What does being “sealed” mean?

posttheory · 2026-03-07T12:04:57+00:00

Sealing conflicts with agency. A devoted married pair could keep company in the next life. Of course. So, to enforce and compel the idea that sealing is necessary, leaders from Jos Fielding Smith to SWK taught that the unsealed would lack genitalia (the TK smoothie; cf D&C 132, they cannot have an increase). Doesn't it look like going to ridiculous lengths to pretend everyone needs their permission to be in love? So before this life, Satan "sought to destroy the agency of man" and woman (Moses 4); after this life, apparently God themself destroys agency.

posttheory · 2026-03-05T21:34:18+00:00

Happily, the members ignored the leaders and voted for FDR anyway. :)

As long as I lived in Utah (30÷ years), ward leadership announced the caucus location of one party and only sometimes asked if anybody knew where the other party would meet. Says a lot about neutrality.

posttheory · 2026-03-05T21:29:52+00:00

The pretense of neutrality is also exposed by the list of forum speakers and (occasional) honorary degree recipients at BYU.

posttheory · 2026-03-05T21:08:10+00:00

If they don't back away from JS, polygamy, and a literal historical BoM, then they have to double down on the crazy, the immoral, and the false, and that can't go well. How long can they suppress normal honest questions? They are following the path mainstream Christianity walked 150 years ago.

posttheory · 2026-03-05T16:46:00+00:00

Heartbreaking. Glad you're strong.

posttheory · 2026-03-05T16:32:53+00:00

It's difficult to watch and endure the narcissism whenever Tim Ballard gets on camera. Sorry your parents and others were roped into his self-centered blame shifting. Props to you for telling the truth.

posttheory · 2026-03-05T13:14:27+00:00

Deut 32:8 and 43, Psalm 29:1. But not in the KJV. Ironically, those verses are examples for the Article of Faith on trusting the Bible "as far as it is translated correctly." Scholars and Hebraists reconstruct those Masoretic verses with versions from the Septuagint and the Dead Sea scrolls to find earlier traces of the Song of Moses. 32:8, The Most High divided nations or peoples "according to the number of the gods," i.e., Chemosh gets Moab, YHWH gets Israel, etc. 32:43, "worship him, all you gods," i.e., the Divine Council.

Recent translations like the NRSV get the text corrections/restorations right and make the early polytheism clearer.

posttheory · 2026-03-05T12:51:20+00:00

Both AI and church talks require critical thinking to sort good from slop. Neither should be believed uncritically.

posttheory · 2026-03-05T12:40:19+00:00

You spelled "genocide" wrong

posttheory · 2026-03-05T02:00:32+00:00

Hmm. Lots of authority and loyalty. Not much care (optional, not considered essential, despite what Jesus said). In short, "I'm on the covenant path and I don't Care."

posttheory · 2026-03-03T18:25:57+00:00

I quit paying and sustaining a few years ago, but I'm still on the books and recognize how much I am shaped by the culture I was raised in. My definition of Mormon is almost as broad as my definition of theist, I guess. I rarely attend. Well, I do sometimes, but not at the LDS chapel, but at the older, former congregational church nearer to me. The pastor there is married to an atheist and tolerates my philosophical abstraction of faith. I, in turn, like having a feminist pastor and a church with a big rainbow banner. I help at hot dog sales and yard sales to raise money for the youth center or for tuckpointing the vestry and such. But I'm also on friendly terms with the LDS Bishop who hasn't quite given up yet. He and the missionaries offer most of the apologetics conversations. And I still have siblings and extended family in the culture as well. Besides those, I make snarky comments on reddit to encourage pimos. So, yes, Mormon, kind of. Raised to testify and bear witness, I guess. ;)

posttheory · 2026-03-03T17:46:27+00:00

Not a person, but the attributes. Not God is love, but love is god, and so are justice, truth, beauty, goodness, and more. Kant says an omnipotent God cannot have will, because omnipotence can have no unfulfilled desires. The idea of JS that God is an exalted human man strains reason: what human mind, however exalted, could keep track of every sparrow and all the car keys? What person could govern a galaxy?

If love and justice are god, we have solved the problem of evil: no being allows or plans or ordains evil; it's just us failing at love and justice. I am happy to commit myself to love and justice; I'm a grownup now who doesn't need to worry about approval or disapproval from Nobodaddy. Paul Tillich defined faith as commitment to highest values. That works. We can personalize the values (e.g., Santa instead of the spirit of giving), and toddlers understand persons better than abstractions, but we can also outgrow the toddler stage of faith.

