Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1041

“Elder Sitati Addresses Race, Self-Reliance, and Church Growth in Africa”

    Here’s the Church’s news release regarding that recent conference on Mormonism and the black experience held at the University of Utah and, specifically, the remarks that Elder Joseph Sitati gave there:   http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article...    

Now THIS would be a nice find while cleaning out your church’s cupboard!

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/relig...   Thanks to Helen Condon for bringing the story to my attention.    

“Acts 21-28. Faithfully Witness of Christ”

    The Interpreter Foundation publishes a journal.   It also publishes books.   And it posts recorded scripture roundtables.   You probably knew all that.   But did you know that it’s been publishing resources for teachers and students of the scriptures?   Here’s the latest, from Dr. Taylor Halverson:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/acts...    

New Testament 257

    John 10:22-39 Compare Luke 4:29-30   I published an extended analysis of part of this passage fifteen years ago:   “‘Ye Are Gods’: Psalm 82 and John 10 as Witnesses to the Divine Nature of Humankind”   Much more recently, Daniel McClellan published an article in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture that’s [Read More...]

Tomorrow (Wednesday) night, in West Jordan, Utah

    I’ll be speaking tomorrow (Wednesday) night on “The Beauty, the History, and the Challenge of the Holy Lands”  at 9118 South Redwood Road. With questions and so forth, the program is scheduled to go from 7 PM to 9 PM. There’s a charge of eight dollars per person, and it’s necessary to reserve your [Read More...]

New Testament 256

    Matthew 20:1-16 Compare Matthew 19:30; Mark 10:31; Luke 13:30   1.   Many people reject the idea of “deathbed repentance.”   I don’t.   The problem with “deathbed repentance,” as it’s often considered, is that it isn’t really repentance at all.  It’s the cynical calculation — not infrequently a miscalculation, I think — [Read More...]

ISIS and Christians in the Middle East

    “ISIS to execute 180 Christians”   And don’t miss this, from the former Reagan-Bush administration official Elliot Abrams – who, as it happens, is Jewish:   “Why do we not save Christians?  They need help, and they have no good place to go”    

“No, scientists have not found the ‘gay gene.’”

    http://www.theatlantic.com/science/ar...    

Of “Playboy” and moral progress

    Playboy has just announced that, effective next March, it will cease publication of images of naked women:   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/bus...   I know.  I know.  I had to check my calendar to make sure that it’s not April Fool’s Day.  For Playboy to give up naked women is as if Campbell’s were to stop [Read More...]

Scientists demonstrate that future events decide what happens in the past

    http://www.digitaljournal.com/science...   I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.  (J. B. S. Haldane, Possible Worlds and Other Papers [1927], 286)   (Thanks to John [Read More...]