There is a very interesting doctrine taught in my faith.
“And the spirit and the body are the soul of man. And the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:15-16).
This little piece of information throws a great perspective on the purpose of this life.
Some religions believe that the physical body is something that inhibits eternal progression, and it is something that they are eager to cast off and be ridded of.
My belief is that this body is what we get to keep with us eternally.
Granted, the resurrection from the dead will bring a redemption to the corrupt nature of the body. It will become immortal.
But it will still be mine.
That struck me as a very interesting thought. The redemption of the soul is the resurrection. I suppose that makes sense the more I thought about it.
After death, there is the division of spiritual prison for the wicked, and the resurrection would overcome that.
Separate and following that resurrection, the exaltation of the soul would occur next. The complete package of body and spirit (soul) would obtain whatever degree of glory that the body could stand. Verse 20 explains “That bodies who are of the celestial kingdom may possess it forever and ever; for, for this intent was it made and created, and for this intent are they sanctified.” The thought then came back to me – something I knew but hadn’t considered in a while or in this way – that the same body which I now possess will be the same body I possess in the resurrection of the dead (or the “redemption of the soul”).
I considered my own physical body, and thought about sins I have committed in that body, and how that it will be the same tabernacle that I am admitted into the presence of the Father at some future day. Granted that will be after a resurrection from the dead and forgiveness of sins by the atonement of Jesus Christ (at least I hope and pray for such forgiveness). But will I think back once in a while and think how the old skin and bones stuck with me?
Later that day, I happened to find myself wandering through a typical big city shopping mall. I people-watched, and saw hundreds of souls around me who had no such knowledge. Some were barely clothing their body. Some had shown disrespect to their body by the decorations they had drawn, pierced, or carved onto the skin. I recognized that, in their personal time, some of the people I saw took drugs of varying degrees into their bodies, while others disrespected their bodies in other forms of physical gratifications.
I sat back and pondered on the idea and wondered what it means to me.
Maybe that is why so many commandments and encouragements are designed to address moral issues, and the use of the body.
God cares about those skin and bones and what we do in them.