A Rational Theology, as Taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day SaintsWidtsoe, John Andreas
Religion
A Rational Theology, as Taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Widtsoe, John Andreas
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- Doctrines; Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines; Theology
**Today.** The greatest day of all time is today. It is the product
of all the past; and is the promise of all the future. If each today
is made great, the tomorrows will be surpassingly greater. The one way
to draw out of life the keen joys of life, is to think little of
tomorrow, but to live mightily today.
**Tomorrow.** Yet, surely, there will be a tomorrow. The sun sets,
and we sleep, and we awaken to a new day. Forever there shall come new
days. Today is our great day; but there will be another great, a
greater day. What tomorrow shall be, depends measureably upon today.
At least, the beginning of tomorrow will be as the evening of today.
As we spend today, so will the hope of tomorrow be. The ages do not
come in leaps, but step by step do they enter into the larger life.
The law of today is that joy will transfigure each coming tomorrow, if
our work be well done today. No man knows whether his tomorrow will be
on this earth or in another existence, with new duties and under a new
environment. Of one thing we are sure, beyond all cavil, that life on
earth will continue into an endless future, and the work will be taken
up where it was laid down yesterday.
**The Resurrection.** The man whose life is ordered right, worries
little about his tomorrow. Full well he knows that, though the body be
laid in the grave, it will rise again. He has the absolute assurance
of the resurrection. In that resurrection the body will arise
purified, possessing only its essential, characteristic parts, which
cannot be taken away or transferred to another body. These essential,
characteristic parts organized into a body will be the mortal body
made immortal.
The resurrection of mortal bodies, on earth, began with Jesus, who on
the third day rose from the grave, and after his sojourn among the
children of men, took his body with him into heaven. This was the
first fruit of the resurrection, made possible by the atonement of the
Christ. Since that time, the resurrection of man may have continued,
and no doubt will continue, in the future; for many spirits have laid
down their earthly bodies, and all must be raised from the grave. In
the resurrection, order and law will prevail, and the just deserts of
men will be kept in mind.
**Our Place in the Hereafter.** Into a new, great world shall we
enter after the journey on earth has ended. In this new world we shall
continue our work of progression, forever and forever, under the
prevailing laws. Our progress, there, and the laws revealed to us,
will depend upon our own actions and upon our own willingness to abide
by the laws already known to us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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