Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1164

My granddaughter

    On Friday, it will be eight months since she was born.   I keep a photograph of her on my cell phone.  I see it many times a day, but I desperately don’t want that to become routine.  I’m trying really hard not to forget that, despite appearances, I have a grandchild.   [Read More...]

Berlitz German Coast Guard

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MUsV...   If you haven’t seen this, take forty seconds and watch it.   “This here is my sector,” says the new young man’s boss in German.  “This is the most important apparatus in the Coast Guard.  Its a survival savior.”   Then comes the English.    

New Testament 70

    Matthew 7:7-11 Compare Luke 11:9-13; John 16:24; 14:13-14; 15:7   I note, but otherwise pass over in silence, what I see as the relevance of Matthew 7:7-8 to the temple.  For fuller discussions of this topic, see John Welch’s Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount: An Approach [Read More...]

New Testament 68

    Matthew 7:1-5 Compare Mark 4:24-25; Luke 6:37-42; John 7:53-8:11   The principles expressed in these passages must be significant and central to the teachings of Christ, because they’re included in all four of the canonical gospels.  And they’re echoed in many other locations throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.   And yet . [Read More...]

Journalism, on religion and science

    The Vatican astronomer, Guy Consolmagno, SJ, Ph.D. (who, by the way, has agreed to speak to an Interpreter Foundation conference early next year) recounts an experience with the press:   “Except they kept asking me questions like ‘What is your biggest source of conflict about the Pope?’ Or ‘Has the Pope ever tried [Read More...]

“‘Tolerance’ does not equal obedience to you, John Dehlin”

    I expect that this response to Ms. Kate Kelly and Mr. John Dehlin will resonate with more than a few committed, believing Latter-day Saints:   http://www.nicholasblog.com/2015/02/0...   As I write, however, its author, Nicholas Alahverdian, is being hammered by hostile comments from what Rush Limbaugh, in quite another context, calls “seminar callers,” who [Read More...]

Active Latter-day Saints are manifestly inferior specimens of humanity.

    “Sadly, the Mormon faith has become a place that incentivizes the survival of the least fit. Since strict obedience is demanded and harshly enforced, only the least talented, least articulate, least nuanced thinkers, least likely to take a stand against abuse, and the least courageous people thrive in the Church today.” Kate Kelly, [Read More...]

“Spiritual but not religious”?

    Or “not religious, and not spiritual”?   http://www.christiancentury.org/revie...   In quest of a unicorn.    

A tradition from the Prophet Muhammad

    A hadith or tradition from the Prophet Muhammad, narrated on the authority of Anas, reports the Prophet as saying, “By Him in whose Hand is my life, no servant [of God] truly believes until he wants for his neighbor [or, one variant says, for his brother] whatever he wants for himself.” (From the [Read More...]

A thought about hate

    “Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”  (Maya Angelou)