FAIR has a service where questions can be submitted and they are answered by volunteers. If you have a question, you can submit it at https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/contact. We will occasionally publish answers here for questions that are commonly asked, or are on topics that are receiving a lot of attention.

Question:

In the time since General Conference, we have had several questions about the resurrection – whether our bodies will be resurrected in their perfect form, and what the difference would be between a Celestial versus a Terrestrial or Telestial resurrected body.

Answer from FAIR Volunteer David Smith:

Resurrected Bodies
In his October 2023 general conference message, President Nelson reminded us: “Your choices today will determine three things: where you will live throughout all eternity, the kind of body with which you will be resurrected, and those with whom you will live forever.” President Nelson reemphasized scriptural teachings about resurrected bodies, as explained in a Church manual:

The scriptures are clear that all of God’s children will be resurrected (see 1 Corinthians 15:22; Alma 11:42; 40:4). The eternal kingdom inherited by a resurrected person, as well as the nature of a person’s resurrected body, however, will be determined by his or her faithfulness and obedience to God’s laws (see 1 Corinthians 15:40–42; D&C 76:96–98; 88:22–24, 28–31). Those who will inherit the celestial kingdom will have bodies that are celestial, “whose glory is that of the sun” (D&C 76:70). Those in the terrestrial kingdom will have bodies that differ from those in the celestial kingdom, “even as [the glory] of the moon differs from the sun in the firmament” (D&C 76:71; see also D&C 76:78). Telestial bodies will have a lesser glory, “as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament” (D&C 76:81). (“Chapter 28: Doctrine and Covenants 76:50–119,” in Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual [2018])

Restored to a Perfect Frame
We know from ancient and modern prophets that in the resurrection we shall receive our bodies as they were except in a perfected, flawless state. Here are just a couple of relevant quotes:
  • “The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, . . . 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.” (Alma 11:43–44)
  • “Every fundamental part of every body will be restored to its proper place again in the resurrection, no matter what may become of the body in death. If it be burned by fire, eaten by sharks, no matter what. Every fundamental part of it will be restored to its own proper place.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, “Chapter 3: The Plan of Salvation,” in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith)
Procreation Only Among Exalted Beings
We also learn through modern revelation that the opportunity to have children after the resurrection is a privilege available only to those who have an exalted body (see Doctrine and Covenants 131:1–4; 132:16–19). The Prophet Joseph Smith taught:

Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for eternity, while in this probation; by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood; they will cease to increase when they die, that is, that they will not have any children after the resurrection; but those who are married by the power and authority of the Priesthood in this life, and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory. (“History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843],” page 1551, entry for 16 May 1843, josephsmithpapers.org )

Echoing these teachings, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated:

So far as the stages of eternal progression and attainment have been made known through divine revelation, we are to understand that only resurrected and glorified beings can become parents of spirit offspring. Only such exalted souls have reached maturity in the appointed course of eternal life; and the spirits born to them in the eternal worlds will pass in due sequence through the several stages or estates by which the glorified parents have attained exaltation. (“The Father and the Son: A Doctrinal Exposition by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,” reprinted in Ensign, April 2002)

Differences in Resurrected Bodies
Although we do not have much clear revelation what the difference is between Celestial/exalted bodies and other resurrected bodies, we do know that one difference is the ability (or lack thereof) to have children. President Joseph Fielding Smith taught:

Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and the power of procreation will be removed. I take it that men and women will, in these kingdoms, be just what the so-called Christian world expects us all to be – neither man nor woman, merely immortal beings having received the resurrection. (Doctrines of Salvation 2:287–288)

In light of the doctrines quoted above, I interpret this statement by President Smith to mean not that these resurrected bodies will have been changed so that they no longer have any gender but rather that they will not be able to do fundamentally what men and women can do through a difference in gender (i.e., procreate).

The post FAIR Questions: What did President Nelson mean by “the kind of body with which you will be resurrected” in his General Conference talk? appeared first on FAIR.


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