Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 867

A “super-intellect”?

    Would you not say to yourself, in whatever language supercalculating intellects use, “Some supercalculating intellect must have designed the properties of the carbon atom, otherwise the chance of my finding such an atom through the blind forces of nature would be less than 1 part in 1040000.”  Of course you would. . . [Read More...]

“Mitt Romney, Run for President!”

    First, a piece by David French:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article...   Second, an article by Jamie Weinstein:   Win Or Lose, A Third Party Run Would Be Mitt Romney’s Greatest Legacy   Third, a brief comment by Bill Kristol:   http://www.realclearpolitics.com/vide...   Fourth, an article by Jay Caruso:   http://www.redstate.com/jaycaruso/201...   The odds of Governor [Read More...]

BOM Alma 11

      Today’s reading is Alma 11.   I’ve already posted recently — here and then here — about Nephite “coinage” as it’s set forth in this chapter, so I won’t return to that topic.   One of the high points of Alma 11 is Amulek’s strong testimony of the resurrection in verses 43-45: [Read More...]

“Ignorance and fear are big obstacles for Muslim start-up founders”

    If I were a businessman or a venture capitalist, I would see this as a potentially huge, underserved market:   http://mashable.com/2016/05/22/muslim...   Seriously.   There are enormous opportunities here.    

“Jane Eyre”

    With a group from our neighborhood, my wife and I regularly go out to dinner and then attend the latest production at the Hale Center Theater in Orem.   It’s a real highlight for me, to be able to talk with neighbors and then to enjoy good live theater not far from home. [Read More...]

“Living Longer”

    An interesting short piece by the famous University of Chicago church historian Martin Marty:   https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightin...   I’ve been aware of such findings for quite a few years now, but the science seems to be firming up considerably.   On a virulently anti-Mormon (mostly atheist) message board that I look in upon fairly [Read More...]

Of Mormons, larger families, levels of education, etc.

    Higher numbers of children typically mean less education for each child.   But Mormons appear to violate this generalization rather significantly:   http://news.byu.edu/news/family-size-...    

Faith in times of personal challenge

    “Faith is a footbridge that you don’t know will hold you up over the chasm until you’re forced to walk out onto it.” Nicholas Wolterstorff, Lament for a Son  

The Qur‘an on the eternal fate of Christians, Jews, and Sabaeans

    “Truly, those who believe, and those who practice Judaism, and the Christians, and the Sabaeans — whoever believes in God and the last day and does righteous works — they shall have their reward with their Lord.  There shall be no fear upon them, nor shall they grieve.”  (My translation)    

“Old Testament divine council called a ‘sod'”

    A Hamblin/Peterson Deseret News article from nearly 3.5 years ago that I think some will still find of interest:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/76...