Traditional ideas about hell (and also purgatory) are all about punishment for sin, a punishment that God inflicts, and which punishment creates suffering.* However, that is an earthly concept of the nature of authoritative response to sin or bad behavior. We know that God is not earthly, He is heavenly, and though He may become angry when we indulge in destructive and/or heard-hearted sin, He is not vindictive. Vindictive behavior is contrary to the very nature of heaven. In reality, the suffering in "hell" is not God-inflicted, it is the natural, logical consequences of sin.
Sin in our lives, for which we are unrepentant, does cause us to experience suffering whether we currently are in this life or in the next. Sometimes it is the suffering of remorse when we recognize our sin. Sometimes it is the suffering of the natural consequences of that sin. Sometimes it is the suffering that comes when justice is meted out. And all of those kinds of suffering are what is referred to when we speak of suffering for sin in the life after this one, as well as in this life.
It is important to remember that each of those different kinds of suffering ultimately causes us to experience enough distress to make us reconsider what we have done, what the consequences have been, and whether we wish to continue embracing our sin, or instead, repent and change, look to Christ, embrace the gift of His atonement, and live.
Sometimes our recognition of sin is quick and so our repentance is quick, and our embracing of the atonement of Christ is quick, and the release from suffering comes soon. Sometimes our learning to recognize sin is quick but our wanting to repent is slow, and so we delay our repentance and our embracing of the atonement of Christ. And sometimes our learning to recognize our sins is slow, and so our repentance is delayed. In the latter two cases, the suffering continues longer. But always, in this life, and the next, whether the process of learning to recognize, repent and embrace Christ and his atonement for us is quick or slow, God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ are always reaching out to us to help us turn our hearts to repentance and to them, and to their rest.
And everyone of us will eventually come to understand that about them, and decide if we wish to continue as we are, or repent, and embrace the Atonement that Jesus offers us, to end our suffering that comes from our sins. He can provide that because He made Atonement for our sins on our behalf. And all of us will understand that offer (Romans 14:11) and decide whether or not to repent.
So what does that mean for us if we have committed sin in this life for which we have not been able to repent, and we find ourselves in the next life, experiencing the suffering we have brought upon ourselves because of our sin? (This is what is commonly referred to experiencing hell or spirit prison)
In reference to that: James E. Talmadge wrote: "During this hundred years (since the Restoration of the Church) many other great truths not known before, have been declared to the people, and one of the greatest is that to hell there is an exit as well as an entrance. Hell is no place to which a vindictive judge sends prisoners to suffer and to be punished principally for his glory; but it is a place prepared for the teaching, the disciplining of those who failed to learn here upon the earth what they should have learned. True, we read of everlasting punishment, unending suffering, eternal damnation. That is a direful expression; but in his mercy the Lord has made plain what those words mean. “Eternal punishment,” he says, is God’s punishment, for he is eternal; and that condition or state or possibility will ever exist for the sinner who deserves and really needs such condemnation; but this does not mean that the individual sufferer or sinner is to be eternally and everlastingly made to endure and suffer. No man will be kept in hell longer than is necessary to bring him to a fitness for something better. When he reaches that stage the prison doors will open and there will be rejoicing among the hosts who welcome him into a better state. The Lord has not abated in the least what he has said in earlier dispensations concerning the operation of his law and his gospel, but he has made clear unto us his goodness and mercy through it all, for it is his glory and his work to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man."
Elder James E. Talmage, Conference Report, April 1930,
See also 2 Nephi 26:24
We cannot atone for our own sins, no matter how much we suffer. In contrast, the Atonement of Christ "begins to work the day you ask" and will "[restore} what you cannot restore, [heal] the wound you cannot heal, [and fix] that which you broke and you cannot fix".
Boyd K. Packer, "Washed Clean", Ensign May 1997, p.9
"The Brilliant Morning of Forgiveness", Ensign, November 1995, p.18
This promise of release from the suffering that our sins have brought upon us (and upon others) is made possible through the atonement of Christ. It is a promise to each of us, whether we are recognizing our mistakes and sins in this life or the next.
Whether in this life, or the next, as we turn to Him, sorrowful over what we have done, changing our hearts and actions, and seeking forgiveness and release, we find the promised relief, hope, love, peace and vision which his atoning sacrifice makes possible for us.
That is one of the reasons He came. That is one of the ways he saves us.
* For an interesting history of the Christian tradition of purgatory: click here.
