Q. Can Mormons get cremated after death?
The answer more and more is yes. Please see the article on Organ Donation and the Resurrection.
The real issue is how we respect our bodies, and cremation seems a little harsh to Western sensibilities, but as the Church becomes more global, it has accepted the ways that death is dealt with around the world. The advise is to pray about it, consult with your bishop if necessary, and act as the Spirit directs.
It has been difficult for me to come up with a topic to write on this month. There has been a lot of change in my and my family’s life in the last month. Change always brings adjustment for me—adjustment to a new schedule, new places, new activities. Interestingly, it is during these times that it is hardest for me to be consistent in those things that provide a solid foundation in my life, namely scripture study and prayer. However, it is consistently doing the right things in life that brings the richest of experiences and the greatest of blessings. By and large, one cannot experience the complete blessings of a commandment or good activity until it is done consistently.
When one is consistent at exercising for an extended period of time, exercise becomes an integral part of that person’s life. Sure, one may miss a day here or there, but consistent exercise over time brings benefits that can only be known and felt by that person. In the same manner, consistently adhering to God’s commandments, whether it is studying the scriptures daily, or being meek and lowly of heart continually, will bring blessings, peace, and joy that only that person can know.
If you don’t know what I am talking about, or have yet to experience the sweet fruit of consistency, pick a commandment that you could polish a little, or a good activity, like exercise, and live it daily. Do it consistently for a week, then a month, then 3 months, then a year. You will look back on that time and realize that you have truly changed, because something good; something God-like has become an integral part of you. In some small way you will have fulfilled Christ’s commandment to “be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 6:48).
For the past two years I have sat for probably thousands of hours learning and studying about the human body as a medical student. The more I learn, the more I realize that our God truly is God. It is amazing to think that there is someone who knows perfectly how our bodies work and what each little enzyme does, exactly how each muscle contracts, and so on. We think that we know a lot, and we do, but there is so much more to learn.
With regard to physical health, it is important that we take care of our bodies and part of that process involves being wise in what goes into our bodies. God revealed to Joseph Smith a general outline of how we should do this. This is known as the Word of Wisdom (Doctrine and Covenants 89). I find that by patterning my physical lifestyle and health philosophy after the Word of Wisdom is liberating–I feel better about who I am, I am healthier, and I have faith that God will bless me with certain things that he has promised to those who live by the Word of Wisdom (see below). I hope to encourage you to see the wisdom that is found in living the principles found in the Word of Wisdom.
As I have thought about how I should live my life with regard to physical health, I often think of what Paul teaches the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19):
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are (1 Cor. 3-16-17) . . . For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor. 6:19).”
I don’t think that it could be any more plain–we are supposed to take care of our bodies in every way, because they are temples, temples where the Holy Ghost resides. Furthermore, our bodies aren’t ours, they are God’s, because they have been bought with the blood, tears, and suffering of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Therefore, we should take care of them.
I truly hope that you will think about how you treat your body. Do you maintain your temple by eating properly, exercising sufficiently, and sleeping the right amount? I believe, based on what Paul teaches, that we will be held accountable before God for the way that we have treated our bodies.
So, how does the Word of Wisdom apply? The Word of Wisdom and what Paul teaches are in essence the same thing, but the Word of Wisdom gives a few more guidelines for how to maintain our “temples”. The point that I want to emphasize are the promises that God gives to those who live their lives according to the Word of Wisdom (D&C 89:18-21). He states:
“And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; and shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; and shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.”
What does the Word of Wisdom teach us about health? After the Lord lays out what we shouldn’t take into our bodies, He discusses what we should eat and how we should eat. He states that we should eat mostly grains (D&C 89:14, 16), lots of fruits and vegetables (D&C 89:10-11, 16), and we should eat meat sparingly. And when we do eat meat it should be during the winter or when there is a famine (D&C 89:12-13). The diet that the Lord prescribes is a very sound diet. Your body doesn’t need a lot of excess meat, what it needs most of is glucose and that is supplied by grains, fruits and vegetables. Of course you can’t leave out the fact that their are essential amino acids, fats, and vitamins that we need from meat. But if you eat just a small quantity of meat and variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, you will get everything that you need.
In addition, the Lord teaches us that we need to use all of our food with thanksgiving and prudence (D&C 89:11). I find it interesting that he says prudence. According to the 1828 version of Webster’s dictionary, prudence means wisdom applied to practice. This might be a stretch, but what I take away from that is that we need to be wise in how we eat–generally, we should eat less than what we typically do and we need to eat good wholesome foods (double-bacon cheeseburgers, fries, and many store-prepared foods really don’t fit in this category).
I wish that I could talk more about health, there is so much to say, but I don’t think that this is really the forum for that. Please take care of your body by eating wisely, consuming the right amount and types of food, and exercising regularly. It will reap benefits in your life and from what the Lord and Paul teach, we will be much happier and live longer if we do.
Q. What happens to people who die without being taught/accepting baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
Heavenly Father has prepared another chance for them to hear the gospel and choose to accept or reject it.
The official Church website explains: “Jesus Christ taught that baptism is essential to the salvation of all who have lived on earth (see John 3:5) Many people, however, have died without being baptized. Others were baptized without proper authority. Because God is merciful, He has prepared a way for all people to receive the blessings of baptism. By performing proxy baptisms in behalf of those who have died, Church members offer these blessings to deceased ancestors. Individuals can then choose to accept or reject what has been done in their behalf.”
Baptism is the first ordinance of the gospel. It is so important that even Jesus Christ asked to be baptized in order to fulfill all righteousness. Because Heavenly Father desires for us all to return to Him, He has made it possible for the dead to have the same opportunities as the living through the temple ordinances.
