Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 102

On choosing Prince Charming

    I sometimes read that faith is irrational.  And sometimes I even hear that said by committed Latter-day Saints. I strongly disagree. I readily concede that faith goes beyond the evidence and that, sometimes, it will even seem to go, or will really go, against at least some of the evidence.  I’ve long appreciated […]

A very fresh look at familiar biblical passages

    We inadvertently attended a Tongan ward in Lahaina this morning and were thoroughly rewarded for doing so.  Almost the entirety of the sacrament meeting was in Tongan, but we had headsets and were able to understand through a very good translator.  The talks were very good.  And the singing?  Spectacular.  Magnificent.  Plainly, our […]

Apostles and Administration

    So far as I recall, I first came to the island of Maui in 1970.  (I visited the Hawaiian Islands for the first time, and for the only time prior to 1970, when I was five years old.  But I think that we went only to Oahu and Kauai on that occasion, and […]

“Assyria and the “Great Church” of Nephi’s Vision”

    I’m a bit late in announcing the two articles below, which went up on Friday on the website of the Interpreter Foundation.  I was otherwise occupied:   “Assyria and the “Great Church” of Nephi’s Vision,” written by Todd Uriona Abstract: The Book of Mormon begins at a pivotal point in Israelite history and in the […]

Some brief notes on Brigham Young as a leader

    Dipping briefly back into Eugene England, Brother Brigham (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980):   In February 1849, when the Saints were still relatively new in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, President Brigham Young learned that some of them were going hungry while others seemed to be hoarding private supplies of grain.  […]

Arguing for the Resurrection of Jesus

    Conference Talks: “Why Evolution and LDS Thought are Fully Compatible,” given in late 2013 by Steven L. Peck Steven Peck, a professor of biology at Brigham Young University, takes it as “axiomatic that evolution in its broad sense is the way the biological world works, although details are still being worked out and […]

Slandering the Lord’s anointed

    First, though:  The Interpreter Foundation continues to pour out materials that, we hope, are of benefit to those who follow what we do.  I’m grateful for the generosity of donors and volunteers, without which this would not be possible:   Interpreter Radio Show — January 8, 2023 — In this, the 8 January 2023 […]

An initial survey of the “four fundamental forces” and the “cosmological constant”

    I’ve long been interested in what are called “fine-tuning” arguments for the existence of God.  I’ve posted many entries here that have been devoted to them either wholly or in part.  (See, for example, my several discussions of the late British particle physicist Sir John Polkinghorne, who spent his last decades as an […]

An unpleasant reminder of home

    The terrible mass shooting that occurred last night in Monterey Park, California, hit literally close to home.  The Star Ballroom is located at 122 West Garvey Avenue, between Garfield Avenue and Alhambra Avenue.  Garvey was effectively the southern border of my everyday, familiar world when I was a child, and Garfield was my […]

“I’m happy to say that dying was easy and pleasant”

    While doing a little clean-up today — my wife is coming back tonight after two weeks in Virginia, and it’s panic season (e.g., time to do the dishes, do the wash, restore some semblance of minimal household order — I came across the following typescript.  The author is identified on the paper and […]