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Where Do We Go When We Die ?

When we die, do we go either to a place of happiness and rest and await our ressurection or to a place of unhappiness because we have not lived righteously enough? The Book of Mormon seems to indicate that only these two black-and-white options exist.

Or,is the reality more nuanced than that ? For example, is our level of happiness or unhappiness the same as the level we were at when we died ? What is the true answer to this question, and what evidence do you cite to demonstrate your point ?

Die When We Where

The subject of your thread is different to what I think you are aiming at, but I will entertain it for now and maybe others will continue. Firstly I would like to call upon Alma 41 which covers the Gospel of Restoration, it is long, but careful reading will answer most, if not all the questions you asked. I believe the Book of Mormon makes these kinds of questions very clear:

Alma 41:2
I say unto thee, my son, that the plan of restoration is requisite with the justice of God; for it is requisite that all things should be restored to their proper order. Behold, it is requisite and just, according to the power and resurrection of Christ, that the soul of man should be restored to its body, and that every part of the body should be restored to itself.

First of all we understand that restoration in itself is going to happen... and not haphazardly, but with order!

Alma 41:3
And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and [b]if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.

From this we understand that with the same 'good' that we do here (and also feel, so in other words, the true intents of our heart) it will be restored to us again.

Alma 41:4
And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil. Therefore, 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, the one on one hand, the other on the other-

Alma 41:5
5 The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.

The two verses above for me, go along with what the Lord said about His Father's House...

John 14:2
2. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

I believe the same amount of desire and good that we do here will be given to us in the form of blessings equal to what we did, our desire, and last but not least - the Grace of God. Now what a blessing is and how it is to be measured is not known, but we are assured by the Lord that it will make us happy. As to where we 'go' if you are talking about a physical aspect then I will say we in fact do not really 'go' anywhere, but we are instead parting from our flesh body to remain in a spirit realm until the Lord comes again. We understand that there is an immediate recognition of how it will be for us in the Spirit World based on the use of our agency here, but that is another topic.

Where Do We Go When We Die ? Studies Doctrine Mormon

I think you are asking about the "spirit world" between the time of death and the Judgement. Is this right?

I understand what JB has written as referring more to the Resurrection and Judgement. Perhaps I am seeing it wrong.

I have read quite a lot about this subject, including some excellent books, both LDS and non, on near death experiences and spirit world manifestations. The sense that I get is that in the spirit world, we will be the same people as we now are, but will prefer the company of people just like us even more than we do now.

It appears that this includes such things as violence, intellectualism, and lust, as well as spirituality.

So, if someone has a violent temper, he may end up with similar people, just because he can't stand those "self-righteous" Christians. Although he was a Christian, he can't hide his true nature any more.

Another person is an intellectual, who has chosen agnosticism. She finds herself among a company of similar people. Now that they have the amassed wisdom and knowledge of centuries of similar intellectuals among them, they study things, ever growing in knowledge, but avoiding the basic truths of the universe. They aren't miserable, but they certainly aren't happy.

Then there is a person who was interested in spiritual things. She lived a good life, tried to live her religion, and generally sought after God. Not strenuously, but rather consistently. After her death, she finds herself among other with similar interests. She begins to hear about real, eternal truths. As she embraces them, she begins to experience a measure of real joy. She hears about some missionaries, so goes to listen to their message. She embraces it whole-heartedly. Eventually, someone performs her temple ordinances for her. She is able to attend the temple at the same time. Her joy becomes full, as she is now able to progress even further.

So, yes, I think that there are nuances. Not everyone is at the same place (spiritually) while alive, so why would they be after death?

BTW, here is a website with a lot of Christian NDEs recorded. There are also NDEs from other religions, but I haven't read any of them yet. I have a couple of books about Mormon NDEs, as well.