Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1186

“Why do they leave?”

    An extremely interesting blog entry from John Gee on the question of why youth in general (and Mormon youth in particular) reject faith and/or disaffiliate from their church, synagogue, or mosque:   http://fornspollfira.blogspot.com/201...   Those who seek to address such defections will be more effective if they accurately understand what’s causing them.  This [Read More...]

“Mormon Allies Promise LGBT Christians: You Can Sit With Me At Church”

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12...    I’m honestly not sure why this is supposed to be a news story, or anything dramatically novel.   I’ve never in my life seen anybody expelled from a church service.  I suppose it’s conceivable that it could happen, if somebody were being disruptive, but I’ve never encountered such a case. [Read More...]

“Science increasingly makes the case for God”

    An interesting little article appeared in the Wall Street Journal on Christmas day, entitled “Science increasingly makes the case for God.”   There was nothing in it that was new to me, as I’ve been reading on this topic for a number of years now.  But it’s a nice, clear statement, by an [Read More...]

New Testament 15

    Luke 3:10-14   It’s striking, to me, that when “the multitudes asked [John the Baptist], ‘What shall we do?’” he didn’t respond with “Just believe!” or some other variation of the “faith alone/grace alone” formula.   Instead, he suggested various practical actions that they could perform:   *  Share your possessions and your [Read More...]

“They are willing to die for what most Christians are barely willing to live for.”

    Mercifully, thus far, “It’s Been a Quieter Christmas in the [Middle] East . . . for Most” Christians than in other recent years, but, unfortunately, as the linked article observes, it hasn’t been quiet for all.   Here are some (to me) moving new photos from an Iraqi refugee camp filled with exiled Christians at [Read More...]

“Is ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’ the end of Peter Jackson’s journey through Middle Earth?”

    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...   My wife and I saw the latest and last installment of the “Hobbit” trilogy the other night.  I wasn’t prepared to like it much — I wasn’t overly enthused about the two previous movies in the series, which take a simple little story and make it grandiose — but I enjoyed [Read More...]

An early seventeenth-century German Lutheran prayer

    “Give me … a compassionate heart, quickly moved to grieve for the woes of others and to active pity for them, even as our Lord Jesus Christ beheld our poverty and hasted to help us. Give me grace ever to alleviate the crosses and difficulties of those around me, and never to add [Read More...]

“Catholic Higher Education in Ruins”

    A thought-provoking article by Robert Oscar Lopez, a disaffected former Catholic who teaches English at the Northridge campus of California State University:   http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/201...   For much of my life, I felt serenely confident that my church and my university were immune to such things.  I realize, now, that I was being complacent [Read More...]

Use your wings!

    You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don’t. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly. Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. AD 1273)

Have any of you flown with a commercial airline recently?

    If you have, and especially if you also used to fly commercially a few years ago, this may strike you as uncannily true:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRVDO...