Today is Good Friday, the day millions celebrate Jesus giving his body and soul on the cross, taking the weight of punishment for every sin of every person, out of obedience to His Heavenly Father. I am feeling quiet and awed. It makes me want to be more willing to do whatever I should, and more loving.
Easter represents hope.
Without Easter, there is only despair. We either believe that Easter is true-- there literally was a resurrection of Jesus Christ, and there'll be a literal, physical resurrection for all humanity-- or we don't believe it. No gray area.
If you don't believe, what purpose is there? Anything meaningful is like a wildflower, glorious one day, and dust the next.
I believe in the miracle of Easter. I believe in the literal resurrection: bodies together with spirits, for everyone. Joyfully! The resurrection will be a free gift to everyone, whether or not we follow God at all.
- The New Testament says:
- But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
- ... even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15: 20-22).
- And the Book of Mormon says:
- Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. (Alma 11: 44)
Last night, at bedtime, C.E. said it didn't make sense: baptisms of people who lived before Jesus was born couldn't count. She said that he hadn't paid for their sins yet, and he hadn't been resurrected yet.
I said that it was like A.J.'s little "I-owe-you" papers. You can't take a scrap with "I owe A.J. 50 cents" to the bank or the mall because it doesn't count; it's not Real. But you keep it in your piggy bank with faith that someday that scrap of a promise will become something Real. It turns into something Real when you trade it for real money from your mom.
This conversation reminded me of my own thoughts as a nine-year-old kid, attending the Calvary Christian School in New Hampshire. I loved that we learned about Jesus from the New Testament every morning, before any other subject, at that school. I could feel the holy spirit of what was being taught.
But there were limits to what those teachers could teach me. They didn't have the Book of Mormon. And I was not a Mormon. One day, my 4th grade teacher answered my question, "What will happen to my Morfar (Grandfather) who died without believing in Jesus?" by telling me that Morfar would have to be in hell with all who are not "saved". Horrible.
When the (Mormon) missionaries taught me that there was definitely missionarywork taking place in the world of the dead, just like here on earth, it made sense.
D & C 138: 57-58 says "...Faithful elders...when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God... in the great world of the spirits of the dead. The dead who repent will be redeemed..."
God provides a chance for everyone. Even a nine-year-old can understand these things.
