Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 826

“Organisms might be quantum machines”

    This is extraordinarily interesting stuff:   http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/201607...   And, yes, it does appeal to my “gee whiz” sense about many things that science is disclosing.   By the way, the relatively simple universe of the old-style “hard-headed” materialist (like Mr. MacPhee, in C. S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength), who credits only “objective facts” — [Read More...]

“Why Was a Stone Used As an Aid in Translating the Book of Mormon?”

    An interesting discussion of an issue that has never troubled me even a teensy tiny little bit, but that, I know, has troubled some (and inflamed others):   https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.or...    

“Mormon Filmmakers Focus New Lens on Anne Frank”

    Having just been in Amsterdam recently, the story of Anne Frank has been on my mind lately.  (It came up again during a conversation yesterday.)  So I was interested to see this:   http://lds.net/blog/buzz/entertainmen...    

A final summarizing note about BYU’s recent conference on religious liberty

    http://www.iclrs.org/index.php?pageId...      

“Fethullah Gulen: The Islamic scholar Turkey blames for the failed coup”

    Some useful background information on the controversy about the failed recent coup:   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/a...   And also this, from the often controversial but indisputably well-qualified Daniel Pipes:   “Why I Rooted for the Turkish Coup Attempt”   And this:   “How Erdogan Is Rolling the Dice, and How/Why America Must Check Him”  

Hoofbeats of the Apocalypse

    A really revealing account from someone who worked with Mr. Donald Trump, and who saw Mr. Trump up close and personal, for eighteen months:   “‘The New Yorker’ Talks to Trump’s Ghostwriter”   In other words, should Mr. Trump be elected, we’re in for . . . nobody, including Mr. Trump, really knows [Read More...]

The secret of success?

    “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost almost 300 games.  Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan   When I was in Tehran a number [Read More...]

“Revelation is real even in a policy meeting in the LDS Church”

    I really like this blog item that was posted by Jonathan Max Wilson back in January of this year, and I commend it to you:   https://www.sixteensmallstones.org/re...   Many critics say that revelation in the Church has ceased.  Its leaders disagree.    

Pray for (and with) the Saints in Turkey

    In June of 2015, the Central Eurasian Mission was established in Istanbul, responsible for Church affairs not only in Turkey but in several other countries adjacent to it.  My friend and colleague Dr. James A. Toronto, formerly president of the Italy Catania Mission, was called to serve as its president.  (His is one of [Read More...]

“A Mormon Scholar and His Students Changing the World for Good: Dr. Gene Cole at BYU”

    This is an inspiring blog entry, from Jeff Lindsay:   http://mormanity.blogspot.com/2016/07...   And, while I’m at it, I would like to mention again two charities that are either essentially Mormon or have major Mormon involvement, and to which my wife and I have been paying particular attention over the past couple of years:   [Read More...]