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Will The Dead Be Tested?


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So, let's say you didn't hear the true gospel in this life, which is like 99% of everybody but you accept it when you die. Will you be tested to see if you are valiant in the testimony of Jesus? In the Doctrine and Covenants 101 it says about being tried like Abraham. 

Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels.

 Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son. 

 

As we all know people can join the Church here and sadly fall away sooner or later or join the Church but never embrace the gospel and understand it. I was wondering if the next life is almost like a re do of this life if you never heard the gospel and you like us today are being tried and tested

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As we all know people can join the Church here and sadly fall away sooner or later or join the Church but never embrace the gospel and understand it. I was wondering if the next life is almost like a re do of this life if you never heard the gospel and you like us today are being tried and tested

 

Alma didn't seem to think so:

 

 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

Alma 34:32

 

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Alma didn't seem to think so:

 

 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

Alma 34:32

 

 

so, we are being tested but not the dead? do some people get a free pass while others don't?

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Remember the parable of the workers.

If the gospel was taught to the spirits in prison, then it stands to reason that some accepted it and some rejected it. That means that there must still be testing going on in the post mortal realm. What it consists of ,I don't know. An Abrahamic test doesn't require wars and disease and other trials , but it does require the ability to choose.

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Remember the parable of the workers.

If the gospel was taught to the spirits in prison, then it stands to reason that some accepted it and some rejected it. That means that there must still be testing going on in the post mortal realm. What it consists of ,I don't know. An Abrahamic test doesn't require wars and disease and other trials , but it does require the ability to choose.

 

I was thinking of that as well, like discipleship-it's required of everyone but how it plays out in folks is different but the results are the same

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So, let's say you didn't hear the true gospel in this life, which is like 99% of everybody but you accept it when you die. Will you be tested to see if you are valiant in the testimony of Jesus? In the Doctrine and Covenants 101 it says about being tried like Abraham. 

Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels.

 Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son. 

 

As we all know people can join the Church here and sadly fall away sooner or later or join the Church but never embrace the gospel and understand it. I was wondering if the next life is almost like a re do of this life if you never heard the gospel and you like us today are being tried and tested

The millenium. Thats what the millennium is for- to be perfected in Christ. Everyone will have the opportunity to live and serve Christ who want to.

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I agree with Rob.

Once the final judgement has occurred (end of the Millennium) and the earth is Celestialized there will be no additional "test".

 

However, I also suspect that those who accept the gospel in this life will have an advantage over those who accept it in the next.  What that will look like I cannot say.  But the tests we face here are designed to teach us, not as a reward/punishment system.

 

Doctrine and Covenants 130:18–19: “Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.”

 

Those who gained more experience because of their trials in a gospel sense will have an advantage over those who didn't have the same opportunities to learn to be faithful because they will have learned how to be faithful better.  They will have more truth and light (intelligence).

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yeah, God is no respector of persons, all are saved on the same principles and actions and intents of the heart, aren't we all supposed to be tested?

Maybe some passed in premortality somehow while we relatively slacked off. Some will live in the Millenium where it appears the test is simpler and the temptations less. The same principles apply but the test seems much easier for some and much harder for others.

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God is no respecter of persons

 

This phrase is SO overused and so poorly applied to reality.

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Well, as I assume, God knows all people individually and can test the unbeliever to His liking or need just as He can the believer. If He does so, then I don't think being a member or not matters to God. If it mattered there'd be far more than a piddly less than 1% of the world that are.

This life is a test for everyone, it seems to me. one doesn't have to be a member, born in the blessed environment, to be blessed by God.

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This phrase is SO overused and so poorly applied to reality.

 

well, why am I and others being tested to the breaking limits and some go beyond their limit and end up committing suicide yet others seem to have a free pass in life and complain about piddly things, so is God a respector of persons?

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well, why am I and others being tested to the breaking limits and some go beyond their limit and end up committing suicide yet others seem to have a free pass in life and complain about piddly things, so is God a respector of persons?

No, he is a knower of persons and knows what we need.

Take your station in life as a compliment. It means God thinks you can handle it.

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No, he is a knower of persons and knows what we need.

Take your station in life as a compliment. It means God thinks you can handle it.

 

I guess and maybe he think some people will accept the gospel in the next life, it's never "easy" to accept the gospel anywhere and living it is harder everywhere- I am hoping! if it's hard here than can we assume it will be in the next life for those who didn't accept it here?

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I guess and maybe he think some people will accept the gospel in the next life, it's never "easy" to accept the gospel anywhere and living it is harder everywhere- I am hoping! if it's hard here than can we assume it will be in the next life for those who didn't accept it here?

I assume so as my reading of the scriptures is that they have to go to hell first.

If not, oh well. We go back to the parable of the Laborers in the vineyard. Some bear the heat of the day for the same reward. I have been told to rejoice that I get to bear said heat. I try to.

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I'm interested in if people who die before they turn 8 get tested or not. I mean they're guaranteed exaltation if they want it, but do they have to do any work? If not, how lucky are they? Auto-exaltation.

 

Are they guaranteed exaltation or just salvation?  They are guaranteed to be in the Celestial Kingdom, but not necessarily exalted.

We currently don't perform endowments or marriage sealings for those who die under a certain age.

That work would have to be completed for them to receive exaltation.

 

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't perform baptisms for those who died before age 8 do we?  (Never bothered to check).  There's no need I would think.

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I'm interested in if people who die before they turn 8 get tested or not. I mean they're guaranteed exaltation if they want it, but do they have to do any work? If not, how lucky are they? Auto-exaltation.

