{"id":115737,"date":"2026-04-12T16:53:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=115737"},"modified":"2026-04-13T00:46:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:46:21","slug":"our-need-for-a-savior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html","title":{"rendered":"Our Need for a Savior"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Orem Utah Temple sits within the boundaries of our stake. (Intellectual Reserve fair use)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This weekend was our stake conference. \u00a0It was a big one, too: Our long-time stake presidency was released and a new presidency was announced. \u00a0Our visiting authorities were Elder\u00a0Michael Cziesla<\/a>, a General Authority Seventy from Germany, and Elder Helton C. Vecchi, an Area Seventy originally from Brazil. \u00a0Once again, I was struck by the increasing internationalism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>. \u00a0When I was younger, a Utah stake conference presided over \u2014 and a new Utah stake presidency selected \u2014 by a German and a Brazilian would have seemed fantastical. \u00a0(I still recall the dedication of the Meridian Idaho Temple back in November 2017 by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf [from Germany], who was accompanied for the assignment by, among others, Bishop G\u00e9rald Causs\u00e9 [of France, then the Presiding Bishop of the Church and now a member of the Quorum of the Twelve]; Elder Ulisses Soares [from Brazil, then of the Presidency of the Seventy but now a member of the Twelve; and Elder Edward Dube of the Seventy [from Zimbabwe]).<\/p>\n

It was a very good stake conference. \u00a0I\u2019ll mention a couple of highlights:<\/p>\n

During the Saturday evening session, a woman spoke who had been out of the Church for fully twenty-five years, a quarter of a century. \u00a0Her life was filled with adversity, suffering, depression, and failed relationships. \u00a0One of the factors that brought her back was the Book of Mormon. \u00a0Challenged to read it, she has fallen in love with it \u2014 reading it five times through during the past year. \u00a0I was struck by the contrast between her view of the Book of Mormon and a characterization of it that I also encountered on Saturday, from a sneeringly derisive critic, as \u201ca rancid slice of baloney . . . \u00a0a butchered, crappy, incoherent narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

And I was pleased to hear Elder Cziesla quote during this morning\u2019s session what has, over the past two or three years, become one of my very favorite scriptural passages:<\/p>\n

And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it. \u00a0(Mosiah 2:41)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"al-haram<\/a>
Jerusalem\u2019s Temple Mount, from the air. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
The Church of All Nations and the Garden of Gethsemane can be seen in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On a sunny afternoon nearly fifty years ago \u2014 before my marriage, during my first residence in Jerusalem \u2014 I found myself seated in the traditional Garden of Gethsemane. \u00a0I was there by myself, as I recall, reading in the scriptures and looking westward up at the massive sixteenth-century city walls built by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent,\u00a0toward the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, I saw a long column of powerful Israeli military trucks heading slowly from the north to the south along either the Ophel Road or the Jericho Road. \u00a0(I no longer quite remember which it was.) They were pulling massive trailers, each one carrying a huge Israeli tank.<\/p>\n

Now, I want it to be unmistakably clear that I\u2019m not trying to make a political point here. \u00a0Especially for an Arabist, I\u2019m actually fairly sympathetic to Israel (though not uncritically so), and I\u2019m completely opposed to the soft anti-Semitism that has lately cropped up in certain sectors of what used to be called the American conservative movement, which rail against Israel, claim to see evil Israeli conspiracies behind the war against Iran (to say nothing of the assassination of Charlie Kirk), and, in some places that I\u2019ve observed, are overtly anti-Jewish.<\/p>\n

Still, it hit me powerfully that afternoon in the Kidron Valley, at the foot of the Mount of Olives, where Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus began working out his atonement for the sins and sorrows of humankind, how those armored military vehicles, engines of deliberate death and destruction, illustrated with painful clarity our desperate need<\/em> for an atoning Redeemer.<\/p>\n

What a mess we humans have made of this world!<\/p>\n

In the premortal realm, according to Latter-day Saint belief, we all knew and worshipped God as our Eternal Father and accepted his plan, the divine plan of happiness by which his children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience. \u00a0The goal was, and is, to progress toward perfection and, ultimately, to realize our divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. \u00a0As William Wordsworth put it,<\/p>\n

\n
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:<\/div>\n
The Soul that rises with us, our life\u2019s Star,<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hath had elsewhere its setting,<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And cometh from afar:<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not in entire forgetfulness,<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And not in utter nakedness,<\/div>\n
But trailing clouds of glory do we come<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 From God, who is our home.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yes, we came into this world to be tried and tested and to gain experience by confronting pain, loss, temptations, and trials. \u00a0But we came \u201ctrailing clouds of glory\u201d from our home with loving heavenly parents. \u00a0We are the ones who passed the test of our First Estate. \u00a0And yet look at what we\u2019ve made of this world! \u00a0We cheat and and defame and injure and hate and kill each other. \u00a0We\u2019ve made our world into a place that is too often reminiscent of William Golding\u2019s horrific 1954 novel, Lord of the Flies<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I think, yet again, of A. E. Housman\u2019s \u201cEaster Hymn,\u201d which was left among his unpublished poems at his death in 1936. \u00a0I quote it every year in the days leading up to the anniversary of Christ\u2019s resurrection, but it\u2019s also sadly relevant to my thoughts here today:<\/p>\n

