The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his075/lds15.lzh/LDS15.TXT

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CUL:LDS and Hell  by Ken Simmons

   The Mormon doctrine of Hell is most interesting, to be sure. A
faithful Mormon provided the following:

   Hell: That part of the spirit world inhabited by wicked spirits who
are awaiting the eventual day of their resurrection is called hell.
Between their death and resurrection, these souls of the wicked are
cast out into outer darkness, into the gloomy depression of sheol, into
the hades of waiting wicked spirits, into hell. There they suffer the
torments of the damned; there they welter in the vengeance of eternal
fire; there is found weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth; there
the fiery indignation of the wrath of God is poured out upon the
wicked. (Alma 40:11-14; D. & C. 76:103-106.)

   Hell will have an end. Viewing future events, John saw that "death
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged
every man according to their works." (Rev. 20:13.) Jacob taught that
this escape from death and hell meant the bringing of the body out of
the grave and the spirit out of hell. "And this death of which I have
spoken, which is the spiritual death," he said, "shall deliver up its
dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must
deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits,
and the graves must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and
the spirits of men will be restored one to the other." (2 Ne. 9:10-12)
It was in keeping with this principle for David to receive the promise:
"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell." (Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:27.)

   After the resurrection, the great majority of those who have
suffered in hell will pass into the telestial kingdom; the balance,
cursed as sons of perdition, will be consigned to partake of endless
woe with the devil and his angels. Speaking of the telestial kingdom
the Lord says: "These are they who are thrust down to hell. These are
they who shall not be redeemed from the devil untill the last
resurrection, untill the Lord, even Christ the Lamb, shall have
finished his work....These are they who are cast down to hell and
suffer the wrath of Almighty God, untill the fulness of times." (D. &
C. 76:84-85, 106.) As to the sons of perdition, the revelation says
that after their resurrection, "they shall return again to their own
place." (D. & C. 88:3 2, 102), that is, they shall go back to dwell in
the lake of fire with Perdition and his other sons. Thus those in hell
"are the rest of the dead; and they live not again until the thousand
years are ended, neither again, until the end of the earth." (D. & C.
88:101.)

   Statements about an everlasting and endless hell (Hela. 6:28; Moro.
8:13), are to be interpreted in the same sense as those about eternal
and endless punishment. (D. & C. 19:4-12; 76:44, 105.)

   Who will go to hell? This query is abundantly answered in the
scriptures. Since those going to a telestial kingdom travel to their
destination through the depths of hell and as a result of obedience to
telestial law, it follows that all those who live a telestial law will
go to hell. Included among these are the carnal, sensual, and devilish
- those who live after the manner of the world. Among them are the
sorcerers, adulterers, whoremongers (D. & C. 76:103), false swearers,
"those that oppress the hireling in his wages," the proud "and that do
wickedly." (Mal. 3; 4; 2 Ne. 9:27-39, 26:10.)

   Several specific groups of wicked persons are singled out to receive
the prophetic curse that their destination is the fires of hell. "The
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forgot God,"
David proclaimed (Ps. 9:17). Sex sin is rewarded with the torments of
hell (2 Ne. 9:36; Prov. 7:6-27). "Wo unto all those that discomfort my
people, and drive, and murder, and testify against them, saith the Lord
of Hosts; a generation of vipers shall not escape the damnation of
hell" (D. & C. 121:23). So also is the fate of liars (2 Ne. 9:34), of
all those that preach false doctrines" (2 Ne. 28:15), of those that
believe the damnable doctrine of infant baptism (Moro. 8:14, 21), of
the rich who will not help the poor (D. & C. 104:18; Luke 16:19-31),
and of those who heap cursings on their fellow men (Matt. 5:22; 3 Ne.
12:22). "The sectarian world are going to hell by hundreds, by
thousands and by millions," the Prophet Joseph Smith said. (History of
the Church, vol. 5, p. 554)

   To catch souls in his snares and then drag them down to hell is the
plan and program of the devil (D. & C. 10:26; Alma 30:60). One of his
latter-day wiles is to persuade men that there is neither a devil nor a
hell and that the fear of eternal torment is baseless (2 Ne. 28:21-23).
But Christ, who holds "the keys of hell and of death" (Rev. 1:18), and
can therefore control and abolish them, has power to save and redeem
men from hell (2 Ne. 33:6; Alma 19:29; 26:13-14). This he does on
conditions of repentance and obedience to his laws. But the unrepentant
"would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God, under a
consciousness of" their "filthiness before him, than" they "would to
dwell with the damned souls in hell" (Morm. 9:4).

   After death and hell have delivered up the bodies and captive
spirits which were in them, then, as John foresaw, "death and hell were
cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:14). This lake of fire, a figure
symbolical of eternal anguish and woe, is also called hell, but is a
hell reserved exclusively for the devil and his angels which includes
the sons of perdition (D. & C. 29:38; 88:113; 2 Pet. 2:4).

   Speaking of this hell, and writing of events to take place after the
resurrection and the judgment, and thus of a day after those going to a
telestial kingdom have come out of their hell, Jacob says: "And
asuredly, as the Lord liveth, for the Lord God hath spoken it, and it
is his eternal word, which cannot pass away, that they who are
righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be
filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his
angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for
them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame
ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end" (2 Ne. 9:16).

   Thus, for those who are heirs of some salvation, which includes all
except the sons of perdition (D. & C. 76:44), hell has an end, but for
those who have wholly given themselves over to satanic purposes there
is no redemption from the consuming fires and torment of conscience.
They go on forever in the hell that is prepared for them.

