What Happens When I die?

Life After Death?

Happy Halloween! Ok yes it's November now, but that's what happens when tornadoes hit. The Mayor claims November 1st to be Halloween instead! Yay for safety! So in honor of Halloween, I decided to pick a topic about ghosts! Sort of... well mostly about death. But the happy side of it!

"Picture your hand inside a glove. The glove moves only when your hand does. Take your hand out and the glove sits lifeless on the table. This is an easy way to visualize what happens when you die. Imagine your body is the glove being operated by who you really are—your spirit. When you die your body gets left behind, lifeless like a glove, but your spirit lives forever." And there you have the glove analogy my dear readers. This is the most comforting thing in the world to me. Life does not end after we die! In fact, death is just the beginning. So what does a spirit look like? "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."

Where does the spirit go when you die? Well it goes to the spirit world. In the spirit world, there is a place for the faithful followers of Christ, and there is a place for those that did not follow Him. Alma, a prophet in the Book of Mormon, explains the spirit world to us.

“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.

“And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house—and these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity, being led captive by the will of the devil.

“Now this is the state of the souls of the wicked, yea, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection” (Alma 40:12–14).

 

Can you imagine living in Paradise? This isn't even Heaven yet and it sounds wonderful. I want to do all I can to be able to get there and rest from all my trials. "But Sister V.! You said that isn't Heaven yet! When do I get to go there?" Well why didn't you ask sooner? I would love to tell you!

 

While we are in the spirit world, we will be learning about the gospel. We will still have the choice to accept or reject it at this point. We will have the same desires, addictions, personalities, doubts, beliefs, etc. that we did on Earth. For those that do accept the truth, the gospel, and didn't have an opportunity to be baptized or go to the temple during their life, they will have the chance to have their work done for them by someone acting in place of them that is alive still. This is why we do work for the dead.

 

Then comes resurrection. This is a gift that is given to everyone, no matter what choices you made on earth. Isn't that wonderful? Our bodies are restored to their perfect state. That is something that most people would give a lot for. The deaf will hear, the blind will see, and limbs will be restored. Once we are resurrected, we go to judgement. Here our Heavenly Father judges us for everything that we did on Earth and in the spirit world. We give an accounting of our lives basically. This is where I hope I can stand in front of God and tell Him I tried my best.

After we have been judged, we will be sent to one of three kingdoms.
"There are three kingdoms of glory: the celestial kingdom, the terrestrial kingdom, and the telestial kingdom. The glory we inherit will depend on the depth of our conversion, expressed by our obedience to the Lord's commandments. It will depend on the manner in which we have “received the testimony of Jesus” (D&C 76:51; see also D&C 76:74, 79, 101)."

The celestial kingdom (the top kingdom) is where we can be with our family and God forever. It's where happiness is eternal and sorrow is go! I imagine there's a never ending supply of waffles and Harry Potter books there. THAT is where I want to be.

I know that was a lot of information in a short time, so I encourage you to go and research it yourself! Tell me what you think! Ask missionaries in your area if you have any questions. I know that God's Plan of Salvation is true, and I am so grateful that there is a     plan for us. And that we can look forward to living with Him and our families for eternity.

http://mormon.org/beliefs/plan-of-salvation