Death and Dying

Death and Dying

by L. Kay Gillespie

At death, the spirit and body separate and "the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life" (Alma 40:11; cf. Eccl. 12:7). Alma 2 describes how the spirits of the "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 40:12; see Paradise; Spirit World). In contrast, the wicked, who "chose evil works rather than good," suffer fear of the wrath of God (Alma 40:13; see Spirit Prison). Both those who reside in paradise and those in the spirit prison await the resurrection and the judgment of God (see Judgment Day, Final).

RESURRECTION FROM DEATH. Through the Atonement of Christ, all mortals will be resurrected irrespective of personal righteousness. Their spirits will have their physical bodies restored to them, and thus there will be a permanent unity of the spirit with an immortal, incorruptible body (John 5:28-29; Alma 11:42-45). Except for the resurrection of Christ, "this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more," and the spirits of men would have become devils, subject to Satan for eternity (2 Ne. 9:7-9).

NATURE OF DEATH. The scriptures teach that death does not change one's personality (Alma 34:34). Individual identities are eternal (D&C 18:10; 93:29). Thus all those who have been obedient to God's commandments in any time of the world can look forward to reunions with loved ones and associations with ancestors and descendants. Latter-day Saints believe that death need not terminate personal awareness or interpersonal relationships. For the righteous, family ties can continue beyond death because of sealings in the temple. Thus, family members who have received the gospel in mortality conduct family history research and perform necessary vicarious ordinances in the temple for deceased family members (see Temple Ordinances). Many Latter-day Saints feel a closeness to ancestors from generations past because they have studied their lives, and some have served as proxies for them in temple ordinances (see Moses 6:45-46). Grieving parents know that children who die before reaching the age of accountability, and others such as the mentally disabled, receive eternal love and salvation through the grace of Christ and are restored to a completeness to continue in familial relationships (Moro. 8:17, 22; D&C 137:10).

Nevertheless,