The Sudden Rise, Brief Career, and Sudden Fall of Steady State Cosmology

March 6, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Here’s a passage from Hans Küng, The Beginning of All Things: Science and Religion (Grand Rapids and Cambridge: Eerdmans Publishing, 2007), translated by John Bowden from Hans Küng, Der Anfang aller Dinge: Naturwissenschaft und Religion (Munich: Piper Verlag, 2005), 55-56: When around the middle of the twentieth century an attempt was made in apologetic Christian writings to identify the point in time of the Big Bang with a divine creation of the world, non-Christian Marxist scientists, according to the German astronomer... Read more

Arabs and Israelis, for laughs

March 6, 2019 By Dan Peterson

The Arab-Israeli conflict isn’t, on the whole, very funny. But West Bank Story managed to get laughs out of it, not to mention an Oscar in 2007 as “Best Live Action Short Film.” If you have twenty-one minutes, you might enjoy watching the film. Especially if you’ve ever visited Israel or Palestine or if you catch some of the in-jokes and references: West Bank Story *** Back, though, to the unfunny: “Rep. Ilhan Omar... Read more

New Testament Notes 83-85

March 6, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Luke 6:46-49 Compare Matthew 7:21-27 As I’ve mentioned before, one would be hard-pressed — frankly, I think it an impossible task — to construct an argument for the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, without works, from the four New Testament gospels. And this comment from Jesus, whether in its Lukan or its Matthean form, is clearly one of the gospel teachings that advocates of such a doctrine would need to overcome. I’m quite confident that they... Read more

Introducing the Pope’s Planetologists

March 5, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Yale News: “The case of the over-tilting exoplanets” “The first planet Kepler spotted has finally been confirmed 10 years later: Astronomers had dismissed the exoplanet candidate as a false alarm” *** In my capacity as a highly-paid apologist (whose apologetic checks seem to have been lost in the mail for the past thirty-plus years or so), I regularly encounter two distinct but related atheist claims about religion and science: 1. Religious faith is... Read more

An Arab-Islamic Music Video Opposing Extremist Violence

March 5, 2019 By Dan Peterson

You may have missed this when I first posted it back in 2015, so I thought it worthwhile to call attention to it yet again: This is a good way to insert anti-terrorism messages into popular culture and to make the human cost of extremist violence palpable to those who’ve been inflicting it or, more realistically, to those who’re thinking about becoming terrorists. It’s slightly more than three minutes long: My thanks go to Dallin... Read more

“Utard,” the Homeland of “Mormondumb,” as Hell on Earth.

March 5, 2019 By Dan Peterson

New, on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: I Can Defend My Beliefs by Teaching True Principles: A Video Supplement for Come, Follow Me Lesson 10: “Thy Faith Hath Made Thee Whole” *** An important new publication: “Book Notice: Read Primary Sources on the Origin of the Book of Mormon in One Volume” *** Sometimes, unfortunately, we have to consider such subjects: “6 Things to Consider When a Church Leader Commits a Serious... Read more

New Testament Notes 80-82

March 4, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Luke 6:27-36 Compare Matthew 5:38-48 The differences between the Matthean text (the Sermon on the Mount) and the Lukan text (the Sermon on the Plain) are considerable at this point; each includes material that the other doesn’t. I’ll concentrate on just one comparison here, though: Whereas Matthew 5:48, much beloved of Latter-day Saints, reads “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” the Lukan parallel (6:36) says “Be merciful, even as your Father... Read more

David Whitmer’s Testimony in Verse

March 4, 2019 By Dan Peterson

First, I call your attention to a couple of new items from the website of the Interpreter Foundation: You can now listen to or download the 24 February broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show. Steve Densley, Craig Foster, and Matthew Bowen discussed Come, Follow Me lesson 9, “He Taught Them as One Having Authority” (Matthew chapters 6 and 7), as well as Joseph Smith and polygamy: https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreter-radio-show-february-24-2019/ Martin Tanner discusses Come, Follow Me New Testament Lesson 10, “Thy Faith Hath... Read more

Of super-intellects and a super-intellect

March 4, 2019 By Dan Peterson

It reads like a detective story from the television screen. The very human side of a once-prominent scientist: http://mentalfloss.com/article/65139/harvard-chemistry-professor-who-was-also-murderer *** Does sexism explain underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics? Does such “underrepresentation” really even exist? It’s refreshing to see a discussion of this topic that is actually based upon facts: “Lies, Damned Lies, and STEM Statistics” *** New evidence regarding hominin evolution? “First Confirmed Denisovan Skull... Read more

“Was Pontius Pilate’s Ring Discovered at Herodium?”

March 4, 2019 By Dan Peterson

I recently received my copy of Biblical Archaeology Review (March/April 2019) 45/2. In it, on page 6, there’s a fascinating little report by the magazine’s editor, Robert Cargill, entitled “Was Pontius Pilate’s Ring Discovered at Herodium?” I offer a few summary comments on it here below: On 29 November 2018, a report surfaced from Jerusalem that a simple copper-alloy ring had been found at the Herodium (from the Latin) or Herodion (from the Greek Ἡρώδειον, the Arabic هيروديون‎,... Read more