Life after Death
The spirit world is a place of waiting, working, learning, and for the righteous
, resting from care and sorrow.
Many of us people have wondered what the spirit world is like.
Discussion
In a funeral sermon, Joseph Smith declared Latter-day prophets
have said that the spirits of
righteous people those
who have died "are not far from us,
and know and
understand our thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and are often pained
therewith" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 326
in Conference Report, Apr. 1971, 18; or Ensign, June 1971, 33).
Other latter-day prophets have made similar statements. President Ezra
Taft Benson said: "Sometimes the veil between this life and the
life beyond becomes very thin. Our loved ones who have passed on are not
far from us" (in Conference Report, Apr. 1971, p. 18; or Ensign,
June 1971, p. 33). President Brigham Young taught that the postmortal
world is on the earth, around us (see Teachings of Presidents of the
Church: Brigham Young [1997], 279) said: "Where is the
spirit world? It is right here" (Discourses of Brigham Young,
p. 376).
Discussion
Spirit beings have the same bodily form as mortals except that the
spirit body is in perfect form (see Ether 3:16). Spirits carry with them
from earth their attitudes of devotion or antagonism toward things of
righteousness (see Alma 34:34). They have the same appetites and desires
that they had when they lived on earth. All spirits are in adult form.
They were adults before their mortal existence, and they are in adult
form after death, even if they die as infants or children (see Joseph F.
Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 455 Teachings of Presidents of
the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 131-32).
Discussion
Divisions in the Spirit World
What Are the Conditions in the
Postmortal Spirit World?
The spirits are classified according to the purity of their lives and
their obedience to the will of the Lord while on earth. The righteous
and the wicked are separated (see 1 Nephi 15:28-30), but the spirits may
progress from one level to another as they learn gospel principles and
live in accordance with them (see Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine,
p. 762). The spirits in paradise can teach the spirits in prison (see
D&C 138).
Discussion
Paradise
The Church is organized in the spirit world, with each prophet standing
at the head of his own generation (see Joseph Smith, History of the
Church, 4:209) and. Ppriesthood holders continue their responsibilities
in the spirit world (see D&C 138:30). President Wilford Woodruff taught: "The same
Priesthood exists on the other side of the veil. . . .
Every Apostle, every Seventy, every Elder, etc., who has died in the
faith as soon as he passes to the other side of the veil, enters into
the work of the ministry" (in Journal of
Discourses,
22:333-34 Deseret News, Jan. 25, 1882, 818).
Family relationships are also important. President Jedediah M. Grant, a
counselor to Brigham Young, saw the spirit world and described to Heber
C. Kimball the organization that exists there: "He said that the
people he there saw were organized in family capacities. . . .
He said, 'When I looked at families, there was a deficiency in some, . . .
for I saw families that would not be permitted to come and dwell
together, because they had not honored their calling here' " (Heber
C. Kimball, in Journal of
Discourses, 4:135-36 Deseret
News, Dec. 10, 1856, 316-17).
Discussion
Spirit Prison
The Apostle Peter referred to the spirit world as a prison,
which it is for some (see 1 Peter 3:18-20). In the spirit prison are the
spirits of those who have not yet received the gospel of Jesus Christ.
These spirits have agency and may be enticed by both good and evil. If
they accept the gospel and the ordinances performed for them in the
temples, they may prepare themselves to leave the spirit prison and
dwell in paradise.
Also in the spirit prison are those who rejected the gospel after it was
preached to them on earth or in the spirit prison. These spirits suffer
in a condition known as hell. They have removed themselves from the
mercy of Jesus Christ, who said, "Behold, I, God, have suffered
these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
but if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; which suffering
caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of
pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and
spirit" (D&C 19:16-18). After suffering
in full for their sins,
they will be allowed, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, to inherit the lowest degree of glory, which is the
telestial kingdom.
The hell in the spirit world will not continue forever. Even the spirits
who have committed the greatest sins will have suffered sufficiently by
the end of the Millennium (see Acts 2:25-27). They will then be
resurrected.
Discussion