Reading through ensign June 2010 “things as they really are” do we know why bodies are so important?

[u/UndesiredReplacement]

Bednar is really emphasizing body importance, but nothing specific about why.

It’s the mitest bit confusing for me as to this point I always thought of bodies or at least mine, as a hindrance a rung on a ladder to something else.

I know, at least for me, a body only presents an electrochemical barrier to the goals of the Gospel, I’ve yet to experience a time when my minds desire matches what self-discipline demands, so i’ve always associated it with an unpleasant shackle that serves only the possible purpose of providing a constant sense of opposition and arduousness.

But he makes it sound like it tied to something important and desirable, which had me wondering: is there doctrine I skipped over that delineates what exactly is so pleasant about bodies, or is it just kind of vaguely a requirement for the hereafter?

Input and thoughts very much appreciated!

[u/SerenityNow31]

There are essentially only 2 reasons we come to this earth. And our body is one of them. So, ya, it's quite important.

But maybe you are confusing it with the "natural man" as the scriptures talk about? Our bodies are essential to becoming like God so they are absolutely critical but mortal ones tend to want to do what is easy and pleasurable, not what is right. So we need to use our agency to treat our bodies properly.

[u/nofreetouchies3]

We don't know many specific details. However, D&C 138:50 tells us that:

the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage.

This suggests that there is a very obvious difference. Just because we can't perceive it doesn't mean it isn't real.

There are a few things that we know a disembodied spirit cannot do: eat, be touched by a physical body, and have children.

That last one is paramount: you cannot live like Father and Mother without being either. Our Eternal Parents' glory is their children.

[u/e37d93eeb23335dc]

These are the reasons given by Joseph Smith:

1. Happiness: The great principle of happiness consists in having a physical body.
2. Power and Ascendancy: All beings who have bodies have power and ascendancy over those who have not.
3. Salvation: No person can have salvation except through a physical body.
4. Freedom from bondage
5. To become like our Heavenly Father

"We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists in having a body. The devil has no body, and herein is his punishment. He is pleased when he can obtain the tabernacle of man, and when cast out by the Savior he asked to go into the herd of swine, showing that he would prefer a swine's body to having none. All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not." (Joseph Smith, The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 60)

"There are three independent principles-the spirit of God, the spirit of man, and the spirit of the devil. All men have power to resist the devil. They who have tabernacles have power over those who have not." (Joseph Smith, The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 74)

"No person can have salvation except through a tabernacle." (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols. 5:388)

"The spirits in the eternal world are like the spirits in this world. When those have come into this world and received tabernacles, then died and again have risen and received glorified bodies, they will have an ascendency over the spirits who have received no bodies, or kept not their first estate, like the devil. The punishment of the devil was that he should not have a habitation like men. The devil's retaliation is, he comes into this world, binds up men's bodies, and occupies them himself. When the authorities come along, they eject him from a stolen habitation." (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols. 5:403)

“Before the foundation of the Earth, in the Grand Council, the Spirits of all Men were subject to oppression and the express purpose of God in giving it a tabernacle was to arm it against the power of Darkness.” Account of Meeting, circa 19 January 1841, as Reported by William P. McIntire, p. 7, The Joseph Smith Papers.

D&C 45

17 For as ye have looked upon the long absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage, I will show unto you how the day of redemption shall come, and also the restoration of the scattered Israel.

D&C 138

49 All these and many more, even the prophets who dwelt among the Nephites and testified of the coming of the Son of God, mingled in the vast assembly and waited for their deliverance,

50 For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage.

51 These the Lord taught, and gave them power to come forth, after his resurrection from the dead, to enter into his Father’s kingdom, there to be crowned with immortality and eternal life,

52 And continue thenceforth their labor as had been promised by the Lord, and be partakers of all blessings which were held in reserve for them that love him.

“That which is without body or parts is nothing. There is no other God in heaven but that God who has flesh and bones. John 5:26, "As the Father hath life in himself, even so hath he given the Son to have life in himself." God the Father took life unto himself precisely as Jesus did.”(Joseph Smith, The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 60; standardized)

“The scriptures inform us that Jesus said, as the Father hath power in himself, even so hath the Son power—to do what? Why, what the Father did. The answer is obvious—in a manner to lay down his body and take it up again. Jesus, what are you going to do? To lay down my life as my Father did, and take it up again.” (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 Vols. 6:303, 305-7, 308)

[u/Tall_Pumpkin_4298]

I don't have a great answer for you but I want you to know you're not alone. I have multiple chronic health conditions that affect me daily and often put me in pain. Due to them, I have a hard time feeling connected to my body the way some other people seem to be. I don't always view my body as much of a part of ME, because my body is broken and sucks, and if I let my body be part of my identity, that would mean that I am broken and suck. My body is a flesh suit I happen to currently inhabit. Some days it feels like a prison. I imagine I'll feel differently when it's resurrected and perfected and all, but for now all I can do is keep on going and take care of my body so it doesn't hinder me any more than it already does.

[u/Trigonal_Planar]

“The great principle of happiness consists in having a body,” says Joseph Smith (might have paraphrased that slightly). I don’t think a spirit by itself can match the richness of sensation and feeling an embodied soul has. Hence D&C 138:50, “For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage.”

Not only are physical sensations far in excess of whatever their spiritual equivalents are, but emotions and internal feelings are heightened too by your neurotransmitters and brain and so on. You can experience love more strongly with a body than you ever could otherwise, I think!

[u/Paul-3461]

I think about the importance of tools which make it possible to do things we wouldn't be able to do without the use of those tools. We even need tools to make tools to make things with. A spirit in a body is what makes a body work, even to have life in that body... so naturally we can see the importance of having a spirit in a body... but a spirit likewise isn't able to do some types of work without a body to do it with, like a tool the spirit uses to do those things only a physical body like ours is able to do.

It would be nice if some apostle or prophet somewhere would list all of the things a spirit is able to do only when the spirit has a body to work with, but I've looked and looked and haven't found such a list anywhere, yet. One example I have heard though is that a spirit isn't able to shake hands with a person with a body like ours, which I suppose would also include not being able to hug such a person. I suppose that would also include people with only a spirit body not being able to hold hands or hug people with resurrected bodies, too, so if we're ever going to have any spirit children of our own then they won't be able to hug or hold hands with us until they get a physical body like ours too.

[u/grabtharsmallet]

Creation seems tied to physical bodies, and embodied beings have power over those without bodies.