Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1179

Fathers and Sons

    “By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.”  (Charles Wadsworth)    

New Testament 29

    John 3:23-36   Just a few quick notes about this passage.   1.   I’ve already noted the reference to John’s having chosen his baptismal site (“at Aenon near Salim,” almost certainly on the Jordan River) “because there was much water there” (3:23).  This strongly suggests baptism by immersion rather than by sprinkling. [Read More...]

“The Manliest Thing in History”

    And no, you’ll be astonished to discover that this story doesn’t revolve around me.  Another illustration, as if more were needed, that reason and common sense don’t always prevail:   http://www.dose.com/lists/2999/He-Saw...    

Insight from the Duke

    “Life’s hard.  It’s even harder when you’re stupid.”  (John Wayne)    

Reactions to the Paris murders

    Here’s a sampling of reactions from world leaders to the murders in Paris:   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/world...   One of those leaders is Egypt’s President al-Sisi.  Here’s a video showing roughly two minutes of an important speech that al-Sisi delivered at Cairo’s al-Azhar University — the most prestigious Islamic university in the Arab world, founded [Read More...]

The average college freshman reads at a seventh-grade level.

    This is rather depressing.  But it’s also a call to action:   http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6174    

“The evidence for Jesus is early and powerful”

    It’s fashionable, in some circles, to maintain not only that Jesus isn’t the Son of God but that he never even existed in the first place.   This is silliness.   Which my Deseret News column for today tries, diplomatically, to suggest:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...    

“Who’s afraid of ‘secularism’?”

    Ralph Hancock usefully rejoins the discussion about “secularism” and Mormon studies:   http://www.patheos.com/blogs/soulandc...    

The most intelligent human being, and God

    “I’m not an atheist, and I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages [Read More...]

News from the pyramid plateau at Giza

    Jabra Ghneim has brought to my attention this preliminary report of what seems to be a really exciting discovery at the most spectacular archaeological site on earth:   http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-h...   I note with amused satisfaction that the discovery was made — in the venerable tradition of the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls at [Read More...]