Saturday, October 5, 2013

What Happens After We Die?

Death is the final step to this life, but is death really the end? Do we go anywhere else, or do we just rot in the ground? I hope like always that I can help shed some light on the shadows of life after death. I hope that you can feel the spirit testify of the truth.

If we continue the analogy made in previous posts then you may notice we have done 2 Acts of the play in which we are in. Pre-earth life is Act 1. This was when we lived with God in heaven and He taught us His plan for us. We learned about life on earth and what that entailed. Act 2 is where we are now, life on earth. We are here to prepare to meet God! We are tested to prove what we can do and to improve ourselves!

Now let us discuss Act 3. Life after death and what happens after we leave our earthly life.
To start off, what is death? Death is the separation of the spirit and the body. The body dies when the spirit leaves. But where does the spirit go when we die? We return to God (Eccl 12:7).

When we die, we go to what is called the "Spirit World". The Spirit World is divided into 2 parts, Spirit Paradise, and Spirit Prison. Many Christians in the world today may recognize these as Heaven and Hell. The Prophet Alma explains these two places to his son Corianton.  He explains that Heaven is a place that the righteous go and its where they can be happy and can be free from care and sorrow (Alma 40:12). He also explains that Hell is the place where the wicked and unrepentant will go and suffer for their sins. They shall be in a state of fear and sorrow (Alma 40:13-14). These are the places that we go after death but that is not the last place we go! There is more to it! Alma states that those are places that we go between death and the resurrection (Alma 40:11)!

The time will come when we are all resurrected! What does it mean to be resurrected? It means that your spirit returns to the body and they become perfect (Alma 40:23). Remember that the difference between resurrection and the story of Lazarus. Lazarus was brought back to mortal life. Where as true resurrection is you become perfect. But why are we able to be resurrected? When Jesus Christ broke the bands of death, he was resurrected and therefore led the way for us to become perfect like our Father is perfect!

Soon after, the day of judgment will come. We will stand before Christ and be judged according to that which we did, how well we followed God's commandments, and by the person we have become. When we think of judgment, we usually think of Christ standing behind a desk pointing His finger at you and condemning you to a endless hell! But this isn't necessarily true! Heavenly Father has more for us than heaven and hell. We will be sent to one of three different Kingdoms of Glory.

"41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:"
(1 Cor 15:41-42)

 There is the Glory of the Sun, the brightest and the highest kingdom, which is where God lives. The Glory of the Moon, the second brightest. And then the Glory of the Stars, the third brightest and lowest kingdom. Each Kingdom is different than the rest and each is tailored to how we act and what our commitment to Christ and God was. Remember tho that each is a Glory! Each is filled with happiness.

One question I asked myself was if there are people who never have the opportunity to even hear about Christ, what will happen to them? Where will they go?

I found an answer to my question in 1 Peter 4:6.

"For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

So if there is a man in the Amazon and he never hears the name Jesus Christ, or even learns about God, he will be taught the gospel when he dies so that he can equal to those who have heard. He will have the opportunity to accept Christ as his savior and be judged as men on earth.

When this message is explained to some people they answer "I will just live my life the way I want until I go to the spirit world, then I will repent."

A warning is given to them in the scriptures.
"32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.

34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for 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 34:32-34)

Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance! You will be judged according to that which you know and the things you are given. If you know something is wrong, repent. If you arn't sure if its wrong, as God.

I hope that this will help answer any questions about God's plan for us. I hope if you have questions that you will ask me, or you can go to Mormon.org and request Jesus Christ representatives to come and visit and tell you more. As always do not take my word for any of this, pray and ask God if it is true and you will know!

I leave this message with you in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior,
Amen

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