Below are the quotes that were used in the video.
What questions would someone have at the death of a family member or friend? Some may ask if there is life after death. Others may ask if their loved one is happy and where are they. Sections 138 and 137 answer many questions about the Spirit World and our journey to living again with God.
“At the funeral, a preacher all but said Alvin had gone to hell, using his death to warn others of what would happen unless God intervened to save them. Joseph Sr. was furious. His son had been a good young man, and he could not believe that God would damn him.”
Joseph Smith: In the evening, “at early candle-light I met with the presidency at the west school room, in the Temple, to attend to the ordinance of anointing our heads with holy oil…
"We then laid our hands upon our aged Father Smith, and invoked the blessings of heaven… The heaven were opened upon us, and I beheld the celestial kingdom of God, and the glory thereof…." (History of the Church Vol 2:379-382)
President Dallin H. Oaks: “… we should not assume that the desires of our hearts can serve as a substitute for an ordinance of the gospel. Consider the words of the Lord in commanding two gospel ordinances: 'Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' (John 3:5) And in respect to the three degrees in the celestial glory, modern revelation states, 'In order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage.' (D&C 131:2) No exception is implied in these commands or authorized elsewhere in the scriptures." (Ensign, June 1986, p. 67)
The “Endurance” expedition departed British waters on August 8 1914.
At South Georgia Island, Ernest Shackleton asked how the war had ended. The response hit like a hammer. “The war is not over.” he answered, “Millions are being killed. Europe is mad. The world is mad.” (https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/travel/ernest-shackletons-war-over)
The Vision of the Redemption of the Dead By President M. Russell Ballard (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/the-vision-of-the-redemption-of-the-dead?lang=eng)
Events in Joseph F. Smith’s life
Action Verbs in Section 138:1-15
Brigham Young: “When you lay down this tabernacle, where are you going? Into the spiritual world. Are you going into Abraham's bosom. No, not anywhere nigh there, but into the spirit world. Where is the spirit world? It is right here. Do the good and evil spirits go together? Yes, they do.
“Spirits, when they leave their bodies, do not dwell with the Father and the Son, but live in the Spirit world, where there are places prepared for them. Those who do honor to their tabernacles, and love and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, must put off this mortality, or they cannot put on immortality.
“This body must be changed, else it cannot be prepared to dwell in the glory of the Father.
"Do they both inhabit one kingdom? Yes, they do. Do they go to the sun? No. Do they go beyond the boundaries of this organized earth? No, they do not.
“They are brought forth upon this earth, for the express purpose of inhabiting it to all eternity. Where else are you going? Nowhere else, only as you may be permitted. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 279)
Melvin J Ballard: “Do not let any of us imagine that we can go down to the grave not having overcome the corruptions of the flesh and then lose in the grave all our sins and evil tendencies. They will be with us. It is my judgment that any man or woman can do more to conform to the laws of God in one year in this life than they could in ten years when they are dead.
“The spirit can only repent and change and the battle has to go forward afterwards. It is much easier to overcome and serve the Lord when both flesh and spirit are combined as one.
This life is the time to repent. That is why I presume it will take a thousand years after the first resurrection until the last group will be prepared to come forth.” (The Vision p 46-47, The Three Degrees of Glory, pp.11–13).
Joseph Fielding Smith: “Now among all these millions of spirits that have lived on the earth and have passed away, from generation to generation, since the beginning of the world, without the knowledge of the Gospel—among them you may count that at least one-half are women. Who is going to preach the Gospel to the women? Who is going to carry the testimony of Jesus Christ to the hearts of the women who have passed away without a knowledge of the Gospel?
“Well, to my mind, it is a simple thing. These good sisters who have been set apart, ordained to the work, called to it, authorized by the authority of the Holy Priesthood to minister … will be fully authorized and empowered to preach the Gospel … (The Way to Perfection (Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1945), p. 320.)
Joseph Fielding McConkie: “The idea that premortal spirits will mingle with postmortal spirits plays havoc with the doctrine that those who did not have an opportunity to accept the gospel in mortality will have that chance in the spirit world and thus "be judged according to men in the flesh" (1 Pet. 4:6; D&C 138:10).
