No Coincidences

Tag: eternal life

Pondering on Death, Eternity, Growth, and Mortality

Emma Smith, the wife of the prophet, was once given a promise that is worth pondering.

Emma had a 14-month-old child die.

As a father of three, the thought is unimaginable. Reading through the list of Smith children that died in infanthood is heartbreaking.

According to Alexander Smith, Emma’s son who made it to adulthood, shortly before her death in 1879 she had a vision where Joseph Smith visited her and promised her she would raise all her children who had not lived to adulthood after her mortality ended.

What are the implications of this?

I believe what can be gleaned from this is powerful, comforting, and gives a look into the truly magnificent love and power of a Father in Heaven. I believe the truths restored by Joseph Smith to be awe-inspiring. I believe the truths revealed by Joseph Smith should be awe-inspiring if he truly was a prophet of God. I believe that to be truth.

I’ve read near-death experiences that describe young children playing in heaven. I still wonder about, and don’t comprehend, age, mortality, “childhood and adulthood”, maturity, time, and the importance of our bodies.

Those categories: age, mortality, childhood and adulthood, maturity, time, and our bodies seem like a wide-ranging and somewhat unrelated group of topics.

But what was shared with Emma Smith makes those topics intertwined.

What is age? In mortality, I am 30 years older than my children. But in the eternities their spirits are eternal, they never had a beginning. Who I am to say that I am any more “mature” than my two sweet daughters? My two young girls teach me and inspire me daily. I believe I came to earth before them to guide them, lead them, watch over them – a great and marvelous calling and responsibility – but they’re also here to guide, lead, and watch over me. It’s the great circular of life (not to be confused with, though very similar to, the Circle of Life in the Lion King).

In this sense, what is childhood and adulthood?

It is one eternal round.

But that experience – of me raising my children and the humility that brings – and my children being raised – and the humility that takes – clearly has significance and importance to our eternal progression. This explains why Emma was given this promise that she would one day raise the children she lost. She missed that opportunity, but in God’s Plan, nothing is truly missed. It’s all one eternal round. It all comes back. This should be a great comfort to anyone who has lost any loved ones, to anyone who’s felt they missed any mortal opportunity – to raise children, get married, or have any mortal experience – this should be a great comfort to all.

Another significant message to take from this vision given to Emma is the importance of the family unit. Just because Emma’s children died as infants didn’t mean they weren’t her children. They would always be her children. She would always be their mother. The family unit is important. The family unit is eternal.

I’ve touched on age, mortality, childhood and adulthood, maturity, and time – 5 of the 6 seemingly random topics. What of our bodies?

Our bodies have eternal significance and their growth has eternal significance. We can not be like our Father in Heaven until we are resurrected and have bodies like His. I’ve been pondering on this a lot lately. The elements are eternal. Element can not be destroyed. When God created Adam and Eve’s bodies from the dust of the earth, He was taking eternal element and making a tabernacle for them. Our eternal spirits are housed in eternal element. There is something extraordinary and significant about our bodies. We cannot be properly resurrected beings, we cannot be like our Heavenly Father, without attaining our bodies.

After our resurrection we will attain our bodies for the rest of eternity and therefore be more like our Father.

Finally, the biggest thing to take away from Emma’s experience is how ignorant we are of the complete workings of God. We can rest assured that a perfect and all-loving Father in heaven will make ALL things right. Every last item that is a concern to us – death, raising children, marriage, relationships, family – all of it will be understood and made right in a perfect way.

I have no doubt that my Heavenly Father, and your Heavenly Father, loves all of us in such a deep and incomprehensible way. I have faith in His love and His character. I have faith in His Plan. I know all our concerns are but the concerns of a child wanting a chocolate bar at a store. The child can’t see the grand scheme and can’t see how the world can be right while leaving the store without a chocolate bar. One day our eyes will be opened and we will see that the chocolate bar wasn’t as important as we thought, for our Father had created a plan to give us all the chocolate our heart could desire.

If we follow Him and trust Him, it all will be made right.

June 19, 2025
Infant baptisms, Salvation, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ

One of the great fallacies of Christian belief is what happens to people who die without being baptized, especially those who never, in mortal life, had an opportunity to be baptized.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is sometimes accused of diminishing God through the beliefs He has revealed to us. For example, the idea that we can become like Him. Other Christian sects look at this as some sort of disrespect towards God. Like us trying to be like our Father is an insult to Him. We’re similarly criticized for diminishing Christ’s Atonement in the faith and works discussion.

