Monday, November 23, 2009

Hell in the Book of Mormon III

“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 [earlier in the book identified as a synonym for polygamous marriages], and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, with the Lord God Almighty for they shall be thrust down into hell.” (2 Nephi 28:15)
“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 en a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.” (2 Nephi 28:22-23)
Here again we have explicit accounts of hell, which the Mormons deny as being a place of eternal torment, a lake of fire. Are they then not the ones guilty of flattery here? But hypocrisy aside, this account does not agree with what the Bible says about Hell, or the lake of fire. The Bible is very explicit that this place was not prepared for man at all, but for the devil and his angels.
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41 (ESV)
Hell is a sad reality. It is not something to gloat about. I understand people not wanting to believe in it, not wanting to believe that others will go there. But it is a reality nonetheless and cannot be avoided. But as sad a reality as it is, it is even sadder for God that there will be people going there along with the Devil and his angels. It is not God’s will that anyone go to hell. But he will let them go if they insist. God has done all he can to save us from hell. He sent his son to die for us so that we would not have to go there. But if you can’t allow God to forgive you, and cover your sins with the blood of Christ, then what more can he do. His justice will not ignore your sin and let it corrupt heaven. His justice will not condone your sin, and say that it is not sin. Yes it is even a sadder reality for God, who gave his only son to die for all those who are going to hell anyway, to spite His son.

3 comments:

Jonathan said...

Are the Mormons now denying hell all together, or just that most people, even including non-Momos, don't go there; that is, it's reserved for only the worst of the worst.

I once asked a 'missionary' if I was going to hell if I didn't believe in Mormon teachings and he said, no, absolutely not. Then why should I become a Mormon then? He said I could get to a better level of heaven.

Dawg said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brigitte said...

I talked to my friend about this. The different levels of heaven, according to their doctrine include the "celestial" and the "terrestrial". The reference was from Paul's letter, 1. Corinthians. When we looked it up, it was clear that the text is being misread and misunderstood.

1. Cor 15:40 From the King James Version including "celestial" for "heavenly" and "terrestrial" for "earthly".

"[There are] also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial [is] one, and the [glory] of the terrestrial [is] another."

This gets taken out of context and mixed up because of the King James language that people are not used to.

The text really speaks about the resurrection of the dead and the new body, which will be different from the old.

This is the context and the passage. It teaches nothing about different levels of heaven:

"35But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

42So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"[e]

READ the entire chapter on the resurrection here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians+15&version=NIV