Does any Mormon go to hell except for a very few? Do most bad Mormons go to the Telestial Kingdom, which is much better than earth? It seems like Hell does not really exist in Mormonism, like it does in mainstreatm Christianity.

Jesus is a "Savior". A "Savior" saves from Hell. Christianity is at least logically consistent. If you don't get saved, you go to Hell and suffer incredible torments. In Mormonism, it is unclear what "not getting saved" means, because there are so many places to go after death, and none of them (except one) is a place where you suffer incredible torments. In Christianity, "few there be that find it", meaning that most people will go to hell. In Mormonism, most people will not go to hell. You don't really have to "accept Christ" in an any meaningful sense in Mormonism; just avoiding the worst possible behavior, such as murder or denying the Holy Ghost (when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Church is true), will keep you out of hell.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2013 04:21PM by behindcurtain.

In Mormonism, hell is Outer Darkness. Jesus saved everyone, so few go to Outer Darkness except those whose faith was replaced with actual knowledge, and who then went against god. So a small group indeed. Salvation is going to heaven, exhaltation is going to the Celestial Kingdom.

Dying and finding out that the only way to get to heaven is to drink coffee and have casual sex.

That makes me a shoe-in

I thought being active in the church was Mormon Hell. :-) But seriously, you're right. In Mormonism almost everyone is invited to the after party. The only question is, which venue?

Mormon "Hell", the lowest kingdom (Telestial? Terrestrial? I always forget which is which) is a place you go where all you do all day is whatever you want, forever, but you don't ever get to leave or progress. It is so beautiful and amazing that Joe Smith reportedly said that if you could see it you would kill yourself just to get there. You'll have to hang with the likes of Hitler and Stalin, but you'll also get to hang with all the cool "non-valiant" people, like rock stars, strippers, pro athletes and movie stars.

Mormon "Heaven", the Celestial Kingdom, is a place where you go and all you do is work, have billions of spirit babies, and stress for eternity about how awful and evil they all are. Here you'll get to hang with that annoying guy in Elder's quorum who has an answer for everything, and your dick of a stake president, and all the GAs that ever there were. And Joseph Smith will be the boss of everyone. And if you're a woman you get to be pregnant with billions of spirit babies and share your man with many many other women. And the only music they have is Michael McLean.

Me, I think I'll go with the Mormon "Hell". Supposedly, most Mormons will go to the middle kingdom, where you get to be handservants for everyone in the Celestial Kingdom, but you don't ever get to go there. And as long as you're not busy being a handservant, then you can do whatever you want. But the only people there will be Mormons.

Mormon mythology has 3 hells essentially:

The most common "hell" is spirit prison. This is before you are resurrected - if you get baptized by proxy you get out of spirit prison and go to spirit paradise instead.

Then after the resurrection there is "Outer Darkness" where all of Satan's followers from the War in Heaven and those who "Deny the Holy Ghost" go.

Then there is the Telestial Kingdom which is still a kingdom of glory but where the bad people - murderers and such go.

Mormon Hell is put on display in every meeting house around the world, on the first Sunday of every month.

Right, Mia. I have been to hell. It involves sitting on a hard bench and watching the clock in an IKEA chapel. Boring men stand on the stage and take turns speaking with a faux Danish accent. Sometimes a weepy woman will blubber at the microphone.

Beyond the stuffy hot chapel birds sing and grass grows all on its own. There are miracles out there.

The Mormon church nursery.

My definition of Mormon Hell would be for me to have forced my dear Catholic wife to join the cult and sweep her heritage under the rug and to subject my kids to the fraud. I doubt if we'd still be married had I gone down that path....

Ron Burr



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2013 06:37PM by Lethbridge Reprobate.

In some interpretations of LDS doctrine, those of us who leave TSCC will be in "outer darkness". As for my beliefs, there is a hell and Hitler and many others will be there. I will not list, as Dante did, the names of others I think belong there. When I see some of what goes on in the world, I find a belief in hell refreshing - that the truly evil do not get included in salvation.

I do not consider exaltation and godhood as being either a desirable or true doctrine.

Amsterdam

Provo. Did I misinterpret the question?

I was under the impression that a spooky mormon hell dream included Lucifer, a bunch of satan dancers and two Starbucks cups.

That sounds like a night of the dead party in Seattle.

Orem, Utah.

Seriously.

Not just for non/exMormon's, either.

Based on what I've heard and seen, apparantly Mormon's drive each other bat-crazy as much as they drive ex/nonMormon's crazy.

It's hell all over.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2013 07:43PM by liminal state.

Since I've been living in Orem/Hell for 45 years, I guess anything else will be a heaven!

JOseph was taught by his father and grandfather that they believed in Universaliszm --- so many people may go to hell to pay for unrepentant sins but eventually end up in a kingdom of glory.

