Destruction of the Soul

One of the ideas that has puzzled me in the Book of Mormon is that of the destruction of the soul or everlasting destruction.  Lehi mentioned this when he spoke to his sons: “That ye may not be cursed with a sore cursing; and also, that ye may not incur the displeasure of a just God upon you, unto the destruction, yea, the eternal destruction of both soul and body” (2 Nephi 1:22).  Alma spoke to the people of Ammonihah in similar terms saying, “He sendeth down his wrath upon you as in the first provocation, yea, according to his word in the last provocation as well as the first, to the everlasting destruction of your souls; therefore, according to his word, unto the last death, as well as the first.”  What does it mean to have the eternal destruction of your soul?  Alma also warned the people that the devil would “chain you down to everlasting destruction” and that some “shall be chained down to an everlasting destruction, according to the power and captivity of Satan” (Alma 12:6, 17, 36).  Mormon wrote of a time of wickedness among the Nephites and commented, “Thus we see that they were in an awful state, and ripening for an everlasting destruction” (Helaman 6:40).  Nephi the son of Helaman told the wicked people in his day, “Yea, even at this time ye are ripening, because of your murders and your fornication and wickedness, for everlasting destruction” (Helaman 8:26).  What does it mean for the soul to be destroyed or the people to have an “everlasting destruction,” when we know that “the soul could never die” (Alma 42:9)?

            To understand these verses, then, it seems that there must be a difference between destruction and death as it relates to spiritual matters.  Typically when we think of the destruction of people we think of their physical death, i.e. to say that a city is going to be destroyed we mean that the inhabitants will perish.  But spiritually since we never stop existing, it can’t be that the destruction of the soul is the death of the soul.  Perhaps this verse from Nephi’s vision of the last days helps to clarify what is meant: “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 14:3).  So here the wicked will be sent to their “utter destruction” which is, it seems to be saying, a destruction of the soul but only in the sense that they are cast “into that hell which hath no end.”  To have to suffer for one’s own sins and be kept out of the presence of God is, in some sense, a destruction of the soul because the soul is kept from the only place in which it has true life.  The Lord’s words in our dispensation about how “endless torment” and “eternal damnation” are simply punishment in God’s manner may also be applicable—an everlasting destruction of the soul may simply mean “God’s punishment” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:6-11).  To have the destruction of the soul in the way that the scriptures use the term then suggests that one must endure the punishment reserved for the wicked, meted out in the way that God, who is eternal, prescribes.