{"id":112814,"date":"2025-09-13T21:32:46","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T03:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=112814"},"modified":"2025-09-13T21:32:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T03:32:46","slug":"maybe-i-believe-it-but-think-i-dont-believe-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/09\/maybe-i-believe-it-but-think-i-dont-believe-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Maybe I believe it but think I DON’T believe it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Oregon's<\/a>
A photo of the Portland Oregon Temple that was taken with my wife\u2019s phone. Given the size of the temple and the density of the flora surrounding it and the variety in its appearance from different angles, it\u2019s really pretty hard to get a single photo of it that does it justice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Driving back from the coast to drop our friends off at the airport in Portland, we stopped by the Portland Oregon Temple and walked around its grounds. \u00a0We didn\u2019t have enough time, alas, to do a session there \u2014 though we\u2019ve attended sessions in it once or twice before. \u00a0I\u2019ve always liked its striking architecture and the beautiful marble with which it\u2019s clad. \u00a0And, of course, its grounds are gorgeous. \u00a0Yesterday, its many and varied flowers were exceptionally pretty. \u00a0A little bit of heaven. \u00a0As, of course, it\u2019s intended to be.<\/p>\n

The fireside in Beaverton went well last night. \u00a0At least, I thought so. \u00a0But who knows what people were saying in their cars as they drove away?<\/p>\n

\"sdjfoahdsjanfoaij\"<\/a>
We stayed for several days just a little bit north of this inlet at Depoe Bay, Oregon. And then we moved to Seaside. And then we moved to a place nearer again to Depoe Bay. \u00a0And then to Portland. \u00a0And then home. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I wrote the other day about having dinner in Newport\u2019s Local Ocean Seafood. \u00a0I thought that my grilled halibut dish was probably the single seafood meal that I\u2019ve ever had. \u00a0We hadn\u2019t yet been to our local favorite in Depoe Bay, Tidal Raves<\/a>. \u00a0I thought that it might suffer by comparison, but it didn\u2019t really. \u00a0The view is magnificent, of course. \u00a0I shared a smoked salmon chowder with my wife, and my own dinner was a green curry, with Pacific rockfish, wild shrimp, bok choy, onions, peppers, and steamed peanut rice. \u00a0It was very good, though I couldn\u2019t finish it all.<\/p>\n

All of which is another way of confessing that I ate on Thursday, too. \u00a0Not just on Wednesday. \u00a0I can\u2019t seem to break the habit. \u00a0I plainly deserve all the ridicule that I get for my addiction to daily food.<\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>
On the campus at Utah Valley University. (photo from UVU site)\n

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Driving \u00a0from the airport in Salt Lake City down to our home in Utah Valley, we were struck by the scores and scores of vehicles headed southward \u2014 most of them in the right or slow lane \u2014 that were festooned with American flags (along with MAGA flags, including one that read \u201cGod, Guns, and Trump,\u201d another that read \u201cJesus is My Savior, Trump is My President,\u201d and yet another that read, albeit without my censorship, \u201cF#$% Your Feelings\u201d). \u00a0They were apparently headed to some sort of event, a vigil, at Utah Valley University. \u00a0The freeway exit for UVU is also the exit for our house, but we decided to take another route home so as to avoid what was clearly going to be congested traffic. \u00a0(The University Parkway exit was backed up with dozens and dozens of flag-bearing cars and trucks. \u00a0The overpass that heads toward UVU, which we would normally take, was decorated with more American flags than I could count.)<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>
The Celestial Room of the Idaho Falls Temple.
Please note the heavenly reunions depicted in the mural on the wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over on the Peterson Obsession Board, one of their occasionally recurrent themes is the Latter-day Saint doctrine that the damned will be literally, physically, neutered in the next life. \u00a0I am said to take special delight in this punishment, contemplating with almost giddy and definitely sadistic pleasure the destiny that awaits those who have dared to criticize me or even to disagree with my theology.<\/p>\n

There is a slight problem with the narrative, though. \u00a0I believe no such thing. \u00a0In fact, I think it\u2019s directly contradicted by scripture. \u00a0Consider, for example, this verse from the Book of Mormon:<\/p>\n

The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame. \u00a0(Alma 40:23)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moreover, to the best of my knowledge, there is no such doctrine. \u00a0I\u2019ve never heard any such idea taught in any church setting. \u00a0Ever<\/em>. \u00a0Does anybody<\/em> out there \u2014 I\u2019m specifically asking believing, communicant members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> \u2014 believe this? \u00a0Has anybody heard it taught over the pulpit or in any church setting?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve almost never used AI for anything, but I decided to ask it whether Latter-day Saints believe that the wicked will be neutered in eternity. \u00a0AI is, I understand, the font of all wisdom and knowledge. \u00a0So here is the complete response that I received:<\/p>\n

According to the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the \u201cdamned\u201d are not neutered in eternity, but their path to exaltation and eternal procreation is cut off. The doctrine differentiates between eternal \u201csalvation\u201d for almost all people, and eternal \u201cexaltation,\u201d the highest reward reserved for the most faithful.<\/p>\n

The degrees of glory<\/p>\n

In LDS theology, after a final judgment, individuals are assigned to one of three kingdoms of glory or to Outer Darkness.<\/p>\n