for a departed member. I believe that we nevertheless anxiously awaited our turn. Perhaps we knew that nature might impose limits on the mind or on the body or on life itself. I also believe that we were willing to accept whatever conditions would prevail in life. It is my conviction that in the spirit world prior to mortal birth, we waited anxiously for our time to enter mortality. To threaten or to take life, even our own in suicide, is to offend God, for He “in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man.” ( Ether 8:19.) And we know that death can be terrible and violent. Some sleep peacefully away, while others endure long-suffering. Sometimes it is slow in coming to one who yearns to join the loved ones who have gone before. When conditions develop because of age or illness or accident, the spirit is separated from the body.ĭeath can be tragic with the loss of one upon whom others depend for happiness, for many die too young. Thereafter, all living things moved inexorably toward mortal death. It was as though a clock were set and a time given. Somehow the ingredient of blood carried with it a limit to life. 5).Īfter the transformation of the Fall, bodies of flesh and bone and blood (unlike our spirit bodies) could not endure. They and we became mortal, subject to illness, pains, and even the physical dissolution called death.” ( Ensign, Sept. President Kimball explained, “Blood, the life-giving element in our bodies, replaced the finer substance which coursed through their bodies before. 12:23 Joseph Fielding Smith, comp., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976, pp. The scriptures say, “the life of all flesh is the blood thereof.” ( Lev. The bodies of flesh and bone became temporal bodies. A transformation took place in their bodies. The word fall well describes what transpired when Adam and Eve were driven from the garden. For instance, one can fall in reputation or from prominence. That move down to a lower place came as a consequence of a broken law.įall may also describe a change in condition. The fall of man was a move from the presence of God to mortal life on earth. The word fall means to descend to a lower place. ![]() It is easier for me to understand that word fall in the scriptures if I think both in terms of location and of condition. Mortal death came into the world at the Fall. Every one of us should know how and why it came to be in the beginning. ![]() What comfort the truth brings at times of sorrow! Since death is ever present with us, a knowledge of how essential it is to the plan of salvation is of immense, practical value. I have sympathy for that itinerant preacher, for he was doing the best he could with the light and knowledge he had. 8:11) and then bore testimony of the restoration of the gospel. They quoted from the Book of Mormon, “Little children need no repentance, neither baptism” ( Moro. “We are servants of the Lord,” they told the sobbing mother, “and we’ve come with a message for you.”Īs the grief-stricken parents listened, the elders unfolded the plan of redemption. He told them bluntly that their little son was lost in endless torment, and it was their fault.Īfter the grave was covered and the neighbors had gone, the elders approached the grieving parents. He scolded them severely because the little boy had not been baptized. If the parents had hoped for consolation from this man of the cloth, they were disappointed. The elders stayed in the background as the minister stood before the grieving family and began his sermon. The little fellow was to be buried in a grave opened near the cabin. But when there was trouble, they would send for him. A little boy had drowned, and his parents had sent for the preacher to “say words.” The minister, who rode a circuit on horseback, would rarely visit these isolated families. They saw people gathering in a clearing near a cabin some distance down the hillside. ![]() Elder Richard Scott is a man in whom the Spirit is, and he is sustained by his lovely wife, Jeanene, who is not one whit less a spiritual power.Īnd to these four brethren who have joined the First Quorum of the Seventy we say, your fellowship will be enjoyed and your help very much appreciated.Ī neighbor once told me that as a missionary in earlier days he and his companion were walking along a ridge in the mountains of the South. Elder Scott, we welcome you to the quorum.
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