What Is Eternal Life? | Celestial Marriage & God's Kind of Life — Bruce R. McConkie (LDS)

Send us Fan MailWhat is eternal life, and how is it different from immortality? In this LDS (Latter-day Saint) episode, Tia Smith shares a beloved talk by Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on celestial marriage and eternal life — given at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) in late 1984, just months before his passing. She frames it around this week's Come Follow Me study of Moses 1:39 and the truth that eternal life is the very kind of life God our Father lives: life in the family unit.Elder McConkie teaches that the whole aim of the plan of salvation is to enable men and women to create for themselves eternal family units patterned after the family of God. He draws a clear distinction many miss: immortality — the resurrection, given to all through the Atonement — is the reuniting of body and spirit forever; but eternal life, or exaltation, is God's own life, and the scriptures use "salvation" and "eternal life" as one and the same. He walks through the doctrine step by step: that God is an exalted, glorified, resurrected being who lives in a family unit; that we are His literal spirit children; that the gospel and moral agency were given so we could progress to become like Him; and that the path runs through baptism (the gate to the celestial kingdom), the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Above all, he teaches that the family unit continues only in the highest heaven of the celestial kingdom, entered through the new and everlasting covenant of marriage — making celestial marriage the crowning ordinance of the whole plan.Tia ties it to her channel's theme of the gathering: this is why we do temple work — not only for ourselves, but to reunite husbands and wives and families on both sides of the veil, so our ancestors can receive the same covenant of eternal life that we've been offered.Q: What is eternal life, and how is it different from immortality?A: In this talk Elder Bruce R. McConkie teaches that immortality — the resurrection, given to everyone through Christ's Atonement — means body and spirit are reunited forever. Eternal life is more: it is God's own kind of life, exaltation, lived in the family unit with a fulness of the Father's glory. He teaches that "salvation" and "eternal life" are essentially synonymous in scripture.Q: Why is celestial (temple) marriage so important?A: Elder McConkie teaches that the family unit continues only in the highest heaven of the celestial kingdom, and that this highest degree is entered through the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. So while baptism is the gate to the celestial kingdom, celestial marriage is the gate to its highest heaven — the crowning ordinance that makes eternal life, life in an eternal family, possible.Q: What does eternal life have to do with family history and the gathering?A: Tia Smith connects the doctrine to temple and family history work: because eternal life is life in the family unit, the work of the gathering is about reuniting families, husbands and wives, on both sides of the veil. Doing temple work for our ancestors offers them the same covenant of eternal life we've been invited to receive.▶️ WATCH & LISTEN🎬 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thinningoftheveil🌐 Website: https://www.thinningoftheveil.com🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinning-of-the-veil/id1753511394🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6jWCfMHkZXwnSwy2b98J4M🎵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a0a45561-d4c2-46d3-af8d-a1e967a21a25📖 BOOKPatterns of Revelation — Spiritual Foundations for Hearing God's Voice: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BW36MG9B📱 CONNECTInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinning.of.the.veilFacebook Group (Gathering of the Gatherers): https://www.facebook.com/groups/1429562078443774Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/thinningoftheveil💛 SUPPORT THE SHOWVenmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/thinningoftheveilPayPal: https://paypal.me/thinningoftheveil✉️ Have you had a thinning of the veil experience? Email [email protected] — your testimony may be exactly what someone needs to hear.#ThinningOfTheVeil #SpiritWorld #TempleWork #FamilyHistory #LDS #LatterDaySaints #GatheringOfIsrael #MinisteringAngels #FamilySearch #PersonalRevelationCITATIONS:Bruce R. McConkie, "Eternal Life and Celestial Marriage", BYUI Devotional, Nov. 1984: https://www.byui.edu/speeches/weekly-devotionals/eternal-life-and-celestial-marriageSupport the show