Some Things For The Sabbath

I want one of these! — During a visit to Mexico and Guatemala a year or two ago, I hastily snapped this photograph of a painting in the hallway of the Mexico City Temple Visitors Center. There was no title that I could see, and nobody was around for me to ask, but I’m quite confident that it’s an artist’s conception of a very early Nephite temple. I had never seen it before, but I like it quite a bit.

Have you marked your calendar for this upcoming Interpreter Foundation conference? We would love to see you there:

“For a Wise Purpose in Him”

Perspectives on the Small Plates of Nephi
(1 Nephi – Words of Mormon)

A Conference on the Small Plates of Nephi in the Book of Mormon

May 29-30, 2026

Sponsored by The Interpreter Foundation

In the interest of deepening Latter-day Saint understanding and appreciation of the text, context, and doctrine of 1 Nephi through Words of Mormon, we will hold a two-day conference on May 29-30, 2026 in Provo, UT at a venue yet to be announced. The conference proceedings will “throw greater views” on the authors of the small plates of Nephi and its contents, thus showing how the small plates “throw greater views” on Jesus Christ and his everlasting gospel (Doctrine and Covenants 10:45).

An empty Herodian tomb in Jerusalem — An empty tomb in Jerusalem dating to the Herodian period. The photograph was taken by my friend and colleague Dr. Jeffrey Chadwick, and I use it here with his kind permission. Neither of us is persuaded that either the Garden Tomb or the Holy Sepulcher is the right place, so this will have to represent the as-yet unknown site of Christ’s burial and resurrection.

I’ve read a fair amount about the so-called “Shroud of Turin,” but have done so only sporadically and not systematically. I’m open to its potential authenticity, and — although nothing in my faith depends upon its possibly miraculous provenance — I would actually be happy to see it proven authentic. But I haven’t made up my mind: Here’s a recent article on the topic in the popular press: “New evidence strengthens case of the Shroud of Turin as Jesus’ burial cloth”

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, located in Jerusalem’s Old City, is the site that is venerated by most Christian traditions as the location of the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some Protestants have pointed, instead, to the so-called “Garden Tomb” as the most likely place — and, in this preference, they’ve been joined overwhelmingly by Latter-day Saints. I’m committed to neither view. But a discovery that was reported eleven months ago in the Times of Israel does tend, I think, to strengthen the Holy Sepulcher’s claim, at least a little bit: “Echoing Gospel account, traces of ancient garden found under Church of Holy Sepulchre: A landmark excavation, set to conclude soon at Old City of Jerusalem church, has offered unprecedented historical insights. ToI gets a sneak peek.”

On a related note, here’s a joke from the conclusion of our final speaker in sacrament meeting today: A prominent member of the Sanhedrin is reproving Joseph of Arimathea. “You spent a huge sum of money constructing that new tomb of yours, and now you’re simply handing it over to somebody who’s been executed by the Romans?” “It’s not a big deal,” replies the wealthy man. “It’s just for the weekend.”

BYU football stadium — LaVell Edwards Stadium at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

I love to hear and to read about lives that have been well lived. (That’s why I can really enjoy a good funeral.) Hers was one of those well-lived lives: “‘End of an era’: Funny, tender moments fill funeral for Patti Edwards, BYU football’s ‘grand dame’: Andy Reid, Kalani Sitake, Elder Clark G. Gilbert, former Cougar stars and wives fondly remember the woman who taught them to ‘enjoy the now’”

Idaho's newest temple — The Burley Idaho Temple, shown here in a 2026 Intellectual Reserve photograph, was dedicated by President Dallin H. Oaks in January 2026. I hope that my employment of the photograph here will be acceptable as “Fair Use.”

If you want to get to know the new leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Dallin H. Oaks, this relatively brief Church News podcast will give you a good sampler of things that he has recently had to say: “Episode 281: President Dallin H. Oaks and his recent invitations to ‘be optimistic’ and ‘stay on the covenant path’: Hear President Oaks’ impressions and invitations from the Burley Idaho Temple dedication and his devotional at BYU”

Our first scene. last — Prepping the stagecoach on a set for the 2024 Interpreter Foundation film *Six Days in August* in Tennessee, from left to right: James Jordan (1st AD/Producer), Brandon Christensen (DP), Mark Goodman (Writer/Director/Producer), Russell Richins (Producer/BTS). Brothers Jordan, Goodman, and Richins constitute Redbrick Filmworks, in partnership with which the Interpreter Foundation has created *Robert Cundick: A Sacred Service of Music* (2017), *Witnesses* (2021), *Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon* (2022), and *Six Days in August* (2024), and with which it is now creating *Becoming Brigham*.

You shouldn’t be surprised that I’m once again calling your attention to the Interpreter Foundation’s series of mini-documentary videos, which are collectively titled Becoming Brigham and which are available for free viewing at becomingbrigham.com. At the time that I’m writing this (which is early in the evening of Sunday, 22 February 2026), we have released four episodes of the series. A fifth installment will be released tomorrow (Monday), and a trailer or teaser for it is already available here.

We’ve made these short videos — actually, we’re still making them — and we would really like people to watch them. And to share them with others. And to subscribe to them. I will make no money from them, but I would like them to reach the widest possible audience.

London cemetery — In the Bunhill Fields graveyard, in London (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

Don’t be deceived by what was said at Patti Edwards’s funeral, which I mentioned above. The palpable human cost of theism — in ruined, blighted, wasted lives — is starkly evident in this horrific account of a very old couple who might have had a chance at being happy had they only been permitted to recognize that life is objectively meaningless and that it ends in irreversible decay, inescapable death, and complete oblivion: “80 years of marriage: One couple’s faith-centered advice: High school sweethearts Gloria and Amos Wright celebrate decades of marriage, crediting faith and service for a lifetime together; ‘the Church was really the wonderful thing about our lives,’ Gloria Wright says”