I was saddened very much, just now, to read this news:   It was because I knew that he was extremely ill that I recently published the following column:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865653076/Taking-a-Leap-of-Faith-in-Bennetts-book-on-the-origins-of-the-Book-of-Mormon.html?pg=all   I was gratified to learn that he was aware of what I had written, and that he was even pleased by it.   I pray that his family will have comfort at this sorrowful time.   Posted from Tel Aviv, Israel     Read more

    “This sense of wonder leads most scientists to a Superior Being – der Alte, the Old One, as Einstein affectionately called the Deity – a Superior Intelligence, the Lord of all Creation and Natural Law.” Abdus Salam, 1979 Nobel Laureate in Physics   Posted from Tel Aviv, Israel     Read more

    “A scientific discovery is also a religious discovery. There is no conflict between science and religion. Our knowledge of God is made larger with every discovery we make about the world.” Joseph H. Taylor, Jr.     Posted from Jerusalem     Read more

    Greg Smith gives some exotic folks yet another reason to hate him:   http://blog.fairmormon.org/2016/04/29/9425/   Posted from Jerusalem     Read more

    Almost exactly four years ago, while I was here in Jerusalem, I received an email removing me as editor of the FARMS Review (which had recently become the Mormon Studies Review).  That email launched a process that, in short order, forced me altogether out of an organization to which I had given a substantial portion of my life for nearly a quarter of a century.  It purged me from the Islamic Translation Series and the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI), which... Read more

    We spent a substantial portion of the day on foot in the Old City of Jerusalem.   We began by walking up and around the Temple Mount, which was less crowded than I have ever seen it.  There was absolutely no wait.  I spoke to my group about the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as about Muhammad’s ascension to heaven and to the presence of God and, of course, about the Temple.   Afterwards... Read more

    Does the Bible contain all of the teachings of Jesus?   Plainly, it doesn’t:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865604050/A-40-day-gap-in-the-New-Testament.html   By the way, tomorrow (Thursday) is again Ascension Day.  It’s a relatively big deal here in this city.   Posted from Jerusalem     Read more

    “The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.” Werner Heisenberg, 1932 Nobel Laureate in Physics Posted from Jerusalem     Read more

    From the American Jewish thinker Dennis Prager:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/434850/dark-time-america   It helps, at such times as this, to know that there are more important and much more lasting things than politics and even culture.   Posted from Jerusalem     Read more

    We crossed over into Bethlehem this morning, passing through the ghastly and lamentable Israeli security fence, with its prison-like guard towers and its aura of Cold War Berlin.   After some time at a Christian gift shop — they specialize in olive-wood carvings, icons, and jewelry, and it pleases me to support the struggling and beleaguered Palestinian economy (especially for the Christians) — we went to the traditional site where the angels appeared to the shepherds to announce the... Read more