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KIRK - If a person died as an infant, what could be his/her condition during the resurrection or millenium? Does his/her parents still have a chance to raise them into manhood/womanhood or he/she will be ressurrected already in an adult form?
JOEL - Everyone who is resurrected will come forth with a body at the same stage of growth as it was when they were laid to rest, as Joseph Smith explained,
"As concerning the resurrection, I will merely say that all men will come from the grave as they lie down, whether old or young; there will not be 'added unto their stature one cubit,' neither taken from it," (TPJS, p. 199).
According to scripture everyone (including infants) will rise without the defects or handicaps they had when they died:
"The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame." (Alma 40:23)
"Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame," (Alma 11:44)
The two scriptures referenced above best addresse this subject. To restore means to bring something back to a state that it existed in before being destroyed. Logically, this would mean that an infant would be restored to an infant and an adult to an adult.
Joseph F. Smith said:
"The body will come forth as it is laid to rest, for there is no growth nor development in the grave. As it is laid down, so will it arise, and changes to perfection will come by the law of restitution. But the spirit will continue to expand and develop, and the body, after the resurrection will develop to the full stature of man. The child that was buried in its infancy will come up in the form of the child that it was when it was laid down; then it will begin to develop. From the day of the resurrection, the body will develop until it reaches the full measure of the stature of its spirit, whether it be male or female."
(Joseph F. Smith, Improvement Era 7 [June 1904]:623-24).
President Joseph Fielding Smith said:
“We were all mature spirits before we were born; and the bodies of little children will grow after the resurrection to the full stature of the spirit, and all the blessings will be theirs through their obedience, the same as if they had lived to maturity and received them on the earth. There is restitution, there is growth, there is development, after the resurrection from death.” (Gospel Doctrine, pp. 455-56.)
So according to the prophets quoted above there will still be growth, development, and the requirement for obedience to the laws of the Gospel for children who died before the age of accountability. Even though their spirits are pure and righteous their physical minds will still need to be educated so they can learn and understand the Gospel as they grow.
We know that all children who die before the age of 8 years are saved in the Celestial Kingdom (D&C 137:10) and will therefore come forth in the morning of the first resurrection(D&C 88:97-98). If their righteous parents also come forth at that time, they will most definitely be able to raise them during the Millennium.
At a funeral of a small child Joseph Smith taught the comforting doctrine that the infant child that is laid away in death would come up in the resurrection as a child; and, pointing to the mother of a lifeless child, he said to her:
“You will have the joy, the pleasure, and satisfaction of nurturing this child, after its resurrection, until it reaches the full stature of its spirit.” (Gospel Doctrine, 455-56)
Isaiah said of the Millennium,
"And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them,…and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands" (Isa. 65:21-22)
So in many ways, life will be much as it is now, including (I assume) the raising of children.
I am certain that wherever possible, God will make sure that the parents of young children are resurrected sometime before or at least at the same time the child is. Also, since all children who die before the age of accountability are guaranteed the Celestial Kingdom, they will never be tested or tempted by Satan.
Joseph Fielding Smith also said,
“Satan cannot tempt little children in this life, nor in the spirit world, nor after their resurrection. Little children who die before reaching the years of accountability will not be tempted.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:56-57.)
That will make raising them a lot easier :-) However, if the parents come forth later in the first resurrection (inheritors of the terrestrial kingdom, D&C 88:99) or at the last resurrection at the end of the Millennium (telestial kingdom, D&C 88: 100), their righteous children will have to be raised by someone else.
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