I have often struggled to grasp how Joseph Smith could be so self-centered and manipulative at times yet put into the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants so many verses encouraging compassion and egalitarian equality.
First, everybody is complex. Second, Joseph Smith was synthesizing everything around him and so it makes sense that like an AI program, he'd include a lot of New Testament ideas on how all are one in Christ, etc. After all, as a preacher that was his new career after all, his job was now quoting and interpreting the Bible.
The issue was solved in my mind when I considered how the Book of Mormon is very manipulative in its use of Hellfire and Brimstone language. D&C 19 was composed in 1829 before the publication of the Book of Mormon and admits that the hell threats were meant to manipulate, the word hell being "more express than other scriptures, that it might work upon the hearts of the children of men, ..." (verse 7). That is not exactly compassionate, kind of a "dick" thing to do to his readers who at the time in the 1820s and 1830s lived in an environment where most people believed in hell. So we know that Joseph Smith was intending the hell threats to cause psychological terror (again, "that it might work upon the hearts of the children of men") in order to induce conversion, especially when according to Dan Vogel, Joseph Smith was a Christian Universalist all along when composing the Book of Mormon. This means that Smith was lying about hell to manipulate his readers, intending to cause psychological stress and harm in order to mentally coerce them to convert. We see the same manipulative mind control tactics later on when he manipulates women into becoming his plural wives through the threat that the girl's failure to comply would result in her and her family not entering the celestial kingdom.
The article Nehor’s Universalism Problem—and Ours by Michael Austin points out:
... Universalism was almost as controversial on the American frontier as Mormonism. The doctrine of universal salvation was roundly criticized by Catholics, who believe that baptism is required for salvation, and by most Protestants, who believed that those who did not believe in of follow Christ would be damned to the biblical hell. But the strongest rejection came from the moral pragmatists, who argued that that the idea of hell is necessary to keep people from doing bad stuff[1]. Pretty much everybody hated the Universalists.
Including, it seems, the Nephite Church. Through Nehor, the Book of Mormon condemns Universalism in terms that most nineteenth-century Christians would immediately recognize. Nehor preaches the standard 19th century Universalist shtick and, as if to prove that Universalism is a slippery slope to murder (because, hey, why should anyone refrain from killing people if there is no hell to burn in for all of eternity) kills a popular Nephite hero named Gideon who tries to stop him.
Note the deceptiveness on the part of Joseph Smith as a marketer of the Book of Mormon here. Smith secretly believes in Universalism but in order to make his book marketable and influence his readers to convert, he goes so far to as to create evil characters who are Universalists!
The article The Concept of Hell by Larry E. Dahl covers just how often hell is mentioned in the Book of Mormon and how a permanent hell is mentioned. To make this point even stronger here are several verses from the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith composed while he personally did not believe what he was preaching in the text, but saying all of this about hell to cause fear and stress and manipulate his readers. The LDS Guide to the Scriptures under Hell lists these verses:
Go into hell, into that fire that never shall be quenched, (Mosiah 2:38).
The rich man in hell lifts up his eyes, being in torment, (D&C 104:18).
There is a place prepared, yea, even that awful hell, 1 Ne. 15:35.
The will of the flesh giveth the spirit of the devil power to bring us down to hell, 2 Ne. 2:29.
Christ prepared the way for our deliverance from death and hell, 2 Ne. 9:10–12.
Those who remain filthy go into everlasting torment, 2 Ne. 9:16.
The devil cheateth their souls and leadeth them away carefully down to hell, 2 Ne. 28:21.
Jesus hath redeemed my soul from hell, 2 Ne. 33:6.
Loose yourselves from the pains of hell, Jacob 3:11.
To be taken captive by the devil and led by his will to destruction are the chains of hell, Alma 12:11.
The wicked are cast into outer darkness until the time of their resurrection, Alma 40:13–14.
The filthy would be more miserable to dwell with God than to dwell in hell, Morm. 9:4.
This website rightly points out that Smith was indeed threatening his readers with an eternal hell:
The Book of Mormon and the Eternality of Hell
... the following Book of Mormon passages speak of the eternality of hell for not only the most wicked but for anyone and everyone who either rejects the gospel of Jesus Christ during their mortal life – who or fails to live up to it’s demands.
1 Nephi 14:3:
And that great pit, which hath been digged for them by that great and abominable church, which was founded by the devil and his children, that he might lead away the souls of men down to hell — yea, that great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction, saith the Lamb of God; not the destruction of the soul, save it be the casting of it into that hell which hath no end.
1 Nephi 15:29, 35:
And I said unto them that it was a representation of that awful hell, which the angel said unto me was prepared for the wicked…
And there is a place prepared, yea, even that awful hell of which I have spoken, and the devil is the preparator of it; wherefore the final state of the souls of men is to dwell in the kingdom of God, or to be cast out because of that justice of which I have spoken.
2 Nephi 2:29:
And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom.
2 Nephi 9:12, 19:
And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel…
O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.
2 Nephi 28:19-23:
For the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains, and they be stirred up to anger, and perish;
For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.
And others will he 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.
And behold, others he [the devil] 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.
Jacob 7:18:
And he spake plainly unto them, that he had been deceived by the power of the devil. And he spake of hell, and of eternity, and of eternal punishment.
Alma 5:6-10:
And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?
Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them.
And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, they were not.
And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved.
And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?
Helaman 6:28:
And also it is that same being who put it into the hearts of the people to build a tower sufficiently high that they might get to heaven. And it was that same being who led on the people who came from that tower into this land; who spread the works of darkness and abominations over all the face of the land, until he dragged the people down to an entire destruction, and to an everlasting hell.
Moroni 8:13:
Wherefore, if little children could not be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless hell.
Supporting Book of Mormon Texts
And while the following verses do not speak of the actual eternality of hell, they lend additional proof that “hell” [as taught by] the alleged prophet “Mormon”, formed a book that speaks so extensively about the subject. This is not an exhaustive list.
2 Nephi 1:15:
But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.
2 Nephi 24:15:
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
2 Nephi 26:10:
And when these things have passed away a speedy destruction cometh unto my people; for, notwithstanding the pains of my soul, I have seen it; wherefore, I know that it shall come to pass; and they sell themselves for naught; for, for the reward of their pride and their foolishness they shall reap destruction; for because they yield unto the devil and choose works of darkness rather than light, therefore they must go down to hell.
2 Nephi 28:15:
O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!
2 Nephi 33:6:
I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell.
Jacob 3:11:
O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of hell that ye may not become angels to the devil, to be cast into that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death.
Alma 13:30:
And may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not bring down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be bound down by the chains of hell, that ye may not suffer the second death.
Alma 14:6:
And it came to pass that Zeezrom was astonished at the words which had been spoken; and he also knew concerning the blindness of the minds, which he had caused among the people by his lying words; and his soul began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of his own guilt; yea, he began to be encircled about by the pains of hell.
Alma 26:13-14:
Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?
Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell.
3 Nephi 12:22, 30:
But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of his judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire… For it is better that ye should deny yourselves of these things, wherein ye will take up your cross, than that ye should be cast into hell.
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