Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 896

Why we will still have immigrants, even after the November election

    “I have actually — believe it or not, I have a lot of friends that are Muslim . . .  In most cases, they’re very rich Muslims, OK? . . .  They’ll come in.  And you’ll have exceptions.” Mr. Donald Trump, as quoted on MSNBC   It’s who you know, after all.   [Read More...]

BOM Alma 1

    With today’s reading, Alma 1, we enter into the single longest book within the Book of Mormon.   One of the things that strike me about it is its depiction of persecution, first directed against the Church and its members by apostates but then, inappropriately and unrighteously, returned by Church members against their persecutors. [Read More...]

All of human history has been merely a prologue

    Man in Black:  You’re that smart? Vizzini:  Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates? Man in Black:  Yes. Vizzini:  Morons. (From The Princess Bride)   My life has been about victories.  I’ve won a lot.  I win a lot.  I win — when I do something, [Read More...]

Is there a whole parallel universe out there? Has spirit matter (or the spirit world) been found?

    Well, who knows?  I don’t.  And I’m only half-way serious.  If that.  But maybe.   At any rate, the universe seems to have a whole lot more stuff in it than we can see, touch, taste, or feel:   http://www.realclearscience.com/artic...   As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, “Materialism isn’t what it used to be.” [Read More...]

“Mental gymnastics, eisegesis, and biblical inerrancy”

    I’m not sure that I’ve ever been a believer in scriptural inerrancy, and, truth be told, I just don’t see much point in the notion.  But some Evangelical or Fundamentalist Protestants regard it as very, very, very important, and they really try to defend it.  Here’s a response to one such defense from [Read More...]

“New Evidence on When Bible Was Written: Ancient Shopping Lists”

    This actually has some relevance to the Middle Eastern roots of the Book of Mormon.   Were the Israelites around the time of Lehi and Nephi largely illiterate?  Was literacy very rare?   (Thanks to Charles Dayton for bringing this article to my notice.)    

Contra Trump

    I made the mistake, just now, of turning on the news while I was lacing up my shoes and getting ready to head out the door in a few minutes.  It was a mistake because, as almost always happens, the news was about Mr. Donald Trump.  And then there was Mr. Donald Trump himself, [Read More...]

“Israeli doctors, spies rally to save 5-year-old Syrian girl”

    This is a wonderful story.   Normal people desperately want to see at least some signs of kindness, of humanity, in the region.  Such people will be pleased, I hope, by this account:   http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-...   Thanks to Darren Zechiel for calling it to my attention.    

Creator and Creation: One Perspective

    “Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else.” C. H. Spurgeon   I doubt that Spurgeon, a prominent nineteenth-century British Protestant evangelist, really intended to say that love within families, natural beauty, powerful music, profound literature, and other such things are [Read More...]

BOM Mosiah 29

    In connection with today’s reading in Mosiah 29, I again toss humility aside and recommend my article of a number of years ago on “Authority in the Book of Mosiah”:   http://publications.maxwellinstitute....   More than a few critics of the Book of Mormon have laughed at what they regard as the obvious echoes of [Read More...]