Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 195

The reliability of eyewitness testimony and the Book of Mormon

    From time to time, when I’m commenting about the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, a critic of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will respond with a dismissive and vague remark about the well-known weaknesses of eyewitness testimony.  Now, it has always seemed obvious to me that such responses are […]

Of Eyewitnesses, the Resurrection, and the Gold Plates

    Here are some notes on the earliest Christian disciples and the raising of Jesus from the tomb:   The appearances of Jesus are as well authenticated as anything in antiquity. . . .  There can be no rational doubt that they occurred, and that the main reason why Christians became sure of the […]

A Thought on Political Right and Political Left

    I threatened to tell this story the other day.  So here it is:   Back in the early 1890s, when I was in high school, my teacher in a class in either American government or American history — I can’t recall which it was, nor his name, though I think it was more […]

Ziauddin Yousafzai

    I received this note from my former dean in the BYU College of Humanities, and thought that some of you might be interested in it.  If so, be sure to mark your calendar.  The lecture will be given next Tuesday, 17 November 2020:   Dear Colleagues, We invite you to join us for […]

On Christ’s death and his empty tomb

    Of late, it is has become fashionable in certain circles — overwhelmingly not among people, whether believers or not, in relevant academic fields or with relevant scholarly training — to claim that no actual historical Jesus ever existed.  This is a topic that I have discussed and will discuss elsewhere but, for now, […]

“The Case for Ancient Roots in the Book of Moses”

    From Jeff Lindsay:  “Video of My Presentation with Noel Reynolds, “’Strong Like Unto Moses’: The Case for Ancient Roots in the Book of Moses””   ***   Up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 45 “That Evil May Be Done Away” Ether 6-11 The discussants in […]

More on a Moral Argument for the Existence of God

    Still drawing on Douglas Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (Downers Grove: IVP and Nottingham: Apollos, 2011), 338-341:   Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that moral standards are simply a function of culture — that is, that moral “truths” are relative to particular societies.   Such an assumption renders […]

Science, Knowledge, and Sticking to Solid Fact

    I often encounter religious skeptics who declare that, unlike theists, they live in “the fact-based universe” — as if there exists only one such place and as if they hold a monopoly on reason and objective fact.  And they commonly point to science as not only a paradigm for knowing “just the facts, […]

Abraham Lincoln on civil discord and fierce political disagreement

    It has been a long-standing policy of mine to refrain from political posts on the Sabbath Day.  Some may be unaware of that, so I’m restating the policy now.  I intend to maintain it.  I firmly believe that there are things that are far more important than partisan politics, important as I consider […]

President Biden’s success will be our country’s success. We should all root hard for him, and pray for him.

    I share with you here the concession speech that Mitt Romney offered following his lamentable loss in the 2012 presidential election:     I also found this note, which I received yesterday (Friday) afternoon from my friend Tom Pittman, of considerable interest.  I share it with his kind permission:   Ready for two […]