Gilles’ Question: Is there Life After Death?
Struggles, disappointments, heartaches, pains, and loss seem to be part of every stage of life. But there are extremely happy and comforting times, personally, with friends, and with loved ones! Intriguing challenges and exciting adventures occur as we pursue our dreams. We marvel at the beauty all around us, and enjoy the satisfaction of our blessings and accomplishments. Our mortal life is unspeakably marvelous, affording us experiences that touch, inspire, and sometimes wound the deepest parts of our hearts and souls. Since we must face sorrow to appreciate joy (2 Nephi 2:11), all of our experiences are designed to ultimately bless us.
In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Paul praises and thanks Heavenly Father for being the “Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.” He reminds us that our Father “comforteth us in all our tribulation.” Yes, in mortality we must experience heartaches; fortunately, our loving Father and our beloved Savior are full of mercy and comfort. If we will but “come unto them” (Matthew 11:28-30), we will find rest unto our souls.
Gilles was struggling with the recent death of his brother, Émile, tragically killed by a drunk driver in an auto-pedestrian accident. It was Monday, his day off, and he was with his mother (Dominique) in her apartment, eating her comforting food and talking about faith, love, and death. The grief they were both feeling had opened their hearts to a deep and loving conversation. Dominique was trying to help Gilles process the tragic loss of his brother and also his father, who died of cancer years earlier. Questions that spring from a broken heart were haunting Gilles, and he began to share his anxious feelings. His burning uncertainty was the universal question: Is there life after death?
Gilles wanted to believe that his father and brother still lived, somewhere in the Universe, and that they would all be together again someday; but he couldn’t see how such a thing could possibly be. He had lost his faith, his hope was weak, and felt trapped in his sadness. How could there be a loving, omniscient, omnipotent God? If there were, would He not intervene in a world filled with so much suffering, so many tragedies and disasters, and so much hatred? Gilles asked his mother some interesting questions:
“If God has prepared a better place for us, why doesn’t he just take us there right now? Does he enjoy watching everyone suffer?”
“How can you say God cares at all about us? What kind of a God is he, seeing so many people in agony and simply ignoring it? Certainly not a loving one. Frankly, I think that no God is better than an uncaring, neglectful God.”
Dominique, trying to teach and comfort her beloved son replies, “Gilles, you’re trying to find God in your head … but He’s not there. He’s in your heart.”
Gilles was grappling with the extremely troubling questions that have perplexed believers, philosophers, and sincere, deep thinkers as long as people have been on this earth. Much could be and has been written about these issues. I have my own questions and uncertainties, but I’ll add my personal understanding and the feelings of my heart to all that has been said on these matters. That which follows has made sense to my mind, has comforted my heart, and has been confirmed to me by the Spirit.
First of all, through faith, study, and the Lord’s Spirit, it is possible to feel a deep spiritual confirmation that we are the literal offspring of God (Acts 17:28)! He didn’t create us as he created the worlds without number, shining over us as we gaze into the heavens. The marvels of the Universe certainly are a testimony of our Father’s handiwork, but He didn’t create us in the same way. We are not His handiwork; we are His children! We literally have Heavenly Parents; our spirit bodies were born to them, just as our physical bodies were born to our mothers and fathers here on Earth. That’s why we call Him Father! That’s why we call each other brother and sister. Our spirit bodies, in the form of our physical bodies, along with our minds, hearts, personalities, hopes, and dreams existed long before we were born to our earthly parents. And as the offspring of God, we have a glorious and infinite potential.
But growth in wisdom, understanding, and strength of character … the development of our infinite potential, our divine nature, doesn’t occur magically on its own. Our Father, the Supreme Master Teacher, has given us this wondrous mortal experience as a catalyst for our progression. This earth life is a brilliantly designed and lovingly created experiential learning opportunity for each of us!
Yes, we all experience pain, disappointment, tragedy, and loss. Sometimes our circumstance seems awful in the moment, but as time goes by we see God’s hand and His love in it. We realize that we have become stronger, more understanding, and more compassionate as a result of our trials. Terrible trials often become turning points, opening new opportunities and wonderful blessings. It may be that we won’t clearly see all the good that will come of our difficulties until sometime in the eternities! Of course, I have to say again, life isn’t just a series of trials and tragedies. Most of us also experience much love, joy, and delight. But many do not.
The extreme suffering some must endure is beyond my ability to comprehend. I do wonder how our compassionate, infinitely loving Father in Heaven can stand by and not intervene while such unspeakable suffering occurs. I know it has something to do with not compromising the agency of His children. I also know, as was revealed to Joseph Smith in the Liberty Jail, that “All these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7).
