5 Ways to Avoid Paying for Your Own Sins

In my theology, which is based on the revelation Joseph Smith received concerning the three degrees of glory, there are three places to wait after death until the final judgment. Almost all Mormons take Joseph's vision of the afterlife to mean there are 3 potential kingdoms for the vast majority of people and a place called "outer darkness" for the foolish few. 

I agree with Joseph's revelation that for GOD to be just the has to be more than just the two possible outcomes of heaven and hell. I also agree with Avraham Gileadi's ideas that Isaiah posits 7 possible layers to the afterlife. The point of this post is to get people to avoid the nightmare scenario I wrote about in my last piece, which is ending up in hell, regardless of whether there are 2, 3, 4, 7 or 99 possible places when we die.

Tucked away in Doctrine  and Covenants section 76 are phrases about "hell", "spirit prison", and "paradise". I believe these 3 places to be a temporary stop after we die where a partial judgement takes place. I also believe that anyone living an obviously above average life of service, can avoid Hell altogether, without necessarily qualifying for the top spot afterwards. Whether that top Heaven is called Celestial, "Celestial Plus", Kolob or Xanadu, that kind of reward is for the few that are chosen out of the many that are called.

Since I am a slightly above average person at best, and a below average person at worst  I have always been concerned with avoiding even a temporary stay in hell between death and resurrection. If I am truly average, I am risking having to pay for my own sins, because GOD will not be mocked. GOD's best child did not come here to give everyone a free pass to do whatever they want, whenever they want, for as long as they want. The bill will come due at some point, and GOD usually waits until we are dead to give us enough rope to hang ourselves, or enough time to repent.

1. Believe in JESUS and never deny that belief. This is not enough by itself, but it is a start. Satan believes there is a godly personage named JESUS. Satan was too proud to believe his superior brother was the right choice for Savior of planet Earth. Satan just does the opposite of what JESUS would do in any situation so he gets to be the proprietor of hell and outer darkness. I believe Outer Darkness to mean that you decide through you behavior that you will not accept JESUS as the true GOD of this sphere no matter what. 

2. Serve people inside of your "family and friends circle" more than they serve you. This is still, not enough but we are making progress. Be a better friend, be a better parent, be a better neighbor, and stop trying to keep up with the Jones on Facebook. 

3. Love your enemies. Love them enough that you would rather they killed you, instead of  you killing them. Proclaim peace to avoid contention. Try to make your enemies your friends. We all we sired by the same 2 Holy Beings in Heaven. We all share the same spiritual mother and father. It is awe inspiriting to me that the Most High God loves sinful me as much as He loves sinless JESUS. We are not going to get the same blessings, but we get the same support. GOD could easily have decreed that only people who never sin get to return to his Kingdom, but he selflessly allowed imperfect people to repent until they could act perfectly.

4. Do what your conscience tells you to do in every situation. Don't worry if you ignored this literal Holy Spirit inside of you before today, just start doing what it persuades you to do from now on. For more of this idea, go to upwardthought.com, Rob Smith's blog or better yet read all of his books.

5. Share whatever excess you have with those poorer than yourself. Above all do not share your abundance with a church. Helping the least of these, we help you in the long run avoid a fate worse than death.

I am sure there are numerous other ways to avoid hell. If we truly love GOD above all else, and other people as much as we love ourselves, everything else will fall into place.

5 Easy Ways to Damn Yourself

Here are what I consider to be the 5 best ways to limit your eternal progress.

1. Take life. Kill someone for any reason with the exceptions of self-defense and GOD asking you to (think Nephi and Laban). The Book of Mormon seems to make it possible to repent of lives taken during warfare, but I am glad I have not had to make that decision. 

I think Cain and Abel are placed near the beginning of the Bible, even though they were not Eve's first children, and probably not even in the first few generations of children, in order to point out the easiest and fastest way to lose your salvation. 

Take life and end your own spiritual life.

2. Refuse to give life (women) or refuse to take care of life (men). Women who can have children and do not may not got to Hell, but they are also not going anywhere near where JESUS is currently residing. I am a resigned Mormon but I still believe in the varieties of Heaven revealed to Joseph Smith. There are at least 4 major areas where we could end up, and within those 4 are almost certainly other divisions. Joseph Smith revealed there were 3 levels housed within the top kingdom.

I will leave the fate of women who have had abortions with the One True Judge JESUS. Only He and His Father, The GOD MOST HIGH knows what is in a women's heart and mind.

I would not, however, want to be a man who forced a women to have an abortion. 

Men who could marry and prefer being selfish bachelors, or who father children and then abandon them will end up in the same post-mortal metro areas as other selfish beings.  I believe JESUS covers the sins of people of at least Terrestrial level righteousness, meaning people making ansincere effort to do their best regardless of their circumstances. Imagine if just the decision to not get married when you could have, mandates that you first suffer for your own sins, and then end up with the self-centered people of the telestial kingdom. I guess you could spend your time describing how awful it was to pay for your sins and compare notes with your nonsensical neighbors.

3. Deny the CHRIST. Not believing in JESUS is bad enough. Going out of your way to make sure others know how foolish you are and then trying to convince them to join you in that rejection is spiritual suicide.

4.  Trust in the flesh,. Do not follow a man or woman in place of JESUS. There are a couple of possibly legitimate prophets these days. No real servants GOD would require anyone to worship them, or accept they say as truth. Ask GOD what is true. Never trust a fellow human, especially me.

5. Be the One Served, rather than the one serving. JESUS came down here to this miserable place to save anyone audacious enough to emulate him.. 99 percent of all other people who attained power in world history used their position to control others and be served. If you spend your days acting like Satan, you are certainly going to end up in his dominion when you die. 

There are hundreds of ways to end up with a less than ideal afterlife, but these 5 seem to be this planet's particular preferences for damning one's self.