I get this question a lot from my LDS friends. The implication, and in many cases the direct statement, is that the God of Mormonism is somehow more loving than the God of the Bible. Nothing could be further from the truth. When we understand who and what we really are and who God is, the question that we should all be asking is, “Why doesn’t God send everyone to Hell?”
Let’s start with an illustration. Imagine for a moment that somebody brutally murders one of your loved ones. The man is arrested, and the case goes to trial. There is a mountain of evidence to prove this man’s guilt, so much so that it erases all doubt. He’s a cold-blooded killer. As you sit in the packed courtroom surrounded by family and friends, the verdict is read, “We find the defendant guilty of murder in the 1st degree.” An audible sigh of relief can be heard throughout the courtroom. Justice is about to be served.
When the time comes for sentencing, the judge says to the defendant, “The state has proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that you committed this heinous murder. Throughout this entire trial you have shown zero remorse, and I believe that given the opportunity, you would kill again. I could sentence you to death. However, I want you to know that I am so loving that I am acquitting you of all charges. You may leave this courtroom as a free man.” With that, the judge slams his gavel and retires to his chambers.
This leads me to ask the million-dollar question: was this a loving thing to do? Of course not! This decision not only jeopardizes the public's safety, but everyone can clearly see the injustice in this situation, and it’s never loving to be unjust. This was an unrighteous judge, completely derelict of his duty to punish criminals, protect the public, and get justice for the victim.
God is all-loving, so much so that He is incapable of doing anything unloving. This means that He could never be like this wicked judge. When we understand how the concepts of love and justice fit together hand in hand, it begins to make sense why a loving God would punish sinners. Asking why a loving God would send anyone to Hell is like asking why a loving judge would send a murderer to death row.
The reader might be saying. “Well, I’m not that bad, I haven’t killed anybody.” Not bad by what standard? Your own? The criminal always finds a way to justify his crimes. This leads us to ground zero regarding our problem as human beings. We don’t see ourselves as criminals before a Holy and Righteous God. This is certainly true of the LDS. I was speaking with an LDS friend the other day who told me that Heavenly Father can love us more deeply because, in LDS theology, we are all his children. Whereas, in Christian theology, we are merely His creatures. Let’s take a moment to analyze this statement.
The Bible makes it crystal clear that we had no pre-existence. Adam was the first man. God took the dirt that He made out of nothing, formed Adam, and breathed life into his nostrils, making him a living soul (Genesis 2:7). Adam, acting as our federal representative (Romans 5:12), rebelled against God (ironically, like Satan, wanting to become his own god). As a result of the fall, we are all born with a sinful, rebellious heart. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and standard (Romans 3:10, 23). We are all born with the desire to be our own god. We want autonomy from our Creator.
Because of sin, we are the enemies of God, not the children of God. This is why we must be adopted into God's family through faith in Christ (Galatians 4:4-6). Let me ask a question: Isn’t it more loving for God to send His only begotten Son to die for His enemies than what LDS theology teaches? “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:8-10) What a thought: the God of all creation became a man and died for mankind! It doesn’t get any more loving than that.
We would all be guilty even by God’s minimum standard of human behavior, the Ten Commandments. We have all lied (that makes us liars). We have all used God’s name in vain in some type of way (that makes us blasphemers). We have all lusted in our hearts (that makes us adulterers). We have all put our selfish ambitions before God (that makes us idolaters). Sadly, people are mistaken if they think they will stand before God and have Him pat them on the back. This is why we need salvation in Christ. Jesus didn’t die on the cross and rise again just so that we could have a resurrection body. He came that we might have our sins forgiven! “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” (Ephesians 1:7).
In reference to our inability to recognize our own sinfulness, Calvin gave an illustration of staring at earthly things as opposed to trying to stare at the Sun. Our eyes do just fine when we look at earthly things, such as trees, rocks, flowers, etc. But if we tried to look directly at the Sun we would be blinded in just a short time. It’s the same when we compare ourselves to others, as opposed to seeing ourselves in the light of a Holy God.
“For as long as our views are bounded by the earth, perfectly content with our own righteousness, wisdom, and strength, we fondly flatter ourselves, and fancy we are little less than demigods. But, if we once elevate our thoughts to God, and consider his nature, and the consummate perfection of his righteousness, wisdom, and strength, to which we ought to be conformed,—what before charmed us in ourselves under the false pretext of righteousness, will soon be loathed as the greatest iniquity; what strangely deceived us under the title of wisdom, will be despised as extreme folly; and what wore the appearance of strength, will be proved to be most wretched impotence.”
Why Eternal Punishment?
The reader might think, "Okay, I get the whole justice thing, but for all eternity, come on. How is that fair?” Growing up, I heard a preacher say that if we could open the portals of hell and give those sinners one last chance to repent and make Christ their Lord and Savior, they would jump at the opportunity. I don’t believe that. While nobody wants to suffer in hell, merely giving them another chance doesn’t make them love God. Let me illustrate.
In college, I had to write a paper on the notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy (yes, I took some of my core classes at a secular college). That was one scary guy. During the day, he would dress up like a clown and volunteer at the local children’s hospital. At night, he would kidnap young men, torture them, kill them, and bury them in the crawlspace of his house. When Gacy was finally arrested, the authorities found 29 bodies on his property, most of them under his house. Apparently, he had run out of room and started throwing bodies in the river.
In a CBS interview 2 years before his execution in 1994, Gacy minimized or flat-out denied what he did. He actually painted himself as the innocent victim in all of this. Somehow, he managed to justify everything in his mind. Even on the day of his execution, he never showed an ounce of remorse.
I bring up this situation with Gacy to point out two things. First, the average person is repulsed by the sins of someone like Gacy. If we’re not careful, it can fill us with a sense of self-righteous pride: "We’re not like that guy.” We might be tempted to feel like there is a significant moral gap between us and someone like Gacy. Let’s pretend for the sake of argument that this is true. If there is a large gap between us and someone like Gacy, how much of a gap do you think exists between us and the Thrice Holy God of the universe? However repulsed we are by the sins of Gacy, Hitler, Mao, Manson, etc., God is infinitely more repulsed by our sins. Isaiah makes what God thinks about our righteousness clear. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6). This wasn’t just true of Israel, it’s true of all of us.
The second reason I bring Gacy up is to show why hell is eternal. Let’s pretend that instead of getting the death penalty, that Gacy was sentenced to life in prison. Let’s also pretend that Gacy would be alive for another thousand years. Do you think there would ever come a time when Gacy could be paroled and let out on the street? Absolutely not. Because being in prison did not and could not change who he was in his heart, a killer. It’s the same way with people in hell. If God were to let people out of hell, He would just be raising another rebellion against Himself and have to throw them right back in. It would be a pointless endeavor. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)
We all have a sense of justice and recognize injustice as unloving. The problem is that our sinful nature has clouded our understanding of justice. Like Gacy, we try to give ourselves a pass and minimize our actions. But God, as the righteous judge, isn’t going to do that. Ultimately, we will either judge God by our standard or judge ourselves by God’s standard. If we go with the latter, we will throw ourselves desperately upon the mercy of Christ, which is the only way to be saved from our sins. If we go with the former, how can we expect God to turn a blind eye? “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.” (Hebrews 2:3)
