There are a couple phrases that crop up in the scriptures which I find interesting, especially if they are more related than we realize.
This phrase appears mostly in the Book of Mormon and D&C. At first blush, our instinct is to simply take that as an emphatic way of saying "forever," or continuing through time in infinite perpetuity. We don't give it another thought.
What if there's more to it?
The word "forever" is a compounding of two words which were once kept separate: "Fo" and "rever." (Ba dum tss...) If you separate the word back to its two root words, the phrase becomes "for ever and ever," which is how it generally appears in the Bible.
Written this way, the word "ever" appears twice, separately. That would make it a finite term, not infinite. Whatever is being spoken of carries on first for "ever," and then after ever, it carries on for a second round of "ever." So is "ever" actually a finite period with a beginning and end? With transitions from one "ever" to another? What would constitute a period of "ever"?
"FOREVER AND EVER"
This phrase appears mostly in the Book of Mormon and D&C. At first blush, our instinct is to simply take that as an emphatic way of saying "forever," or continuing through time in infinite perpetuity. We don't give it another thought.
What if there's more to it?
The word "forever" is a compounding of two words which were once kept separate: "Fo" and "rever." (Ba dum tss...) If you separate the word back to its two root words, the phrase becomes "for ever and ever," which is how it generally appears in the Bible.
Written this way, the word "ever" appears twice, separately. That would make it a finite term, not infinite. Whatever is being spoken of carries on first for "ever," and then after ever, it carries on for a second round of "ever." So is "ever" actually a finite period with a beginning and end? With transitions from one "ever" to another? What would constitute a period of "ever"?
There are scriptures which further make this point, for example:
"And I said unto them that our father also saw that the justice of God did also divide the wicked from the righteous; and the brightness thereof was like unto the brightness of a flaming fire, which ascendeth up unto God forever and ever, and hath no end." -- 1 Nephi 15:30
That final statement is exactly how we would define the term "forever," which term it just followed. If the phrase "forever and ever" is simply to be understood as having "no end," then the phrase "forever and ever, and hath no end" must be one of the most redundant lines of scripture. Considering this line is found in the Book of Mormon, from etched metal plates with limited space, it seems unlikely that redundancy is going to be occurring much. So perhaps "forever and ever" means something different from "hath no end"?
If we consider the idea that "forever and ever" (for "ever" and "ever") is speaking of finite periods, with transition and progression from period to period, then perhaps that connects with the other phrase of interest...
This concept has several different wordings in scripture, but there is a specific facet I want to explore, and that is when the Lord speaks of one condition found in this world, which will remain the same in the world to come. The most pointed example that comes to mind is when one commits a grave enough offense, they will not be forgiven for that offense in this world, nor in the world to come.
Is He speaking of the spirit world, where we reside until we are resurrected? Is He speaking of something else? Is He speaking of once the earth has passed away, and there is a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1; D&C 29:23)? Interestingly, in the Book of Mormon the new heaven and earth is described as being "like unto the old save the old have passed away, and all things have become new." (Ether 13:9) If "the world to come" is this new earth which will replace the current one, once it passes away, then we have some interesting perspective given to what is coming. It seems to fit some of what is taught in both the endowment, as well as in D&C 76, and perhaps the scriptures concerning the war in heaven and Armageddon.
Secondly, to use the same terminology for both this "world" the coming one creates a sense of patterned sequence, which naturally leads me to ask "if not in this world, or in the world to come, what about the one after that?" This opens up whole avenues for interesting thought, but such things would be too speculative for me to dive into here.
Whether or not these ideas are all connected, or even understood correctly on their own, I find them interesting.
If we consider the idea that "forever and ever" (for "ever" and "ever") is speaking of finite periods, with transition and progression from period to period, then perhaps that connects with the other phrase of interest...
"IN THIS WORLD OR THE WORLD TO COME"
This concept has several different wordings in scripture, but there is a specific facet I want to explore, and that is when the Lord speaks of one condition found in this world, which will remain the same in the world to come. The most pointed example that comes to mind is when one commits a grave enough offense, they will not be forgiven for that offense in this world, nor in the world to come.
"And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." -- Matthew 12:32
"They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born; For they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity; Concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come—" -- D&C 76:32-34
"But whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come." -- D&C 84:41A couple things interest me about this phrasing. One, the Lord never makes any effort to give "the world to come" a different context than "this world," and in fact the condition being spoken of in both worlds remains identical. It begs the question "How different is 'the world to come' from the current world?"
Is He speaking of the spirit world, where we reside until we are resurrected? Is He speaking of something else? Is He speaking of once the earth has passed away, and there is a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1; D&C 29:23)? Interestingly, in the Book of Mormon the new heaven and earth is described as being "like unto the old save the old have passed away, and all things have become new." (Ether 13:9) If "the world to come" is this new earth which will replace the current one, once it passes away, then we have some interesting perspective given to what is coming. It seems to fit some of what is taught in both the endowment, as well as in D&C 76, and perhaps the scriptures concerning the war in heaven and Armageddon.
Secondly, to use the same terminology for both this "world" the coming one creates a sense of patterned sequence, which naturally leads me to ask "if not in this world, or in the world to come, what about the one after that?" This opens up whole avenues for interesting thought, but such things would be too speculative for me to dive into here.
Whether or not these ideas are all connected, or even understood correctly on their own, I find them interesting.
