Spirit Prison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Spirit Prison is believed by few Christians and, most notably, Mormons to be a place where people who have not had the opportunity to learn and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ while living will be able to receive it in the afterlife, after death and before Judgment.
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[edit] Latter-Day Saints
Latter-Day Saints believe that Spirit Prison is a holding area for those who did not receive knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ while on earth, and others that were not valiant in their testimonies.
Those in spirit prison have the opportunity to learn the gospel of Jesus Christ, repent of their sins, and receive the ordinances of baptism and confirmation (by proxy) through the work done in modern day LDS temples. When they do, they may enter paradise, where those who have accepted Jesus Christ wait for Judgment. (Doctrine & Covenants 138:30–35).
[edit] Other religious traditions
The concept that the dead await judgment either in blessed rest or in suffering was the common 1st-century Jewish belief (see Lazarus and Dives and bosom of Abraham). A similar concept is taught in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was championed by John Calvin (who vigorously oppoed Luther's doctrine of soul sleep), and is reflected in early church writing. It appears in Islam as barzakh, and it appears in 9th-century Zoroastrian writing (presumably after centuries of Muslim influence).
In Western Christianity, the more common doctrine is that the unfaithful go straight to hell after death with no opportunity to repent.
