“If I adore you out of fear of Hell, burn me!  If I adore you out of desire for paradise, lock me out of paradise.  But if I adore you for Yourself alone, don’t deny to me your eternal beauty.” Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya of Basra (d. AD 801)   Posted from Park City, Utah     Read more

    Matthew 24:23-28 Mark 13:21-23 Compare Matthew 24:4-5, 11; Mark 13:5-6; Luke 17:20-21, 23-24, 37; 21:8   1.   Again, it’s really easy to sit back and condemn, or even to mock, those who will be seduced by false teachers — as if such teachers came clearly marked “false.”  If even the “very elect” are deceived, though, it’s reasonable to assume that those false teachers will be plausible and persuasive.  Instead of pointing the finger at others, we should... Read more

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/science/nasa-adds-to-evidence-of-mysterious-ancient-earthworks.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&_r=0   It seems that we don’t yet know and understand absolutely everything about the past.     Read more

    Matthew 24:15-22 Mark 13:14-20 Luke 21:20-24 Compare Luke 17:31; 19:43-44   The šiqqǔṣ mišômēm (שִׁקּוּץ מְשׁמֵם) or, in Greek, the bdelugma tes eremoseos (τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως), is something mentioned in the book of Daniel and in 1 Maccabbees, and is often rendered “abomination of desolation,” as in the King James Bible.  Other renderings include the “desolating sacrilege,” the “abomination that causes desolation,” and even the “disgusting thing.”   In rabbinic Hebrew, “abomination” is a standard term for an idol.  ... Read more

    From the University of California at Davis:   http://blogs.ucdavis.edu/egghead/2015/10/28/often-decried-polygyny-may-have-some-advantages/     Read more

    Some of you might find this interesting:   http://universe.byu.edu/2015/10/29/world-congress-of-families-ix-panel-discusses-decline-of-faith-morality-and-family/     Read more

    I agree with this counsel, and think it really quite important:   http://www.heraldextra.com/news/opinion/opinion-shapers/jelalian-don-t-make-the-church-in-your-political-image/article_614dcc13-bcc5-5e39-a8a6-527ec70f0d7a.html     Read more

      My wife and I attended a really good show last night at BYU, “This is the Moment: The Musicals of Frank Wildhorn.”   Frank Wildhorn is an American composer of popular songs and musicals who’s developed a special relationship with BYU.  (His The Count of Monte Cristo had its world premiere on campus back in 2013.)   He brought three singers with him — Jackie Burns, Norm Lewis, and Adrienne Warren — and they put on a first-rate show.... Read more

    He who works with his hands is a laborer.He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist. St. Francis of Assisi (d. AD 1226)       Read more

    Happy Halloween!     Read more