What of children who die without baptism? How many children have died without the opportunity to be baptized?

We’re criticized for diminishing Christ’s Atonement.

What’s more disrespectful to the price Christ paid for ALL of us than saying Christ’s Atonement doesn’t cover the billions of people – billions of babies and children, that have died without baptism? What a corrupt and sad view of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to say that it doesn’t protect innocent children who never could be baptized. He died for all of us.

So, I would like to share beautiful truths as revealed by God to his prophets in this dispensation that pertain to little children, salvation, the resurrection, and Christ’s Atonement.

The following are some frequently asked questions concerning the status of children who die before the age of accountability.

Are they automatically saved?

Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: “To this question the answer is a thunderous yes, which echoes and re-echoes from one end of heaven to the other. Jesus taught it to his disciples. Mormon said it over and over again. Many of the prophets have spoken about it, and it is implicit in the whole plan of salvation. If it were not so the redemption would not be infinite in its application. And so, as we would expect, Joseph Smith’s Vision of the Celestial Kingdom contains this statement: ‘And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven.’ [D&C 137:10.]

“It is sometimes asked if this applies to children of all races, and of course the answer is that when the revelation says all children it means all children. There is no restriction as to race, kindred, or tongue. Little children are little children and they are all alive in Christ, and all are saved by him, through and because of the atonement. …

“They are saved through the atonement and because they are free from sin. They come from God in purity; no sin or taint attaches to them in this life; and they return in purity to their Maker. Accountable persons must become pure through repentance and baptism and obedience. Those who are not accountable for sins never fall spiritually and need not be redeemed from a spiritual fall which they never experienced. Hence the expression that little children are alive in Christ.…

“Truly it is one of the sweetest and most soul-satisfying doctrines of the gospel! It is also one of the great evidences of the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith. In his day the fiery evangelists of Christendom were thundering from their pulpits that the road to hell is paved with the skulls of infants not a span long because careless parents had neglected to have their offspring baptized. Joseph Smith’s statements, as recorded in the Book of Mormon and latter-day revelation, came as a refreshing breeze of pure truth: little children shall be saved. Thanks be to God for the revelations of his mind where these innocent and pure souls are concerned!” (“The Salvation of Little Children,” Ensign, Apr. 1977, pp. 4, 7.)

Even though little children will be saved, does that mean they will have eternal life?

Elder McConkie explained: “Eternal life is life in the highest heaven of the celestial world; it is exaltation; it is the name of the kind of life God lives. It consists of a continuation of the family unity in eternity. … children will be saved in the celestial kingdom. Salvation means eternal life; the two terms are synonymous; they mean exactly the same thing. Joseph Smith said, ‘Salvation consists in the glory, authority, majesty, power and dominion which Jehovah possesses and in nothing else.’ (Lectures on Faith, pp. 63–67.) We have come to speak of this salvation as exaltation—which it is—but all of the scriptures in all of the standard works call it salvation. I know of only three passages in all our scriptures which use salvation to mean something other and less than exaltation.” (“Salvation of Little Children,” p. 5.)

President Joseph Fielding Smith added:

“The Lord will grant unto these children the privilege of all the sealing blessings which pertain to the exaltation.

“We were all mature spirits before we were born, and the bodies of little children will grow after the resurrection to the full stature of the spirit, and all the blessings will be theirs through their obedience, the same as if they had lived to maturity and received them on the earth.

“The Lord is just and will not deprive any person of a blessing, simply because he dies before that blessing can be received. It would be manifestly unfair to deprive a little child of the privilege of receiving all the blessings of exaltation in the world to come simply because it died in infancy.…

“Children who die in childhood will not be deprived of any blessing. When they grow, after the resurrection, to the full maturity of the spirit, they will be entitled to all the blessings which they would have been entitled to had they been privileged to tarry here and receive them.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:54; see also Mosiah 15:25.)

Why do some children die and others live? Are those who die better off than those who remain in mortality?

Elder McConkie wrote:

“We may rest assured that all things are controlled and governed by Him whose spirit children we are. He knows the end from the beginning, and he provides for each of us the testings and trials which He knows we need. President Joseph Fielding Smith once told me that we must assume that the Lord knows and arranges beforehand who shall be taken in infancy and who shall remain on earth to undergo whatever tests are needed in their cases. This accords with Joseph Smith’s statement: ‘The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth.’ (Teachings, pp. 196–97.) It is implicit in the whole scheme of things that those of us who have arrived at the years of accountability need the tests and trials to which we are subject and that our problem is to overcome the world and attain that spotless and pure state which little children already possess.” (“Salvation of Little Children,” p. 6.)

