Luke 13:34-35 Compare Matthew 23:37-39   At John 14:7-9, Jesus is speaking with his apostles:   If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and... Read more

    Here’s a beautiful video about temples that I had somehow missed until very recently.   And I figure that, if I hadn’t seen it before, there’s at least a slight chance that somebody else out there may have missed it, as well.  (I’m really out of the loop on most things, but I doubt that I’m the absolutely worst person in the Church in that regard.  Not consistently, anyhow.)   Have a look.  It’s just under six minutes... Read more

    Thanks to Jabra Ghneim for bringing this fascinating article to my notice:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/07/23/scientists-discover-12-new-potential-earth-like-planets/?tid=sm_fb   “And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten.” (Moses 1:33)     Read more

    I saw a bumper sticker the other day that I really loved:   Honk if you love Jesus! Text while driving if you want to meet him.   Read more

    Luke 13:31-33   It’s scarcely the only example, but this brief passage demonstrates beyond question that the Lord himself was capable of using irony (“it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem”) and negative description (“that fox”) in speaking about those who opposed him.  He wasn’t bland.  He wasn’t always inoffensive.  He wasn’t the “consumptive schoolgirl” of some Victorian art that so repulsed the young C. S. Lewis and helped to ease his slide into... Read more

    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865633092/Who-were-the-first-apostles-of-Jesus.html   This week’s Thursday Deseret News column weighs in, somewhat obliquely, on a criticism that frequently goes the rounds among certain contemporary critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:  Why don’t the ranks of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve represent the general membership of the Church, ethnically?   With two current vacancies in the Twelve, the question is again being asked (e.g., relatively tamely, here), with some demanding that the next... Read more

    A new — and, thus far, little noticed — power-grab by the federal government of the United States:   http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/421389/attention-americas-suburbs-you-have-just-been-annexed-stanley-kurtz   This is not only reason for substantive concern, but for procedural worry:  More and more, Americans are not governed by laws passed by majorities of their elected representatives, and, more and more, they’re losing their rights of local self-governance.  They are ruled ever more intrusively by unelected bureaucrats in Washington DC.   On a perhaps related note:... Read more

    Taylor Halverson offers an interesting bit of  history that’s appropriate for this week’s Utah (and Mormon) commemoration of Pioneer Day:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865632983/How-the-Donner-Party-affected-the-pioneers-arrival-in-the-Salt-Lake-Valley.html     Read more

    Many Republicans seem to be rallying to Donald Trump.  He’s leading in several polls.   They react positively — as they previously did with Governor Chris Christie — to what they perceive as his blunt-talking honesty and his fearless willingness to address sacred cows.   And there’s something to be said for such qualities.   But Mr. Trump is an arrogant and disagreeable demagogue who isn’t remotely a genuine or consistent conservative, his political commitments have been all over the... Read more

    Matt Roper provides a couple of very insightful and important statements — from practicing non-LDS archaeologists — that are directly relevant to the ongoing Jenkins/Hamblin exchange:   http://etherscave.blogspot.com/2015/07/scholars-are-people-too-attitudes.html     Read more