Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 898

“Escape to America: A Syrian Christian Perspective”

    https://stream.org/escape-america-syr...    

Too much food today.

    And I can feel it.   But it gives me a chance to mention two good Wasatch Front restaurants.   A couple of my brothers-in-law have been visiting, one from Arizona (with his wife) and the other (without his wife) from Washington.  So a sizable chunk of the extended family who’re in Utah at [Read More...]

On Sabbath Observance

    “Sabbath observance invites us to stop. It invites us to rest. It asks us to notice that while we rest, the world continues without our help. It invites us to delight in the world’s beauty and abundance.” Wendell Berry    

A blistering rebuke to Evangelicals and conservatives who support Mr. Donald Trump

    Yes, it may still be too little, too late, but I’m nonetheless glad to see some Evangelicals speaking out against those on their team who have shamed themselves by becoming shills for Trumpism:   http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/...   I feel the same way about this that Michael Cromartie does.    

“The surprising story of a Book of Mormon in the Harvard library”

    Taylor Halverson recounts an amusing (and revealing) story from Paul Cox:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...    

A striking comparative test of attendees at Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump rallies

    Thanks to Chris Shearer for alerting me to this interesting little video:   https://www.facebook.com/BuzzFeedNews...   It’s surely possible, even probable, that it was selectively edited to heighten the contrast between the two groups.   Unfortunately, though, I suspect that it’s more true than false.   Which is just one of the many reasons [Read More...]

“Remembrance and the Past”

    It is said that, back in the glory days of the former FARMS, under my reign of terror there before the 2012 Purification, our periodicals and books — particularly what was then called the “FARMS Review” — were essentially long strings of pseudoscholarly ad hominems, slanders, and personal insults linked together by occasional periods and commas.   [Read More...]

BOM Mosiah 27

    Today’s reading, Mosiah 27, covers one of the most dramatic stories in the Book of Mormon.   Alma the Younger, son of the chief priest, and his companions, the sons of King Mosiah, were among the unbelieving and cynical critics of the Church.  In fact, they were arguably the most visible, vocal, and hostile of [Read More...]

“Inconvenient Genocide”: An Israeli responds to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East

    I have to confess that I’m genuinely astonished at the mild and relatively indifferent response in the West to the harassment, despoliation, rape, and, sometimes, torture and mass slaughter of ancient Christian communities in the Near East.   Here’s an Israeli Jewish perspective on the situation:   http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0416...    

“Is wine good for you or is it not?”

    Believe it or not, I’ve occasionally encountered an argument against Mormonism that rests on the notion that moderate wine consumption would be better for us than following the Word of Wisdom as it’s currently interpreted.   And, in fact, there have been studies suggesting that red wine, imbibed in reasonable quantities, confers cardiovascular benefits.   [Read More...]