Many people mistakenly believe

President Joseph Fielding Smith explained that many people mistakenly believe that they will feel comfortable in God’s presence even if they have not repented of their sins:

 

“There can be no salvation without repentance. A man cannot enter into the kingdom of God in his sins. It would be a very inconsistent thing for a man to come into the presence of the Father and to dwell in God’s presence in his sins. 

“I think there are a great many people upon the earth, many of them perhaps in the Church—at least some in the Church—who have an idea they can go through this life doing as they please, violating the commandments of the Lord, and yet eventually they are going to come into his presence. They think they are going to repent, perhaps in the spirit world.

“They ought to read these words of Moroni: ‘Do ye suppose that ye shall dwell with him [Christ] under a consciousness of your guilt? Do ye suppose that ye could be happy to dwell with that holy Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that ye have ever abused his laws?

“‘Behold I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God, under a consciousness of your filthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell. For behold, when ye shall be brought to see your nakedness before God, and also the glory of God, and the holiness of Jesus Christ, it will kindle a flame of unquenchable fire upon you’ [Mormon 9:3–5]” (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 2:195–96).