Tonga, Among Other Things

Tonga's temple — The Nuku’alofa Tonga Temple (LDS.org)

The latest installment of the biweekly Hamblin-Peterson Deseret News column is now up:

“Four centuries of Christian devotion in a small Bavarian town”

I get a kick out of the comment from “skeptic” — the first and, thus far at least, the only reader response to the article. (He’s a regular.) He can’t, even for a moment, appreciate the venerability of the Oberammergau Passion Play, note the interest of the story behind it, and so forth. No. He has to sneer. I have to say that “skeptic” illustrates nicely, for me anyway, the impoverished and constricted worldview of at least some militant atheists.

I’ll be leading a tour to Oberammergau in 2020:

“Get on the list while you can!”

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Don’t miss the Interpreter Radio Show tomorrow (Sunday) night!

http://interpreterfoundation.org/the-interpreter-radio-show/

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Do I really need to mention, by the way, that Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture published a new article yesterday? Really? We’ve never missed a Friday in more than 5.5 years, and you’re surprised that we didn’t miss this week, either?

Anyway, a new article has appeared:

“Pushing through Life’s Pilgrimage Together”

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Are you a Gospel Doctrine teacher or a member of a Gospel Doctrine class? If you are, but even if you’re not, you may well enjoy and profit from this Old Testament “KnoWhy,” available on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:

What Is the Meaning of the Samuel’s Reply: “Here Am I”? An Old Testament KnoWhy[1] relating to the reading assignment for Gospel Doctrine Lesson 21: “God Will Honor Those Who Honor Him” (1 Samuel 2-3; 8) (JBOTL21A)

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Some of you might be interested in this short little piece, written by the astoundingly productive Jeff Lindsay:

“Democracy in the Ancient Americas? Maybe Not So Ridiculous After All”

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In other Mormon-related news:

“Elder Holland Speaks to Argentine Congress, Meets With Country’s Jewish Leaders”

I’m a bit late. This was posted four days ago. But better late than never, to coin a phrase:

“Latter-day Saints Assist in Guatemalan Relief Efforts: Hundreds evacuated following volcano eruption”

Even this has a Mormon connection:

“Actor Jim Caviezel set to play second most important role in O.U.R. story ‘The Sound of Freedom'”

And another story, this one from the South Pacific:

“Mormons Serve Kingdom of Tonga by Cleaning Royal Villa Grounds”