“If they’re keeping records on the other side, why do we spend so many inefficient hours at it here, especially in genealogical work?”

Answer/Elder Theodore M. Burton

The best answers to questions are those found in the scriptures. If answers are not found there, you can be quite certain that they are not pertinent for us to know at this time. I chuckle when I hear the Lord’s answer to Moses when he wanted to know all about the universe, how it began and how it was organized. (See Moses 1:30.) The Lord simply said:

“For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me.” (Moses 1:31.)

In answering some questions, we could well ask: “What difference does it make?” In some cases it makes a great difference; the Lord recognized this when he told Moses that he would give him information on every question that he needed to know as a result of his life here on this earth. God said in explanation:

“But only an account of this earth and the inhabitants thereof give I unto you.” (Moses 1:35.)

Now the student who has asked the above question has asked an important question that does pertain to this earth. God, accordingly, through a prophet, has given us an answer, which I now quote:

“And further, I want you to remember that John the Revelator was contemplating this very subject in relation to the dead, when he declared, as you will find recorded in Revelation 20:12—And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. [Rev. 20:12]

“You will discover in this quotation that the books were opened; and another book was opened, which was the book of life; but the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works; consequently, the books spoken of must be the books which contained the record of their works, and refer to the records which are kept on the earth. And the book which was the book of life is the record which is kept in heaven; the principle agreeing precisely with the doctrine which is commanded you in the revelation contained in the letter which I wrote to you previous to my leaving my place—that in all your recordings it may be recorded in heaven.

“Now, the nature of this ordinance consists in the power of the priesthood, by the revelation of Jesus Christ, wherein it is granted that whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Or, in other words, taking a different view of the translation, whatsoever you record on earth shall be recorded in heaven, and whatsoever you do not record on earth shall not be recorded in heaven; for out of the books shall your dead be judged, according to their own works, whether they themselves have attended to the ordinances on their own propria persona, or by the means of their own agents, according to the ordinance which God has prepared for their salvation from before the foundation of the world, according to the records which they have kept concerning their dead.” (D&C 128:6–8.)

I have underlined two words which I feel are important. We are responsible for the members of our own family to see that their work has been done. As a result of the four-generation program my brothers and I have hired professional researchers at considerable cost to check every step on one of our ancestral lines. We had long thought the work had been done by our parents and grandparents, for we are four-generation Mormons on all four of our ancestral lines. We found that our dear grandmother and her sisters had never been sealed to their parents and our sweet great grandmother, who was the first to receive the gospel, which has provided us one-fourth of our spiritual heritage, had never been sealed to her husband nor had her children sealed to her.

True there are records in heaven, but what good are they there at present? Temple work cannot be done in heaven but must be done on earth. There will hardly be enough time during the thousand years of the Millennium to take care of the special cases of those whose records have been destroyed or overlooked. We should remember that out of approximately 6,000 years of time when billions of people have come and gone on the earth, we have records for only about the past 400 years. Much of the Millennium must therefore be reserved for those who need proxy work and who lived in times when no records were kept or for which records do not now exist. Then, also, the Ten Tribes have to bring their records too for their own temple work. That will also take a high priority in the Millennium.

The use of our approximately 400 years of records and the use of temples must be a training ground for us, preparing the Church for the time when this temple work will be our major assignment using the experience already gained.

As to records being kept on the other side, the Lord never did work that man could do for himself. “Man’s ways are not my ways,” said the Lord. He could have held up the pioneers for a hundred years and brought them across the plains in air-conditioned Cadillacs, but that would not have tried their faith nor built the strength now found in their descendants. I think there is a parallel here for the pitifully small amount of genealogical work most of our Latter-day Saints are now doing. We could and should do more to exercise our obedience to the Lord and our willingness to make sacrifices because of the faith we have developed.

We must do all we can here and now to do this genealogical work, which sometimes does appear to be inefficient and expensive, but which the Lord, through Joseph Smith said was the “summum bonum” (or the greatest value or the most important part) in the use of the powers of the priesthood. (D&C 128:11.)

• Assistant to the Council of the Twelve