Mormons believe in a temporary hell prior to the resurrections and the permanent hell called Outer Darkness.
They also teach that the righteous shall dwell in everlasting burnings:
Moses described God as a "consuming fire" (
Deut. 4:24), his glory consuming everything corrupt and unholy (
D&C 63:34;
101:23-24). The Prophet Joseph Smith explained, "God Almighty Himself dwells in eternal fire; flesh and blood cannot go there, for all corruption is devoured by the fire," but a resurrected being, "flesh and bones quickened by the Spirit of God," can (
Tpjs, pp. 326, 367; cf.
Luke 24:36-43;
1 Cor. 15:50). Heaven, not hell, is the realm of everlasting burnings, a view contrasting with the popular conception of hell as a place of fire, brimstone, and searing heat. Heat is a characteristic of God's glory (
D&C 133:41-44).
Only those cleansed from physical and moral corruption can endure immortal glory (
3 Ne. 27:19;
Moses 6:57;
TPJS, p. 351). Hence, Isaiah rhetorically asked, "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" (
Isa. 33:14). Joseph Smith taught, "All men who are immortal (i.e., resurrected beings in any of the degrees of glory) dwell in everlasting burnings" (
TPJS, pp. 347, 361, 367). Resurrected bodies are qualitatively different according to their glory (
1 Cor. 15:39-44;
D&C 88:28-32).
Burnings, Everlasting - The Encyclopedia of Mormonism
2 Nephi 9
10 O how great the
goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our
escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster,
death and
hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit.
11 And because of the way of
deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this
death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave.
12 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 espirits, 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.
13 O how great the
plan of our God! For on the other hand, the
paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is
restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and
immortal, and they are living souls, having a
perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect.
14 Wherefore, we shall have a
perfect bknowledge of all our
guilt, and our
uncleanness, and our
nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their
righteousness, being
clothed with
purity, yea, even with the
robe of righteousness.
15 And it shall come to pass that when all men shall have passed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the
judgment-seat of the Holy One of Israel; and then cometh the
judgment, and then must they be judged according to the holy judgment of God.
16 And assuredly, as the Lord liveth, for the Lord God hath spoken it, and it is his eternal
word, which cannot
pass away, that they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are
filthy shall be
filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the
devil and his angels; and they shall go away into
everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their
torment is
as a
lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end.
17 O the greatness and the
justice of our God! For he executeth all his words, and they have gone forth out of his mouth, and his law must be
fulfilled.
2 Nephi 9