Will children who die before the years of accountability ever be tested in the way that other mortals are tested?

President Joseph Fielding Smith said: “Satan cannot tempt little children in this life, nor in the spirit world, nor after their resurrection. Little children who die before reaching the years of accountability will not be tempted.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:57; see also D&C 29:47; 45:58.)

What will happen to children in the Resurrection?

President Joseph F. Smith wrote: “Joseph Smith taught the doctrine that the infant child that was laid away in death would come up in the resurrection as a child; and, pointing to the mother of a lifeless child, he said to her: ‘You will have the joy, the pleasure, and satisfaction of nurturing this child, after its resurrection, until it reaches the full stature of its spirit.’ There is restitution, there is growth, there is development, after the resurrection from death. I love this truth. It speaks volumes of happiness, of joy and gratitude to my soul. Thank the Lord he has revealed these principles to us.” (Gospel Doctrine, pp. 455–56.)

Thank the Lord He has revealed these principles to us. Amen.

August 24, 2023
A Scripture as important to Latter-day Saints as it would be to the Ancient Jews

One of my favorite scriptures of all time is 2 Nephi 25:26 which reads:

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophesies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”

A common criticism that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints receives from other sects of Christianity, often Protestant groups, is that the Church teaches works as a form of salvation taking precedence over faith.

As I read the Book of Mormon with this criticism in mind, I’m struck by how clearly the Book of Mormon teaches this principle – that faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is (as far as I know, open to correction) the only church with an explanation on how faith in Jesus Christ alone can result in being saved.

Saved, or immortality, is different from Eternal life and salvation. All of God’s children who choose to be saved, will be saved, for He loves us all. You can be saved by simply having faith in Jesus Christ, no works needed. To attain all that the Father has to give, eternal life and salvation in His Kingdom for eternity, you must follow Him, and do what He asks of you. For without works faith is dead (James 2:26).

Sometimes I think the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be benefitted immensely by reading verses 26 and 27 of 2 Nephi chapter 25 every single day. I think if we each did this, it would help us to re-orient ourselves and never lose sight of what is most important – faith in the Lord, or Savior, Jesus Christ.

The below scripture is what I am referring to in the title of this post. This scripture is as important to latter-day saints today as it was to the ancient Jews:

Wherefore, we speak concerning the law that our children may know the deadness of the law; and they, by knowing the deadness of the law, may look forward unto that life which is in Christ, and know for what end the law was given. And after the law is fulfilled in Christ, that they need not harden their hearts against him when the law ought to be done away.”
2 Nephi 25:27

I believe this scripture to be extremely important to latter-day saints. The ancient Jews lost sight of Jesus Christ. They looked to the law for salvation.

I bear my testimony that I do not believe the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has lost sight of Jesus Christ. His name is the name of our church, His prophet has implored us to use His name, our leaders preach of Jesus Christ, prophesy of Jesus Christ, teach of Jesus Christ, emphasize Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints points us to Jesus Christ.

It is we, the members, I think, that need to read verse 27 often. What is the law without Jesus Christ? I fear that sometimes church members become focused on the wrong things. Temple attendance for temple attendance’s sake. Church service because it’s their duty. Serving in church callings to keep up appearance as a faithful latter-day saint. Partaking of the sacrament in a rote, mindless manner, not considering what it really means.

I know I am at fault when it comes to some of the things I’ve just listed. Sometimes I lose sight of Jesus Christ. Sometimes I lose sight of what this is all really about.

I’ve been back in church activity for 5 years now. My first couple years of returned church activity were so Christ focused. They were Christ focused because it was all I had. He was all I had. He was my strength, and He was everything. I felt His forgiveness so potently because I’d so recently experienced it with such power. As my church activity has steadied and become consistent, I’ve found myself relying on church activities, social events, friendships, and making my appearance as a faithful member. These things aren’t necessarily bad, but they can be. If they distract from Jesus Christ, they distract from the point. If I get distracted from Jesus Christ, I am missing the mark.

What is the law without faith in He who the law points to?

I think we could all benefit from a consistent study of verse 2 Nephi 25:27.

Why do we do what we do? Is it for love? Is it to serve Jesus Christ? Is it to remember Jesus Christ, worship Jesus Christ, thank Jesus Christ?

When is the last time you thought about all your sins and what Jesus Christ did for you at Gethsemane and on the cross? For me, it’s been far too long since I’ve been brought to tears considering that event. I’m glad I’m writing this because in doing exactly that, remembering what He’s done for me, and feeling it in my heart, tears are inevitable.

