Translation (LDS Church)
Encyclopedia
In the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), translation refers to being physically changed by God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

 from a mortal human being to an immortal human being. A person that has been translated is referred to as a translated being. According to LDS theology, Enoch
Enoch (ancestor of Noah)
Enoch is a figure in the Generations of Adam. Enoch is described as Adam's greatx4 grandson , the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah...

, Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

, John the Apostle
John the Apostle
John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...

, the Three Nephites
Three Nephites
In Mormonism the Three Nephites are three Nephite disciples of Jesus described in the Book of Mormon who were blessed by Jesus to "never taste of death; but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will...

, and others were translated.

A translated being is akin to a resurrected
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...

 person with the exception that a translated being has never died and a translated being has a body with less power than a resurrected being. Ordinary human beings are said to have a telestial body. People who are translated are said to have a terrestrial body. People who are resurrected are said to have a celestial body.

State of a terrestrial body

Those who are translated beings are said to be "changed so that they do not experience pain or death until their resurrection to immortality." Both translated and resurrected beings are eternally young and fit, not subject to illness or injury and spend their existences as ministering angels doing things that require physical bodies to perform; for example, where a disembodied spirit can record events as a witness and offer comfort or advice, a physical body is required to perform ordinances such as laying on of hands
Laying on of hands
The laying on of hands is a religious ritual that accompanies certain religious practices, which are found throughout the world in varying forms....

. Translated beings with terrestrial bodies can appear or disappear the way the resurrected Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

 did in the 24th chapter of Luke. However, Mormons believe, those who have resurrected celestial bodies have more power than those with terrestrial bodies. A person who has been translated still has to be resurrected after the Second Coming of Christ
Second Coming (LDS Church)
Like many other Christian adherents, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that there will be a Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth sometime in the future...

 so they can attain a celestial body.

LDS beliefs regarding people who have been translated

Latter-day Saints believe that a select number of individuals have been translated. Some of these individuals have been admitted into heaven to await their formal resurrection, while others have been permitted to remain upon the earth until that time. The following are a list of persons that Latter-day Saints believe were translated; the individuals in bold script are the ones that have presumably been admitted into heaven as a translated being:
  • Enoch
    Enoch (ancestor of Noah)
    Enoch is a figure in the Generations of Adam. Enoch is described as Adam's greatx4 grandson , the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah...

  • People of Enoch's City of Zion
  • Moses
    Moses
    Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

  • Elijah
  • John the Apostle
    John the Apostle
    John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...

  • Three Unnamed Nephites
    Three Nephites
    In Mormonism the Three Nephites are three Nephite disciples of Jesus described in the Book of Mormon who were blessed by Jesus to "never taste of death; but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will...

  • Alma, son of Alma


Many Latter-day Saints believe that there are also other persons who have been translated, some of whom may also have been taken to heaven; there is some LDS scriptural support for this belief.

Translation in other Christian groups

Similar beliefs about "translation" were also held by other religious groups and sects at various times and places, such as the Buchanites
Buchanites
The Buchanites or Presbytry Relief were late 18th century followers of Elspeth Buchan, a Scottish woman who claimed to be one of the figures named in the Book of Revelation....

 in 18th century Scotland.

Annalee Skarin

Annalee Skarin
Annalee Skarin
Annalee Skarin , the granddaughter of "Wild Bill" Hickman, was a popular New Age/Metaphysical author, originally raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

 was a woman who had been raised in the LDS Church who claimed to have invented a meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

 technique by which anyone could translate themselves directly into Heaven. She also claimed in her book to be able to see directly into the Spirit World with what is called in Mormonism the spiritual eye
Third eye
The third eye is a mystical and esoteric concept referring in part to the ajna chakra in certain spiritual traditions. It is also spoken of as the gate that leads within to inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness...

. She wrote a book about it called Ye Are Gods. Originally a devout Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

, she was excommunicated from the LDS Church shortly after publication of her first book, Ye Are Gods, because it was perceived by high-ranking members of the church that the book's contents seriously blasphemed against Mormon belief. Many proponents of New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...

 thought that Annalee Skarin, along with her husband Reason Skarin, did indeed achieve physical immortality (been translated) after her clothes were found in her room in 1952 and she totally disappeared, and he disappeared soon after. However, it was later shown that she had faked her "translation" and gone into hiding with her husband in order to increase sales of her books. She hid out, living away from the Mormon Belt by going to southern Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 and later living in the far north of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It was later proven that she physically died of natural causes.
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