The Birth and Resurrection of the Savior

A friend is preparing an Easter talk that she will give Sunday. Via a Facebook chat, she asked me what The Resurrection* means to me.

Today is a very significant and special day for me personally because April 6th is the day Jesus was born, and the day He was resurrected. It is also the day Jesus's church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (my mormon religion), was officially restored on this earth.

We come down to this earth life to gain a body and prepare to return to live with God (a probationary time to prove our worthiness). Without the atonement, we couldn't return to live with God because we all make mistakes and sin, and no unclean thing can enter the kingdom of heaven. So I am deeply grateful to be able to continually repent and seek to be a better person.

But even with the atonement, where all our sins can be washed away through sincere repentance, we would still be stuck when we died, our bodies eternally separated from our spirits. Because Jesus was resurrected, we can be, too. It's the other half of the equation that we need to return to God.

This is what The Resurrection means to me:

1. Victory over death.

Our life doesn't end by being eaten by bugs in the ground. What would be the point if we just die and it's over? It would be like saying my life wasn't worth anything, like anything I did was for nothing.

I know I'll "be" again after this earthly life.

2. HOPE. Purpose.

Knowing that I will be resurrected gives me a reason to keep growing spiritually and intellectually, to strive to improve who I am. Otherwise I would feel so depressed, and think "Why even try? Might as well 'eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die'."

3. Eternal Families.

Being reunited with loved ones that have passed, and those that will pass after me, means so much to me and is very close to my heart.

4. Our spirits being reunited with our bodies.

Only perfected! No more ADD, no more back pain, no more physical/mental illness among us and those we love.

The very thing that Satan and his followers cannot have is a body, the physical likeness of our Father in Heaven and Elder brother, Jesus Christ. We not only are able to receive and live in a physical body, we will get to live in it again, perfected, in heaven. This is a profound blessing in my eyes.

---If you believe in Jesus Christ and the resurrection, what does it mean to you?

*Resurrection:
1. The rising (or returning to life) of Christ after His death and burial.
2. The rising of the dead on Judgment Day (us).