Remember why we go to church, the temple, and serve. It’s for Him. Not because we have to but because we want to. Not because it will get us into heaven but because we love Him. Salvation is through Jesus Christ. If we go to the temple 5 days a week without Him in mind, we are wasting our time.

Without Jesus Christ, all of it: temple worship, baptism, sacrament, service; it’s all for naught. All these things point to Him. Without Him as our focus all the items listed above are dead works.

This is the misconception of other faiths, that we go to the temple to substitute for Jesus Christ. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. We go to the temple because of Jesus Christ.

I think every once in a while, it’s important we re-center our focus and remember what it’s all about.

I hope and pray that we continue to steadfastly talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, preach of Christ, prophesy of Christ, and bring others unto Christ, that we always remember to what source we may look for a remission of our sins.

August 5, 2021
Organized Religion
What do you think the point of organized religion is?

I had an obvious realization recently, only recently. The point of organized religion is to bring you closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. If organized religion doesn’t bring you closer to God, then why do it? I think it’s why we see so many people disenfranchised with organized religion. In their hearts and souls, they know and hope what organized religion will bring – closeness with God. When it doesn’t do that (and in fact sometimes does the opposite) they move away from it.

The second point of organized religion: to bring us peace.

This second part isn’t as simple as “I belong to a church so I am happy and peaceful.” We know that Christianity is not always comfortable. This peace is bigger than worldly comfort. This peace is the knowledge that you are right with God. This peace is more eternal than this life.

Why don’t organized religions do these two things? Some do, and I’m not discounting those who come closer to God and find peace in any faith. My point stands, that a lot of people have moved away from organized religion. Why? Why don’t most organized churches bring us closer to God or bring us peace? They don’t have the proper authority from heaven to do so.

God, through revelation has told us exactly what we need to do to come closer to Him and to have peace:
1. Faith in Jesus Christ
  - Start by simply believing in Jesus Christ. Believe He was born, believe He lived, believe He is the son of God, believe He died for you and your sins.
2. Repentance
  - Once you believe, be better. Don’t take for granted the suffering Christ went through for you. Pray to God and ask forgiveness for the mistakes you have made and continue to make.
3. Baptism
  - Religion has corrupted this simple principle. All God asks is you make a symbolic gesture to show that you have faith in Him, faith in Jesus Christ, and will remember them. Then use that show of faith to change and be better. God has asked us to be baptized. Follow His commandments and be baptized.
4. Gift of the Holy Ghost
  - The world is ever distracting and evil. God has given us someone to provide strength. The Holy Ghost is one with God and Jesus Christ and can be with us always.
  - I have the perfect example to help illustrate the important role the Holy Ghost plays. I received a text from a friend one afternoon while I was working telling me his dad had passed away. My friend didn’t want me to find out over social media, so he texted me. When I read it I initially thought selfishly. I was at work. There wasn’t anything I could do. I wanted to kneel and pray and cry. But as I was sitting there something happened. As clear as if a person whispered in my ear, I heard and felt a message. Clear as day I knew important things. This was my friend. He was hurting. Clear as day, “go to your friend.” I’m not affectionate, it’s hard for me, ask my wife. Beth knows that better than anyone. It’s not in my nature to want to go comfort and cry with a friend. That seems hard and vulnerable. But in that very important moment I know the Holy Ghost came to me and directed me. I know it was important for me, and I believe it was important for my friend. The Holy Ghost did that. I know that because I’ve worked so hard to be able to hear when the Holy Ghost speaks to me. I have so many examples of that. I could go on for days about the important moments that the Holy Ghost guided me.
After the Holy Ghost, the final step: endure to the end. Take the sacrament each week to renew your covenants from baptism. Repent every day. Remember Jesus Christ every day. That’s it. That brings you closer to God. I know because it has for me.

People don’t change overnight. I know to many it seemed like I changed overnight. I didn’t. It was years of slowly changing habits, changing thoughts. Many saw first-hand who I used to be but didn’t see the slow, gradual change to who I am now. I always told myself I was “good.” What good was me telling myself I was good if my actions and my selfishness said otherwise? Four years ago, if I received the text I mentioned above I would have said “I’m sorry” and “let me know if you need anything.” Today, I’m different. I’m different because of Jesus Christ.

What’s important? I know why I’m here. I know where I come from. I know where I’m going. This brings peace.
April 1, 2021