“The spirits of all men … are taken home to that God who gave them life.” Of that teaching of Alma, President George Q. Cannon wrote: “He does not intend to convey the idea that they are immediately ushered into the personal presence of God. He evidently uses that phrase in a qualified sense.”31
President Joseph Fielding Smith explained: “‘Taken home to God’ [compare Ecclesiastes 12:7] simply means that their mortal existence has come to an end, and they have returned to the world of spirits, where they are assigned to a place according to their works with the just or with the unjust, there to await the resurrection.”32 On this point, the Savior is our best, most important witness. We know that not even he was taken immediately into the presence of his Father after his death. He went to the world of spirits (D&C 138), and even after his own resurrection, being “the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20), he said to the first mortal to see his resurrected body, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father” (John 20:17).
In Latter-day Saint theology there are actually two heavens where God resides and where his jurisdiction extends to his children on this earth. Brother Ogden realized after his father died that he now had two fathers in heaven—his immortal Father and his mortal father—although their two places of residence are the two different definitions we have of heaven. One heaven is where the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost reside, far out in space near Kolob. The other heaven is the immediate surroundings, the atmosphere around this earth—that is, the earth’s spirit, or the spirit world. That’s where Brother Ogden’s father is now.
President Brigham Young helped us understand the difference between these two heavens: “When you lay down this tabernacle, where are you going? Into the spiritual world… . Where is the spirit world? It is right here. Do the good and evil spirits go together? Yes, they do. Do they both inhabit one kingdom? Yes, they do [that is, the righteous and the wicked occupy together one world of spirits, although there are separate venues in that world for each, and a chasm, gulf, or some kind of barrier separates them there; see D&C 138:12, 20–22, 29]… . Do they go beyond the boundaries of the organized earth? No, they do not. They are brought forth upon this earth.”33
Alma’s increasing understanding of the doctrine of “heavenly home” is another example of revelation that comes line upon line, precept upon precept.