JOSEPH F. SMITH
"The dead are not perfect without us, neither are we without them. We have a mission to perform for and in their behalf; we have a certain work to do in order to liberate those who, because of the ignorance and the unfavorable circumstances in which they were placed while here, are unprepared for eternal life; we have to open the door for them, by performing ordinances which they cannot perform for themselves and which are essential to their release fro the 'prison-house' to come forth and live according to God in the spirit and be judged according to men in the flesh."
--Joseph F. Smith, April 11, 1878 J. D., 19:264
"To my mind, there isn't anything to great and so glorious in this world as to labor for the salvation of the living and for the redemption of the dead."
-- Joseph F. Smith YWJ 23:130, January 1912
"The work for our dead . . . l should not be neglected. We should avail ourselves of those sacred and potent ordinances of the gospel which have been revealed as essential to the happiness, salvation and redemption of those who have lived in this world when they could not learn the gospel and have died without the knowledge of it and are not waiting for us; their children, who are living in an age when these, ordinances can be performed, to do this work necessary for their release from the prison-house. Through our efforts in their behalf their chains of bondage will fall from them, and the darkness surrounding them will clear away, that light may shine upon them and they shall hear in thespirit world of the work that has been done for them by their children here and will rejoice with you in your performance of these duties.
-- Joseph F. Smith CR, p. 6, October 1916
Speaking of the spirits of the dead Joseph F. Smith said, 'I claim that we live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever...They see the temptations and evils that beset us in life, and the proneness of mortal beings to yield to temptation and to wrong doing; hence their solicitude for us and their love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves..If we can see, by the enlightening influence of the Spirit of God and through the words that have been spoken by the holy prophets of God beyond the veil that separates us from the spirit world, surely those who have passed beyond can see more clearly through the veil back here to us than it is possible for us to see to them from our sphere of action..we are not separated from them..We cannot forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we cannot dissolve, or free ourselves from." (Gospel Doctrine, pp. 430-31)
"The dead are not perfect without us, neither are we without them. We have a mission to perform for and in their behalf; we have a certain work to do in order to liberate those who, because of the ignorance and the unfavorable circumstances in which they were placed while here, are unprepared for eternal life; we have to open the door for them, by performing ordinances which they cannot perform for themselves and which are essential to their release fro the 'prison-house' to come forth and live according to God in the spirit and be judged according to men in the flesh."
--Joseph F. Smith, April 11, 1878 J. D., 19:264
"To my mind, there isn't anything to great and so glorious in this world as to labor for the salvation of the living and for the redemption of the dead."
-- Joseph F. Smith YWJ 23:130, January 1912
"The work for our dead . . . l should not be neglected. We should avail ourselves of those sacred and potent ordinances of the gospel which have been revealed as essential to the happiness, salvation and redemption of those who have lived in this world when they could not learn the gospel and have died without the knowledge of it and are not waiting for us; their children, who are living in an age when these, ordinances can be performed, to do this work necessary for their release from the prison-house. Through our efforts in their behalf their chains of bondage will fall from them, and the darkness surrounding them will clear away, that light may shine upon them and they shall hear in thespirit world of the work that has been done for them by their children here and will rejoice with you in your performance of these duties.
-- Joseph F. Smith CR, p. 6, October 1916
Speaking of the spirits of the dead Joseph F. Smith said, 'I claim that we live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever...They see the temptations and evils that beset us in life, and the proneness of mortal beings to yield to temptation and to wrong doing; hence their solicitude for us and their love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves..If we can see, by the enlightening influence of the Spirit of God and through the words that have been spoken by the holy prophets of God beyond the veil that separates us from the spirit world, surely those who have passed beyond can see more clearly through the veil back here to us than it is possible for us to see to them from our sphere of action..we are not separated from them..We cannot forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we cannot dissolve, or free ourselves from." (Gospel Doctrine, pp. 430-31)