   As one can see, their doctrine is extremely different from the
classical, orthodox doctrine of Hell. The following LDS differences are
most noteworthy (based on the fact that, in the Mormon church, all
scriptures, doctrines, and teachings are "interpreted" via their
"prophet" instead of scripture interpreting the sayings, doctrines,
etc. of their "prophet"):

   1) Hell is no more than a "prison", and the inmates look forward to
a "parole" after serving their "sentence" and being "purified" of their
sins. Thus they'll reside in the "telestial" heaven, the lowest of the
3 Mormon heavens.

   2) Hell, therefore, isn't eternal.

   3) However, those who are condemned in the "second death", or second
judgment, will reside there forever ("second death", meaning those
spirits in "hell" who didn't convert to Mormonism).

   4) As such, the "eternal torment" is no more than temporary
suffering (as the "prophet" defined eternal).

   5) It's the devil's plan to drag people down to hell by convincing
them that it doesn't exist (by LDS definition, that is). However, the
BOM in 2 Nephi 28:21-23, if taken at face value (without any "prophet's
interpretation"), condemns the Mormon to Hell since he's convinced that
it doesn't exist as classically and orthodoxically defined. Here's the
text of the scripture:

   "And others will he pacify and lull them away into carnal security
that they will say: 'all is well in zion; yea Zion prospereth, and is
well'-and the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them down to
HELL. And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them 'THERE IS
NO HELL'; and he saith unto them; 'I am no devil, FOR THERE IS
NONE'-and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with
his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance. Yea, they are
grasped with DEATH, AND HELL; AND DEATH, AND HELL, and the devil, and
all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of
God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go
into the place prepared for them, EVEN A LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE,
WHICH IS ENDLESS TORMENT." (Emphasis authors) 2 Nephi 28:21-23

   Even though, the Mormon teaching sounds orthodox, one must remember
that, according to the LDS, everything is to be "interpreted" by their
"prophet" Joseph Smith, Jr. As such, man, rather than God, is used to
make scriptural judgments. Therefore, their doctrine is a heresy and as
such paves the way to hell, rather than righteousness (as the LDS would
have the world to believe).

   Bible and Hell ==============

   The Bible, being God's established scriptural standard, has a
different story to tell. Hell is the destination of all souls who've
chosen to reject Jesus and live in their sins. The Book of Revelation
is an excellent reference to defining Hell and all who'll reside there
at the times of Judgment. Jesus, Himself, gave vivid and graphic
descriptions of Hell. Here are some of His teachings:

   1) Hell is a place of outer darkness (Mat. 8:11-12, 22:11-14,
25:31-46).

   2) Hell is eternally separated from Heaven and God. As such, once in
Hell, there is no escape to Heaven, or anyplace else (Luke 16:19-26).

   3) Hell is a place of eternal fire and torment (Mat. 13:40-43,
25:31-46, Mark 9:45-48).

   As one can see from the above examples, Hell isn't a pleasant place,
or one that anyone can escape from once placed there.

   The Book of Mormon and Hell ===========================

   The Book of Mormon tends to agree with the Bible where the subject
of eternal Hell is concerned. Here are some passages from it. All
emphases are the author's, single quotes are for clarity only, they do
not appear in the cited passages:

   "And others will he pacify and lull them away into carnal security
that they will say: 'all is well in zion; yea Zion prospereth, and is
well 'and the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them down to
HELL. And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them 'THERE IS
NO HELL'; and he saith unto them; 'I am no devil, FOR THERE IS
NONE'-and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with
his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance. Yea, they are
grasped with DEATH, AND HELL; AND DEATH, AND HELL, and the devil, and
all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of
God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go
into the place prepared for them, EVEN A LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE,
WHICH IS ENDLESS TORMENT. 2 Nephi 28:21-23

   "For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance
even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the
devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the spirit of the Lord hath
withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all
power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked." Alma 34:35

   "Now, repentance could not come unto men except there were a
punishment, which also was eternal as the life of the soul should be,
affixed opposite to the plan of happiness, which was as eternal also as
the life of the soul." Alma 42:16

   "Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an
enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul
to a lively sense of his own GUILT, and PAIN, and ANGUISH, which is
like AN UNQUENCHABLE FIRE WHOSE FLAME ASCENDETH UP FOREVER AND EVER.
And now I say unto you, that mercy hath NO CLAIM on that man; therefore
his final doom is to ENDURE A NEVER-ENDING TORMENT. O, all ye old men,
and also ye young men, and you little children who can understand my
words, for I have spoken plainly that you might understand, and I pray
that ye should awake to a remembrance of the awful situation of those
who have fallen into transgression. And moreover, I would desire that
ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those who that
keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all
things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to
the end they are received into heaven, and thereby they may dwell with
God in a STATE OF NEVERENDING HAPPINESS. O remember, remember that
these things are true; for THE LORD GOD HATH SPOKEN IT." Mosiah 2:38-41

   As one can see, according to the BOM, the doctrine of no hell or
devil is from the devil, and those who profess same are bound up in his
chains and destined for the hell that they don't believe in. Hell is a
place of eternal pain, anguish, and torment with no chance of relief,
whereas heaven is eternal happiness to those who follow the
commandments of God, not man (or a "prophet", for that matter!). It
seems that the Mormon church has a lot to learn from their own "Bible."

   Ken Simmons