Hell and Eternal Punishment. Those who will not accept the principles of righteousness, who have no faith unto repentance, and no man knoweth how many or who they might be, will suffer a spiritual death which is hell. This hell is not a place created nor imposed by God on men, where the damned eternally suffer, as depicted so vividly by Dante in his Divine Comedy. Hell is a condition of the soul, the natural fruit of a life which has cultivated evil and not good, a soul without light, a soul which has rejected not only God, but everything he represents. Hell is also a place, but it will be the condition of the soul that will make it hell.
Evil is Real. We accept the reality of evil. Evil is not an illusion, a figment of the imagination. Human suffering and pain are real whether they come from natural or human causes. Cancer causes great suffering and so does a drunken, brutal, or unfaithful husband. Hitler's concentration camps were real, and the agony experienced there was as real as any joy of life. Evil we might define as anything which hinders, frustrates, and prohibits our realization of a Christ-like life. Ignorance and sin are our greatest evils, the source of nearly all others.
We speak of two priesthoods in the Church: the Melchizedek and the Aaronic or Levitical. In reality they are two divisions of one priesthood, the authority of God delegated to man. The Melchizedek Priesthood is the higher and governing authority of the Church and the Aaronic Priesthood is an appendage and help to it.
Nothing inspires me more than the view of creation depicted in the first chapter of Moses (verse 39) in which the prophet is given a glimpse of some of the creations of God through the Son and is told, “Worlds without number have I created.” Moses pressed his Creator to tell him the meaning of his endless, ongoing creations. Finally, the now well-known answer came: “For behold, this is my work and glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” It would seem that “eternal” in this context has a qualitative connotation, meaning God-like, even as it does in the Gospel of John, wherein Christ said, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3.) The very work of Deity is to bring man—all men—to a greater realization of the life which God knows, to help men increase in integrity, love, freedom, and creativity, to achieve the full measure of their creation as sons of God.
Latter-day Saints practice what is called temple marriage. We recognize civil marriages performed by the justice of the peace, or a minister, or a bishop. But we have another marriage, performed only in the temples of the Church, which we believe to be of greater meaning and worth. This we call temple marriage, or marriage for both time and eternity … We believe that this temple marriage-ceremony through which man and woman are married for time and eternity, is a sacred and divine ordinance and is to be administered by those who hold the priesthood of God on behalf of those who believe in immortality and who desire in their marriage to live in harmony with Christian ideals.
Foolish is the man who toys with sin through confidence in forgiveness. Such an attitude ignores the law of justice in his own life and the principle of mercy towards others, and may make it much more difficult to gain mercy for himself. A man does not know his own strength. By dallying with temptation and sin, he may readily succumb to them and find repentance beyond his power.
Those who will not accept the principles of righteousness, who have no faith unto repentance, and no man knoweth how many or who they might be, will suffer a spiritual death which is hell. This hell is not a place created nor imposed by God on men, where the damned eternally suffer, as depicted so vividly by Dante in his Divine Comedy. Hell is a condition of the soul, the natural fruit of a life which has cultivated evil and not good, a soul without light, a soul which has rejected not only God, but everything he represents. Hell is also a place, but it will be the condition of the soul that will make it hell.
Latter-day Saints believe that life in the spirit-world, a time between death and the resurrection, is also a meaningful, purposeful stage in man’s eternal life. The Book of Mormon teaches that the righteous will enjoy a condition of peace called Paradise.
Marriage, to Latter-day Saints, includes a third partner in the relationship. Children born to us are also children of God. They belong to him because he created them his spirit-children in a pre-earth existence. The Creator, our Spiritual Father, designed life on the earth as being good for man, a step in eternal progression. Hence, in becoming parents, we are co-operating, with God in bringing “to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” When we bear children and give them a rich opportunity to learn of God and his will and purpose in their lives, then we are fulfilling his wishes and contributing greatly to his plan.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we do not baptize infants nor do we approve of it by others. The reason for this is clear. Infants do not need baptism. They are not in a position to fulfill the purposes of baptism, to participate in this ordinance meaningfully … A little child is incapable of sin. Baptism is a witness of our faith in Christ unto repentance. An infant child does not have faith in Christ. He certainly cannot repent, even if he were a sinner. Therefore, infant-baptism is wholly lacking in the most significant purposes of this sacred ordinance.
There is a degree of salvation available to every man, unless it be the few sons of perdition, who, having known by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, deny him. Jesus said of these that there is no forgiveness …This is so, not because Deity is offended and has barred their way to salvation for all time, but rather because such men have placed themselves in such a condition, having sunk so low in moral and spiritual degradation “that they are dead as to the things pertaining unto righteousness.” They themselves have lost all faith, all capacity to repent.
