Dear Gramps,
In our Gospel Doctrine class, someone asked why, without the resurrection, would Satan rule over us (see 2 Nephi 9:8-9). I know we would never have our bodies again, no fullness of joy and etc., but it would seem that with the experience we did gain in mortality, that we might have some advantage over those spirits who were never embodied. Anyway, while it’s really moot and not essential to our salvation, the class didn’t come up with a satisfactory answer. Can you help us out?
David, from Idaho
Dear David,
The answer to your question is given 2 Nephi 9:6-7. The reason that Satan would rule over us is not because there would be no resurrection, but because there would be no redemption. Verses 6 and 7 tell us that death came into the world by reason of the Fall, and that an infinite atonement would be required to save man from being cut off from the presence of the Lord. And that without the infinite atonement the first judgment which came upon man “must have remained to an endless duration.” Therefore would Satan have power over man.
Gramps
