Mosiah 3:25


“And if they be evil they are consigned to an awful view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment, from whence they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls.”

The angel now transitions the message to King Benjamin forward to the time of the final judgment. In that setting he suggests a scene to the unrepentant. Before looking at the words, however, why do you suppose the description is from the vantage point of the damned? Why not from the vantage point of the saved? The final three verses of the message are all viewed from failure, rather than from success. Why?

Is this “negative?”

Does this make you think the angel is offensive? He doesn’t “have the Spirit” with him? That you “don’t get a good feeling” when you listen to his words?

Do you think the angel should be ignored because he makes you “feel bad” by the things he speaks? Would you prefer to hear a “more positive message” Things like this just “can’t be from God” because of how they make you “feel?”

If this is an angel from God speaking, and the above questions reflect your attitude about a message warning you to repent, then perhaps it is your attitude that is wrong – not the angel or his message. Perhaps the annoyance of being awakened from your deep sleep is worth the angel telling you in unmistakable and harsh terms that you are about to be lost if you do not repent. Perhaps the angel would prefer to deliver a hopeful, even lighthearted message, but the words orignate from God. God’s efforts are to bring you to immortality and eternal life. (Moses 1: 39.) Maybe God has a better view of our awful state than do we.

The angel speaks in terms of:
-“consigned to an awful view”
What does this suggest? What would be “awful” about failing to repent? Why is it a “view?” What will we “see” in that day?

-“own guilt and abominations”
Why guilt? What “abominations” attach to every soul who does not repent? Why is religious error, pride in believing falsehoods, and failure to repent always an “abomination?”

-“doth cause them to shrink”
Isn’t this the same agony Christ experience in Gethsemane? (D&C 19: 18.) Why would you “shrink” from the presence of God? What does “shrink” mean?

-“into a state of misery”
Why would you want to withdraw into a state of misery? What is it about failing to repent that causes you to behave this way when judged by God?

-“endless torment from which there can be no return”
Why is this the formula to describe the reaction? (D&C 19: 6-12.) What is it about this experience that will last forever in the mind of anyone who suffers it? (D&C 19: 15-18.) Why would this haunt the person forevermore? Even if it came to an end at some point, why are you “unable to return” from that experience? What trauma is caused by this that can be avoided by repenting?

-“drunk damnation to their souls”
Why this graphic description? What is it about this experience that makes the very soul be damned by the ordeal?

Is the angel overreacting? Is this terrible assortment of adjectives necesssary? Why would God send an angel with this message to King Benjamin (and to us)?