"Some people question whether there is life after death. They wonder if their lives have any meaning or whether being good or bad makes any difference. The Book of Mormon teaches that all will be resurrected because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It affirms that we will be judged by out thoughts, words, and works by the perfect judge who is Jesus Christ."
In a recent conversation with my sister-in-law who is an Atheist, we talked about this very topic. She asks a lot of questions about what we believe will happen to us after we die. And this is exactly what I have explained to her. She is still trying to understand it all, she is not sure if she believes that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father exist. But I was able to find some really good scriptures this week to share with her.
In the May 2000 Ensign, there was an article called Resurrection. In there it said, "The assurance of resurrection gives us the strength and perspective to endure to the moral challenges faced by each of us and by those we love, such things as the physical. mental, or emotional deficiencies we bring with us at birth or acquire during mortal life. Because of the resurrection. we know that these mortal deficiencies are only temporary." My sister-in-law has faced a lot of these mental and physical challenges in her life. And one thing that we have tried to explain to her is that when we are resurrected we will not have any physical or mental illnesses. Our bodies will be as one and those challenges we faced while on earth before death will not follow us. She was really excited about this part. Her eyes light up and you could tell that she wanted to hear more.
Repentance is a very important part of the Atonement. When they day comes that we face Jesus Christ and answer for our words, thoughts and works, will we have repented of all of our sins?
I loved the scripture in Helaman 14:18, it says,
Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not hewn down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hew down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a spiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness.
To think about what will happen to us if we do not repent, is kind of scary. We will cast into the fire? It makes me sad to think about this. Explaining it to my sister-in-law was difficult. It was hard to show and tell her the importance of repentance.
The last scripture I shared with her was 1 Nephi 10:20-21, it is when Nephi is telling all mankind that we will be judged on all our doings. The scripture says,
20. Therefore, remember, O man, for all thy doings thou shalt be brought into judgement.
21. Wherefore, if ye have sought to do wickedly in the days of your probation, then ye are found unclean before the judgement-seat of God; and no unclean thing can dwell with God; wherefore, ye must be cast off forever.
I found that awesome thing online that talks about repentance. It was called the ABC Repentance! I shared this with my sister-in-law and it helped her understand what repentance is and then I shared a quote I found from Elder Cook.
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