Scripture Study Topic: Resurrection

((I feel the need to post this. Not sure why, but it's my blog, so I'm going to. In the past four years I have read straight through the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and have just finished the Doctrine and Covenants. I decided to do studies by topic for at least the rest of the year. This particular topic was inspired by a friend who was asked to speak on resurrection in church and said to me that she was having a hard time because "We die. Christ died and rose again so that we can live again. What more is there?" [If you're reading this, have no clue what I'm referencing and/or have questions, please follow the link and/or post a question in a comment!]))

Why do we die?

• Genesis 2:17 "But of the ^atree of the ^bknowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the ^cday that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely ^ddie."
• Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God ^asaid, Behold, the ^bman is become as one of ^cus, to ^dknow good and ^eevil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever"

Adam and Eve were commanded not to eat of the fruit or they would die. They did partake of the fruit, and brought death into the world.

Why is death necessary?

• 2 Nephi 2:25 " ^aAdam ^bfell that men might be; and men ^care, that they might have ^djoy." It wasn't a senseless act. Adam fell so that we might come into the world and have joy.
  
• 2 Nephi 2:21 "And the days of the children of ^amen were prolonged, according to the ^bwill of God, that they might ^crepent while in the flesh; wherefore, their state became a state of ^dprobation" Merriam-Webster defines probation as "subjection of an individual to a period of testing and trial to ascertain fitness." So it is not an never-ending period of time. We were never meant to live on this earth everlastingly.
• 2 Nephi 2: 22-23 : "And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no ^achildren; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no ^bjoy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no ^csin." Again, it was necessary to bring death into the world, so that they could bring LIFE into the world.
• 2 Nephi 2: 11-12 " For it must needs be, that there is an ^aopposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility. Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no ^apurpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the ^bjustice of God." A thing cannot exist without its opposite. So it is with joy/suffering, good/wicked, life/death.

Is death the end?

• Job 14:14 " If a man die, shall he ^alive again?"
• Job 19:26 "And though after my skin worms destroy this ^abody, yet in my ^bflesh shall I ^csee God."
• Isaiah 26:19 "Thy dead men shall ^alive, together with ^bmy dead body shall they ^carise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."
• Daniel 12:2 " And many of them that ^asleep in the dust of the earth shall ^bawake"
• Matthew 28: 5-6 "^aAnd the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is ^arisen, as he said. Come, see the place where the ^bLord lay."

How is this possible?

• 1 Corinthians 6:14 "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also ^araise up us by his own power."
• 2 Nephi 2:8 "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, ^asave it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who ^blayeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the ^cresurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise."
• 1 Corinthians 15: 21-22 "For since by man came ^adeath, by man came also the ^bresurrection of the dead. For as in ^aAdam all ^bdie, even so in ^cChrist shall all be made ^dalive."

To recap: Death came into the world because of the transgression of Adam and Eve. But by their Fall they made it possible for us to come into the world to gain by experience, to learn from our mistakes, and to repent. By nature of it being a test, it had to be temporary. But because Christ died and rose from the grave again, we can all be raised after we die, to live in and with Him.

I am so grateful for this knowledge, because without it I would just be lost. We death around us every day, but because of our Lord and Savior death is temporary, and we will be raised to eternal life (and exaltation if we but give our lives over to Him and repent). Because of Him, Cora's short life isn't all that there was of her. The separation we have between loved ones, family and friends won't last forever, but our joy in them and with them will. Isn't that just wonderful???