Thoughts on Endless Torment
I remember being troubled by the idea of “endless torment” which you sometimes see crop up in the scriptures. I always pictured God as a Heavenly Father whose love is much greater than our own. I remember reading “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in high school. There’s a lot of . . . vivid imagery in that sermon. The image that sticks out the most from reading that back in high school came from the following paragraph:
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. . . .” (see “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, July 8, 1741.)
That didn’t seem like the God I knew. Perhaps I am loathsome, perhaps His pure eyes can’t abide the sight of my sins, etc. While I won’t criticize Jonathan Edwards for his sermon, I will say that it doesn’t seem compatible with what I’ve been taught and what I’ve come to feel and know about God.
This morning while I was studying the first chapter of Preach My Gospel, I was referenced to Mosiah 28:3, where I found another reference to “endless torment.” As I pondered upon the passage, I came to what I feel is a better understanding of Godly punishment. I think that the worst kind of punishment would be being cut off from His loving presence.
What is endless torment if not being separated from God? I don’t think that scriptural torment is burning in a fiery pit or being pierced in the flesh by a million nails; that isn’t the God I’ve come to know through my prayer and scripture study. I feel that the greatest punishment will be self-punishment; the pain of being separated from a Father whose love is so powerful as to be uncomprehendable.
In a short video published by the Church entitled The Restoration, Joseph Smith, Sr. tells a young Joseph Smith, Jr. that he doesn’t believe God only intends to save a few of His children. Indeed, He intends to save all of us. But we won’t be able to abide His presence if we haven’t prepared ourselves to be judged of Him. I don’t think it will be Him that keeps us out, it will be our own selves. And if that happens, we will live out of the presence of Heavenly Father. That, to me, is endless torment.
