imported_Stargazer

So, it sounds like unless your resurrected body has blood, breathes, exudes sweat (and other things), gets hungry, thirsty or just dead tired and out of breath, it's not good enough. Does being immortal require a functional digestive system that is used to chemically extract nourishment from food? Does it require muscles that must be exercised without which they will grow flabby and weak? I think someone is extrapolating from what he or she sees on earth and projecting it into the eternities. If that be the case, then I submit to you that you will need Eternal-strenth OFF! for those hundreds of quadrillions of resurrected, immortal, and unslappable mosquitoes that will be infesting Heaven.

I like the alternate title: "McConkie's Doctrine".

Sheelah answered this a few posts before, so have a look. But I ask you: does resurrection have to bring back every organ? And do we have to eat and breathe in order to live? I think not. When one dwells in the glory of God, one's food is surely not meat and potatoes. Blood circulates now in our body in order to provide needed oxygen to our cells in order to sustain life, as well as to provide nutrients. But in the resurrection? Seems unlikely. Surely in the resurrection one can eat, as Christ did with his apostles, but does a resurrected being get hungry or out of breath? It seems most likely not, and so the bodily structures that support mortal functioning would not be necessary at all. We are told that in the resurrection we will receive our form in its perfection -- but whatever would we need a pituitary gland for?

I believe it is meant that if they didn't get baptized when they had the chance that they should stay unbaptized. I take from this that, for example in my case my father who was never a member of the church requested of me that I not have him baptized by proxy after he died, and so I would never do it. As it turns out, I did it anyway. My reasoning was this: he was blinded by his environment and never took the opportunity to actually hear the good news; he never specifically rejected it, because he never actually heard it. I would rather apologize to him in the spirit world for being baptized for him, than get there having not done so when he might have changed his mind in the meantime. The conversation as I imagine it: Dad: "So you did what I said and never had my work done." Son: "Yep, that's right. I didn't want to offend you." Dad: "It never occurred to you that I might change my mind?" Son: "Well, you always knew what you wanted." Dad: "So, out of the thousand things that you did in life that I told you not to do, this one thing that meant more than any of them you had to obey me on?" Son: "Well...sorry about that." Dad: "Yep, you're pretty sorry all right." YMMD, but I think it is best to err on the side of doing the work.

It is problematic for the church to comply completely with this "formal" request. The only program that the church has for baptism for the dead is the Records Extraction Program, in which old records are examined by volunteers and transcribed into computer records, and in a number of cases are delivered in batches to the temples for the "temple file", which members who come to serve in the temple but who do not have their own family's records use to do work for. I do not believe that the extraction program targetted Jewish records, but simply did not discriminate in the records extracted and set forth for temple work to be done. Compliance with the agreement mentioned simply means that the church strives to avoid sending Jewish names routinely to the temples. I believe that the church is trying to fulfill this agreement. However, the members themselves extract their own families's records and either send or bring them to the temple. Some of these members have some Jewish ancestors, and some of these members are Jews themselves. Prominent Jewish Mormons include Marvin Goldstein, the well-known pianist. I attended a fireside following a concert he gave several years ago in which he described his conversion and his mother's subsequent conversion. He related that when his mother died, she was buried in clothing specific to the LDS temple, because she had been endowed, but by her request to Marvin her casket was closed so her family members would not be disturbed unnecessarily by her Christian faith, and the evidence of her membership in the Lds church. Br. Goldstein has Jewish ancestors. Should he be restricted from seeing to his ancestors' eternal salvation because they happen to be Jews? I think not -- it would be a cruel requirement. I know that if I had any Jewish ancestors I would be very annoyed to find I could not see to their work.

Back in 2001 when we had an earthquake around 6.8 on the Richter scale, communications were naturally hashed for awhile. SLC called our then stake president to find out how we were doing, and he felt embarrased that he couldn't tell them much. Subsequently, deciding that wasn't going to happen again, he called someone to be the emergency communications specialist (with three assistants) who got the stake organized. I'm one of the assistants.

I saw a few posts on The Other Board about this board and went looking for it -- but was looking for ldsforums.org, which is not the domain name (I figured it was an ".org" not a ".com" -- silly me, not actually reading the entire thing). Well, anyway, here I am. I am a member of the church since 1966, when I was 14. Joined the church myself alone, with my parents' permission, they weren't interested. Served a mission in Germany 1972-74. I have been a TBM the whole time, and love it more than I can express. Married, yes, 12 children (yours mine and ours -- a blended family). I currently serve in a stake calling, something most members have probably not heard of, and that is Stake Emergency Communications Specialist. Along with three other brethren we help keep our stake ready for natural disasters by keeping up an interest in Ham radio with organized activities and emergency communications drills. We live in Washington state, which has about five dormant or active volcanoes and a long history of coastal subduction earthquakes, which might explain the interest. My ham callsign is KD7UST. I'm a computer programmer by trade and interest, and work for Washington state government. My personal website is at: http://www.clarkmichael.com.