Do Latter-day Saints Believe in a Hell?

Do Latter-day Saints believe in a hell? Most definitely. Indeed, we believe a hell will exist in two identifiably different states or conditions. Lucifer and his minions have been cast out into the earth to tempt and torment humankind. Those who fall prey to the devil and work evil during their sojourn on the earth will be turned over to the buffetings of Satan beginning at death. However, like David, their souls will not be kept in hell forever. They will come forth from the grave at some stage of the millennium participating in a resurrection and being assigned to some degree of glory. As for Lucifer, a hell, a realm of not-glory, awaits him, his minions, and the sons of perdition, wherein they will be cast and exist for the eternities.

To me the clearest statement attesting to the existence of these two hells namely, the conditions of the one hell being temporary and the conditions of the other being permanent, is the statement David uttered upon finding himself consigned to hell for his, David’s, role in the murder of Uriah. “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; . . . “ (Psalms 16:9-10; see also Acts 2:25-27, 31). David’s condition is illustrative of those of God’s spirit children who will eventually inherit the Telestial Kingdom. “These are they who are thrust down to hell. These are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrection, until 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, until the fulness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work; . . . “ (D&C 76:84-85, 106).

The Prophet Jacob speaking on this subject somewhat more broadly confirms the point while discoursing on the power of Christ’s atonement. “And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, 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 grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel” (2 Nephi 9:10-12). There is scriptural evidence that to some degree this will be also the lot of members of Christ’s Church who are judged to be not valiant in living the gospel before they are resurrected to inherit the Terrestrial Kingdom (D&C 76:79). “Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, to prepare and organize yourselves by a bond or everlasting covenant [the gospel of Jesus Christ] that cannot be broken. And he who breaketh it shall lose his office and standing in the church, and shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption (D&C 78:11-12).

When Lucifer rebelled against Our Father’s plan pertaining to the creation and populating of this earth, he and his adherents were “ . . . thrust down and thus [be]came the devil and his angels; And, behold, there is a place prepared for them from the beginning, which place is hell” (D&C 29:37-38). The hell spoken of here is the eventual and permanent abode of Satan, his minions, and those judged to be sons of perdition. For now, Satan and his angels have been turned loose on the earth to tempt God’s spirit children thus providing the necessary opposition to the gospel plan in order that as Abraham said, the Lord may determine if we “ . . . will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; . . .” (Abraham 3:25). As stated earlier, those who are not valiant in keeping their gospel covenants and those who work wickedness during their lifetime will be within Satan’s power during the time they are in spirit prison following their death. Thus after death, the righteous will experience peace and rest in Paradise, and the wicked will be in torment.

Some confusion may occur in a reader’s mind as to which of these hells certain of The Book of Mormon prophets have reference when they write of “everlasting hell” (Helaman 6:28) and “endless hell” (Moroni 8:13). The Lord clarified this point to the Prophet Joseph Smith in March, 1830. The use of these adjectives has reference to “Endless” being one of God’s names. Therefore, “Eternal punishment is God’s punishment. Endless punishment is God’s punishment” (D&C 19:11-12). The references then are to that hell which will have an end no later than the end of the Millennium. However, it is this writer’s opinion that while those who will eventually inherit a degree of glory for the eternities will be free of the buffetings of Satan in those spheres, they will still be enduring “endless punishment” to the extent that they will never be able to return to the presence of their Father in Heaven “worlds without end” (D&C 76:112).