Book of Mormon Insights

What Happens after We Die?

Illustration by Annie Henrie Nader

1. Spirit world:

“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” (Alma 40:12).

2. Resurrection:

“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; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame” (Alma 40:23).

3. Judgment:

“When all men [and women] shall have passed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the judgment-seat of the Holy One of Israel” (2 Nephi 9:15).

4. Degree of glory:

“All things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame—mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption—raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil” (Alma 41:4).

“The purpose of this Final Judgment is to determine whether we have achieved what Alma described as a ‘mighty change of heart’ (see Alma 5:14, 26), where we have become new creatures, with ‘no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually’ (Mosiah 5:2). The judge of this is our Savior, Jesus Christ (see 2 Nephi 9:41). After His judgment we will all confess ‘that his judgments are just’ (Mosiah 16:1), because His omniscience has given Him a perfect knowledge of all of our acts and desires.”

President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, “Cleansed by Repentance,” Liahona, May 2019, 93.