Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1129

New Testament 164

    Matthew 17:22-23 Mark 9:30-32 Luke 9:43-45 Compare John 7:1   Both Mark and Luke say that the disciples “didn’t understand” what Jesus was saying, though what Jesus was saying seems unmistakably clear:  He was going to be betrayed and killed, and he would rise again on the third day.   What was difficult to understand about [Read More...]

“Ibn al-Haytham and the Legacy of Arabic Optics”

      My former Maxwell Institute and BYU colleague Dr. Glen M. Cooper, now teaching at Claremont McKenna College, in California, brought this item to my attention.  (He’s cited in it.)   http://www.light2015.org/Home/Science...   I share it particularly because I occasionally receive emails, etc. — often fairly unpleasant ones — from people who deny [Read More...]

Boy Scouts ban water guns and limit water balloons because they’re not “kind”

    Cassandra Hedelius brought this to my attention, noting that whoever came up with this idiotic policy appears to have had little or no contact with actual boys:   http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2015/05/1...   Good grief.   Maybe we should simply strap all young males into soft chairs and make them watch Care Bears cartoons all day. [Read More...]

“The plates of the Book of Mormon: ‘As material as anything can be’”

    Today’s installment of my weekly column in the Deseret News has been posted:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...   I expect it to irritate at least some people.    

Gratitude

    “If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get.” Frank A. Clark    

Two Other Moms

    I’m late on this, but, as I write, it’s still Mother’s Day here in Utah.  So, although I’ll be hasty, I’m going ahead.   I would like to pay tribute to two additional moms, beside my own.   To my mother in law, who passed away after a long and difficult illness just over [Read More...]

From “Sayings of the Desert Fathers”

    The ancient Egyptian Coptic monk Abba Xanthias said, “A dog is better than I am, for he has love and he does not judge.” Posted from Bountiful, Utah

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom

    This is probably going to be an annual tradition for me.  Maybe it already is.   I don’t expect anybody else to read it or even be interested in it, but here, for Mother’s Day, is the tribute that I wrote for and — despite the fact that I’m an unemotional Scandinavian type [Read More...]

Health issues among the presiding Brethren

    The Church has recently released two statements on the health of, respectively, President Thomas S. Monson and Elders L. Tom Perry and Richard G. Scott of the Council of the Twelve Apostles:   http://www.sltrib.com/lifestyle/faith...   http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article...   I cannot recall such candid statements on this topic before.   I know that at least [Read More...]

Magdala

    One of the high points, for me, of our recent visit to Israel was the chance to walk about the newly discovered synagogue at Magdala.  I had never been on the site before, though I had passed by it many times.   It seems to me extremely likely to have been a place [Read More...]