D&C 131:6-8

131:6 - Verse 6 is short, but I think that there is a lot of perspective. It says “It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.” The IM says “The Prophet Joseph Smith stated: ‘A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not gets knowledge, he will brought into captivity by some evil power in the more knowledge, and consequently on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God.’” This has been a contentious issue for me in the past because I had a discussion with a Christian friend many years ago when I was just coming back to church and one of the doctrines that we discussed was what happened to the people who died without a knowledge of Jesus. She said that all who died without a knowledge of Jesus would be saved based on Jesus knowing their hearts, I didn’t know what to say about this, though it didn’t make sense to me at the time. Jesus does know our hearts, but does that mean that we don’t have to choose for ourselves? Does Jesus knowing our hearts negate the need for the gospel in our lives? I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit, but I’ve learned a lot. Let’s take two people, both born, lived, and died without a knowledge of the gospel. They both get to the next life and Jesus says to one, “you’re saved” and to the other one “you’re not saved.” The following discussion ensues between the Lord (J) and the unsaved person (UP): UP: “why am I not saved?” J: “Because your heart isn’t pure.” UP: “I don’t even know what that means. I never knew how to be pure in heart.” J: “It doesn’t matter because even if you did know you wouldn’t have done it.” UP: “Why was the other guy saved then?” J: “Because he would have been obedient if he had the knowledge.” UP: “But he didn’t even have to do anything.” J: “It doesn’t matter, he would have if he had the chance.” UP: “But you never even gave me the chance to try! Please, let me try, I don’t want to be in hell!” J: “No, you wouldn’t have been good, so bye bye.” I think that we can see how deeply flawed this perspective is, this is the problem with not knowing the doctrine of gospel teaching and acceptance in the next life and not embracing the importance of ordinances. If we look at God’s dealings with humans throughout history, he always rewards them according to their deeds at the time and their intentions even though he knows that they will do wrong, even reject him altogether, he doesn’t punish for future actions not yet committed, that’s not just, and God is just at all times. This is why everyone, every living person must be given the opportunity to either accept or reject the gospel with a full understanding of what they are choosing. Otherwise God would not be just and he couldn’t be merciful either.

131:7-8 – Here’s another concept saying, “There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.” This is interesting and brings a lot of perspective. Interestingly, I was listening to the June 2016 Ensign article entitled “What do we know about the life after death?” One of the questions ask “What are our spirits like?” And answers, “Our spirit bodies look like they did in premortal life: human bodies in a perfect adult form. After death our spirits will have the same attitudes, appetites, and desires we had at the time of our physical death on earth. What is spirit? Spirit is a kind of matter, only ‘more fine or pure.’”