Saturday, April 9, 2016

No Limits?

Working on my preparations for the lesson I'm probably going to give tomorrow, I came across this quote from Elder Paul V. Johnson, which he gave in the most recent General Conference:
Each of us has physical, mental, and emotional limitations and weaknesses. These challenges, some of which seem so intractable now, will eventually be resolved. None of these problems will plague us after we are resurrected.
I wonder what this means, exactly. Does he mean it literally? Does he mean that we really won't have any of the physical, mental, or emotional limitations that we have now?

I cannot fly. That is a physical limitation. Will I be able to fly when I'm resurrected? We sometimes talk about angels flying, so maybe that makes sense, but I also can't shoot laser beams out of my eyes, or breathe fire, or grow extra limbs. There are many things that I am physically unable to do, limitations that I have. Are they really all going to be resolved and removed? Will I ultimately become physically capable of doing literally anything I want to do?

Potentially, yes.

God is omnipotent, and He created us with the capacity to become like Him. If we keep His commandments and gain eternal life, we will eventually gain all that He has, including His power. We can become omnipotent, at which point all physical, mental, and emotional limitations will have been removed. I'm sure God could breathe fire or grow extra limbs if He wanted to, and if I play my cards right, so could I.

Now, our eventual achievement of omnipotence is not the same as the universally-promised gift of resurrection. I highly doubt that everyone who has ever lived will literally be given the power to overcome all physical limitations. God wouldn't hand out omnipotence to everyone. I'm sure that Elder Johnson only meant that our disabilities and deformities will be removed, and that we won't get sick or tired anymore. We may be physically stronger then than we are now, and we will be immortal, so our ability to withstand harm will be greatly increased, but as great as being resurrected is, merely being resurrected probably doesn't mean that literally all the limitations will have now will be removed.

The resurrection is an amazing gift, and there is no limit to human potential, but I highly doubt that Elder Johnson meant that quote to be taken literally, or to be taken so far out of context as I took it. Omnipotence is within our eventual reach, but the ability to overcome literally every physical limitation is almost certainly not a free gift that comes with resurrection.

No comments: