Bishop Jerry Lund, a teacher in the church Educational System, provided some interesting comments on Betty J. Eadie's book Embraced by the Light, dated 3/15/93. He stated that he had been deluged with questions about her experience, mainly as to whether she had had a real experience and if so, was it from the Lord. The primary concerned was "Does what she experienced provide us an accurate picture of the spirit world and the pre-mortal existence?"

Bishop Hale wisely stated, "I would not assume to try and answer those very difficult questions, but here are some things that have come to mind as considerations as we seek to answer those questions for ourselves." He then discussed ten relevant considerations.

Consideration #1

The appropriateness of her sharing the experience. He quoted a thoughtful and wise statement by Boyd K. Packer, who stated that "impressive spiritual experiences are generally for our own edification, instruction, or correction" and that "they are to be guarded with care and shared only when the Spirit Itself prompts you to use them to the blessing of others."

Betty Eadie, it appears to me, followed that counsel very well. During the first five years, she said she shared her experience only with a few friends. As time went on, people came to her and asked to be told. Several years ago, a few people attempted to write up her experiences, so word began to spread. Sister Eadie states that, "More experiences have come to me since November 18, 1973, but I am reluctant to share them here; it took nineteen years and countless proddings to get me to share the experiences in this book. Everything has its time; for this book, the time is now." (pp. 146-147)

So if the Lord prompted her to share her experience now in this way, why NOW? From my point of view, there may be many reasons why the Lord wants this kind of information before the world, especially among the Saints. Since the basic message of her book is the love of the Savior for everyone of His children and that we are to truly love one another, when has there been a better time than now? But one might ask, hasn't that always been the message of the Gospel? Yes, of course, but since President Benson announced a divine revelation to call the Church out from under its condemnation, scourge and judgment, the brethren have been speaking with greater emphasis about faithfulness in love and mercy by being born of the Spirit.

Consideration #2

Shouldn't this kind of information come through the brethren? President Joseph Fielding Smith was quoted, "When a revelation comes for the guidance of this people, you may be sure that it will not be presented in some mysterious manner contrary to the order of the Church. It will go forth in such form that the people will understand that it comes from those who are in authority."

He is absolutely correct, of course. But we might remember that Betty Eadie is not speaking with any authority for or to the Church. She is only, after many years, bearing her testimony about what is to her, a very real, spiritual experience with Christ. In contrast to inspired pronouncement by the brethren, there is no obligation to believe her. Certainly no one can object to her sharing her experience, which is totally about love and understanding, unless they insist that there is only one infinite reality and we are sure we know exactly what it is, reject her experience because it does not match our preconceived conclusions.

But, one might ask, can we be certain that what she saw, if this is exactly what she saw, was the truth? I might ask in return, what difference does it make as far as anything having to do with our own perfection is concerned? We can argue all day and a year as to whether the gates of heaven swing in or swing out, and it we found out for certain, what have we gained? Nothing, except something, perhaps, to add to our vanity. In our vanity, we want to gather all kinds of knowledge about eternal things. Why? Is not our reason because we think that knowing the specifics will make us more faithful and diligent. Jesus assured us that there is only one source of true righteousness, and that is the gift of his own pure love which is bestowed upon ALL who are true followers. True followers are the meek and lowly who have become as little children. Christ was very critical of the Jewish scriptural scholars who strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel. Their knowledge made them proud and unteachable.

So Bishop Lund takes 13 specifics out of her book which he feels do not square with the official doctrines of the Church. Let's take them one by one.

1. The health of the mortal body is directed by the Spirit. If our Spirit could exercise enough power, sickness and infirmities could be healed. -- [She did not capitalize spirit, since she was speaking of our spirit-self which is temporarily residing in the body.]

Golly, I thought that was the doctrine of the Church. Is it the spirit or our natural mind which is to have the power of great faith? As Paul wrote, "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit... So then they that are after the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in [after] the flesh, but in [after] the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. [The "after" was added by Joseph Smith in his inspired translation to replace the "in".] (Romans 8:8-9)

So if powerful faith is a product of the spiritual mind rather than the natural mind, then is it not our spirits which possesses the faith to be healed.: "And again, it shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, SHALL BE HEALED. He who hath faith to hear shall hear. The lame who hath faith to leap shall leap. And they who have not faith to do these things, but believe in me, have power to become may sons; and inasmuch as they break not my laws thou shalt bear their infirmities."(D&C 42:48-52) So from this we gather that any illness or impairment which is not terminal is to be healed if our power in the Spirit is there to give us faith.

2. We select the illnesses we suffer. Personally, I don't think the Church has an official position on this. We do seem to acknowledge the possibility that we had much to do with planning and accepting our lot in life, but I don't think the Church has accepted an official doctrine one way or the other. It seems reasonable that, with everything else we believe about free agency, it might certainly be possible.

3. Through choosing to die (e.g., stepping in front of a drunk driver) we may save that person from committing additional sins in the future. Well, she admits that the idea sounds terrible to us on earth. Joseph Smith wrote an interesting declaration about the planning that went into the entire earth experience. "The great Jehovah contemplated the whole of the events connected with the earth, pertaining to the plan of salvation, before it rolled into existence, or ever the morning stars sang together for joy, the past, the present and the future WERE AND ARE WITH HIM, one eternal 'now.'... He knew the plan of salvation and pointed it out. He was acquainted with the situations of all nations and with their destiny. He ordered all things according to the council of His own will..." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 220) So from that point of view, perhaps she is right when she observed, "There are far fewer accidents here than we imagine, especially in things that affect us eternally. The hand of God, and the path we chose before we came here, guide many of our decisions and even many of the seemingly random experiences we have." (p. 68) Granted, she is speculating, but those are thoughts of loving sacrifice and could make a lot of sense to thoughtful Latter-day Saints.

4. There are "warring Angels." Christ, when he was being arrested by the soldiers of the Sanhedrin, said that if he asked, he could receive 10 legions of angels to take care of things. A legion is about 7,000, so he was talking about 70,000 "warring angels" at His beck and call. He did not call upon them, but He knew they were on hand. Interesting thought, but whether we accept it or not has nothing to do with our eternal exaltation, has it?

5. Spirits of great intelligence may choose to enter the body of those who are mentally handicapped. -- We know so little about why babies do not remain on the earth or why others are mental handicapped. If Christ contemplated the whole of events, it may well be that those of us who lived to be adults and have keen minds may have needed these trials more than others, but who knows? The Church certainly seems to have no official position on it that I know of.

6. The spirit can enter the mortal body at any time during the nine months of pregnancy. -- Christ spoke to the prophet Nephi in America the night before He was born. Some people try to figure out whether His spirit was in Mary's womb or not. We have questions about all of these kinds of trivial things because we see everything as fixed and finite. All spiritual things, even our individual spirits, are in dimensions we cannot fully understand. So arguing about these mysteries are interesting but not truly relevant. I certainly don't know of any official doctrine of the Church on the subject. Personally, I think that there are some aspects of our spiritual self that is involved at the point of conception, perhaps even before. But whether the full consciousness of the spirit is part there and still part in the presence of God during the nine months is any one's guess. The point is, is the question really relevant to anything critical?

7. A valiant spirit chose to sacrifice his mortal experience and be an alcoholic in order to sit on the street and motivate a person he had bonded to in the pre-mortal existence. -- Again, an interesting thought having to do with how we joined with Jehovah about our taking part on the earth, but why not? Again, the Church has not tried to deal with these mysteries and suggests that we do not argue about them. All Eadie is doing is reporting her experience.

8. The Lord sends angels to those in mortality to prompt them to do what is right. -- I think that the last thing the official position of the Church wants to do is to define limits to the work of ministering angels. Certainly general authorities have taken a number of positions on this, but I don't think the Church has any official doctrines. We do believe those in the spirit world are very busy, and how much they help us is subject to opinion but not doctrine.

9. Prayers are sources of light and differ in intensity. -- Heaven's sakes, do we want to argue against the variable power of prayer. Since Spirit is light, even the light of Christ, certainly there are various magnitude of that power and glory, depending upon our faith and purity of intent.

10. Angels answer our prayers. -- Of course. God uses His family to join Him in His ministry. Is the Church taking a position against that? I don't believe so.

11. The more fervent prayers are answered first.-- Well, I surely hope so. Why not? And of course, the answer the Lord gives might be a "no."

12. All prayers of desire are answered and the Lord answers all prayers perfectly. -- The problem with understanding this concept is to realize that what we pray with our "lips", which is the desires of our conscious mind are often very different from the prayers of our "heart", which might be identified with the inner mind, the subconscious mind, the feeling center. Remember, the proud come close to the Lord with their lips but far from Him with their hearts. As Proverbs states. "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he."(Proverbs 23:7) It may well be that God does answer all the prayers of our hearts, which are often totally opposite to the prayers of the lips. As a hypnotherapisthynotherapist, I have found that many people who do not want to die, consciously, yet have a death prayer in their hearts which is being fulfilled by their terminal disease.

13: Demons (evil spirits) are half man, half beasts. -- Anyone who has read Revelations and observed the incredible things shown to John should be very hesitant to try to become opinionated as to how the spiritual realities can be experienced by finite man. Betty says that is what she experienced. John shared what he experienced. I have had people describe demons that they literally saw in all kind of strange and hideous ways.

Consideration #3

Bruce R. McConkie and Joseph Fielding Smith are quoted as doubting that guardian angels are probably not nearly as abundant as Eadie experienced. However, we do believe that one third of the hosts of heaven are evil angels down here on earth, so what does the Father provide to balance out their power and influence. Is it only the Light of Truth or Spirit of Christ? I don't think any of us know for sure. What the Church seems to want to get across is to not have people praying or worshipping any guardian angels, but, instead, they should direct all of their prayers to the Father in the name of His Son. I think Eadie would totally agree.

Consideration #4

This point has to do with why there are so many churches. Perhaps this point has caused more concern among many LDS than any other. She asked, "Why didn't God give us only one church, one pure religion?" She was told that we should not condemn other churches because they are being used by God to serve people who need that particular way. Could that be true?

According to the Book of Mormon, we find Alma repenting of his urge to convert the whole world with the power of being like an angel. Then he said, "I am a man and do sin in my wish... I know that he granteth unto men according to their desires... For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true." (Alma 29:1-8) Nephi was told by the Lord, "I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth...For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written... And I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it." 2 Nephi 29:7, 11-12)

Joseph Smith, in that same article about Jehovah contemplating the whole of events referred to above, had this to say about God's loving hand dealing with all of his children. "The great designs of God in relation to the salvation of the human family, are very little understood by the professedly wise and intelligent generation in which we live... But while one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard. He views them as His offspring, and WITHOUT ANY OF THOSE CONTRACTED FEELINGS THAT INFLUENCE THE CHILDREN OF MEN... He will judge them, 'not according to what they have not, but according to what they have,' those who have lived without law, will be judged without law, and those who have a law, will be judged by that law... The plans of Jehovah are not... incompatible with common sense...To say that the heathens would be damned because they did not believe the Gospel would be preposterous, and to say that the Jews would all be damned that do not believe in Jesus would be equally absurd. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. (p. 218 & 221)

Consideration #5

His next point is that she says that many spirits remain earth-bound, which seems to be contradicted by Alma who said that at death, all spirits, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, "whether good or bad, are taken home to that God who gave them life." The prophets in the Book of Mormon also testified strongly that those who are wicked at the time of death are judged and condemned to eternally suffering and darkness. Thanks to modern revelation, that concept is greatly amended, for we have a whole different picture of the spirit world. The Lord has added greater understanding about "eternal damnation" (D&C 19), so who is to say that we know it all. To say that Alma understood everything about the spirit world would not be accurate. In fact, there is considerable experiential evidence that spirits of the dead who met violent ends have stayed around for many years. I have investigated many of these reports and have been impressed.

Consideration #6

The next point has to do with Eadie's perception that "in the spirit world they don't see sin as we do here. All experiences can be positive." Well, I certainly hope so. One thing that Jacob made very clear, from his experience, that those who come under the purifying sanctification of Christ shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea even with the robe of righteousness." (2 Nephi 9:14) Now, how in the world will they be able to do that when, like all men, they have sinned and come short of the glory of God? Is it that they will do so because they will become "thankful for ALL things." In turn, he says that those who are not sanctified, will still "have a perfect knowledge of all their guilt and their uncleanness and their nakedness." So these two group have a very different view of those sins of the flesh. The sanctified will see the value of it, the unsanctified will see the tragedy of it.