The church is not an end in itself. Men do not exist for the sake of the Church. The Church is an instrument, a means of bringing to pass the welfare and salvation of men … In the mind and life of Jesus, religion itself was a means to an end, something to nourish and develop the souls of men, to be a joy and a blessing to them … If religion itself is a means to the perfection and joy of man, how much more ought the Church to be considered a means to accomplish something good in human life. The Church is a sacred, divine, and necessary institution to Latter-day Saints, but even so it remains a vehicle.
“Seek Ye Wisdom” … If we take a look at Church history, we find that education has played an important, proud role. The process of education began even before the Church was organized. We usually think of the beginning of the Latter-day Saint movement as having taken place in the Sacred Grove in that glorious First Vision of the Father and the Son. To me this is not entirely accurate. The initial beginning of our faith took place, I believe, in the mind of a youth. The boy Joseph in his fifteenth year had questions; he was searching; he was eager to know … Only in response to hungry minds, to earnest questions of the boy prophet and of his associates, did the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it seems to me, reveal their mind.
The Aaronic Priesthood, as the name indicates, is named for Aaron, brother of Israel’s great prophet, Moses. Aaron assisted Moses in the latter’s leadership in Israel, according to the Old Testament account. Aaron and Moses were descendants of Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. When Israel was established as a nation under Moses and was led from Egypt back to Canaan, the responsibility of carrying on the priestly functions was given to the tribe of Levi through Aaron. Later on, as the Israelites conquered and settled in Palestine, the sons of Levi were not given a fixed piece of territory like the other tribes of Israel, but were scattered among all tribes that they might perform the priestly functions for the whole of Israel.
God’s love and mercy are shown in the Latter-day Saint doctrines concerning life after death. Through the ages men have talked of heaven and hell, the latter having been described as a place burning with fire and brimstone, where the wicked would suffer eternal damnation. In a revelation to Joseph Smith, it is explained that eternal punishment does not mean endless or everlasting punishment, but rather God’s punishment, he being an eternal being. Likewise, eternal damnation does not mean everlasting damnation, but rather the condemnation of God.
The Aaronic Priesthood, as the name indicates, is named for Aaron, brother of Israel’s great prophet, Moses. Aaron assisted Moses in the latter's leadership in Israel, according to the Old Testament account. Aaron and Moses were descendants of Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. When Israel was established as a nation under Moses and was led from Egypt back to Canaan, the responsibility of carrying on the priestly functions was given to the tribe of Levi through Aaron. Later on, as the Israelites conquered and settled in Palestine, the sons of Levi were not given a fixed piece of territory like the other tribes of Israel, but were scattered among all tribes that they might perform the priestly functions for the whole of Israel.
Latter-day Saints believe that life in the spirit-world, a time between death and the resurrection, is also a meaningful, purposeful stage in man’s eternal life. The Book of Mormon teaches that the righteous will enjoy a condition of peace called Paradise; those who have done evil and wasted their probation in mortality will suffer remorse and anguish, the natural fruit of shallow and evil living. Their lot is not hopeless, however. They are not condemned to eternal punishment. A God of mercy and love would have no pleasure in such a fate. During the spirit-state, many will teach the Gospel to the spirit-children of God and give them an opportunity to exercise faith unto repentance and to accept the Gospel, be forgiven, and to continue their eternal life on a plane of purposeful and spiritual living.
Religion, in our view, is as much concerned with a person’s salvation in this life as it is with his salvation after death. True, this life is short compared with the eternity which lies ahead, but this life is precious because it is short and ought not to be spent save for the highest good. Moreover, as a Book of Mormon writer states, “behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God.’ (Alma 34:32) If we do not learn to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ here and now, we shall be in no position to live it when we die. Therefore, we shall not be capable of enjoying a celestial life with God and Christ. We shall not feel at home with them.
We believe in individuality. Each member of Deity, as each of us, is an eternal individual and person in his own right. Each has his own powers of mind and soul; each has his own freedom, responsibility, work and glory. We honor and are grateful to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost individually. We also believe in unity. Even as husband and wife, who are separate and distinct as persons, work together for their family, so the Father and Son are separate and distinct Persons who work in love for the salvation of men. These two ideals—unity and individuality—are not incompatible; they are in no sense contradictory. Under the influence of the gospel of love, two or more individuals working in harmony greatly multiply their chances of life-fulfillment for each of them.
Hell and Eternal Punishment. Those who will not accept the principles of righteousness, who have no faith unto repentance, and no man knoweth how many or who they might be, will suffer a spiritual death which is hell. This hell is not a place created nor imposed by God on men, where the damned eternally suffer, as depicted so vividly by Dante in his Divine Comedy. Hell is a condition of the soul, the natural fruit of a life which has cultivated evil and not good, a soul without light, a soul which has rejected not only God, but everything he represents. Hell is also a place, but it will be the condition of the soul that will make it hell.