I’ve begun to read Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow, Is God Just a Human Invention? And Seventeen Other Questions Raised by the New Atheists (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2010). On pages 11-12, they quote an observation from Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism: Three generations ago, most people inherited rather than chose their religious faith. The great majority of people belonged to one of the historic mainline Protestant churches or the Roman Catholic... Read more
Here are links to three items that have recently been posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: Conference Talks: “The Day of Atonement, the Mosaic Temple, and the Christian Sacrament of Communion: Links and Symbols” This presentation was given by Shon D. Hopkin at the Interpreter Foundation’s 2014 Temple on Mount Zion Conference, on Saturday, 25 October 2014. The New Testament in Context Lesson 19: “Rejoice with Me; for I Have Found My Sheep Which... Read more
It hasn’t been an especially pleasant week or two for Mike Parker, a friend of mine and a really good guy who, under the pseudonym of Peter Pan, has run a sadly necessary blog called Neville-Neville Land for the past several years. Mike has been taking quite undeserved hostile fire from a curiously symbiotic alliance of aggressive critics of the Restoration (most if not all of them atheists) and one or possibly two vocal believers in the “Heartland”... Read more
Several years ago, I posted a quotation from George G. Ritchie, M.D., regarding the near-death experience that he purported to have had in 1943, when he was twenty years old and serving in the military: “What did you do with your life? It seemed to be a question about values, not facts: What did you accomplish with the precious time you were allotted? How much have you loved with your life? Have you loved others as I am... Read more
I’m still somewhat in the autobiographical vein, and I’ve elected to continue what I began yesterday with yet another story — one that I, anyhow, find amusing — of how my affiliation with the Church (or more specifically, in this case, with its flagship university) helped me in dealing with traffic tickets given by law enforcement. I’m pretty confident that I’ve told this story here before, but a hasty search of my blog failed to find mention of... Read more
I’ve already told this story here before, but I’m not feeling well and I’m very tired, and I thought that I could maybe smooth out the retelling of it for eventual inclusion in my personal history: I received my California driver’s license when I was sixteen, and I graduated from high school when I was seventeen. Between those two events, I managed to garner two driving tickets. In the wake of the first ticket, my license was... Read more
Because of illness, my wife and I and one of our sons were unable to participate in the funeral of my brother’s widow this morning in San Gabriel, California. That saddens me greatly. I would deeply like to have been there. However, we were able to watch the services via the modern and, to my mind, much under-appreciated miracle of Zoom. I was pleased at what was said; I thought that the remarks that were given nicely captured... Read more
First, though, a thought about earthquakes and divine providence. I submitted this column to Meridian way back on 27 February, and I had to re-read it this morning to see whether I still agreed with it. (I do.) I’m grateful that it has finally appeared: “A Purpose in Life’s Earthquakes” No other planet in our solar system has plate tectonics, which seems to be unique to Earth. Other planets—exoplanets—revolving around other stars may possess similar geology but, if... Read more
Mann tracht un Gott lacht is an old Yiddish proverb that means “Man Plans and God Laughs.” I was scheduled to be down in southern California by about now. I was to speak at my sister-in-law’s funeral in San Gabriel on Friday and then, thereafter, to visit with people in Santa Barbara on Saturday and to speak two or three times there in Santa Barbara on Sunday. Alas, though, my house has been a den of illness over... Read more
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The Book of Mormon and a Gospel View of War
Two new articles have appeared on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: ““In the Cause … of their God”: Clarifying Some Issues Regarding the Book of Mormon and a Gospel View of War,” written by Duane Boyce Abstract: A recent effort to think about war concludes that the Book of Mormon displays two righteous approaches to conflict: a violent approach that is justified and therefore “blessed;” and a nonviolent approach that is higher than this and therefore “more blessed”... Read more