New Testament Notes 120-123

March 17, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Matthew 12:43-45 Compare Luke 11:24-26 One of the things that this passage says to me, sadly, is that the condition of someone who’s once been converted but then abandons his or her covenants and relapses into “worldly” ways is very likely to be worse than it was before that first conversion. I regret to say that I’ve seen precisely such a phenomenon in more than a few cases. It’s very depressing, but it no longer... Read more

Christian Anfinsen, Nobel laureate and theist

March 17, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Christian Anfinsen (1916-1995) earned his doctorate in biochemistry at Harvard University in 1943. At various points, he taught chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania (where he earned his master’s degree) and at Harvard (for seven years) and worked as a researcher at Denmark’s Carlsberg University, the Heart Institute of National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive Diseases; and served as a professor of biology at Johns Hopkins University from 1982 until his... Read more

On the quality of the Book of Mormon

March 16, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Here’s a moving item from CNN: “In photos: World reacts to New Zealand terror attack” If you scroll down through the photographs, you’ll find one that shows Judy Gilliland at the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles. With her name in mind, here’s an item by Tad Walch that appeared in the 27 November 2017 issue of the Deseret News: “Dodger Dogs, Mormons and Muslims: One couple’s moral authority builds interfaith bridges” ***... Read more

New Testament Notes 117-119

March 16, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Matthew 12:22-30 Mark 3:22-27 Compare 9:32-34; Luke 11:14-15, 17-23; John 7:20; 8:48; 8:52; 10:20 I’ve written in the past about what I call “New Age anti-Mormonism.” It’s the sort of anti-Mormonism associated with such zany madcaps as Ed Decker and Bill Schnoebelen. New Age anti-Mormonism is more than a little crazy, but, in a way, I respect it. Why? Because it recognizes that some elements of the story of the Restoration are very difficult to... Read more

Shen Yun

March 16, 2019 By Dan Peterson

On Wednesday night, my wife and I attended a Utah Opera performance of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (“The Magic Flute”). It’s the opera that I know best; my wife felt that she needed to ask me not to sing along. It was a solid performance, though not my favorite: I prefer Sarastro as an imagined Egyptian priest, not as a 1960s hippie guru. And his beard reminded me of George Clooney’s as one of the Soggy Bottom Boys in... Read more

On “Spooky action at a distance”

March 15, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Wikipedia defines “quantum entanglement” as “a physical phenomenon that occurs when pairs or groups of particles are generated or interact in ways such that the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently of the others, even when the particles are separated by a large distance—instead, a quantum state must be described for the system as a whole.” Here’s the second paragraph of that Wikipedia article: “Measurements of physical properties such as position, momentum, spin, and polarization, performed on entangled particles, are found... Read more

New Testament Notes 112-116

March 15, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Matthew 12:9-14 Mark 3:1-6 Luke 6:6-11 I really should have connected this entry with the previous one, “New Testament 111,” because it concerns the same fundamental issue. The Pharisees overlook the miracle of the divine healing in their zeal to find an accusation against Jesus. It would be rather like criticizing the swimming technique of a lifeguard who had just pulled a drowning man from the ocean, or faulting the grammar of a note of... Read more

The Grand Canyon’s natural “temples”

March 15, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Bill Hamblin and I published the column below in the Deseret News for 21 August 2015: There is something instinctive in us that causes us to stand in awe before the majesty of nature. In the earliest known forms of religion, the veneration of natural beauty, fecundity and power held a central place in the hearts of mankind. All great polytheistic religions have gods and goddesses associated with the powers of nature. Rain, fertility, storms, rivers, mountains,... Read more

Temples, psalms, prophets, and Catholics

March 15, 2019 By Dan Peterson

It’s Friday. You didn’t see this coming? Seriously? There’s a new article from the Interpreter Foundation: “Seeing Psalms as the Libretti of a Holy Drama” Abstract: Psalms was the favorite Old Testament book at Qumran and in the New Testament; the Book of Mormon contains more than three dozen allusions to Psalms. While Psalms contains both powerful, poetic words of comfort and doctrinal gems, many psalms also seem to careen between praise, warning, comfort, military braggadocio, and humility, sometimes... Read more

“New Zealand’s Darkest Day”

March 15, 2019 By Dan Peterson

O you who believe! Seek help in patience and prayer. Truly God is with the patient. And do not say of those who are killed in the path of God “They are dead.” Rather, they are alive, although you do not perceive them. And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and fruit, but proclaim good tidings to the patient, Who, when a disaster strikes them, say “Truly... Read more