“Surely to be surrounded by the unborn but faithful hosts of the premortal life would more than tip the scales in favor of accepting the gospel for those who did not hear it in mortality. No faith would be necessary in such cases, for the veil of forgetfulness would have been lifted. There is no thought in all of this that the unborn are present. It simply doesn't fit to suppose that the unborn would be given the power of resurrection.
“This marvelous vision was followed by another in which President Smith saw the spirit world as it was at that time (3 October 1918). It is in this vision that he mentions seeing those of our dispensation who had died. Of them he said, "I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel" (D&C 138:57). (Answers: Straightforward Answers to Tough Gospel Questions)
Heber C. Kimball: “He also spoke of the buildings he saw there, remarking that the Lord gave Solomon wisdom and poured gold and silver into his hands that he might display his skill and ability, and said that the temple erected by Solomon was much inferior to the most ordinary buildings he saw in the spirit world. (JD 4:29 p.136 Dec 4, 1856, At the funeral of Jedidiah Grant)
Brigham Young: “When you are in the spirit world, everything there will appear as natural as things now do. Spirits will be familiar with spirits in the spirit world—will converse, behold, and exercise every variety of communication with one another as familiarly and naturally as while here in tabernacles.
“There, as here, all things will be natural, and you will understand them as you now understand natural things. You will there see that those spirits we are speaking of are active; they sleep not. And you will learn that they are striving with all their might—laboring and toiling diligently as any individual would to accomplish an act in this world. (Brigham Young, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, (1997), 279–84)
Boyd K. Packer: “The thing we will know as we go through the veil is how much the same it is, not how different it is.” (Church News, Week Ending December 25th, 2010, p.12)
Teaching Thoughts:
“At the funeral, a preacher all but said Alvin had gone to hell, using his death to warn others of what would happen unless God intervened to save them. Joseph Sr. was furious. His son had been a good young man, and he could not believe that God would damn him.”
Joseph Smith: In the evening, “at early candle-light I met with the presidency at the west school room, in the Temple, to attend to the ordinance of anointing our heads with holy oil…
"We then laid our hands upon our aged Father Smith, and invoked the blessings of heaven… The heaven were opened upon us, and I beheld the celestial kingdom of God, and the glory thereof…." (History of the Church Vol 2:379-382)
President Dallin H. Oaks: “… we should not assume that the desires of our hearts can serve as a substitute for an ordinance of the gospel. Consider the words of the Lord in commanding two gospel ordinances: 'Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' (John 3:5) And in respect to the three degrees in the celestial glory, modern revelation states, 'In order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage.' (D&C 131:2) No exception is implied in these commands or authorized elsewhere in the scriptures." (Ensign, June 1986, p. 67)
The “Endurance” expedition departed British waters on August 8 1914.
At South Georgia Island, Ernest Shackleton asked how the war had ended. The response hit like a hammer. “The war is not over.” he answered, “Millions are being killed. Europe is mad. The world is mad.” (https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/travel/ernest-shackletons-war-over)
The Vision of the Redemption of the Dead By President M. Russell Ballard (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/the-vision-of-the-redemption-of-the-dead?lang=eng)
Events in Joseph F. Smith’s life
- Father (Hyrum Smith) murdered in Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844.
- Mother dies in 1852 when he was 13.
- During his lifetime, President Smith lost his father, his mother, one brother, two sisters, two wives, and thirteen children. He was well acquainted with sorrow and losing loved ones.
- He grieved over the death toll in the Great World War that continued to climb to over 20 million people killed. Additionally, a flu pandemic was spreading around the world, taking the lives of as many as 100 million people.
- In 1918, Elder Hyrum Mack Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, his firstborn son, died suddenly of a ruptured appendix.
Action Verbs in Section 138:1-15
- Pondering
- Reflecting
- Engaged
- Opened / impressed
- Pondered
- Marveled / I understood
- Wondered
- Wondered / perceived
- Observed
- I beheld (section 138:1-15)
Brigham Young: “When you lay down this tabernacle, where are you going? Into the spiritual world. Are you going into Abraham's bosom. No, not anywhere nigh there, but into the spirit world. Where is the spirit world? It is right here. Do the good and evil spirits go together? Yes, they do.
