"'Taken home to God,' simply means that their mortal existence has come to an end, and they have returned to the world of spirits, where they are assigned a place according to their works with the just or with the unjust, there to await the resurrection." (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 2:85)
"Alma, when he says the 'the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body,... are taken home to that God who gave them life,' has the idea, doubtless, in his mind that our God is omnipresent - not in His own personality but through His minister, the Holy Spirit.
"He does not intend to convey the idea that they are immediately ushered into the personal presence of God. " (George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth, 1:73)
