Spiritual Vs. Temporal

Life is so darned hard. Work, sickness, injury, loneliness, guilt, depression, worry, aging. All of these and more take an incredible physical toll on our bodies. Perhaps at one time or another you have longed to shuffle off this mortal coil and retreat to a purely spiritual state where pain is a distant memory. It’s little wonder that most religions view our existence in this physical world as an evil from which we will ultimately be released by death. To them, spiritual is greater than physical, and reverting to spirit endows the worthy individual with greater power and purity.

Mormons have a different take:

“In contrast to the view that the subtle powers of intellect or soul must finally transcend the body or anything corporeal, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that all beings ‘who have tabernacles (bodies), have power over those who have not.’ ... Moreover, ‘spirit and element [the spirit body and the physical body], inseparably connected, [can] receive a fulness of joy; And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.’ ” (Douglas L. Callister, “Resurrection,” To All the World: The Book of Mormon Articles from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism)

Consider the word spirit. It’s often used interchangeably with soul. In Mormon doctrine, however, soul has a very distinct meaning:

“The whole of man, the united spirit and body, is defined in modern scripture as the ‘soul’ of man.” (Ibid.)

Likewise, the word temporal is often conflated with physical. But temporal literally means “of or relating to time as opposed to eternity.” I think that means all things pertaining to this life, spiritual as well as physical.

In modern revelation, Heavenly Father taught us:

“... all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created.” D&C 29:34

Our Father intends for our physical and spiritual bodies to be one unit. He never distinguishes between the two in himself. He is who he is: I AM. Sometimes he gives us laws that seem to be merely temporal or physical, but they always have spiritual, eternal consequences attached.

I think of myself like a teenager learning to drive this run-down clunker of a body before Dad will let my drive the Lexus. I have to learn to obey the laws, maintain my vehicle, and wisely choose where I drive so I safely get where I’m supposed to be going. This life is the time to master those skills and prepare for eternity.

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Today—more song lyrics. A children’s song! A friend of mine set these to music (which I absolutely love), but I can’t upload a legible jpg to this website. So if you’d like a copy, please leave a comment or shoot me an email and I will send you a pdf.

Father Lehi’s Dream

Verse 1:

Father Lehi had a dream:
He stood in a field and turned to see
A narrow path, an iron rod,
A shining white and fruit-filled tree.

Verse 2:

On the strait and narrow path,
An iron rod ran bright and strong.
It represents God’s words to us
To help us choose the right from wrong.

Verse 3:

The shining, wondrous tree
Was filled with fruit, delicious and white.
It represents God’s love for us
As shown through Jesus’ sacrifice.

Chorus:

We’ll walk along the path each day
And hold the rod to guide our way.
We’ll eat the fruit from the beautiful tree
And feel God’s love eternally.

(Text taken from 1 Nephi 8 and 1 Nephi 11)