9 And this is the account of the wars and contentions among the Nephites, and also the wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites; and the fifteenth year of the reign of the judges is ended.
10 And from the first year to the fifteenth has brought to pass the destruction of many thousand lives; yea, it has brought to pass an awful scene of bloodshed. 11 And the bodies of many thousands are laid low in the earth, while the bodies of many thousands are moldering in heaps upon the face of the earth; yea, and many thousands are mourning for the loss of their kindred, because they have reason to fear, according to the promises of the Lord, that they are consigned to a state of endless wo.
I suppose, and it seems to be implied, that the worst part of all of this pain and suffering is that many people lost their privilege of being on this earth in mortality, and were sent to the next life unprepared to meet their God. And so, this life truly is the time to prepare to meet God! As the scripture says:
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.
And this once again brings up the subject i have long struggled to understand, and that is, what happens to us when we die? Are we literally taken home to that God who gave us life? Why do the scriptures say that these Lamanites were sent to the spirit world unprepared to meet their God if we do not actually meet him? And if we have the opportunity to repent before the judgement day?
23 Now, they were sorry to take up arms against the Lamanites, because they did not delight in the shedding of blood; yea, and this was not all—they were sorry to be the means of sending so many of their brethren out of this world into an eternal world, unprepared to meet their God.
And:
11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.
Why this is unclear to me is for two reasons. First, I’ve heard general authorities speak to this, who have said this is not literal. Which makes sense because how could that be? How could we meet the Savior immediately upon death? Wouldn’t that frustrate the Plan of Salvation? We still need to live by faith in the spirit world. That is also a part of the test of this life, as is everything until the last day, the judgment day. That’s when it’s all over as far is the test.
And yet, soon after my father died a few months after I returned from my mission, I saw with an eye of faith two things. I saw him smiling. Smiling! My dad hardly ever smiled. And at this time in my life and my Dad’s life I was worried about his state of being upon his passing, and assumed it would not be a peaceful one because of the life he had lived. But he was smiling! This was very surprising to me! And brought me great comfort and I was happy for him.
The other thing that opened up to my mind was, well, I can only call it a waking vision, similar to seeing my Dad’s smiling face, but instead of a snapshot, as it were, I saw a scene pan out.
It was my father as he transitioned from this life to the next in the spirit world after his passing. I saw him meet the Savior. I saw him weeping and falling to his knees, and reaching out, weeping, his countenance showing the most longing look I’ve ever seen on a face in my life. He wanted to embrace the Savior with all of his heart and being!
But the Savior, with a look of compassion on his face, put his arm out, and out his hand gently on my Dad’s shoulder, to prevent him from coming to him for the embrace. Apparently, he was not prepared or worthy for that yet.
So, it’s left to me to reconcile what this one apostle has said, and what I have seen, and what the scriptures state— rather plainly. For the word “immediately” upon death is used.
So this is what I am left to conclude: The scripture appears to be literal. And the way it does not interfere with the plan and agency is that it appears there is a space between death and the spirit world where the deceased has the veil of forgetfulness removed for a brief time, wherein they meet the Savior. Why would they have to meet that God who gave them life immediately after death? I do not know. Perhaps as a preliminary judgement. That seems to make sense. For who can better judge whether a spirit goes to prison or paradise in the next world, but the Perfect Judge? For he is the only one who knows the heart.
Then, it seems, the memory of that meeting or preliminary judgment is erased and the veil of forgetfulness is restored when we are consigned to one of two places in the spirit world.
Of course that brings up another question! Which is whether or not Spirit Prison and Spirit paradise are literally two separate and distinct places in the world of spirits! Id my thoughts are accurate, it seems they are two separate places.
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