Outer Darkness

[EntropyJustKillUsNow]

I'm curious. I know what Spirit Prison is, but below that, we have Outer Darkness. I've only heard references such as "the nashing of teeth", but I wasn't sure if that reference was directed toward Spirit Prison, or Outer Darkness. All I know is that Outer Darkness is the eternal place which the Devil and his tyrants inhabit. My main question is; What does this place look like? Does it have any sort of description? Is it a void of nothingness? What IS Outer Darkness? 

[ksfisher]

1 hour ago, EntropyJustKillUsNow said:

I'm curious. I know what Spirit Prison is, but below that, we have Outer Darkness. I've only heard references such as "the nashing of teeth", but I wasn't sure if that reference was directed toward Spirit Prison, or Outer Darkness. All I know is that Outer Darkness is the eternal place which the Devil and his tyrants inhabit. My main question is; What does this place look like? Does it have any sort of description? Is it a void of nothingness? What IS Outer Darkness? 

No revelation on the subject of how it looks or what it's composed of has been given.

[Darren10]

I think Outer Darkness looks like a room full of computers which never do what you want them to do.

[JAHS]

Here's the D&C description of what happens to those who go there:

"I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering.
And this shall ye have of my hand—ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Behold, and lo, there are none to deliver you; for ye obeyed not my voice when I called to you out of the heavens; ye believed not my servants, and when they were sent unto you ye received them not.
Wherefore, they sealed up the testimony and bound up the law, and ye were delivered over unto darkness.
These shall go away into outer darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth." (D&C 133: 69-73)

Darkness might refer to the fact that there is no light of Christ that will reach that realm. That's all we know about it, except that it is not a kingdom of glory.
A place of "Darkness" has also been used to describe Spirit Prison(Alma 40:14), but different from the final destination for Satan and his spirits.

Edited March 29, 2017 by JAHS

[Rain]

Outer darkness is not below spirit prison. It is a separate stage. After death we go to either spirit prison or paradise. It isn't till after the resurrection and judgment that some go to outer darkness.

This Sunday School manual  has some references of what it is like: 

"

Read Alma 40:13–14; Doctrine and Covenants 76:103–106; 138:20, 29. On the right-hand side of the chalkboard, write the heading Spirit prison (Hell) and the words Who? and What is life like there? (see Chalkboard 2). Again, let the students provide the answers from the verses above.

Examine Doctrine and Covenants 138:29–35. In what way do these verses demonstrate the great love that God has for his children? What better example of his love do we have than the effort being made in the spirit world to teach, testify, and change the condition of those who suffer?"

[JLHPROF]

8 hours ago, EntropyJustKillUsNow said:

I'm curious. I know what Spirit Prison is, but below that, we have Outer Darkness. I've only heard references such as "the nashing of teeth", but I wasn't sure if that reference was directed toward Spirit Prison, or Outer Darkness. All I know is that Outer Darkness is the eternal place which the Devil and his tyrants inhabit. My main question is; What does this place look like? Does it have any sort of description? Is it a void of nothingness? What IS Outer Darkness? 

Just my opinion:
"Outer darkness" is a kingdom of no glory, ie, no light.
The glory of God is intelligence, or truth+light.  Take away truth and light, (or intelligence)  and you have outer darkness.

Now, determining what that means for those who are consigned there would require recognizing what we would be without our light of God.

Edited March 30, 2017 by JLHPROF

[The Nehor]

18 minutes ago, JLHPROF said:

Now, determining what that means for those who are consigned there would require recognizing what we would be without our light of God.

It should not be that hard:

"the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows; Neither was it revealed, neither is, neither will be revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof;Nevertheless, I, the Lord, show it by vision unto many, but straightway shut it up again; Wherefore, the end, the width, the height, the depth, and the misery thereof, they understand not, neither any man except those who are ordained unto this condemnation." (D&C 76:45-48).

So just ask. Many get to see it in part. On the other hand anyone who thinks they know where it is or what their eventual fate is are wrong. It is not going to be revealed.

[Robert F. Smith]

23 hours ago, JAHS said:

Here's the D&C description of what happens to those who go there:

"I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering.
And this shall ye have of my hand—ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Behold, and lo, there are none to deliver you; for ye obeyed not my voice when I called to you out of the heavens; ye believed not my servants, and when they were sent unto you ye received them not.
Wherefore, they sealed up the testimony and bound up the law, and ye were delivered over unto darkness.
These shall go away into outer darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth." (D&C 133: 69-73)

Darkness might refer to the fact that there is no light of Christ that will reach that realm. That's all we know about it, except that it is not a kingdom of glory.
A place of "Darkness" has also been used to describe Spirit Prison(Alma 40:14), but different from the final destination for Satan and his spirits.

Yes.  The realm of Satan is Hebrew  ’Abaddon, "Destruction, Perdition" = Greek ’Apollyon, "Destroyer; Angel/ King of the Abyss/Bottomless Pit" (Job 26:6, Ps 88:12, Prov 15:11, 27:20 ∥Še’ol, Rev 9:11; cf. 1QS 4:12, CD 2:6, 1QM 13:12, 14:10; 2 Enoch 53:3, 56:1, Talmud Babli Šabbat 88a, Talmud Jerushalmi Šebu‘ot 6:37a)

[strappinglad]

Outer Darkness suggests an Inner Darkness. Perhaps those beings with an abundance of inner darkness will find a place in outer darkness.

If you want to experience true darkness, take the Mt Timpanogos  caves tour and when several hundred yards inside the cave and about a mile deep below the earth's surface, allow the tour guide to turn off the lights. You will experience a darkness that no eye will accustom to...ever.

[The Nehor]

I prayed once for a few weeks on my mission for that quick one shot vision of Outer Darkness. A short time later I had a dream. It was short, difficult to describe, and terrifying. It was a kind of dark pleasure mixed with crippling fear and self-loathing and there were "things" moving in the dark. Like I said though, very short and I woke up terrified and it took me a few minutes to calm down  after it woke me.

I have no idea if it was an answer to my prayers, a random nightmare, or just my brain trying to concoct what it is like because I was praying about it. I did not get a spiritual confirmation of it during the experience or after so no idea. It scared me straight for a little while but that kind of fear only works in the short term. I have not prayed to see Outer Darkness since.