“Studying Mormonism has made me a better Christian, which is why I am eternally grateful for the teachings of Joseph Smith as well as all those scholars, church leaders, and everyday believers who have labored to maintain those teachings as a living tradition. . . .  BYU is a thriving, Christ-centered, and intellectually exciting place and should serve as a model for how Christianity and the academy can be productively integrated.” Stephen H. Webb, Mormon Christianity: What Other... Read more

    I’ve been reading Richard Panek’s The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality.   It’s very good.   I thought I might share a few numbers from page 36 of the book, simply because I thought them stunning:   It turns out that everything within galaxies is moving, and that, throughout the universe, all galaxies are themselves in motion.   Every two minutes, the Earth moves 2500 miles in its orbit... Read more

    Yes.   http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2015/july/3-things-christians-should-consider-in-light-of-radical-isl.html   Posted from Victoria, British Columbia     Read more

    Luke 15:1-10 Compare Matthew 18:12-14   There are at least three points to be drawn from these brief passages:   1)  The Lord really, really values the souls of individual people; there is nobody, not even the most unrighteous, for whom he has no concern.  (This works powerfully, I think, against certain Calvinistic suggestions that he essentially created some people for the purpose of damning them.)   2)  Christians aren’t supposed to interact solely with “the righteous.”  If we’re to... Read more

    Ryan Larsen and Nicholas Garaycochea called my attention to this brief but interesting piece:   http://mormonpuzzlepieces.blogspot.ca/2015/07/a-new-perspective-on-lamanite-skin-of.html   Posted from Victoria, British Columbia     Read more

    All too often, the results of modern science (e.g., relativity, quantum physics, plate tectonics, and so forth) go against our common sense.   So it’s really comforting when, once in a while, cutting edge scientific research confirm widely-held assumptions, as here:   http://www.theonion.com/article/study-those-who-go-college-earn-more-degrees-over–50926   My thanks to John Hancock for bringing this important item to my notice.   I certainly hope that government funding was involved in the research!   Posted from Victoria, British Columbia     Read more

    Some additional background information on the sudden crisis in the century-old relationship between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America:   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/us/catholic-panel-urges-churches-to-continue-sponsoring-scout-troops.html?_r=0   I’m sad to see this happen, but it may be unavoidable.   Posted from Victoria, British Columbia     Read more

    First of all, I want to express my gratitude to all those who’ve contributed to Dr. Ugo Perego’s “Reconstructing Joseph Smith Genome” project.  He has met his initial goal of $5000, which will permit him to do a great deal of work, and has announced a new goal-total of $10,000.   So the work continues, but its initial phase has now been financially enabled.   In the meanwhile, Dr. Brian Hales has published a short piece on his very... Read more

    “If I’m walking down the riverbank, and a man is drowning, even if I don’t know how to swim very well, I feel this urge that the right thing to do is to try to save that person.  Evolution would tell me exactly the opposite: preserve your DNA.  Who cares about the guy who’s drowning?” Francis Collins   Posted from Victoria, British Columbia     Read more

    A couple of questions have come my way in connection with my endorsement of Dr. Ugo Perego’s project.  I’ll answer them here:   1.   The genetic samples in question belonged to the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, not to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  When Mr. Sorenson passed away, it was the Foundation, not the Church, that transferred or sold those materials to Ancestry.com upon the death of James Sorenson.   2.   I don’t... Read more