I noticed that Dr. Peterson
posted an update on 3/30, containing what appears to be original content. So I guess the new material is suitable for the blog, but not worthy of "Mormon Interpreter" (which, come to think of it, is also a blog...)? In any case, the message this time around is all about resurrection. He tells the story of a high school acquaintance who was killed in a motorcycle-train collision, and he gives his reason for relating the story: "Easter says, however, that his story and our stories continue. Wonderfully."
Maybe so. What does this mean, though? Basic LDS theology--which I assume DCP accepts as dogmatic truth--says that there are three separate and distinct Kingdoms, and, of course, only those who complete the full set of "requirements" will make it to the Celestial Kingdom. So does he mean that it's "wonderful" even if someone only manages to get to one of the lesser kingdoms? Or, instead, is this a kind of subtle gloating, where it is "wonderful" precisely *because* there are separate kingdoms, and he will get to "Lord" over all those who failed to "make the cut"? Is that "wonderful"?
He continues with the entry and tells the story of an aging widower who, it turns out, has a burial plot all set up next to his wife's grave, and what do you know? It happens to be right next to the graves of Dr. Peterson's parents. DCP and his wife pick the guy up and chat with him, learn that he's very lonely and badly misses his late wife. Dr. Peterson admits, somewhat morbidly, that he hopes for the guy's death, so that he can (possibly) be reunited with his wife:
DCP wrote:We’ve returned, and I’ve come back alone, many times since then. Whenever I’m in southern California, if I can do it, I visit the cemetery. Every time for years, I looked to see whether Frenchy had finally gotten his wish.
Visiting in the spring of 2013, we immediately noticed that the grass next to my mother’s grave was fresh, and so, with some excitement, I hurriedly walked over to confirm what I suspected: Frenchy was gone. He had died on 30 August 2012.
I was deeply happy for him. After twenty-seven long years of sorrowful separation, he was with his wife again. And my faith tells me that he really is, not merely metaphorically.
Once again, though, we have to confront the basic facts of LDS theology. Even if Frenchy literally *is* with his wife, they are presumably in one of the lower kingdoms. And it may be useful to bear in mind that there are some amongst the Mopologists who believe that these people in the lower kingdoms will not get to keep their genitals.
So on the one hand, I applaud DCP for posting a message that wasn't simply a last-minute, lazy retread, and for actually trying to articulate the reasons why he values Easter so much. Then again, it's also impossible to detach these stories from the realities of LDS doctrine, and, coupled with DCP's long history of arrogance and condescension (such as in his endlessly dismissive remarks to Gemli), you can't help but think that part of the "wonderfulness" of Easter, from the Mopologists' point of view, is that they will get to sit up there on their thrones in the Celestial Kingdom, cackling with glee at all the "losers" who couldn't measure up, and who have to settle for a second-class version of glory (or worse) in the kingdoms down below.
"If, while hoping that everybody else will be honest and so forth, I can personally prosper through unethical and immoral acts without being detected and without risk, why should I not?." --Daniel Peterson, 6/4/14
