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SISTER K- I must disagree with you on your concept of hell. I have come to the conclusion that it IS a place of unimaginable pain, suffering and torment where unrepentant sinners and Atheists are plunged into rivers, pits and lakes of fire and are constantly tormented and tortured by grotesque demons and giant worms that invade every orifice of their bodies. (Just like the scriptures warn us.)
http://www.freecdtracts.com/heavenandhell.htm
I have included here (above), a link to the near-death experiences, dreams, visions and out of body experiences that many people have had, mostly other Christians, and also some Atheists. In particular, please read the account of the "Seven Colombian Youths," who were taken to hell (and heaven) by Jesus Christ himself and do a 'search' for these youths on You Tube. They are very convincing.
Unfortunately, few LDS believe or understand this concept of the reality of hell and this bothers me deeply as so many members of the Church in every ward I know of are inactive. A friend of mine (former GD teacher) once saw a vision of his wife falling down, down, down into a pit of burning fire (she had been excommunicated at the time) and shortly afterwards, he saw a similar vision of his teenage daughter (who was inactive) falling backwards and down, surrounded by flames of fire, screaming. He was awake and standing in the living room at the time and was so startled and afraid. l was staying with the family at the time. The wife has since been re-baptized (altho they divorced) and the daughter is now active and married.
It's hard to believe that a whole other world exists where millions/billions of people/spirits are suffering exquisite mental/spiritual and physical pain right this minute. Hell has been described to be at or near the center of the earth. Billions of evil spirits (who have actually had their appearances changed) are now the demons of Satan and their aim is to cause as many of us as possible to fail this life, and then to torture us in hell before they themselves are condemned there for Eternity. There are billions of them and they know that their time is short.
I hope you check out this incredible link and read the stories. I would like to know your thoughts on this. Acts 2 & Joel 2 tell of latter-day visions, dreams, etc that many will have in the last days.
JOEL - All I can say is that you have your opinion and I have mine. Please understand that my opinion is not just based on my own feelings on the subject but is also based on our LDS scriptures and the inspired understandings of our church leaders.
Those visions and out of body experiences others have had may or may not be actual events; and even if they are, they are meant for the personal edification of the one having the expereince and should be treated figuratively rather than literal. Such experiences by Church members are not meant to represent official LDS doctrine on this subject.
At this moment in time, the spirits of all who have died so far are in the spirit world. How can a "whole other world exists where millions/billions of people/spirits are suffering exquisite mental/spiritual and physical pain", when they haven't been resurrected yet with a physical body?
Even those cast into outer darkness will not experience "physical pain" because they have no bodies.
The spiritual condition of all unrepentent sinners is described metaphorically as a lake of unquenchable fire and brimstone and as "a worm [that] dieth not"
(Jacob 6:10; D&C 76:44). They will be "vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God" (D&C 76:33). God's wrath will originate within them when they contrast his holiness and majesty with their own filthiness (2 Ne. 9:14; Alma 12:14-17; Morm. 9:4-5; TPJS, p. 361).
Joseph Smith explained how the above scriptures should be understood:
"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 brimstones" (Teachings of the Prophet J.S, p. 357.)
A small measure of this torment comes upon the minds and spirits of unrepentant people who find themselves in spirit prison now and to an even smaller degree to those who obtain a level of heaven short of exaltation after the resurrection. The full measure of it will never end for those cast into outer darkness.
Refering to these spirits D&C 76 says:
31 Thus saith the Lord concerning all those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my power—
32 They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born;
33 For they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity;
34 Concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come—
35 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.
36 These are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels—
37 And the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power;
38 Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath.
39 For all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb, who was slain, who was in the bosom of the Father before the worlds were made.
40 And this is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us—
41 That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness;
42 That through him all might be saved whom the Father had put into his power and made by him;
43 Who glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands, except those sons of perdition who deny the Son after the Father has revealed him.
44 Wherefore, he saves all except them—they shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment—
45 And the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows;
46 Neither was it revealed, neither is, neither will be revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof; (D&C 76: 31-46)
Here it explains that the only ones who will know and experience the full measure of the unquenchable fires of hell are those sons of perdition who find themselves with Satan in outer darkness (verses 36 and 46). Very few in the history of this earth will qualify for this. It will not apply to most inactive church members or even athiests. Notice that God says He saves all except the sons of perdition (verse 44).
John the Revelator represents the redeemed as "a great multitude which no man could number":
"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." (Rev 7:9)
suggesting that most all will receive some sort of salvation in heaven.
It is my personal opinion that those experiences you refer to are nothing more than either stories that people made up to get attention, hallucinations from their own minds, or that they were true personal experiences that were meant to teach them something in a figurative sense.
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