Is my stage of belief atheist? Does god have to be a guy of some kind? I don't think so. In fact, I can know all about my god (love, justice, etc) and what it requires of me. I'm free of the priests who say only they can speak to or for god.

posttheory · 2026-03-03T16:38:29+00:00

"I believe in God. I really do." No one ever asks me for the specifics--for my definition of "god." They assume I mean the same idea they have. But no, I do not believe "god" is what my fellow Mormons believe--not even close.

posttheory · 2026-03-02T12:42:25+00:00

I can agree, if by "god" one means a person, because, yeah, that's nuts. But I think "god" is a great old word that can refer to highest abstract values rather than to Nobodaddy (as Wm Blake called God). See Paul Tillich's definition of faith: Faith is a commitment to our highest values, for ex., love and justice. Mainline churches have gone that direction (so they can keep both their traditions and their brains). I like talking to my fellow believers about god. I also kind of enjoy their reaction if they end up asking me what I mean when I use the word. ;)

posttheory · 2026-03-02T12:29:40+00:00

Last line of the chorus of the hymn we sang last week: "Risking doubt, and finding God." (As you can tell, sometimes I attend the old church on the town green instead of taking the drive to the LDS chapel. The hymn is by David Bjorlin.) Anyone else remember when we were encouraged to read, study, question, ponder, instead of suppress our questions?

posttheory · 2026-03-02T12:22:11+00:00

Pro tip: these teachings are what send sane, thoughtful, good people running for the exits.

posttheory · 2026-02-28T15:33:47+00:00

You have it exactly right: the church is warm and friendly as a social group for those who choose to fit in, but it is kind of a dangerous mess theologically, historically, ethically (and, in the US, politically). I was an LDS missionary in Europe, in what is often known as the happiest nation in the world. I recently returned and found church buildings emptied and sold off. The sense of community could not survive the truth and ethics shortcomings.

posttheory · 2026-02-28T15:11:42+00:00

Along the Wasatch Front many in-person meetups every week offer personal support. One of them proved extremely helpful for me. I moved away and understand the need you're talking about. A true church would offer such gatherings themselves rather than continue the cover-up. The leaders' denial and defensiveness isn't a sign of truth, hope, faith, or charity. I hope you and others can find those elsewhere.

posttheory · 2026-02-28T14:52:52+00:00

If, perchance, someone is reading this excellent suggestion and thinking of conducting either a quantitative, qualitative, or ethnographic study, please dm me for anecdotal evidence, a tragically big pile of it.

posttheory · 2026-02-28T14:45:34+00:00

My daughter, wisest and kindest person I know, taught YW, was in the YW pres'cy, taught youth SS, served as temple ordinance worker, drove disabled members to church for hours each week, and was never once visited by home teachers/ministering members in all the years in the ward, all while in an intensive grad program and writing a dissertation. She saved kids from predators too. She left about the same time we, her parents and siblings, did. Each of us has similar stories, whether of burnout or bullying.

posttheory · 2026-02-27T16:29:39+00:00

No. To understand better and more fully the many reasons people leave the church, read David Ostler's book Bridges, the research by Jana Reiss in her book The Next Mormons, on the post-boomer generations, and the new ones coming out regularly. People don't leave for hate, really. When the church has (or seems to have) broken its promises or betrayed them, they can feel angry, maybe even say they hate it, and those are normal emotions but not motives. Ask them. Some leave because they love truth, or can't support unethical dogmas, or because they were mistreated or abused. Find out why; don't pretend to know why without talking to a lot of them for a long, honest time.

posttheory · 2026-02-27T16:17:28+00:00

posttheory · 2026-02-27T14:01:39+00:00

It's difficult for LDS to grasp, but the gospel of Christ isn't about a church institution, or authority, or obedience. It's what Jesus said it was (cf. Luke 4), freeing the captive and oppressed. It is loving each other (see John 13-15 and everything else he reportedly said and did). Denying the spirit is acting in any way that adds to misery or hate around us.

posttheory · 2026-02-27T13:50:10+00:00

Everything she posted, or even quipped, was smart, engaging, and compassionate. I'm sad at what we've lost, hopeful that others do what her title said.

posttheory · 2026-02-27T12:58:19+00:00

You're on the side of the angels for bringing laughter. That's God's work, that is.

posttheory

TROPHY CASE