{"id":114494,"date":"2026-01-19T20:27:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=114494"},"modified":"2026-01-19T20:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:27:23","slug":"a-couple-of-notes-on-the-hereafter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/01\/a-couple-of-notes-on-the-hereafter.html","title":{"rendered":"A couple of notes on the Hereafter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Irish<\/a>
A sunrise in Ireland, where Sarah Allen spent a short period doing social work (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The righteous perish,<\/span><\/span>
\nand no one takes it to heart;<\/span><\/span>
\nthe devout are taken away,<\/span>
\nand no one understands<\/span><\/span>
\nthat the righteous are taken away<\/span>
\nto be spared from evil.<\/span><\/span>
\nThose who walk uprightly<\/span>
\nenter into peace;<\/span><\/span>
\nthey find rest as they lie in death. (Isaiah 57:1-2)<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Today was the funeral for Sarah Allen<\/a>. \u00a0I wanted to attend, but I found myself at home without a car. \u00a0However, thanks to technology that would have been unthinkable when I was growing up, I was able to watch<\/em> her funeral service.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know Sarah well. \u00a0In fact, I\u2019m not sure that we ever spoke more than a few words to each other, if even so many. \u00a0But I was very much aware of her work, and for quite a while. \u00a0And I\u2019m acutely<\/em> aware of the grievous loss that her sudden and untimely death represents, to her family and her friends and to the cause of defending the claims of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, to which she devoted herself so effectively. \u00a0With others, I wonder why this had to happen.<\/p>\n

The Lord<\/span> gave, and the Lord<\/span> hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord<\/span>. (Job 1:21)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"schooners\"<\/a>
Wikimedia Commons public domain image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To me, one of the finest moments of the funeral service came with something that one of her brothers said. \u00a0Powerfully and painfully feeling her loss a day or so after her passing, he prayed to know whether she was alright, whether she was happy. \u00a0For a brief moment, he reported, he powerfully felt the answer: \u00a0Yes, she is happy, and she is well. \u00a0And all will<\/em> be well. \u00a0With that in mind, I think of these words from Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933):<\/p>\n

\u201cGone From My Sight\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
\nspreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
\nfor the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
\nI stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
\nof white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.<\/p>\n

Then, someone at my side says, \u201cThere, she is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gone where?<\/p>\n

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
\nhull and spar as she was when she left my side.
\nAnd, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.<\/p>\n

Her diminished size is in me \u2014 not in her. And, just at the moment when someone says, \u201cThere, she is gone,\u201d
\nthere are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
\nready to take up the glad shout, \u201cHere she comes!\u201d<\/p>\n

And that is dying . . .<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>
Tiffany glass windows featuring a sunrise in a forest in springtime and an autumn sunset (both created in 1905), in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a telephone conversation roughly two weeks ago, a retired academic friend of mine who is not exactly the stereotypical sentimental Latter-day Saint \u2014 if anything, I might have categorized him as a cynic but certainly as a skeptic \u2014 told me of a vision that he had experienced some years back in one of the Church\u2019s temples. \u00a0He says that he saw a deceased relative for whom he was officiating, and that he was given to understand that that relative had accepted the ordinance that had just been performed on his behalf. \u00a0With regard to another relative whose work had also just been done, however, he received no such assurance. \u00a0Instead, he felt that that person had not accepted the ordinance performed vicariously for him \u2014 but also understood that, while that individual wasn\u2019t ready to accept the ordinance, he might yet be prepared, at some point, to do so.<\/p>\n

This was very striking to me. \u00a0Not only because of the identity of the person relating the experience to me, but also on account of its content. \u00a0My friend and I agree that there will be opportunity, in the spirit world, for growth and for a change of heart. \u00a0I\u2019ve described myself here, on several occasions, as a quasi-universalist. \u00a0I do not, unfortunately, believe that absolutely everyone will be saved. \u00a0But I believe that the offer of salvation and exaltation will have been genuinely extended to everyone and that the offer is entirely genuine. \u00a0(As is sometimes said, when and if we make it to the celestial kingdom, we should not be startled and stare if we encounter someone whose presence there surprises us. \u00a0Others there \u00a0may be just as surprised to see us<\/em> as we<\/em> are to see them<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

C. S. Lewis once stated it as his opinion that, in the end, the dividing line as pertains to the Final Judgment will be between those who say to the Lord \u201cThy will be done\u201d and those to whom the Lord<\/em> sadly says \u201cThy will be done.\u201d) \u00a0I suspect that that may well be true. \u00a0I doubt, though I could obviously be wrong \u2014 I<\/em> am not<\/em> the Lord \u2014 that God will not deny his blessings to those who genuinely desire them and who are willing to make the changes required to receive them.<\/p>\n

But there will apparently be a small number of souls who will angrily (and stupidly) shake their fists at the Almighty and defiantly, proudly, refuse to accept what they are offered at His hand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Becoming Brigham\" becomes visible<\/a>
This is the nearly-final version of the \u201ckey art\u201d for the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s series of weekly mini-documentaries, Becoming Brigham, which will have its debut on Monday, 26 January \u2014 less than two weeks away.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the link to the YouTube channel where the various episodes of Becoming Brigham<\/em> will be posted, beginning on Monday, 26 January, and continuing through the rest of 2026 and, most likely, well into 2027: \u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@becomingbrigham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And here is the website for Becoming Brigham<\/em>, where, in fact, some content has already been posted there that you might find of interest even now<\/em>: https:\/\/becomingbrigham.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I hope that you\u2019ll watch this series of ours, Becoming Brigham<\/em>, and that, if you like it, you\u2019ll spread the word about it to people who might also find it interesting. \u00a0Of course, if you don\u2019t<\/em> like it, I hope that you\u2019ll erase it from your mind. \u00a0Just fuhgeddaboudit. \u00a0These aren\u2019t the droids you\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. (Isaiah 57:1-2) Today was the funeral for Sarah Allen. 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