Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 101

Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: How to Help

    I already suggested here yesterday that Latter-day Saints should consider contributing to the humanitarian arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  They should do so in order to replenish (for the inevitable next disaster or crisis) the resources that, I trust, are already making their way to the Turkish victims, […]

Into and out of Honolulu

    First, though, I offer links to three items that were recently posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Conference Talks: “What Did Joseph Smith Know about Temple Ordinances by 1836?” This talk was given by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw on Saturday, 25 October 2014, during the Interpreter Foundation’s 2014 Temple on Mount […]

“Aloha ‘Oe”

    We really enjoyed attending sacrament meeting on both of our Sundays here.  We met with a Tongan ward in Lahaina, on Maui.  This past Sunday, we joined with the Kona 1st Ward, which meets directly adjacent to the Kona Hawaii Temple.  One of the negatives in the Latter-day Saint reputation, at least in […]

Pu’ukoholā Heiau

        We briefly visited the Pu’ukoholā Heiau this afternoon.  (The word heiau is typically translated as “temple.”)  My wife and I paid it a longer visit several years ago, when we fairly systematically visited several heiaus.  An excellent film at the visitor center, new since we were last here, explains very clearly […]

“Blessed are the poor in spirit”

    Herewith, a brief set of preliminary notes toward a chapter in my projected book on the Beatitudes:   “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” reads the first of the Beatitudes (in Matthew 5:3 of the King James Version), “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” By the way, please note that the phrase […]

Introducing a Blog Focus for the Sabbath

    I’ve long had it in mind to do a brief book on the Beatitudes of the New Testament.  I’ve made several starts on it, but — in a triumph of hope over experience — I think I’ll make a running leap at it once again, perhaps making it a special focus for the […]

“There was no veil.”

    Conditions for posting online haven’t been ideal in my case over the past several hours, so I apologize for my tardiness in drawing attention to these two new articles from the Interpreter Foundation:   “Twenty Years After “Paradigms Regained,” Part 2: Responding to Margaret Barker’s Critics and Why Her Work Should Matter to […]

Why do people leave the Church? A few simple thoughts.

    First, though:  Here are three items that went up yesterday on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Conference Talks: Life Sciences Panel Discussion (featuring Emily Bates, R. Paul Evans, Steven L. Peck, Michael R. Stark, and Trent D. Stephens) This panel, comprised of five Latter-day Saint scholars in the life sciences (Emily […]

“Initial Conditions and ‘Brute Facts'”

    I carry on now with my loose appropriation, for my own nefarious purposes, of the online “List of Fine-Tuning Parameters” compiled by Jay W. Richards.  (My first entry taken from his list and explicitly dependent upon it is this one:  “An initial survey of the “four fundamental forces” and the “cosmological constant.””)  As […]

A Terrestrial Paradise?

    Two new items went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Come, Follow Me — New Testament Study and Teaching Helps: Lesson 7, February 6 — 12: John 2–4 — “Ye Must Be Born Again” Once again, Jonn Claybaugh generously supplies a set of helpful notes for teachers and students of […]