“Spirits, when they leave their bodies, do not dwell with the Father and the Son, but live in the Spirit world, where there are places prepared for them. Those who do honor to their tabernacles, and love and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, must put off this mortality, or they cannot put on immortality.
“This body must be changed, else it cannot be prepared to dwell in the glory of the Father.
"Do they both inhabit one kingdom? Yes, they do. Do they go to the sun? No. Do they go beyond the boundaries of this organized earth? No, they do not.
“They are brought forth upon this earth, for the express purpose of inhabiting it to all eternity. Where else are you going? Nowhere else, only as you may be permitted. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 279)
Melvin J Ballard: “Do not let any of us imagine that we can go down to the grave not having overcome the corruptions of the flesh and then lose in the grave all our sins and evil tendencies. They will be with us. It is my judgment that any man or woman can do more to conform to the laws of God in one year in this life than they could in ten years when they are dead.
“The spirit can only repent and change and the battle has to go forward afterwards. It is much easier to overcome and serve the Lord when both flesh and spirit are combined as one.
This life is the time to repent. That is why I presume it will take a thousand years after the first resurrection until the last group will be prepared to come forth.” (The Vision p 46-47, The Three Degrees of Glory, pp.11–13).
Joseph Fielding Smith: “Now among all these millions of spirits that have lived on the earth and have passed away, from generation to generation, since the beginning of the world, without the knowledge of the Gospel—among them you may count that at least one-half are women. Who is going to preach the Gospel to the women? Who is going to carry the testimony of Jesus Christ to the hearts of the women who have passed away without a knowledge of the Gospel?
“Well, to my mind, it is a simple thing. These good sisters who have been set apart, ordained to the work, called to it, authorized by the authority of the Holy Priesthood to minister … will be fully authorized and empowered to preach the Gospel … (The Way to Perfection (Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1945), p. 320.)
Joseph Fielding McConkie: “The idea that premortal spirits will mingle with postmortal spirits plays havoc with the doctrine that those who did not have an opportunity to accept the gospel in mortality will have that chance in the spirit world and thus "be judged according to men in the flesh" (1 Pet. 4:6; D&C 138:10).
“Surely to be surrounded by the unborn but faithful hosts of the premortal life would more than tip the scales in favor of accepting the gospel for those who did not hear it in mortality. No faith would be necessary in such cases, for the veil of forgetfulness would have been lifted. There is no thought in all of this that the unborn are present. It simply doesn't fit to suppose that the unborn would be given the power of resurrection.
“This marvelous vision was followed by another in which President Smith saw the spirit world as it was at that time (3 October 1918). It is in this vision that he mentions seeing those of our dispensation who had died. Of them he said, "I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel" (D&C 138:57). (Answers: Straightforward Answers to Tough Gospel Questions)
Heber C. Kimball: “He also spoke of the buildings he saw there, remarking that the Lord gave Solomon wisdom and poured gold and silver into his hands that he might display his skill and ability, and said that the temple erected by Solomon was much inferior to the most ordinary buildings he saw in the spirit world. (JD 4:29 p.136 Dec 4, 1856, At the funeral of Jedidiah Grant)
Brigham Young: “When you are in the spirit world, everything there will appear as natural as things now do. Spirits will be familiar with spirits in the spirit world—will converse, behold, and exercise every variety of communication with one another as familiarly and naturally as while here in tabernacles.
“There, as here, all things will be natural, and you will understand them as you now understand natural things. You will there see that those spirits we are speaking of are active; they sleep not. And you will learn that they are striving with all their might—laboring and toiling diligently as any individual would to accomplish an act in this world. (Brigham Young, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, (1997), 279–84)
Boyd K. Packer: “The thing we will know as we go through the veil is how much the same it is, not how different it is.” (Church News, Week Ending December 25th, 2010, p.12)
Teaching Thoughts:
- Ask class members to ask questions about the Spirit World and look for answers in Section 138.
- Consider showing part of Elder Ballard’s General Conference talk providing background to Section 138 (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/the-vision-of-the-redemption-of-the-dead?lang=eng)
- Focus on what the prophets have taught about the Spirit World.