Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 1222

Angry-Ex-Mormon-Anti-Mormons

    Thanks to Sander Rabinowitz for bringing this to my notice:   http://www.chetcannon.com/the-ex-morm...   He was responding to an earlier post of mine.   In that earlier blog post, by the way, I neglected to mention one of my favorite themes among certain militantly hostile ex-Mormon-anti-Mormons:  A surprising number of them devote hours weekly to [Read More...]

G. K. Chesterton, of all people, on love

      “Love means loving the unlovable – or it is no virtue at all.”  (G. K. Chesterton, Heretics [1905])   “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.”  (G. K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News [16 July 2010])   Posted from Ko [Read More...]

“New Day for the Book of Mormon”

    A new film about the Book of Mormon:   http://www.byutv.org/watch/90be2679-e...   Very well done.  Very interesting.  From a faithful perspective, designed to catch the interest of those who haven’t yet paid attention to the Book of Mormon or taken it seriously.   Just slightly more than fifty-minutes in length.   You should watch [Read More...]

“How shall we look when we are damned?”

    It’s fascinating — though I don’t recommend it for the faint of heart, nor for those whose day would be ruined by the exercise — to glance through some of the comments about General Conference that appear on ex-Mormon message boards.   Quite a few of the participants on such boards monitor conference [Read More...]

2 Nephi 12

    Even if you haven’t been keeping up with my little project here, even if you have no intention of doing so, take two or three minutes and renew your acquaintance with today’s reading, 2 Nephi 12, which is a citation (with slight but perhaps significant variation) of Isaiah 2.  (It may also be [Read More...]

The Hawaiian Paradise

    Continuing my look at an essay about early Hawaiian legends and myths — see yesterday’s post on the Hawaiian account of Creation — I cite another passage from the article.   It strikes me as quite interesting, not only in view of the biblical account of the Garden of Eden generally, but, specifically, [Read More...]

Is the Catholic Church about to soften its stand on the sanctity of marriage?

    A slightly longish article on possible changes in Catholic policies regarding marriage:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article...   I’m less concerned about a possible change regarding admission to the Eucharist for divorced-but-remarried people.  Sadly, in our society, the policy of exclusion is unrealistic and, therefore, potentially somewhat cruel.  (I had the privilege of meeting with Walter [Read More...]

One atheist’s perspective on Christian medical missionaries

    They are, temporarily at least, a necessary evil:   http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/...   Incidentally, I’m still waiting for St. Christopher Hitchens Hospital to be established in Portland or Seattle, and I’ve stopped holding my breath for the Freedom from Religion Foundation to establish a chain of free clinics.   Posted from Ko Olina, Oahu, Hawaii   [Read More...]

Some hypersensitive Muslim somewhere might complain, maybe . . .

    http://pamelageller.com/2014/09/uk-kf...   Good grief.   If I were to go around taking offense everywhere somebody might be drinking coffee or tea — to say nothing of smoking cigarettes and drinking beer — I could be one of the foremost victims on Planet Earth.  (Not a bad career plan, perhaps.)   Just about every [Read More...]

Why regard people as “equal”?

    Why regard people as “equal” when, in so very many ways (e.g., in strength, intelligence, industriousness, cleverness, appearance, musical and artistic ability, athleticism, wit and humor, social poise, and so forth), they’re demonstrably unequal?   “The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and [Read More...]