Question
Hi Gramps,
I was wondering if you could tell me if it is okay to be an organ donor. I have often thought that you couldn’t and then that you could. I have heard that you have to have all of your body parts to be resurrected and that YOU need them when you die!!! What is up?? Do you or don’t you need them?? Can you be an organ donor?? Please help me with this question of mine. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
“D”
Answer
Dear “D”,
There is no counsel from the church against organ donation. Here is a paragraph from the General Handbook of Instructions–
“Because the transplanting of body parts raises some concerns regarding ethics and moral issues, the Church has issued the following statement: ‘Whether an individual chooses to will his own bodily organs or authorizes the transplant of organs from a deceased family member is a decision for the individual or the deceased member’s family. The decision to receive a donated organ should be made with competent medical counsel and confirmation through prayer'” (General Handbook of Instructions, 21.3.7).
We learn from the scriptures that the resurrection is universal. All who die will be resurrected, and restored to a perfect condition–those who are cremated, those who have lost a limb through some accident, those who have been devoured by some animal or were the subject of cannibalism. Why do we think that God, who has created man in the first place, and who has created all things, who sustains the planets in their orbits and who rules the universe cannot bring about the reunion of the spirit with its perfect body? To attempt to limit the ability of God to the poor confines of our present knowledge and reasoning, puts God on the level with his mortal children. We should never be so short sighted as to judge God by human standards. Here are some scriptures on the universality of the resurrection.
Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. (Alma 11:44).
I beheld that they were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand.
They were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death.
Their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame, bone to his bone, and the sinews and the flesh upon them, the spirit and the body to be united never again to be divided, that they might receive a fulness of joy. (Doctrine and Covenants 138:15-17).
Gramps
