We read the following in D&C 19:6-7:
It is not written that there shall be no end to this torment, but it is written endless torment. . . . it is written eternal damnation
On the surface, this doesn’t make sense. Jesus is saying that the scriptures don’t say there shall be no end to the “weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth” of those consigned to damnation (see verse 5). Yet he also says the scriptures say there will be endless torment.
How can it be with an end and endless at the same time? It seems like a mystery.
Luckily, he says in verse 8: I will explain unto you this mystery. The explanation follows in verses 10?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú12:
I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand is endless punishment, for Endless is my name. Wherefore, eternal punishment is God?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s punishment. Endless punishment is God?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s punishment.
It seems then that Jesus is saying there’s no such thing as unending punishment in the afterlife. In other words, punishment in the afterlife has an end.
This is interesting when we take verses 16?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú17 into consideration:
I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; but if they would not repent they must suffer even as I.
All this brings a question to mind.
If Jesus’s suffering redeemed those of us who repented, does that mean the suffering of the unrepentant will eventually redeem them since the suffering will have an end? If so, will they have the opportunity to change kingdoms after they are redeemed?
Can someone who is consigned to the Telestial Kingdom for murder redeem himself through his own suffering and then go on to inherit the Celestial Kingdom?
Progression from kingdom to kingdom (known derisively as “kingdom jumping”) is one of McConkie’s “deadly heresies”. (see here).
However, I’ve never believed that talk and have always felt that progression might be possible. I have no issue, either, with the idea that you’d never catch up to the Celestial folks if you were in the lower kingdom. [It’s not a race, is it?]
My main reason for belief (or hope) that progression is possible is that there doesn’t seem much for the folks in the lower kingdoms to be doing for eternity. The Celestial folks go to build worlds, or be angels and so on. But what do the Terrestial and Telestial spend time doing?
I think that section 19 refers to the sons of perdition. Christ leads us into the understanding with the specifics of dealing with those who remain unrepentant by the time final judgment rolls around. Those who fail to repent by the final judgment will “have to suffer like Christ” because the atonement will not cover them.
As for kingdom jumping- YOU BET!!! We are all in the process of kingdom jumping right now. We are currently in the Telestial kingdom and we are going to jump from here into the Terrestrial kingdom when Christ returns. From there we will jump into the Celestial Kingdom at the end of the millennium.
Personally I doubt that the two lower kingdoms even exist after final judgment so all will be in the celestial participating in the many workings of the Gods.
“But what do the Terrestial and Telestial spend time doing?”
Partying, I expect. No job – plenty of time on your hands … why not? On the up side, there are going to be a lot more people to talk to in this kingdom that the highest.
“…I doubt that the two lower kingdoms even exist after final judgment…”
Wow. That’s a pretty easy way to ease your conscious of any guilt from being better than someone in the hereafter. Also a bit heretical, no?
The Nephites had no prblem of embracing the one heaven model. Even Christ himself had no problem of embracing the one heaven model.
Heretical? I guess only time will tell, but I am pretty sure that us mormons have heaven misrepresented.