This article, written by Tad Walch for the Deseret News, provides extremely important background material for reflecting upon the controversial recent sexual abuse case in Arizona that has drawn a great deal of hostile attention to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “Should a member of the clergy report sex abuse of the penitent? A look inside the priest-penitent privilege” Moreover, because I think the matter so important, and because accurate understanding of it... Read more
A new article went up a short while ago in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “Should I Be My Brother’s Keeper? Yes and No,” written by . . . well, Daniel C. Peterson Abstract: We typically teach and often even sing that we should be our brothers’ (and sisters’) keepers. And we do it with the very best and most holy of intentions. For many of us, indeed, loving and caring for our brothers... Read more
I liked this Fox News interview with Senator Mitt Romney that aired a few days ago. Perhaps, if you haven’t already watched it, you too will find it interesting: “Bret Baier hosts exclusive interview with Sen. Romney at Washington DC Temple: ‘Special Report’ host Bret Baier interviews Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, outside the Washington D.C. Temple on matters of faith, family and politics.” *** The recent Associated Press article about a case of sexual abuse... Read more
What the heck. I’m in the mood, and I think that I haven’t told this missionary story here before. So I offer to you yet another exercise in geezerly nostalgia. (It’s my blog, after all. Just try to stop me!) One of the principal areas where my companions and I “tracted” — for the uninitiated, in the Latter-day Saint subdialect of English tracting means going from door to door seeking people who might be interested in hearing... Read more
I continue, briefly, with the theme of yesterday’s entry, “Reminiscences of a beautiful but difficult mission area.” Another vignette: Once — I think while I was serving in the mission office in Zürich, or shortly prior to that — I was sent out to the northwestern Swiss town of Biel (or, as it’s known in French, Bienne), which is about ninety minutes’ drive from Zürich, right on the line that divides the German-speaking part of the country... Read more
Well, our stay in the Berner Oberland has finally come to an end. I’ll do a retrospective on it in a day or two, when I get a chance. (I just know that everybody out there is dying to read my travelogue!) In self-justification, I point out that this blog sometimes functions as a kind of journal for me. We’re in Kloten now, near the Zürich Airport, waiting for our various flights in the morning. I actually... Read more
Given the time difference between where it was posted and where I am right now, it was a little difficult to call attention to this short newly posted video in a timely fashion. So I’m calling attention to it a bit late: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon — Insights Episode 17: What is your Witness? Yesterday, I finished reading the third volume of the German edition of Saints, the ongoing official history being published... Read more
© I’ve had a very, very long day, and it’s late, and I’m tired. (For that matter, I’m still not entirely over jet lag.) So I think that I’ll repost something from about five years ago that you might have missed: There was considerable buzz back in 2014 about the results of a Facebook survey asking people which books had “stayed with you.” A writer for Salt Lake City’s Deseret News emphasized the fact that both the... Read more
“A Comet, Christ’s Birth, and Josephus’s Lunar Eclipse,” written by Charles Dike Abstract: A comet seen by the Chinese in 5 bc has been considered by some authors as a possibility for the Star of Bethlehem. This article starts with that premise and argues that Book of Mormon evidences reinforce that likelihood. The comet path can account for all events surrounding the Star of Bethlehem. Based on typologies in the scriptures, eyewitness reports, and the comet’s timing, the date of Christ’s birth... Read more
The Interpreter Foundation continues to be a fountain of productivity, thanks to generous people who give wonderfully of their time, talents, and energy. Here are the four most recently posted items on the website: “Nibley Lectures: Time Vindicates the Prophets — Prophets and Crisis” Between 7 March 1954 and 17 October 1954, Hugh Nibley delivered a series of thirty weekly lectures on KSL Radio that were also published as pamphlets. The series, called “Time Vindicates the Prophets,”... Read more
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