Some have the misconception that this temple work forces the deceased persons into covenants against their will. This is entirely false. All spirits maintain their free will after death and can opt to accept or refuse the ordinance of baptism. When a living person is baptized and receives the Gift of the Holy Ghost in behalf of a deceased person, it is only to give the deceased person the opportunity – the option of redemption.
LDS.org also reveals: “Many in the spirit world embrace the gospel. However, they cannot receive priesthood ordinances for themselves because they do not have physical bodies. In holy temples, we have the privilege of receiving ordinances in their behalf. These ordinances include baptism, confirmation, Melchizedek Priesthood ordination (for men), the endowment, the marriage sealing, and the sealing of children to parents. The Lord revealed this work to the Prophet Joseph Smith, restoring a practice that had been revealed to Christians shortly after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 15:29).
Part of the mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to Redeem the Dead. Because of this, we participate in genealogy/family history work to find our ancestors who were not able to hear and accept the gospel while on earth. Many in my family are involved in this work because of our desire to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to their fathers as mentioned at the very end of the old testament.
I love going to the temple. There is such a special feeling that accompanies me when I’m in the House of the Lord. Doing the physical ordinances for my ancestors who have passed on is an amazing experience because I know that many of them have been waiting for hundreds of years to finally have their baptism performed. Being a part of their spiritual progression is remarkable. I know that God is merciful and mindful of each of us because He gives everyone a fair chance at accepting or rejecting the message of the gospel.
The second commandment or standard that I want to discuss is the law of chastity. Aside from the Word of Wisdom (a few posts down), I think this is the commandment that people outside of the church have asked me about most often.
Why would the Lord command something like that? That’s a good question. The commandment against fornication is different from a lot of other major commandments in that sex isn’t an inherently evil thing (unlike killing or stealing, for instance). It’s good. It’s natural. We have powerful, inherent desires that make us want to. Those desires are usually accompanied by good feelings of love and companionship towards someone else. So why would God make us this way, and then command us to hold that back? Also, there are few immediate physical consequences to anyone, so it’s easy to say “hey, no one gets hurt. What’s so bad about it?”
This is an issue I feel pretty strongly about, because it’s a question that I think a lot of counselors and youth leaders of all faiths kind of scoot around. Pamphlets and lessons are filled with horrifying facts about AIDS and gonorrhea and lives ruined by unwanted pregnancies or abortions. While these things are definitely terrible side effects, they’re honestly not the reason. They can’t be! Even if you could ensure that you would never get an STD or an unwanted pregnancy, it still wouldn’t be okay.
The body is sacred. Part of the reason sexual sin is so bad, is that we consider the body to be a part of the eternal soul. This was revealed to Joseph Smith in what is now D&C section 88: “The spirit and the body are the soul of man.” It may not sound like much, but it’s actually pretty earth shattering. Think about it. The reasons I gather most people consider premarital sex bad (if anyone still does) comes from these old beliefs that the body is base and evil, while the spirit is high and noble. Physical desires are to be brutally subdued and mastered. Physical gratification is somehow bad. Celibacy is the high road. Taken to the extreme, people start whipping themselves or sit on poles for 37 years, trying to reach spiritual heights by degrading the physical body.
“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor 6).
It’s my body, right? Isn’t it my own business? Paul responds with a resounding no. Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. The Savior has bought us–redeemed us with his blood, and that gives Him every right to command us when and how to use it. Our souls are his: spirit and body both.
“But such a total, virtually unbreakable union, such an unyielding commitment between a man and a woman, can only come with the proximity and permanence afforded in a marriage covenant, with the union of all that they possess–their very hearts and minds, all their days and all their dreams. They work together, they cry together, they enjoy Brahms and Beethoven and breakfast together, they sacrifice and save and live together for all the abundance that such a totally intimate life provides such a couple. And the external symbol of that union, the physical manifestation of what is a far deeper spiritual and metaphysical bonding, is the physical blending that is part of–indeed, a most beautiful and gratifying expression of–that larger, more complete union of eternal purpose and promise” (Holland, Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments).
A sacred act. A third reason, and probably the most important of the three, is that sexual intimacy is not only a symbol of union, it’s a sacred act in and of itself. Again, I’ll defer to Elder Holland:
“. . .sexual union is also, in its own profound way, a very real sacrament of the highest order, a union not only of a man and a woman but very much the union of that man and woman with God. Indeed, if our definition of sacrament is that act of claiming and sharing and exercising God’s own inestimable power, then I know of virtually no other divine privilege so routinely given to us all–women or men, ordained or unordained, Latter-day Saint or non-Latter-day Saint–than the miraculous and majestic power of transmitting life, the unspeakable, unfathomable, unbroken power of procreation. . . I know of nothing so earth-shatteringly powerful and yet so universally and unstintingly given to us as the God-given power available in every one of us from our early teen years on to create a human body, that wonder of all wonders, a genetically and spiritually unique being never seen before in the history of the world and never to be duplicated again in all the ages of eternity–a child, your child–with eyes and ears and fingers and toes and a future of unspeakable grandeur.”
It cannot be said better. Sexual intimacy is the vehicle to create life, and as such, is one of the most sacred things we do on earth. Whether or not we actually create life with it, we still tap into that power, and doing so under any other circumstances than those for which it was ordained is a form of mocking the privilege God has given us. Would we run laughing into a sacrament service, overthrow the table, spill the bread and water on the floor and then run out? Of course not. So viewing the body as sacred, and sexual intimacy as a sacred act, why would you ever knowingly mess with that?
Just to conclude, I hope this helps to make a little more clear why Mormonism seems to be so strict when it comes to sexual intimacy. It boils down to a respect for sacred things. I also understand that the law of chastity sounds completely out of place right now in the world. But it doesn’t matter; it’s true. And that is why I follow it.