Questioning Glenn E. Chatfield's Criticism of Doctrine and Covenants 137 and "False Hope of Mormonism"

This is an archived article and response to Glen E. Chatfield

Does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints present a false hope and false gospel? It appears that this is what Glen E. Chatfield attempts to answer through his post The False Hope of Mormonism. And he attempts to provide some commentary and insight into Doctrine and Covenants Section 137. Chatfield begins his post by quoting Doctrine and Covenants 137:7-9:

Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying: All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God; Also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom; For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.

After quoting this passage, he appears to provide the following commentary: 

Before I address this passage, there is a bit of a quandary: 

This is in the Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, pg.403, and I’m guessing it was published in 1997 since it's of the same series as the one on Brigham Young, which shows 1997—I tossed the one on Smith’s teachings after I tore out the pages I wanted to address.

My 1968 D&C does not have this “prophecy,” having ended at D&C 136.

My 2002 “Triple Combination” (BOM, D&C, POGP) DOES have it, as does the current version on the LDS internet page.

SO, what gives? Why was this not in the 1968 version? I don’t have a copy of any earlier publication, but I’d like to know when it was dropped.

It appears he is referencing Chapter 35: Redemption of the Dead. Which is on page 403 is the account of Joseph Smith having a vision of the Celestial Kingdom and Exaltation - specifically regarding his brother Alvin: 

In January 1836, many years after Alvin’s death, Joseph Smith received a vision of the celestial kingdom, in which he saw that Alvin, as well as his mother and father, would someday inherit that kingdom. Joseph “marveled how it was that [Alvin] had obtained an inheritance in that kingdom, seeing that he had departed this life before the Lord had set his hand to gather Israel the second time, and had not been baptized for the remission of sins” (D&C 137:6).

The account continues with Joseph Smith preaching on the doctrine salvation for the dead and baptism by proxy. It also refers to when Joseph Smith is with his father, and they are conversing about this, and the request was made for someone in the Smith family to perform the vicarious work on behalf of Alvin.  

What led up to this revelation, and the Doctrine and Covenants Section 137, was that upon Alvin's death, the Smith family had approached a minister to officiate the funeral services. The minister preached that since Alvin died - there was no hope or salvation for him: 

When Alvin died, the family asked a Presbyterian minister in Palmyra, New York, to officiate at his funeral. As Alvin had not been a member of the minister’s congregation, the clergyman asserted in his sermon that Alvin could not be saved. William Smith, Joseph’s younger brother, recalled: “[The minister] … intimated very strongly that [Alvin] had gone to hell, for Alvin was not a church member, but he was a good boy and my father did not like it.”

This idea that those who die without confessing Christ as their savior is a predominate Evangelical and Protestant Christian belief where such a person - as good as they are in mortal life, are condemned to hell and suffering. Joseph Smith's revelation regarding the salvation for the dead addressed this false doctrine and belief. 

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