Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1054

Did he invent Mormonism in order to evade work?

    Joseph Smith’s honesty seems clearly evidenced as well by his own sacrifices for the cause he proclaimed—sacrifices that become rather more difficult to explain if he was insincere. (His family and those who believed in his message also sacrificed, too.)[1]  He was arrested repeatedly, and, from the very earliest days, he and his [Read More...]

The Putin Doctrine in Action

    Vladimir Putin has completely outmaneuvered our presidential naïf:   http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/p...   And Russia’s longstanding goal of establishing a major warm-water port — a goal that pre-dates the Soviets and was pursued by the czars — is one step closer to realization.   Now that’s change you can believe in!   Posted from Mentor, [Read More...]

What you need to know about tomorrow night’s “blood moon”

    Scientifically.   Doctrinally.   Personally, though, I don’t care what they say.  I intend to panic, and to run around screaming loudly and irrationally.   How about you?  Do you have any special plans for tomorrow night?   Posted from Mentor, Ohio    

In the School of the Prophets

  We spent an hour or more upstairs in Newel K. Whitney’s store this morning.  Fascinating things have happened there. Presidents John Taylor and George Q. Cannon, Apostles Erastus Snow, Brigham Young, Francis M. Lyman, and Heber J. Grant, and Elders L. John Nuttall and Zebedee Coltrin present. Brother Zebedee Coltrin said: I believe I am the [Read More...]

“We are all insane.”

    “We are all insane. That is what original sin means. Sin is insanity. It is preferring finite joy to infinite joy, creatures to the Creator, an unhappy, Godless self to a happy, God-filled self. Only God can save us from this disease. That is what the name ‘Jesus’ means: ‘God saves’.” Peter Kreeft [Read More...]

“Logic is no match for science”

    An interesting little article making a very important point:   https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang...   Galileo’s Aristotelian opponents should have read it.   Posted from Mentor, Ohio    

The Middle East’s mystery virus

    It’s reassuring to know that ISIS isn’t the only bad news coming out of the region:   http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/bod...   Posted from Mentor, Ohio  

This man tells the truth; he’s believable.

    Professor Arthur Henry King’s trust in Joseph Smith as a human being, which I’ve mentioned in related prior posts here, was essential to his eventual faith in the doctrines and practices restored through the Prophet: “Because Joseph Smith talked about his experiences in the way he did, I was able to believe him, [Read More...]

Divine Misspelling?

    Symonds Ryder was an apostate from the Church who led the mob that tarred and feathered Joseph Smith on 24 March 1832.   His apostasy is said to have commenced when his name was misspelled in the text of a revelation.  If Doctrine and Covenants 52:37 were truly from the Lord, he angrily declared, his [Read More...]

Remarkable Kirtland, perhaps under appreciated

    “When we think Kirtland, we think that heaven was walking here with people.” Elder M. Russell Ballard   Posted from Mentor, Ohio