Mormonism and Christianity teach vastly different things about the afterlife. In Mormonism, all men are given general salvation through Christ’s atonement. Because of what Christ accomplished, everyone will go to one of the three “kingdoms of glory.”
Christians have historically taught that there are only two possible options for us in eternity: to dwell with all the saints in the presence of God forever—heaven, or to be condemned to the eternal “lake of fire”—hell.
But which system is true?
The LDS View
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that all of us have “salvation” from physical death. Because of His atonement, we’ll all be resurrected into one of three different eternal resting places—sometimes called “kingdoms” or “degrees” of glory. According to the LDS Church’s website, the kingdom we will receive “will depend on the depth of our conversion, expressed by our obedience to the Lord’s commandments.” 1
The highest kingdom, called “the celestial kingdom,” is the reward for those who lived a worthy life faithfully devoted to celestial law (D&C 78:7). To reach this kingdom, people must keep their covenants and receive the saving ordinances of the Gospel. It’s the kingdom reserved for children who died before reaching an age of accountability and for those who died without ever having knowledge of the LDS gospel (D&C 137:7, 10).
This “celestial glory” is further divided into three tiers, the highest of which is reserved only for those who have attained the highest levels of godliness and have been married and sealed in a LDS temple.
The LDS Church website notes, “To inherit this gift, we must receive the ordinances of salvation, keep the commandments, and repent of our sins”.2
The terrestrial kingdom is the second kingdom, and is reserved for those who rejected the LDS Gospel but later accepted it in Spirit Prison (D&C 76:73-74), for those who died without the law (D&C 76:72), and for those who were “not valiant” in their testimony of Jesus (D&C 76:79).
Those in the terrestrial kingdom will dwell in the presence of Jesus, but will not dwell in the full presence of Heavenly Father. According to Joseph Smith, many people here “are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men” (D&C 76:75).
The lowest kingdom is called the “telestial kingdom.” It’s the eternal resting place for those who never received the Gospel or a testimony of Jesus (D&C 76:82), those who lie and those who love lies, and adulterers, sorcerers, and other such sinners (D&C 76:103).
The telestial kingdom will be cut off from the permanent presence of both Heavenly Father and Jesus.
Those who once had a sure testimony of Jesus but later rejected that testimony will be sent to “outer darkness” (D&C 76:35). These people, sometimes called sons of perdition, will dwell there along with a third of our spirit siblings who rebelled against God in the preexistence—Satan and all the demons (D&C 76:36). There is no forgiveness for these people (D&C 76:34).
The Traditional Christian View
The Bible speaks often of final judgement—the day when God will judge everyone. The Book of Revelation describes it like this:
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” (Revelation 20:11–12).
Jesus Himself spoke about this final judgment during His ministry on earth:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left … Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’ … And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-33,41, 46).
You have two groups here: the sheep, and the goats. The cursed goats will depart into an eternal fire; the righteous into eternal life. The Bible only ever describes these two possible outcomes for judgement. There is never a reference to different levels of heaven that we can earn based on what kind of law we kept.
What is Heaven?
Heaven, technically, is the spiritual realm where believers in Christ will go after death. Jesus calls it “paradise.” In heaven, Christians dwell in the presence of the Father awaiting their future bodily resurrection.
Under the Old Testament system, heaven was represented on earth in the Holy of Holies—the centermost room in the tabernacle and temple. After Jesus died, the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the tabernacle was torn. By doing this, God showed that Jesus’ death allowed all of God’s people to dwell in His presence (cf. Hebrews 9).
But heaven is not actually our final resting place. After the resurrection and final judgment, Christians will live in the “New Heavens and New Earth”; the apostle John depicts this as a physical place—a heavenly city that descends to earth. It’s the place where
“…the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4).
Those in this New Heaven and New Earth will receive an inheritance. They’ll reign with Christ over everything that God has created, have resurrected bodies just like Jesus has (no more subject to pain, sickness, or death), and they will forever delight in the presence of God. There will be no distinction here; every single person from every tribe, tongue, and nation who has saving faith in Jesus will together dwell where “the throne of God and of the Lamb.“ (Revelation 7:9; 22:1-4).
The thing that will make the New Heaven/Earth so glorious is the presence of God. It’s what Adam and Eve lost in the Garden of Eden. It’s what the tabernacle and temple foreshadowed. In God’s presence, we will forever experience the fullness of joy.
“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11).
“Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!” (Psalm 84:4).
What is Hell?
Because heaven is defined by God’s presence; hell is defined by separation from Him. When Christians hear about the LDS view of three different kingdoms of heaven, it doesn’t seem very heavenly to us. If we’re forever separated from the glorious presence of God in the lower kingdoms, we’re essentially in hell.
Jesus actually spoke more about hellish judgment than he did the blessings of heaven. He described a future “Lake of Fire” that was “designed for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). It’s where Satan will inevitably be cast; where he will be “tormented day and night, forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10).
When you read the Gospels, you find that Jesus often warns people about the real danger of “that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:50).
Paul writes of those under God’s wrath: “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.“ (2 Thessalonians 1:9).
Revelation elsewhere tells us “he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:10-11).
In the Old Testament, Isaiah described this scene like this: “Their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24).
This “Second Death” is a place of eternal, unceasing, conscious torment, and it’s a very real danger for mankind. Revelation 21 tells us, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8).
Jesus even warns that many will be sent there. Very few will enter the “narrow” gate leading to heaven, most people will enter the “wide” gate leading to everlasting destruction (Matthew 7:13–14).
Hell is a danger for you and I because we are all sinners. We are the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, the murders, the sexually immoral, the liars. If entrance into the celestial kingdom depends on our covenant keeping and obedience to celestial laws—none of us will ever make it. And this is why we need a way to enter into God’s presence that doesn’t depend on our worthiness.
And that’s the hope of the Gospel. The Book of Romans frames its entire explanation of the “Good News” as the solution to the problem of God’s wrath (Romans 1:18). It explains that every single human on earth—man, woman, Jew, Gentile—all are destined for judgment. Why? Because all are unrighteous and ungodly: “None is righteous, no, not one…no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12).
And that’s why the Gospel is so glorious. Ungodly sinners can enter into God’s presence, even despite being unrighteous. We can be declared righteous through faith in Jesus (Romans 4:4-5).
The Gospel Gives Us Hope
Jesus says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).
Jesus presents two options: perishing or eternal life. If we believe in Jesus, we will not perish. A few chapters later, He says, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24).
Gaining entrance into heaven is not a reward based on one’s baptism, membership in a particular church, or any good work that could be performed. Instead, it is based solely on what Jesus did for His people.
That’s why Paul wrote the following: “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that…that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:9, 12).
So, what happens after final judgement? It’s serious, yet simple. Those who do not believe in Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins will spend eternity away from God in hell, and all those who do believe will dwell with God, forever.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36).