Mormon,Mormonism Two Creations of the Earth

From The Pearl of Great Price, Moses 3:5 we learn there were two creations of the earth, one spiritual and one physical.

And every plan of the field, before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air.

Mormon,Mormonism: Raised from the Dead Not a Resurrection

The Bible tells of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This was not a resurrection but just a return to mortality. In a way of thinking, this was a re-creation of the mortal Lazarus.

Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
(John 11: 1-2, 11, 14, 43-44)

When Jesus called his apostles, he gave them the power of the Apostleship and told them to raise the dead.

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:8)

Scientists have succeeded in activating extinct viruses. Because a virus is a simple entity while a person is a complex organism, scientists still have a long way to go before they might be able to restore life to a dead person. But, activating an extinct virus is still an amazing feat!

I've been thinking about bringing a dead person back to life. I don't understand very well the differences between a living person and a dead person, but the scriptures do give a partial idea from the religious viewpoint of what would have to happen to have a dead person brought back to life. The Apostle Paul said we are the offspring of God

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. (Acts, 17:29)

and Latter-day Saints accept his statement literally. We believe we are spirit children of our Father in Heaven. This means that the difference between a person and an animal is that the person is a combination of a physical body and a spirit body, the spirit body being an offspring of God, while an animal has no spirit offspring of God. These two requirements would have to be met to have a person raised from the dead. This means that God would have to permit His spirit offspring to re-enter the physical body in such a way that the person became alive.

Will scientists ever be able to bring people back from the dead. This is just a guess, but I would say "probably", if God allows His spirit offspring to reenter the body. However, this would not be a resurrection.

Mormon,Mormonism Human Soul

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that the human soul is quite different than the human souls that are envisioned by other Christians.

And the spirit and the body are the soul of man. (D&C 88:15)

That is, the soul is a combination of a spirit offspring of God and a physical body that acts as a tabernacle for the spirit. To understand the significance of our soul, we need to better understand spirit. Joseph Smith said spirit is matter that is more refined and more pure.

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. (D&C 131:7)

My interpretation of this scripture leads me to believe that spirit matter is governed by different laws than the mortal laws of nature. Let us get a better understanding of spirit matter. In the Book of Mormon, there is a clear and explicit account of a man, known as "the Brother of Jared", talking with Jesus Christ, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, who at that time was a spirit. From this experience, we learn that bodies of spirit matter look like bodies of flesh and bone. The brother of Jared saw the spirit body of Jesus prior to Jesus being born of Mary, and he thought the body was flesh and blood; Jesus corrected him and explained it was the body of his spirit. Then Jesus said

Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh. (Ether 3:16)

Spirits have mass that can be formed and shaped. Spirit mass can reside inside physical mass. Spirit mass is not visible to normal eyesight. Now, we have a little better idea of what Joseph Smith meant when he said spirit is matter but is more refined and pure than mortal matter. Because of this, I don't believe instruments used by scientists will detect the presence of spirit matter or spirit energy. However, I could be wrong about this.

Mormon,Mormonism: Time pertains to Mortality

This is a fascinating topic even though I don't understand it very well, and apparently scientists don't understand it very well either. The two aspects of time that I find interesting are that time seems to be unidirectional, and that time will disappear.

There are many uses of the word "time" in the scriptures, but those uses of the word "time" are in a different context. I searched the online scriptures at lds.org for phrases containing the word "time" in the context of earthly time and only found two scriptures.

Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved? (Book of Mormon, Moroni 7:36)

That verse tells us that God will not withhold the Holy Ghost from the children of men as long as time shall last, implying that time will come to an end after the Savior has finished his work in redeeming the children of men. Time is a measure of the sequence of events that comprise mortality. Mortality is a temporary existence. People, animals, and plants come into existence and then disappear. Events pertaining to the earth, such as earthquakes and storms, occur and then cease. But in the domain of God all things are eternal. There is no end to eternal things. There is no time in eternity.

Another verse from Revelation declares that time will cease when the Redemption is finished.

And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: (Revelation 10:6)

John saw an angel come down from heaven. The angel declared "by him that liveth for ever and ever" that time would cease, referring to the eventual completion of the Lord's work when all things will become eternal.

I think the scriptures give a strong implication that time is unidirectional, always going forward. The scriptures have a strong focus on repentance, that we must change our behavior to become more in harmony with God's will. The context is always that we must repent, and then in the future become more like Christ. There is no implication that as we repent we can go back in time and relive our past.

Some scientists say backwards travel is impossible because it would violate the principle of causality and, in addition, would require unimaginable amounts of energy. This scientific view of negative time-travel being impossible is in agreement with the scriptural view of time. Other scientists, though, say that backwards travel is theoretically possible but is not practical.

Concerning the disappearance of time, as I pointed out in my previous posts, we believe that when this world is recreated as an immortal world via the Atonement of Jesus Christ, time will cease, for in eternity there is no time. Because some scientists speculate there is no time, there is a form of a parallel between the religious and scientific views, although the religious view of no time pertains to an immortal world and the scientific view of no time pertains to a mortal world.

If science does discover how to travel in time, since from the scientific viewpoint time is a dimension, it will be interesting to see if humans in that distant future are able to travel bidirectionally or just unidirectionally.