“Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.”  (St. Teresa of Avila)   Posted from San Francisco, California   Read more

    This week’s new article from Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/was-joseph-smith-smarter-than-the-average-fourth-year-hebrew-student-finding-a-restoration-significant-hebraism-in–book-of-mormon-isaiah/   Posted from San Francisco, California     Read more

    Some investigators ask about this matter, and some critics raise the issue as an avenue of attack:   http://www.plonialmonimormon.com/2015/10/a-follow-up-note-on-necessity-of-gold.html     Read more

    I posted an item about this curious study several months ago, as I recall.  But Charles Steinman reminds me of it, and probably quite a number of you haven’t seen it:   http://universe.byu.edu/2015/04/28/skin-texture-glow-distinguishes-mormons-from-others/?fb_action_ids=10152692565385807&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=above-post   Famously, an Israeli official once asked an interesting question during the period of the construction of BYU’s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, when there was great concern that we Mormons — who, for some mysterious reason, had the reputation of a proselytizing faith —... Read more

    This is actually pretty important:   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/425933/benghazi-committee-emails-hillary-clinton-lied-video-excuse   It was all about spin, it seems.  The presidential election of 2012 was drawing near, and the Obama administration badly wanted to continue its pretense that the fight against al-Qa‘ida had been won:  “‘Usama b. Ladin is dead, and General Motors is alive.”   Keep honesty out of politics: Hillary in 2016!     Read more

    Matthew 21:20-22 Mark 11:20-26 Compare Matthew 6:14-15; 17:20; 21:19; Luke 17:6; John 14:13-14; 15:7; 16:23   The Savior’s curse on the fig tree, which I mentioned here very briefly a couple of days ago, is fulfilled in these passages, and the disciples are astonished at his power.  (Of course, he’d raised a dead man only a few days before, so they shouldn’t really have been so surprised.)   There are a couple of good and interesting comments following... Read more

    Science is a great enterprise.  It’s also a thoroughly human one:   https://reason.com/blog/2015/10/20/epidemiology-makes-astrology-look-respec     Read more

    It would be really nice if, when it comes to Mormonism, the media would simply tell the story, and do it in a balanced way.   http://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2015/10/21/mormon-leader-calls-for-balance-and-associated-press-calls-it-transformation     Read more

    “Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be — and becoming that person.” St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897)     Read more

    Okay.  I admit that my most zany detractors can be (and, when I’m paying real attention to them, often are) exasperating.  They misread, and read crazy things into, just about everything I write.  They make wild accusations.  They harshly criticize not only my faith and my views, but my appearance, my movie preferences, my employment, my taste in music and literature, my character, my writing style, my personality, my punctuation, and just about everything else about me.  It’s... Read more