Verse: ‘Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body’, (Alma 11:44).
I think one of the most important questions adherents of almost any religious tradition can ask themselves is the age-old question of what happens next. What happens to my body? My soul? Do I go anywhere after death? Do I still know what is going on? For me this question isn’t one necessarily rooted in fear, but more curiosity of the unknown, and due to my religious faith and understanding I find it helpful to turn to the Book of Mormon for answers. Within the Book of Mormon there are several passages which go into varying levels of detail as to what happens and where one goes after death.
First of all, we know that the soul, the unique thing that makes us who we are, leaves the body after the death process and the soul is taken back to God (Alma 40:11). This is then followed by an intermediate state of being, it is not a permanent or final place of rest, but one in which we stay until the eventual Last Judgement (Alma 40:14). This intermediate state is one in which the righteous spirits reside in a state of constant happiness, which is referred to as paradise. It is a peaceful state of rest without trouble or sorrow (Alma 40:12). However, for some, those who committed deliberate acts of sin and wrongful deeds, their state of rest is known as outer darkness. The Book of Mormon describes it as a state of ‘weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth’ due to the sinner’s own iniquity (Alma 40:13).
It is important to remember that this is not a permanent state of existence and at some point in the future there will be the Last Judgement in which those who are in this temporal death will be raised from death (Alma 11:42). At this moment ‘death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies’ before the bodies and spirits of all are restored together (2 Nephi 9:12). Those in paradise must also come for judgement and so ‘the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous’ also (2 Nephi 9:13). In the physical resurrection all parts of the body are restored and the spirit is reunited to it. The knowledge of good and even will be in us all so we come before God knowing and recalling our guilt. We shall then all be judged for our deeds before God.
This may bring fear to those who sin, but those who live well can hope and look forward to the day we shall all be brought forth again, to exist with our loved ones and with God.