 

 

millenium is when that happens

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The word "test" refers to seeing what results from whatever type of test you are talking about. Like how a blood test is all about seeing what results from the blood test, seeing what type of blood you have, for example.

So when you ask if the dead are tested you should clarify in your mind what type of test you are talking about, and then once you understand what the test is supposed to determine you can see if the results of the test support that determination

Like for example, suppose the type of test you are talking about is a test that would determine if a dead person is truly dead.

So the question would be:

Are the dead tested to determine if they are dead?

Or maybe:

Are the dead tested to determine if the dead know they are dead?

Or maybe:

Are the dead tested to determine if they remember anything from their previous mortal life?

Or maybe:

Are the dead tested to determine which of the dead have learned more about something than others who are also dead but did not learn as much as others?

Or maybe:

Are the dead tested to determine which of the dead are more intelligent or more loving, with the results from those tests used to determine EITHER who is prepared for advancement into higher levels of society OR who needs more remedial education and reform?

I suspect our tests have more to do with determining who we will be fit to associate with than just knowing the answers to particular questions, otherwise someone who has skills for cheating and deception might look like a better person than he actually is.

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So, let's say you didn't hear the true gospel in this life, which is like 99% of everybody but you accept it when you die. Will you be tested to see if you are valiant in the testimony of Jesus? In the Doctrine and Covenants 101 it says about being tried like Abraham. 

Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels.

 Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son.

 

As we all know people can join the Church here and sadly fall away sooner or later or join the Church but never embrace the gospel and understand it. I was wondering if the next life is almost like a re do of this life if you never heard the gospel and you like us today are being tried and tested

 

One of the he great mysteries of God revealed through the Restored Gospel is that "the day of this life," spoken of by Alma, includes the time spent after death in the world of spirits, and this because the post-death spirit world is just a continuation of our existence in the fallen state. The dead in the spirit world are still mortal. This is why Peter (when speaking of the spirits of the dead) testified to us that the dead are taught the Gospel in the spirit world so that they might learn to strive and live according to the Gospel of Christ in the spirit world but in the end be judged as if they are living the Gospel on earth the flesh.

 

Because acceptance of the Gospel requires faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, a broken heart and contrite spirit, confession of sin, repentance, reception of the Spirit of God and a sincere desire to endure to the end in the process of spiritual progression toward greater and greater holiness, it becomes quite obvious the spirits who accept the Gospel in the spirit world must live by the same laws of God required of those who obey the Gospel while in the flesh. And living the Gospel is nothing if not a test of faithfulness.

 

More specifically addressing your question, Joseph F. Smith's great vision of the redemption of the dead, found in Doctrine & Covenants 138, tells us the Gospel of Christ is not only preached to the spirits of the dead who never had the opportunity to receive the Gospel in the flesh, but it is also taught to those who rejected and even rebelled against the Gospel and God's prophets while in the flesh. Here are President Smith's most wonderful and hope-inspiring words:

 

30 But behold, from among the righteous, he (Christ) organized his (missionary) forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to ALL the spirits of men (the word ALL means even those who accepted the the truth in the flesh but then rebelled against it are re-taught the Gospel); and thus was the gospel preached to the dead.

31 And the chosen messengers went forth to declare the acceptable day of the Lord and proclaim liberty to the captives who were bound, even unto ALL (there's that word ALL again)who would repent of their sins and receive the gospel.

32 Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, HAVING REJECTED THE PROPHETS. (D&C 138)

 

Now Doctrine and Covenants 76 tells us the dead who will receive the greatest and most severe testing in the spirit world are the wicked who rebelled against God while in the flesh on earth. These wicked and rebellious souls will be thrust into hell (the spirit prison) to endure what section 76 calls "the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of almighty God." Though not the sons of perdition, they will suffer as Alma the younger suffered until the divinely appointed time when they are offered deliverance from their hellish state by the missionaries from paradise who will descend into the realms of spiritual darkness to proclaim liberty to the captives bound in hell on condition of their sincere acceptance of the Gospel's saving message. And thus we read: 

 

106 These are they who are cast down to hell and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until the fulness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work;

107 When he shall deliver up the kingdom, and present it unto the Father, spotless, saying: I have overcome and have trodden the wine-press alone, even the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God (Christ trods the winepress while the grapes are symbolic of the wicked and rebellious).

 

Continuing...

 

110 And heard the voice of the Lord saying: These all shall bow the knee, and every tongue shall confess to him who sits upon the throne forever and ever;

111 For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared; (D&C 76)

 

Speaking of those who rejected and rebelled against the Gospel message in Noah's day, the Book of Moses tells us of the trials these people must endure before the day of their dilverence from the spirit prison and their eventual ascension to a degree heavenly glory:

 

38 But behold, these which thine eyes are upon shall perish in the floods; and behold, I will shut them up; a prison have I prepared for them.

39 And that which I have chosen hath pled before my face. Wherefore, he suffereth for their sins; inasmuch as they will repent in the day that my Chosen shall return unto me, and until that day they shall be in torment; (

40 Wherefore, for this shall the heavens weep, yea, and all the workmanship of mine hands. (Moses 7)

 

Now, finally, since the prophet Joseph Smith said it will be a great work beyond the grave to gain our exaltation, and since we know all of existence operates on the eternal principle of opposition in all things, it's impossible to imagine the spirit world will not be a place of continued trial and testing, especially in the case of those who are in need of such trial and testing before they can be receive an eternal inheritance in one of the Father's many heavenly mansions of glory. As Mother Eve once so wisely said, there is no feasible way other than to pass through sorrow that we sons and daughters of God might learn how to eschew the bad and gladly cleave only to the good.

Edited by teddyaware
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