Mormon Beliefs on the Afterlife: Understanding the Three Degrees of Glory

LDS Perspective

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that human existence unfolds through distinct phases in an eternal plan of progression designed by Heavenly Father. Before birth, all individuals lived as spirit children of God in a premortal existence. Upon coming to earth, we receive physical bodies and are tested through mortal experience to prove whether we will obey God’s commandments. Following death, spirits enter the spirit world—a temporary state of learning and preparation—before the universal resurrection, when spirit and body are permanently reunited in immortal, perfected form. This leads to the Final Judgment, where individuals are assigned to one of three kingdoms of glory based on their faithfulness, acceptance of Jesus Christ, and adherence to gospel principles. The

Historical Perspective

Mormon theology regarding the afterlife centers on the doctrine of three degrees of glory, formally articulated in February 1832 when Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon received what became Doctrine and Covenants Section 76. According to historian John Turner, this revelation emerged while the two men were engaged in Smith's "translation" (revision) of the New Testament, specifically while contemplating John 5:29 regarding the resurrection of damnation versus resurrection of life. Unlike traditional Christian binary models of heaven and hell, the vision revealed a stratified afterlife where nearly all humanity receives some degree of salvation, with only a small category of individuals—termed "sons of perdition"—cast into outer darkness for denying the truth after receiving a full testimony.