If God is good, why did he create hell?
Personal Response by James E. Faulconer
The answer to this question is straightforward: God didn’t create hell. Hell is the state of being separated from the love of God, a state that we create when we turn from him in sin.
Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) taught, “What is the damnation of hell? To go with that society who have not obeyed his commands” (History of the Church, page 554). Through his Son, Jesus Christ, God has given us a way via which we can return to him, restored from our state of sin to a state of grace and glory, but he will force none of us to return against our will. If we choose to remain in sin when given the chance of being lifted from it, he will allow us to remain where we wish, separated from God, in other words, in hell.
However, the scriptures sometimes use the word “hell” to refer to a place, and when they do so, the word has various meanings. Both the Hebrew and Greek meaning of the Old and New Testament words translated “hell” is simply “the place where the dead reside.” In that light, sometimes the word is understood by Mormons to refer to the place where the disobedient live while awaiting the resurrection. While there they have the opportunity of having the gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them so that, if they will, they may repent and return to God.
After the resurrection, all but a few of humankind will live in a state of reward and glory, though not all will live in the presence of God. (See Doctrine and Covenants 76 for a description of the various states of reward after the resurrection. The Doctrine and Covenants, with the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Pearl of Great Price, is one of the canonical scriptures of the LDS Church.) Those who do not live in his presence-because they have not accepted salvation through Jesus Christ-will be free from pain and suffering, but they will be separated from God. Thus, we could say that they will be in hell, though not that they will be punished.
Finally, sometimes the word “hell” is used to refer to the ultimate destination of those few who have committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost (Matthew 12:31). “Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame,” they will be sent to reside “with the devil and his angels” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:35-36). (The Doctrine and Covenants is another Mormon canonical work.) However, we presume that even in this state, the punishment will not be something decreed and inflicted by God, but the self-consciousness of guilt. Joseph Smith said, “A man is his own tormenter and his own condemner. Hence the saying, ‘They shall go into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone.’ The torment of disappointment in the mind of man is as exquisite as a lake burning with fire and brimstone” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 357).
The word “hell” has different meanings in different contexts. However, whichever meaning it has, it is something that we create by our disobedience, not something created by God.
Tags: disobedience, guilt, hell, Mormon canon, sin
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