Today's teaching tells us that there is a terrestrial heaven and a telestial heaven for those who do not attain to the celestial heaven and reach exaltation. However the Book of Mormon does not group people this way. The book of Mormon only talks about those who repent and those who do not. There is only a celestial heaven for those who hear the law and repent and a hell for those who do not repent. Alma 34:35-36 says, "For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to he spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked. And this I know, because the Lord hath said he dwelleth not in unholy temples, but in the hearts of the righteous doth he dwell; yea, and he has also said that the righteous shall sit down in his kingdom, to go no more out; but their garments should be made white through the blood of the Lamb." Many believe that we will have more opportunities after this life. Alma 34:33 answers this question: "...I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until he end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed." Alma 34:32 says the same thing: "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." .
Many have an "I'm OK, you're OK" attitude about eternity. 2 Nephi 28:21 warns us about this: "And others will he (the devil) pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well - and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell."
Some say that hell is just a mental state. Others say that if we do not progress, become all we can be and return to God, then we will always be frustrated that we did not reach our highest - exaltation. So we will be in torment, knowing we could have done better. Some people who believe in hell, think it is a place where only a handful of souls will go. 2 Nephi 28:22-23 warns us about this: "And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none; and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance. Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment."
Contrary to some modern teaching, the book of Mormon doesn't really have a gray area. It is black and white. Either you repent in this life time and are saved to the Celestial heaven or you do not repent and are headed for destruction.
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