"Not a man to till the ground"—and yet man had been created, as well as the plants and herbs that existed "before they grew." The apparent contradiction—apparent though not real—was explained by the Prophet when, by the Spirit of Revelation, he revised the Scriptures, giving a more ample account of the creation than the ordinary Bible contains. From that account the following sentences are taken:
"For I the Lord God created all things of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. . . . . And I the Lord had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground. For in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air . . . . Nevertheless, all things were before created."[[3]]
First Spiritual, Then Temporal.—In other words, there were two creations—or rather, the creation had two phases, the first spiritual, the second temporal. When the Creator made man and beast and fish and fowl, he made them twice—first in the spirit, then in the body; and the same is true of the trees, the shrubs, the flowers, and all other created things. They were made spiritually and temporally, the spirit and the body constituting the soul.[[4]]
Not Far Away.—The Spirit World is not a thing afar off. Our thoughts need not sail away millions of miles into space to find it. According to the best evidence we possess, it is near to us—right around us. We have but to emerge from the body, and we are in the spirit world. Out of it we came, and unto it we shall return. "The spirits of the just," says the Prophet Joseph, "are not far from us;" they "know and understand our thoughts, feelings and motions, and are often pained therewith."[[5]]
Just and Unjust.—The spirits of the unjust likewise inhabit the spirit world, though they are separated from the righteous, and are not in a state of rest. Light and darkness divide that realm, each domain having its appropriate population. So far from being Heaven, part of the spirit world is Hades or Hell. Referring to the class who people that part, the Prophet says: "The great misery of departed spirits ... is to know that they come short of the glory that others enjoy and that they might have enjoyed themselves; and they are their own accusers."[[6]]
Jesus and the Penitent Thief.—"In the spirit world," says Parley P. Pratt, "are all the varieties and grades of intellectual beings which exist in the present world. For instance, Jesus Christ and the thief on the cross both went to the same place." That is to say, they both went to the spirit world.
Jesus, it will be borne in mind, had been crucified between two thieves, one of whom derided him, insulting his dying agonies. The other, being penitent, prayed: "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." To him the Savior said: "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise."[[7]] Because of this utterance—which Joseph Smith declared to be a mistranslation, maintaining that "paradise" should read "world of spirits"[[8]]—uninspired minds have drawn the conclusion that the penitent thief was promised immediate heavenly exaltation, for repenting at the last moment and professing faith in the Redeemer. This notion is still entertained. The criminal who has forfeited his life and is under sentence of death, because unfit to dwell among his fallen fellow creatures, is made to believe that by confessing Christ, even on the scaffold, he is fitted at once for the society of Gods and angels, and will be wafted to never-ending bliss.
A False Doctrine.—Jesus never taught such a doctrine, nor did any authorized servant of the Lord. It is a man-made theory, based upon faulty inference and misinterpretation. The Scriptures plainly teach that men will be judged according to their works,[[9]] and receive rewards as varied as their deeds.[[10]] It was best for the thief, of course, to repent even at the eleventh hour; but he could not be exalted until prepared for it, if it took a thousand years. When Christ said: "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there ye may be also,"[[11]] he was not speaking to murderers and malefactors, but to his pure-minded, right-living disciples, those only to whom such a promise could consistently be given.
What Goes on There.—Jesus Christ and the thief both went to the world of spirits, a place of rest for the righteous, a place of correction for the wicked. "But," as the Apostle Parley goes on to say, "the one was there in all the intelligence, happiness, benevolence and charity which characterize a teacher, a messenger anointed to preach glad tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort those who mourned, to preach deliverance to the captive, and open the prison to those who were bound; or, in other words, to preach the Gospel to the spirits in prison, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh; while the other was there as a thief, who had expired on the cross for crime, and who was guilty, ignorant, uncultivated, and unprepared for resurrection, having need of remission of sins and to be instructed in the science of salvation."
Thus is told in part what goes on in the spirit world. "It is a place," continues our Apostle, "where the Gospel is preached, where faith, repentance and charity may be exercised, a place of waiting for the resurrection or redemption of the body; while to those who deserve it, it is a place of punishment, a purgatory or hell, where spirits are buffeted until the day of redemption."