Think of the biggest family reunion you can possibly
imagine…well, minus that awkward conversation with your second cousin twice
removed who you should know but don’t. And the hour and forty-five minutes that
it took to get a semi-decent group photo. And the whole matching T-shirts
thing. Okay, well maybe the family reunions we’re thinking of aren’t anything
like a family reunion in heaven, but it’s the best us mortals can do.
Well, along with the idea of our heavenly family comes a need
to bring us all together again—to unite the family of God once and for all.
Imagine how much our Parents must want to have us back. Think about what they
wouldn’t do to save us all—to have every single one of us return home!
Now of course God wants to restore his family and save every
last one of us, but there’s just one caveat—we each have to accept Jesus as our
Savior. He paid the price for us on the cross. He’s our only ticket back.
In Classical Christianity, there is a wide range of views in
terms of who gets saved. Some traditions take evangelism very seriously and aggressively
spread the message of Jesus to allow everyone the chance at salvation. Others
focus less on evangelism, believing that God has already predestined some
people to be saved and others to be damned to hell.[i]
Still others focus their efforts on baptizing as soon as possible after birth
so that infants don’t lose their chance at salvation.
But what becomes of those who never hear the message of
Jesus? What about people who were predestined to hell? What happens to the
child who dies before being baptized?
In the Classical Framework, unfortunately there are no
definitive answers. Nothing more can be said authoritatively without further
revelation from God. The evangelist can say she tried her best. The
predestinationist can only say he doesn’t know why some aren’t chosen. The pedobaptist (one who baptizes infants or
young children) can only offer condolences for the child.
I often hear Christians of all kinds talk about the problem
of evil and suffering. It’s a topic that comes up frequently, and one that the
brightest minds have grappled with for centuries. Most often, it’s summed up in
the simple question, “Why does a loving God allow suffering?” It’s a legitimate
question, and one that I think we’ve all pondered. It affects the theologian
and everyday Christian alike. In fact, it’s a dilemma all human beings face,
regardless of our beliefs.
But there’s one thing that should be even more distressing
to us than the problem of suffering, and that is the problem of eternal suffering. What are we to do with a God who
sends so many people to hell? Is this the God of mercy whom we worship? Is this
the God of love whom we adore?
Think of the Jewish people, the very subjects and authors of
our holy scriptures. They weren’t Christian, so how can they be saved? What
about the billions upon billions of others? It’s commonly said among Christians
that even Gandhi—the pacifist who fought injustice and brought freedom to millions—won’t
be in heaven. And from the Classical Framework, we aren’t left with much of an
option. If he didn’t accept Jesus, he’s going to hell.
Of all the people who have ever lived and died on this
earth, I don’t know how many did so without having Jesus as their Savior, but I
think it would be safe to say that it was most of them. Did they all go to
hell? Are they all consigned to eternal torment, to the lake of fire and
brimstone?[ii]
If this is true, than more than anything else in this world,
we should be concerned about the problem of eternal suffering. All other
efforts at social justice take a back seat to this. Forget helping the poor,
feeding the hungry, or lifting the broken hearted—all these acts of Christian service
are relatively inconsequential if God is just going to send most of them to
hell anyways.
But can we really accept that so much of humankind—so many
of God’s children—are going to hell? It’s not fair! Isn’t God a just God? Isn’t
there another solution?
In the framework of Mormon Christianity, there is.
Another Solution
Mormon Christians agree with Classical Christians that all
must accept Jesus to be saved. We all see eye to eye when saying that Jesus is
our only ticket back. But because God loves his children—his literal
offspring—so much, and wants every single one to return to him, he has provided
a way that gives everyone the opportunity to be saved by Jesus.
How can he do it? What it all comes down to is that death is
not the end of the road. You see, once our physical and spiritual bodies have
separated (i.e., we die), our spiritual selves have a little while before we
are resurrected into a physical body again, and at that time, as always, God is
doing everything he possibly can to get us back—to save us. But since salvation
has to come through Jesus, the message of his gospel must still be spread, even
in the next life!
Wow, really? Spreading the word after we die? That'll
preach! Just think of it as evangelism in the hereafter. Preaching the gospel
of Jesus is a great commission not only for this life, but also for the next.