Is this true, though, in circumstances of extreme, unthinkable suffering, even unto death? In the Liberty Jail, the Lord also told Joseph, “My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine affliction shall be but a small moment” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:7). Perhaps, from our Father’s perspective, extreme suffering lasts but a small moment when compared to eternity. He knows of, and actually sees, the compensating blessings that await such victims in their post-mortal lives. He also knows, from His infinite perspective, how essential agency is. What would become of agency if He were to intervene and prevent every cruel act, every tragedy, every source of sorrow?
Father in Heaven knows that our loving Savior will one day wipe away all our tears and heal our emotional scars (Isaiah 25:8; Isaiah 61:1; Revelation 7:17;). And so, He allows his beloved children here on earth to suffer, though the egregious wrongs that occur must break his infinitely compassionate heart (Moses 7:28-33).
I believe that, in the fullness of time, we will retain the wisdom, understanding, and strength of character gained through our mortal trials, but be healed of our traumatic, earthly sorrows.
I have a few more thoughts on the question of the ages: Is there life after death?
In Chapter 3 Gilles has an interesting thought. It went something like this: “Ceasing to exist is nothing to fear, but certainly something to dread.”
For many years I have prayed and studied to better understand what happens when this life ends. I have poured over accounts of “Near Death Experiences” ever since Raymond Moody published his book, Life After Life, in 1975. I’ve also studied the “Crowded Room” phenomenon some people experience shortly before they die. I have read statements of the prophets about the World of Spirits, and pondered all these things in my heart.
Even though we have often felt the Spirit testifying to us of the atonement of our Savior and the path He paved, that we all might resurrect and live forever, the thought of leaving all we know here on earth, all our ambitions, all our hopes and dreams for this life, all we cherish, and especially all those we love, can be frightening, even dreadful. And though we may have had many spiritual confirmations of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the death of our bodies seems so final! Scientists are so certain that life ends at death, and our understanding of what comes afterward is so vague, that sometimes we may have doubts about that which we know to be true.
In the October 2013 General Conference, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (Come Join With Us) said,
“Some might ask, ‘But what about my doubts?’
“It’s natural to have questions—the acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and matured into a great oak of understanding. There are few members of the Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive questions. One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith—even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith is to hope for things which are not seen but which are true.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters—my dear friends—please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
In his talk, Stand Forever, given at Brigham Young University on January 22, 2019, Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge said the following:
“The most phenomenal occurrences of all time and eternity—the most amazing wonders, the most astounding, awesome developments—are the most common and widely recognized. They include: I am; you are; we are; and all that we perceive exists as well, from subatomic particles to the farthest reaches of the cosmos and everything in between, including all of the wonders of life. Is there anything greater than those ordinary realities? No. Nothing else even comes close. You can’t begin to imagine, much less describe, anything greater than what already is.
“In light of what is, nothing else should surprise us. It should be easy to believe that with God all things are possible.
“The healing of the withered hand is not nearly as amazing as the existence of the hand in the first place. If it exists, it follows that it can certainly be fixed when it is broken. The greater event is not in its healing but in its creation.
“More phenomenal than resurrection is birth. The greater wonder is not that life, having once existed, could come again but that it ever exists at all.
“More amazing than raising the dead is that we live at all. A silent heart that beats again is not nearly as amazing as the heart that beats within your breast right now.
“That one could see on a stone or through a special lens the modern translation of ancient text written on plates of gold is far less amazing than the human eye. The wonder is not what the human eye may see, rather, that it sees anything at all.
“How can you believe in extraordinary things such as angels and gold plates and your divine potential? Easy, just look around and believe.”
I have often felt the Spirit in my life. What a blessing it was to teach Seminary, where I was constantly in a spiritual environment. I have great faith in Jesus Christ and the Restored Gospel. I have covenanted with our Lord that I will never leave Him, and that I will never leave His Church. In John 6, as many of His disciples “went back, and walked no more with Him,” Jesus said to the twelve, “Will ye also go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”
My feelings are identical to Peter’s. How could I ever leave Him? How could I turn away from His infinite love and atonement? How could I not appreciate, in the deepest sense of the word, what He has done for all of us, what He has done for me and my beloved ones? My deepest desire is to be with my family forever, and I place that profound hope into His loving hands. Where else could I find the blessings of eternal life?
— Richard B. Scoville
