Malice can always find a mark to shoot at, and a pretense to fire.  (Charles Simmons) All too true, I’m afraid.     Read more

    A report is now circulating that Elder Richard G. Scott, disillusioned with the Church, is resigning from the Council of the Twelve.   It seems that his health problems, including fading memory, are fictions circulated by the Church in an attempt at pre-emptive damage control for when the story breaks.   This is nonsense.  Flatly and rather maliciously false:   http://www.theculturalhallpodcast.com/2015/06/no-elder-scott-is-not-stepping-down-from-the-church/   And, as a personal note, let me just say that I’ve been aware of Elder Scott’s increasing... Read more

    I’ve long admired Christina Hoff Sommers, and perhaps more now than ever:   http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/feminist-enemy-number-one_952624.html   The forces of secular progressive tolerance are often extraordinarily intolerant.     Read more

      You’ve been hearing, most likely, about the recent successes of the so-called “Islamic State” in Syria and Iraq.  And they’ve been considerable.   Perhaps you’ve heard today that the “Islamic State” has now announced its intention to “liberate” Baghdad itself.   But don’t imagine that this nihilistic death-cult is operating only in Syria and Iraq.   No, no, no.   If only.   https://www.commentarymagazine.com/2015/06/09/isis-in-libya-takes-sirte/   And the Obama administration acknowledged today that it doesn’t have a strategy... Read more

    Matthew 18:6-9 Mark 9:42-50 Compare Matthew 5:13; Luke 14:34-35, 17:1-2   1.   The plan of salvation requires “opposition” or “offenses,” yes.  But there will be no awards handed out to those who, through their treachery, betrayal, greed, ambition, hatred, and other unrighteous motives, create those offenses and that opposition.   2.   The language of plucking out eyes and cutting off hands isn’t meant literally, but it certainly illustrates the nature of the radical discipleship that Jesus... Read more

    Here’s a short article about a really interesting study regarding which of the world’s major languages delivers information most efficiently:   http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2015/06/whats_the_most_efficient_language.html   Honestly, I confess to being just a tiny bit surprised by the results.     Read more

    Thanks to Cate SB for bringing to my attention a “Dilbert” comic strip that precisely, absolutely, perfectly captures the nature of some of those who respond to my blog and my newspaper columns:   http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-06-07   It’s uncanny how well this depicts my experience with such folks over many years now.   I’m running this one off for future use.     Read more

    Advocates of retaining the millennia-old definition of marriage as by nature heterosexual are on the defensive everywhere, and it doesn’t always help that, for many, their principal reason for resisting the current juggernaut for redefinition rests on either the “eeew” or “ick” factor or on some variant of “because the Bible [or the Prophet] says so.”   Such reasons easily dismissed by triumphalist secular progressives as irrational.   This site might be helpful:   http://discussingmarriage.org   Thanks to Jeffrey Thayne... Read more

    From the summary, I’m guessing that I myself might not completely agree with absolutely everything she said — or, at least, with precisely how she said it:   http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2015/06/victim-of-christian-education-claims-u-s-founded-on-gospel-of-jesus-christ/?ref_widget=trending   But please notice the extraordinary rhetoric of this brief reaction to her:   “Victim,” “dangers,” “brainwashed,” “shrill,” “vulgar,” “demoralizing,” “imperialism,” “shrill” (again), “rant,” “victim” (again), “victim” (a third time), “blinded,” “superstition,” “ignorance,” “canon fodder,” “holy war,” “jihad for Jesus,” “foolish nonsense,” “escape,” “ignorance” (again), “extreme,” “extreme” (again), “indoctrination,” “child abuse.”... Read more

      The ever-interesting Ralph Hancock takes a brief look at the pivotal role played by Christianity in the development of Western moral thinking:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865630344/Christianity-favors-recognition-of-equal-value-of-all-human-beings.html?pg=all     Read more