Being Mormon and Compassionate: Do Mormons think everyone else is going to hell?

Why am I thinking about this?

I recently did an internet search for the phrase "lovely, virtuous, or of good report, or praiseworthy", which comes from the 13th article of faith.  This article of faith emphasizes the Mormon belief in finding and contributing to what is joyous in life, instead of dwelling in the filth and sorrow of life.  I found an interesting blog post entitled "Why are Mormons so cool?" that was written over 3 years ago.

http://www.thedaybookblog.com/2011/09/why-are-mormons-so-cool.html

I don't know the name of the person who writes the blog, but I found her post and the comments very interesting.  One person commented that they found it surprising that Mormons believe that only Mormons will go to heaven.  A response post indicated that this isn't exactly an accurate depiction of Mormon belief.

What do Mormons Believe?

I think it's fair to say that Mormons come in a wide variety of flavors, and that among Mormons you will find some who adamantly argue that Mormons are Heaven bound and those who don't catch the Mormon bus are going to wind up missing out.  In contrast, there are some who will say that it doesn't matter what religion you choose in this life, because God is merciful and he gives everyone a chance.  I think both of these viewpoints miss the mark somewhat.  Although I will focus primarily on responding to the first, the second is equally inaccurate.

What is the Mormon Doctrine?

The doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (nicknamed Mormons) is that everyone needs to receive Jesus Christ as their savior, repent of their sins, be baptized, and be sealed to a family to enter into the highest degree of glory in the Kingdom of God.  This may seem rather unilateral and strict, but the Mormon belief continues.  We believe that people will be able to accept or reject Jesus Christ (including baptism, etc.) after their death, and that being a good person is far more important than being labeled a Mormon.  Christians (such as Mormons) who fail to live up to the standard of love and goodness set forth by the Savior in the New Testament are Christians in name only.  Although none of us can hope to be worthy of returning to the presence of God on our own, we are each capable of being worthy of the gracious gift of forgiveness offered by Jesus Christ.

I want to clarify that this isn't an excuse for honest seekers of truth to say, "Well, I don't need to investigate the truthfulness of this stuff, because if it's true, I can accept it after death."  In contrast, it is a demonstration of God's mercy.  He isn't out to eternally mess with as many people as possible.  He is doing whatever it takes to save as many as possible.  At the same time, death isn't going to change people all that much.  Someone who rejects truth because they don't like truth is different than someone who rejects truth because they had some valid reason.  A person might reject truth because it is presented to them by someone they don't trust, or because it is presented to them during a time when they aren't really ready to understand or accept it.  Should they be ETERNALLY shafted?  I think not.

It is also important to note that the church doctrine includes a concept novel to Mormons, as far as I'm aware, known as "degrees of glory."  This concept refers to the fact that, as wonderful as Heaven is, there are many different kingdoms within it.  Each kingdom will be distinct in location and population.  In essence, people will end up living with others like themselves.  To Mormons, Heaven is partially about a heavenly society, and the happiest society requires certain standards of behavior.  There can be no greater reward or punishment than to live with people like yourself.

So who gets into heaven?

In the end, I think there are two important sides of the same coin.  The first is that God expects us to do our very best.  He will accept nothing less than our very best.  We're all hoping to live together in Heaven, and yet, Heaven wouldn't be all that great if it had all the social problems that earth has.  He needs to defend the inhabitants of Heaven from the frailties of humanity, and so he has to strictly guard entry.  At the same time, none of us is good enough to earn our way into heaven, which would make Heaven a very lonely place.  As cool as I think I am, if everyone in heaven was like me, it would be mediocre at best.  Furthermore, the better any individual in a heavenly society is, the more unjust and unmerciful it would be of God to make them spend eternity with people who are harder to get along with.  So, the standard of entry increases infinitely.

So, the other side of this coin is that God has a plan.  He isn't just letting us wander around in hopes of one day becoming perfect.  In contrast to what some people believe that Mormons believe, he isn't expecting us to become perfect entirely on our own, either.  He gave us this life to improve, to learn, to practice heaven-worthy behavior, and to prove ourselves.  He also gave us the atonement of Jesus Christ to bridge that infinite gap between our current selves and the perfect person we hope to be.

Although, culturally speaking, Mormons like to say that there are no spiritual mysteries, since God doesn't want us wandering around in the dark, I'm hard pressed to explain fully how the atonement will take who I am and help me reach a state where you, the reader, would be glad to be stuck with me forever in Heaven.  I obviously couldn't reach that point on my own merits, and I don't think there's a mathematical formula for goodness where he can just add to my current goodness and suddenly I'm ready.  This is wonderous, mysterious, and very gracious.

So, do Mormons think that everyone else is going to hell?  No.  It would be more accurate to state that everyone will find happiness that far exceeds what they have on earth.  God isn't cruel, and even the worst among us will find ourselves in a better place; that doesn't mean that you or I have to hang out with jerks for eternity, though.  The degree of our happiness will be based on our ability to accept true happiness, and our heavenly companionship will be based on our ability to be a good companion.  However, there is, of logical necessity, going to be a big difference between people who try their best, and those who also use the unfathomable power of the atonement of Jesus Christ to bridge the infinite gap from good to perfect.