Solemn covenants made as mortals with God have eternal consequences. Baptism and all the covenants made with God in the Temples of the Lord are not made “until death do ye part.” God’s covenants are eternal. Alma declared that “Time only is measured unto men” (Alma 40:8). Eternal applies to all the promises on God’s part and on our part with God.
Learning to keep and honor our covenants is a lifetime experience which will include frequent periods of repentance. If all men and women and their children had to achieve their salvation and exaltation based upon total unbroken obedience during their mortal life few if any, other than Jesus, would qualify to return to the presence of God. The Apostle Paul said it best, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Cor. 15:19). The terms and conditions of any covenant with God have to be applied with fully. The Lord cannot look upon sin with “the least degree of allowance” (D&C 1:19). However, the Lord looks upon his children with an incredible degree of allowance. It is called the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This is why in the Father’s Plan of Happiness, Deliverance, Redemption and Salvation there is a Spirit World experience.[1] It is not about a second chance, it is about a full first opportunity to exercise our agency with a complete knowledge of what it means to comprehend the difference between good from evil.
The answer to why men and women were placed upon this earth was given outside of the Garden of Eden. “Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good. And it is given unto them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves” (Moses 6:55-56). There will be many who will learn enough about good and evil to have their “calling and election” made sure during their mortal sojourn.[2] This does not mean they have learned all they need to know about good and evil. As taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith, “It will be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave.[3]
The Spirit World is divided into two parts. One part is referred to as Spirit Paradise and the other is called Spirit Prison. At the death of every human soul there will be a preliminary or first judgment to determine whether that soul will be assigned to go to either Paradise or Prison (Alma 40:11-14). The scriptures talk about a great gulf that exist between those in Prison and Paradise so that those in Prison cannot pass into Paradise until the prison door is opened for them. The “gulf” is a spiritual gulf of voluntary obedience, of loving, of forgiving self and others, of choosing good over evil and of following Jesus Christ (1 Nephi 15: 28-32). How will those in Prison cross over into Paradise? Those in a Prison of Ignorance will be taught the fullness of the gospel by those who will teach them from Spirit Paradise (D&C 138:57). The vicarious work for the dead performed in the temples of the Lord will be efficacious in their behalf.
There is another part of Spirit Prison commonly referred to as hell. The primary inhabitants of hell are the sons of perdition and Lucifer himself. They would be considered permanent residents until the end of the Millennium. Ultimately the sons of perdition will be cast out of the Spirit World Hell and sent to a place referred to as outer darkness (Alma 40:13, D&C 101:91, D&C 133:73). The words of Elder Talmage for those who are not sons of perdition ring true, “To hell there is an exit as well as an entrance.” Elder Talmage taught that no one will be kept in Spirit Prison longer than is necessary for them to conform to the teachings of Jesus and when they reach that stage the prison doors will be opened and they will be received into Spirit Paradise.[4]
Those who were valiant in the premortal existence were blest to receive mortal bodies on earth. If during their mortal time on earth they have chosen to ignore their conscience, witnesses of the Holy Ghost and the teachings of Jesus Christ and persist in choosing evil over good, they will find themselves mixing and mingling with those sons of perdition and having a personal and up-close experience of pure evil. For a moment think of the most wicked man that ever lived upon this earth from the days of Adam to the present. Who comes to your mind: Cain, Hitler, Pol Pot of the killing fields of Cambodia, Joseph Stalin, or Aleister Crowley? Now multiply that evil by a million fold and you may begin to imagine what pure evil looks like. Those who literally go to hell will of their own volition chose to do whatsoever is necessary to escape the presence of Lucifer. The way out of hell is the same as it was when they were mortals. They will have to repent, learn to love, forgive themselves and others and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. And they will have to do it in hell. From the time of their death as mortals until they are released into Spirit Paradise may take a thousand earth years (D&C 76:106).
Hell is the fate of those who foolishly and stubbornly procrastinate the day of their repentance. They shall not leave hell until they have paid the uttermost “penny” of obedience (D&C 76:110). They will learn to love. They will learn to forgive. They will out of their own hearts repent and acknowledge Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Hitler will repent. Stalin will repent. Pol Pot will repent. No unclean thing will enter the Kingdom of God (Moses 6:57). This includes the Telestial, Terrestrial, and the Celestial degrees of glory in the Kingdom of God.
King David, who was guilty of the murder of Uriah, will find forgiveness through the Atonement of Jesus Christ in the halls of hell.[5] Everyone that is not a son of perdition will come forth from the Spirit Prison Hell clean and beautiful. The only ones who will not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord are the sons of perdition, “he saves all except them” (D&C 76:38-44). Christ conquers “death, hell and the grave” (Rev. 20:13). Under the Law of Justice no one gets away with anything. Under the Law of Mercy a full first opportunity to learn to choose good over evil extends to the end of the Millennium. The Lord is bound when we do what he ask, but if we don’t at some point repent, there is no promise until we do (D&C 82:10). However procrastination and prolonging repentance brings mental torment now and subjects the unrepentant to a level of suffering known by Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (D&C 19:15). God’s covenants are ultimately conditioned upon voluntary obedience as an expression of individual agency.
The good news is the love of a kind Heavenly Father and a Plan of Salvation which includes an opportunity in the Spirit World to turn away from evil. The Psalms proclaim “If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips” (Psalms 89:30-34).
God has given to every soul that is born on earth two internal guidance systems to help us discern between good and evil. The Light of Christ governs all things and a part of the Light of Christ manifest itself as our conscience (D&C 88:7-12). The second compass that will lead us back to Heavenly Father is the Holy Ghost. One of the functions of the Holy Ghost is to bear witness to the truth of all things (Moroni 10:5). That witness from the Holy Ghost is available to everyone when they confront a truth. It may come as a moment of enlightenment or an “Aha” experience in a science lab or when reading the scriptures. Once a person is baptized they are entitled to the companionship of the Holy Ghost. This companionship will manifest itself with various gifts of the Spirit. “For there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God (D&C 46:11). Seeking for the Holy Ghost through sincere prayer will help us to discern between good and evil. It all begins with each of us wanting to choose good over evil which pathway will lead us to true happiness and eventually to the arms of a loving Heavenly Father. The way to avoid Spirit Prison Hell is to continue seeking one day at a time to choose good over evil. There is a degree of pleasure and gratification in choosing evil or we wouldn’t do it. There will come a time in each of our existences when the pleasure of the companionship of the Holy Ghost by choosing good over evil will be sweeter than the gratification of any sin. It will be so much to our spiritual advantage and growth to choose the good now as mortals (D&C 130:19). Why wait?
[1] Plan of Happiness (Alma 42:8, 16), Plan of Deliverance (2 Nephi 11:5), Plan of Redemption (Jacob 6:8), Plan of Salvation (Moses 6:62).
[2] Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 150.
[3]Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.348.
[4] James E. Talmage, General Conference April 1930.
[5] Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 339, Psalms 16:10.