Tuesday, November 6, 2007

State-Changes

I've been thinking that *states* and *state-change* are technical terms that may not have the same meaning to persons with a liberal arts background that they have to persons with a technical background. So, I thought I'd try to explain those terms in a non-technical way. Sometimes expressing a concept in a different way helps to clarify the concept.

In technology, a *state* is a set of significant conditions. Changes from one state to another state are significant changes. For example, a computer that is turned off is in a different state than a computer that is turned on. In my posts, I'm using *state* to refer to a condition of existence, including the type of matter used in bodies and the laws that govern that matter.

In the spirit world before birth, we were spirits and had bodies composed of spirit matter. There were laws that governed spirit matter. We were in a spirit state of existence. Now, we are in mortality and are in a different state. Our bodies are composed of different matter, and there are, I assume, different laws that govern mortal matter. After the resurrection, we will, I believe, be in a third state. Our bodies will be composed of resurrected or immortal matter, and there will be laws that govern that matter. We began in the spirit state. Then we went into the mortal state. At death, we return to the spirit state. Then at some time, we will go to the resurrected state, and we will stay in that state forever. Because each state has its own set of laws, I don't believe the changing from one state to another is just a matter of biological, technological, and ethical evolution. There is more involved, but I don't understand it very well. The scriptures teach that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the key to the changing of these states.

States of existence are a parallel to the scientific concept of multiple universes.

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