What Do Latter-day Saints Believe Happens After Death? Paradise, Spirit Prison, Resurrection and Judgment

The short versionDeath is a doorway, not the end

The Church’s Topics and Questions entry explains: “The postmortal spirit world is a place where the spirits of those who have died dwell before the Resurrection. The spirit world consists of paradise, where the righteous dwell, and spirit prison, where those who did not know the gospel or who were wicked in mortality dwell” (Spirit World). After that comes the Resurrection, the Final Judgment, and a kingdom of glory.

The Bible puts it simply: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). You keep your personality, your memories and your relationships: “that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory” (D&C 130:2).

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ParadiseRest for the righteous

Alma learned from an angel: “the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow” (Alma 40:11–12).

Jesus promised the thief on the cross, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Yet three days later He told Mary, “I am not yet ascended to my Father” (John 20:17). Paradise isn’t the final heaven. It’s a place of waiting and rest before the Resurrection. The Church adds that the righteous there “are still occupied in doing the work of the Lord,” and that “those who were faithful and kept their covenants in mortality will be able to be with their families there.”

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Spirit prisonNot the end of hope

Those who died without the gospel, or without repenting, go to what Peter called prison. Christ “went and preached unto the spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:19), “for for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead” (1 Peter 4:6).

In 1918 President Joseph F. Smith saw this happen. Christ visited the righteous dead, “and there he preached to them the everlasting gospel” (D&C 138:15–19). Then “he organized his forces and appointed messengers … and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead” (D&C 138:30). Faithful members who die “continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel” there (D&C 138:57). Enoch saw that “as many of the spirits as were in prison came forth, and stood on the right hand of God” (Moses 7:57).

This is why Latter-day Saints do baptisms for the dead: “If they accept the gospel and the ordinances performed for them in temples, they may leave spirit prison and dwell in paradise” (Spirit World). See Baptism for the Dead: 1 Corinthians 15:29 and Do Latter-day Saints Believe in Hell?.

That doesn’t make this life unimportant. Amulek warned, “that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world” (Alma 34:34). Who we become here comes with us.

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Resurrection and judgmentBody and spirit, reunited forever

Everyone will be resurrected through Jesus Christ. “The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost” (Alma 40:23). Jacob exclaimed, “O how great the plan of our God! … the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal” (2 Nephi 9:13). D&C 138 says the spirit and body are “united never again to be divided, that they might receive a fulness of joy” (D&C 138:17).

Jesus said, “all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28–29). Then we will “stand before God, and be judged according to [our] works” (Alma 40:21), and receive a glory: celestial, terrestrial or telestial (D&C 88:28–32). See The Three Degrees of Glory.

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Check the premiseThe presuppositions baked into the question

Before this question can be answered fairly, the person asking has to justify a few assumptions packed inside it:

1. That death ends a person’s chance to hear the gospel. Christ preached to the dead (1 Peter 3:19; 4:6), and the gospel is still taught in the spirit world (D&C 138:30, 57).
2. That people go straight to their final heaven or hell at death. There is “a space between death and the resurrection” (Alma 40:21). Jesus went to paradise but had “not yet ascended to my Father” (Luke 23:43; John 20:17).
3. That the resurrection is only symbolic. “Even a hair of the head shall not be lost” (Alma 40:23), and Christ rose with a body of flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).
4. That a second chance means this life doesn’t matter. “That same spirit” we have at death goes with us (Alma 34:34), and the unrepentant suffer (D&C 19:16–18).

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FAQQuick answers

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Sources

• King James Bible (churchofjesuschrist.org): Ecclesiastes 12:7 · Luke 23:43 · John 5:28–29 · John 20:17 · 1 Peter 3:19 · 1 Peter 4:6
• Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 9:13 · Alma 34:34 · Alma 40:11–12 · Alma 40:21 · Alma 40:23
• Doctrine and Covenants: D&C 88:28–32 · D&C 130:2 · D&C 138:15–19 · D&C 138:30 · D&C 138:57
• Pearl of Great Price: Moses 7:57
• “Spirit World,” Topics and Questions, churchofjesuschrist.org

• Featured image and in-article graphic: original graphics by thebookofmormon.ai (painterly backgrounds; no photographs or likenesses of real people).