Consideration #7

The next subject is Eadie's comment that she was corrected in her belief that we had to "nag the Lord". So the bishop quotes two of Christ's parables about the unjust judge and the unwilling neighbor. However, isn't there a difference between nagging the Lord and persistence? And there is something to be said about truly praying in faith, in which we know that the Lord, in contrast to the judge and the neighbor, loves us more than we know and will be gracious to us. Sometimes, when we keep asking over and over, we lack faith that He knows our desires and needs. So instead of continually reminding Him, we might sincerely state our request and then continue in prayer, in confident, loving gratitude that He has heard our prayer and is doing that which is for our good.

Consideration #8

The next point is about Adam and Eve. Betty says she was shown some very positive things about Eve being the ambitious one and Adam being willing to venture until he felt forced to join her in partaking of the poison fruit. We excuse Adam because Eve got him in a double-bind. Undoubtedly, there is much more to the whole fall than we comprehend or understand. However, was Adam really in a double-bind. Why didn't he wait for the Lord to return as promised and ask the Father for further instructions. Instead, he decided not to wait upon the Lord and joined her in her disobedience, then tried to excuse himself by blaming her when confronted by the Lord.

The Lord has said that all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me.(Moses 6:63) So, in addition to the story being an event, it is also representative of many things in our lives. For example, the tree of life represents the pure love of God that He can shed into our hearts. Now, what does the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil represent? So there must be many lessons and points of view in understanding the messages of that story, or why else would it be such a central part of the temple message, where we are told to pray and meditate that we might understand the great truths which were only taught to us in symbols.

Consideration #9

The next point is Betty's experience of hating to come back to mortality. Well, if we want to ignore the thousands of people who have had near death experiences, and I know some of them personally, none that I know wanted to come back to mortality. Yes, those in the spirit world look forward to the glorious experience of receiving a perfect, resurrected body, but not the mortal flesh. Yes, we do wait for that glorious day of the resurrection as though we are awaiting something very wonderful. "Man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fullness of JOY" but not until the resurrection. (D&C 93:33)

Consideration #10

Last, as a contrast to how Eadie is sharing her experience, the example is given of Elder's David B. Haight's sharing of his experience of a profound spiritual experience in a General Conference . The comparison of what an Apostle does and what a lay member of the Church does is a little inappropriate, since an Apostle speaks with the full priesthood authority and with the implied sanction of the Church. But since the Church does not vote on it, it still is held as a personal experience. We have many doctrinal points in the Journal of Discourses, spoken as the revealed word of the Lord, which we now reject as the doctrines of the Church, so we tend to be more cautious these days.

But now, let's deal with the most critical question people are asking: is she telling the truth and can we believe it as the truth about the spirit world? As for myself, I feel very comfortable with her sweet spirit and the beautiful way she shares her testimony. As far as I am concerned, those were her experiences. If I am wrong, I still have the benefit of her beautiful message of the infinite glory and wisdom in the love of Jesus Christ. Now, to say that I believe her does not mean that I think her experiences are the only way God has of revealing the manifestation of His love in the way things are on the other side. I have my own experiences in the Spirit, and I have found that there are many ways God reveals his marvelous ways. Instead of converting each one to rigid, unexpandable, invariable reality, I accept each as a thrilling manifestation of a way to see the hand of the Lord in all things. So it is not a matter of converting it to concrete, proudly held treasures or knowledge, but instead, something to be gratefully received as a interesting manifestation of His loving concern. In other words, I take the information and carry it to my tree of life rather than to my tree of knowledge. After all, as Paul reminded the quarreling Corinthians about being proud of their knowing great doctrines, "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge... and have not charity (the pure love of Christ), I AM NOTHING.(I Corinthians 13:2) He also said that when one receives the gift of charity, knowledge shall pass away. Mormon assured us that all things are set up to fail, since we now know in part, but charity never faileth.

I want to express my appreciation for the love that I felt from her book, Embraced by the Light. It was a blessing to me, not for knowledge, but for her testimony of the Love of God. God's hand really is in ALL THINGS. As far as I am concerned, that would include her inspiring book.

I certainly agree with Bishop Lund that Betty Eadie's incredible and wonderful experiences should not be taken as doctrine. That is where people keep getting into trouble, converting spiritual experiences into fixed knowledge. But we can be greatly blessed when we receive her testimony as a witness within our hearts of God's infinite love for all of His children.