This gives everyone ample opportunity to hear the word and invite Jesus into
their hearts.
Mormon Christians will usually refer to this doctrine as salvation for the dead because salvation
is being offered to the dead who didn’t have sufficient opportunity to accept
it when they were alive. The terminology used can be a little misleading
though—the dead are “dead” only in that they have experienced physical death,
but they are in fact very much alive. They are as alive as you and me. The
difference is that they don’t have a physical body, but otherwise they are
still preaching the word, accepting Jesus, quoting scripture, worshipping,
fellowshipping, and shouting praises and hallelujahs to God!
But is this biblical? Jesus taught this doctrine clearly and
succinctly: “An hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the
voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:25). And
he’s not the only one to talk about salvation for the dead either. Peter tells
his fellow Christians that those who do evil will have to account for their
actions, but then adds, “For the gospel has for this purpose
been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in
the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God”
(1 Peter 4:6). The fact is that we all do evil, and we will all have to account
for our actions after this life. But isn’t it wonderful that God offers the
gospel to every one of us, that we all can be cleansed by the grace of Jesus
and live according to the will of God?
We should be aware though that the language in this passage
is a little ambiguous. Peter says that “the gospel has…been preached even
to those who are dead.” It is unclear from this statement alone whether he is
saying that the gospel was preached to the dead before their physical passing
away, or after mortality as spirits. Fortunately, a few verses earlier, Peter gives
us some more context.
He tells us that after Jesus died, his spirit was still alive,
and “He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in
prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept
waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark” (1 Peter
3:19-20). The wording is much less ambiguous—Jesus preached the gospel to
spirits in prison who were disobedient while on earth, for example the wicked
people of Noah’s day who died in the great flood. Jesus didn’t waste any time
during those three days that his body laid in the tomb—he was preaching the gospel
to the dead!
The idea that Jesus gave salvation to the dead between the
time of his death and resurrection is not unique to Mormon Christianity but
common in early Christianity, and in fact fits quite nicely in the Classical
Framework. It’s an event known as the Harrowing
of Hell[iii]
and is affirmed by the faith traditions of a majority of Christians around the
world. One text used by many Classical Christians is the Apostles’ Creed, a declaration of faith compiled over centuries and
believed to be original teachings of the apostles. It says that after Jesus
suffered, was crucified, and buried, “He descended into hell.”[iv] The
idea that he visited “hell” and freed the spirits in prison is not only widely
held, but is well attested to in the Bible,[v]
and it is a vital part of the Mormon Framework.
Without this doctrine, a major inconsistency in our
framework glares at us in the face. If God is a loving God, then how could he condemn
most people to eternal suffering? How could a merciful God send so many to hell?
Even Stalin, Mao, or Hitler, whom most people wouldn’t consider to be the most “loving”
leaders, weren’t as merciless. They’re responsible for the tragic devastation
of millions upon millions of people’s lives, but even these three tyrants
combined don’t come close to the devastation of billions upon billions of
people’s eternities. Can we consider a framework coherent if the God who does
this is the same God who we call “loving?”
Only when we factor in salvation for the dead can we solve
this troubling dilemma of Christianity.
The evangelist no longer has to wonder what becomes of those
who never hear the message of Jesus. Those people will have the opportunity
sooner or later, in this life or the next.
The predestinationist doesn’t have to worry about people who
were chosen for hell. Quite frankly, they weren’t—someone can only go to hell
if they choose it for themselves by rejecting Jesus.
The pedobaptist won’t need to question the fate of an infant
who dies before being baptized. Young children are not in danger of losing
their salvation if they die.
In Mormon Christianity, all people—yes, even Gandhi—have an abundant
opportunity to accept Jesus and be saved.
[i]
Although this is a belief held by some Classical Christians, it seems to be
directly at odds with Paul’s teaching that “God…desires all men to
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
[ii] See
Luke 16:23-25 and Revelation 19:20 and 21:8.
[iii]
This is also known as Christ in Limbo, Descent into Hell, or Descensus Christi
ad Inferos.
[iv] A
translation of the Apostles’ Creed is available at https://www.ccel.org/creeds/apostles.creed.html.
[v]
See Isaiah 24:21-22 or Ephesians 4:9 for more examples.
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