Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 902

BOM Mosiah 23

      Alma’s anti-monarchical stance in today’s reading, Mosiah 23,  is quite striking.  It’s plain that Alma had been horrified by King Noah, by the power of a morally depraved king to drag those around him down.  His experience in that king’s court fundamentally affected his political views.   In just a short time, when Alma [Read More...]

From “The Great Divorce”

    “Son,” he said, “ye cannot in your present state understand eternity . . .  That is what mortals misunderstand.  They say of some temporal suffering, “No future bliss can make up for it,” not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.  And of some [Read More...]

Idiocy at a Scottish university

    I’m comforted, somehow, to realize that America doesn’t have a monopoly on such silliness:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article...    

“Curse Tablets Discovered in 2400-Year-Old Grave”

    An interesting find — suggesting that human grudges and rivalries weren’t, alas, so very different back then from those that we encounter today:   http://www.livescience.com/54285-curs...   My wife and I, between us, belong to several reading groups.  One of them meets on the first Sunday of every month, so we met this past [Read More...]

Want to think deeply about things Mormon?

    If you’re philosophically inclined, or suspect that you might be; if you yearn for deeper reflections on the doctrines of the Restoration than you typically hear — you should probably meet Blake Ostler, who is one of the most interesting thinkers in contemporary Mormonism.   And here’s a good place to do that: [Read More...]

As Wisconsin casts its very important vote, here are two pieces on Mr. Trump

    If Mr. Donald Trump wins today’s Wisconsin primary, it will be very difficult to prevent him from getting the 1237 delegates he needs to seize the presidential nomination on the first ballot at July’s Republican convention.  If he loses the primary today, it will be very difficult for him to get those 1237 delegates [Read More...]

“A Reason for Faith”

    Just a bit more than a month away:   Contest Page    

“25 things you might not know about Wonder Woman”

    Not just pop culture trivia here.  Some really surprising stuff, from one of the most interesting writers in the history of the Deseret News:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86...    

BOM Mosiah 22

    A very quick and trivial comment about today’s reading, Mosiah 22:   Some Latter-day Saints like to claim that the wine mentioned in the scriptures was really just unfermented grape juice.   But this chapter makes that view untenable.  The wine offered by Limhi and Gideon to their Lamanite guards made those guards drunk. [Read More...]

“Muslims and Jews join forces to fix up struggling Detroit public school”

    My wonderful habanera daughter-in-law calls my attention to this positive story from a place that, alas!, offers few positive stories these days:   https://www.facebook.com/HuffingtonPo...