Damnation

"'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons?'
Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness."
"A man is his own tormentor and his own condemner. Hence the saying, They shall go into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. The torment of disappointment in the mind is as exquisite as a lake burning with fire and brimstone. I say, so is the torment of man."
"How comes the awful responsibility if in relation to our dead, if they do not be baptized they must be damned, (I wish I had 40 days to talk) what promises are made, what can be said if in the grave," ... "Any man that has a friend in eternity can save him if he has not commit the unpardonable sin, He cannot be damned through all eternity, their is a possibility for his escape in a little time, If man has knowledge he can be saved, if he has been guilty of great sins he is punished for it, when he consents to obey the gospel whether, Alive or dead, he is saved, his own mind damns him I have no fear of hell fire that dont exhist, No man can commit the unpardonable sin, untill He receives the Holy Ghost,"

Notes

Apparently it is an open question as to whether there is any kind of damnation outside of the unpardonable sin.

There seem to be solid arguments to be made on both sides of the issue of whether such damnation exists. On the one hand, the idea of damnation seems to be difficult to reconcile against the idea that we are neural networks. How would our spirits ever be incapable of growth? On the other hand, if damnation is not real, then it seems hard to imagine what the test-related aspects of mortality might really be for.

Records we have of Joseph Smith's teachings don't appear to be consistent on this point, but outside of D&C they are generally sourced from scribes or notes and their reliability cannot be assumed.

If damnation does not exist outside of the unpardonable sin, then it creates the question of whether being short of exaltation due to being unmarried might be an exception.

Is this life not THE time to prepare to meet god? Can we eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die and God will beat us with a few stripes but at last we will be saved? This idea of no finality of judgement sens to go against a lot of prophetic teaching.

Cross-References