ABSTRACT
To understand the significance of the afterlife in Latter-Day Saint practice requires one to understand the Latter-Day Saint cosmology. Latter-Day Saint salvation hinges on an ontological understanding in which the nature of God is the same nature as that of humankind. Though the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was officially organized, many of the founding principles had been established years earlier. The establishment of the temple and its rituals was intimated early on in the church, but it was not until 1836 that the church was able to build the first temple in Kirt-land, Ohio. Coinciding with the building of the temple, records show that Joseph and other early members had begun to contemplate the nature of the dead. The beliefs of the church are reflected in the performance of ordinances, rituals that highlight the nature of the relationship between God and man and that prepare one to attain one's full potential as a divine being.
