The in-class worksheet assignment was a perfect opportunity for everyone to begin talking. And as you can imagine, not everyone was talking about the class assignment.

Harry overheard one classmate say, "How can you believe that God has a physical body when the Bible says that 'God is a spirit!'"  (John 4:24)

Another classmate replied, "How can you believe He's a spirit when the Bible says Jesus was resurrected!" 
(see John 20 & Luke 24)

After some arguing about who was right and who was wrong, it was obvious emotions were beginning to rise. These two were always debating something. One would take one point of view and the other would take another. Usually Harry tried not to listen - he didn't like arguing - but this subject did interest him.

Tommy was apparently listening too, because suddenly he volunteered Harry to answer the question. "Harry reads the Bible. He’ll know," said Tommy.

Harry hesitated to answer. But with the added reassurance the teacher wasn't noticing their group he finally said in a quiet voice, "I believe God has a physical body."

"How can you believe that when the scriptures say 'God is a spirit'?" repeated his classmate.

Harry asked, "Do you believe Jesus was resurrected?"

"Yes," said his friend.

Harry paused, looked at Tommy, and then turned to look at his friend.  "I do too. So, if Jesus is only a spirit today, what did He do with His physical body after He was resurrected?" Harry asked.

"What do you mean?" asked his friend.

"After Jesus was resurrected, after Thomas (John 20:24-29) felt the wounds in His hands, and after He ate fish (Luke 24:42-43) with His disciples, what did Jesus do with His physical body?" questioned Harry.

"I don't know," said his friend. "I'll ask my father. He will know. He knows the scriptures really well."

Harry then said, "I believe Jesus has a spirit in His resurrected body just as we have a spirit inside our physical body and one day, after we die, we will be resurrected too." (Job 19:25-27)  Everyone went silent as they thought about what Harry said.

Silence seemed to warn their teacher that something was up. "Have you completed your worksheet assignment?" she asked sternly. "I'll only give you five more minutes."

The Doubting Thomas

Painted by
Carl Heinrich Bloch

Joseph Smith's First Vision

Learning Activities