If in that Syrian garden, ages slain,
\nYou sleep, and know not you are dead in vain,
\nNor even in dreams behold how dark and bright
\nAscends in smoke and fire by day and night
\nThe hate you died to quench and could but fan,
\nSleep well and see no morning, son of man.<\/p>\n

But if, the grave rent and the stone rolled by,
\nAt the right hand of majesty on high
\nYou sit, and sitting so remember yet
\nYour tears, your agony and bloody sweat,
\nYour cross and passion and the life you gave,
\nBow hither out of heaven and see and save.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Along with being a fine English poet, Housman was an eminent classicist who was affiliated with the University of Cambridge. \u00a0That explains his reference to a \u201cSyrian garden\u201d: \u00a0In classical times, the term Syria<\/em> often referred to the area that is covered today by the modern nation-states of Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon, as well as Syria itself.<\/p>\n

What led me to this reminiscence is a heartbreaking story related in one of the recent comments posted to this blog by a commenter who calls himself \u201cAxel Being Civil.\u201d \u00a0I know nothing of the story beyond his telling of it, but I find it sadly plausible and I have no reason to doubt it. \u00a0Political views are ultimately irrelevant here; it\u2019s tragic:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a man in Syria by the name of Hamad al-Jalib. On Wednesday of last week, he was working as a conceirge in Ain Mreisseh, in Beirut, Lebanon. That was the day a series of airstrikes hit the city, killing hundreds of people. al-Jalib was, at the time, off picking up fuel canisters for the building. It is the only reason he survived. His wife, his 12-year-old daughter, and his 13-, 14-, and 17-year-old sons, along with his pregnant daughter-in-law and three other relatives were all killed in the bombing. He has another daughter, just ten years old, who has as of now not yet been located, alive or dead.<\/p>\n

Come what may, he has to live the rest of his life without them. The pain is unimaginable. The loss\u2026 Unthinkable. I can scarcely imagine what it is like to just\u2026 Be left with that absence. To have had people around you that you love and care about, who mean the world to you, whom you get up for each day, who give you the strength to get through your struggles, and then to just\u2026 Not.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We need a Savior. \u00a0We\u2019ve made a thorough mess of things by ourselves,<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 This weekend was our stake conference. \u00a0It was a big one, too: Our long-time stake presidency was released and a new presidency was announced. \u00a0Our visiting authorities were Elder\u00a0Michael Cziesla, a General Authority Seventy from Germany, and Elder Helton C. Vecchi, an Area Seventy originally from Brazil. \u00a0Once again, I was struck by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":115749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4907,39804,1369,2905,788,4486],"class_list":["post-115737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-atonement","tag-garden-of-gethsemane","tag-jesus","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-mormon","tag-savior"],"yoast_head":"\nOur Need for a Savior<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  This weekend was our stake conference. \u00a0It was a big one, too: Our long-time stake presidency was released and a new presidency was announced. \u00a0Our\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our Need for a Savior\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  This weekend was our stake conference. \u00a0It was a big one, too: Our long-time stake presidency was released and a new presidency was announced. \u00a0Our\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-12T22:53:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-13T06:46:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2026\/04\/orem-utah-temple-42110-thumb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html\",\"name\":\"Our Need for a Savior\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-12T22:53:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-13T06:46:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"  This weekend was our stake conference. \u00a0It was a big one, too: Our long-time stake presidency was released and a new presidency was announced. \u00a0Our\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Our Need for a Savior\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Our Need for a Savior","description":"  This weekend was our stake conference. \u00a0It was a big one, too: Our long-time stake presidency was released and a new presidency was announced. \u00a0Our","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Our Need for a Savior","og_description":"  This weekend was our stake conference. \u00a0It was a big one, too: Our long-time stake presidency was released and a new presidency was announced. \u00a0Our","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2026-04-12T22:53:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-13T06:46:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":450,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2026\/04\/orem-utah-temple-42110-thumb.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html","name":"Our Need for a Savior","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-04-12T22:53:22+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-13T06:46:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"  This weekend was our stake conference. \u00a0It was a big one, too: Our long-time stake presidency was released and a new presidency was announced. \u00a0Our","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/our-need-for-a-savior.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our Need for a Savior"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}