The Destruction of the Soul

Alma said this to the people of Ammonihah: “And now, my brethren, behold I say unto you, that if ye will harden your hearts ye shall not enter into the rest of the Lord; therefore your iniquity provoketh him that 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” (Alma 12:36). This idea of the destruction of the soul seems very odd at first, because we know that our souls will live forever. But other scriptures use similar language. For example, Lehi said 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). Here again he suggested that there could be some kind of destruction that could come upon the soul. Alma also said to Korihor: “But behold, it is better that thy soul should be lost than that thou shouldst be the means of bringing many souls down to destruction, by thy lying and by thy flattering words; therefore if thou shalt deny again, behold God shall smite thee, that thou shalt become dumb, that thou shalt never open thy mouth any more, that thou shalt not deceive this people any more” (Alma 30:47). Again Alma taught that if the people chose wickedness their souls could face destruction. In this dispensation, the Savior warned Oliver Cowdery that his enemies could “bring your soul to destruction” (Doctrine and Covenants 8:4). The Lord also warned about the wicked that “Satan stirreth them up, that he may lead their souls to destruction” (Doctrine and Covenants 10:22). So what do all these passages mean about the destruction of the soul?

The destruction of the soul clearly can’t mean that the soul somehow disappears from existence. As Alma also taught, “The soul could never die” (Alma 42:9). I think this passage from Nephi clarifies what is meant when the scriptures speak of the destruction of the soul: “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). Here Nephi suggested that the destruction of the soul is the casting of the soul into hell, and the phrasing to me indicates that he wanted to use the term without implying a type of destruction that would make the thing totally disappear. In other words, the destruction of the soul is the suffering that one must make for their own sins when they refuse to repent and receive the grace of Jesus Christ who “suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:16). When a building is “destroyed” the pieces all still exist, but they go from being organized cohesively to disorganized and in chaos. Perhaps we can think of the destruction of the soul-the suffering by one for their own sins-in the same way: the soul is in chaos because of the intense suffering for wickedness. Whatever the phrase is meant to represent exactly, the take away for each of us is clear: we need to repent and follow the Savior so this destruction does not come upon us. Alma’s warning to the people of Ammonihah was fulfilled physically first: “The Lamanites shall be sent upon you; and if ye repent not they shall come in a time when you know not, and ye shall be visited with utter destruction; and it shall be according to the fierce anger of the Lord” (Alma 9:18). That was perhaps meant to represent the chaos that would likewise come to their souls when these wicked people experienced the suffering of their own sins. Their sad story should motivate us to avoid that kind of destruction and instead follow Alma’s invitation: “Let us repent, and harden not our hearts, that we provoke not the Lord our God to pull down his wrath upon us in these his second commandments which he has given unto us; but let us enter into the rest of God, which is prepared according to his word” (Alma 12:37).