Actually, Mormon "Hell" is doing temple work for all the inhabitants of the earth ----- then in the next life finding out they wasted all that time spent in the temple while dressed up as complete morons.

It's really a section of the highest tier of the CK. It's where people go voluntarily to burn for eternity after they find out that they ended up in the CK with the exact same spouse they left in mortality and Heavenly Father didn't turn them into someone who they would want to live with for eternity. They find out they're stuck with the same bitch or a bastard they could barely endure for one more day in mortality. So god gives them the eternal burning option because they were such good Mormons that it's the least he can do is let them choose. I think it's also an option for all those single women when they finally find out who they get for their eternal mate.

Well, IMO they outdo Hell in ways.

The propaganda is this...
"Hell" as an active punishment occurs as a temporary state before inheriting a requisite kingdom of glory. There's a verse that says "eternal punishment" doesn't mean unending punishment, but rather "god's" punishment, because Eternal is His name. So the unsaved sinner who has not had his sins atoned for by Jesus has to suffer them in full, but finitely and in proportion...then he goes on to the telestial or terrestrial kingdoms (or in a few select cases, outer darkness, but only sons of perdition). By definition, if you go to the celestial kingdom, it's because Jesus atoned for your sins and you don't have to suffer for them (hell).

However, the relative leniency of the mormon hell is outdone by the "glory" of the telestial and terrestial kingdoms.
In these kingdoms your earthly relationships are dissolved. You can't be married or in any "committed relationship" at all. Your kids are no longer your kids. Your kin is no longer your kin. You revert to a default state as a sexless, single being with no parents except God, who you can't see. No children, no partner or lover, presumably with only fellow inmates to be friends with. You live for eternity without ever getting to return home to the celestial kingdom, which by this time you remember as the "veil of forgetfulness" in mortality is lifted, and you recognize your folly, forever. At this point you are not in hell, yet you are eternally "damned" which means no progression outside the kingdom you're in.

To some, as myself, this scenario is worse than oblivion. As an atheist at least I enjoy the prospect of having no consciousness after I die. The mormon scriptures teach that the damned will WISH for extinction, oblivion, but that they can't have it. They're forced to live forever unhappily.

How many billion years, I wonder, is enough before the sentence is excessive? A trillion?

I never understood this. Your relationships are dissolved, your kids are no longer your kids and your spouse is no longer your spouse.

This doesn't add up, because you're also told you keep your character and your memories.

So even if there's no longer a genetic/metaphysical/whatever connection with these people, they're still your family.

You still remember them, and presumably still love them. So what exactly is the problem?


If Mormonism is true, my siblings and I (except for my Mormon brother) are probably all heading to the Terrestrial Kingdom. So is my mom. My dad may still be going to the Celestial Kingdom.

So won't we still all run into each other in the Terrestrial Kingdom? What exactly will have changed? It seems to me absolutely nothing. My sisters will still be my sisters, my mother will still be my mother.

Presumably my brother and dad will still be family, too, despite being busy in the Celestial Kingdom and having little time to share with us.

So all in all? Not worried even if it is true. It's not, but I'm not worried.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2013 09:39PM by doubtisavirtue.

I always thought mormon heaven sounded like hell.no downtime and lots of work on the otherside. Blab blab blah

Actually, many Christians define hell as eternity separated from God. That would include the terrestial and telestial kingdoms.

Too bad JS forgot to take regular hell out of the BoM:

2Nephi chapter 28:

21 And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.

22 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.

23 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.


Alma chapter 34:

33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.

34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

35 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.


2Nephi chapter 28

15 O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, ~~and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell! ~~

Christianity is not logically consistent. Don't kid yourself. One of the big problems is that you have huge misconceptions about Mormon theology and you are making an argument in favor of more mainstream Christianity based on your own misconceptions. You can't be a Christian apologist and not know what you are talking about.

Besides, Mormonism in its pure form is ridiculous enough.

Hell for Mormonism according to the Book of Mormon is the separation of a man from his God. A person who is in the Telestial Kingdom, for example, can enjoy eternity but will always reflect upon and think about that separation. The telestial kingdom is not hell.

"Being saved" in and of itself is a gimmicky term that Christians use, but Mormons don't use nearly as much and that is why you don't see much clear doctrine about it.

Mormonism has always preached that very few will be going to the Celestial Kingdom. It also preaches that very few will go to Outer Darkness. Most people will belong to the two middle kingdoms.

The Christian God, however, wants us to go to hell and suffer unless we eat the flesh of a dead 1st century guy from the area around Jerusalem. That is some pretty consistent logic, no?

And when god said "eternal" he was just kidding, cuz in the d&c he says "eternal" meaning "god" meaning "god's punishment" and not really "forever". that was a good one

Wasting 28 years wondering what was so wrong with me that I could not just Be Happy.