“The universe looks suspiciously like a fix”

February 28, 2019 By Dan Peterson

A potpourri of science-related items that caught my attention today: “3 explanations for ‘Oumuamua that aren’t alien spaceships: Possibilities for the interstellar object include a fluffy fractal and a comet skeleton” “Hayabusa2 just tried to collect asteroid dust for the first time: The Japanese spacecraft will eventually return to Earth, hopefully hauling a sample of Ryugu” “Top 10 science anniversaries to celebrate in 2019: This year’s noteworthy nostalgia includes births, deaths, expeditions and tabulations” ... Read more

Were the Nephites racists?

February 28, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Were the Nephites racist? Yes, by today’s standards they probably often were. (Few pre-modern peoples weren’t racists by today’s standards, and rather egregiously so.) I have at least two particular reasons for reposting the two items below. Both of those reasons are connected with an item from Stephen Smoot, to which I referred yesterday. (See “Top 20 Evils You’re Responsible For By Believing the Book of Mormon.”) *** This column appeared in the Deseret News... Read more

New Testament Notes 68-69

February 27, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Matthew 7:1-5 Compare Mark 4:24-25; Luke 6:37-42; John 7:53-8:11 The principles expressed in these passages must be significant and central to the teachings of Christ, because they’re included in all four of the canonical gospels. And they’re echoed in many other locations throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And yet . . . And yet . . . The command not to judge seems so unrealistic and impracticable! We have to judge. Is this... Read more

Thinking about neutrinos

February 27, 2019 By Dan Peterson

This is an exceptionally busy week for me, and I have another (very lengthy) book that I need to have finished by Sunday evening. But I’ve begun, in stolen moments, to read a page or two in Jeff Wynn and Louise Wynn, Everyone is a Believer: The Growing Convergence of Science and Religion (2019). Here’s a summary of an interesting tale that they tell on page two: In the 1930s, the physicists Wolfgang Pauli and Enrico Fermi... Read more

“Top 20 Evils You’re Responsible For By Believing the Book of Mormon”

February 27, 2019 By Dan Peterson

It’s time that you folks out there who accept the authentic antiquity of the Book of Mormon frankly acknowledge your wickedness. This may be strong medicine, but, someday, you’ll thank Steve Smoot for his brutal honesty: “Top 20 Evils You’re Responsible For By Believing the Book of Mormon” I have to admit that I was surprised to see the photo of me that accompanied Br’er Smoot’s article: I make it a firm rule never to reveal... Read more

Scholars and General Authorities

February 26, 2019 By Dan Peterson

On Saturday night, we went out with friends for dinner and to see the film Fighting with My Family, produced by (and including) Dwayne Johnson. It’s not exactly the world that I live in, but I actually enjoyed the movie quite a bit. We had dinner at Zao’s, in Orem — a place that I’ve grown to like very much. Last night, Monday night, we met with a larger group of friends for dinner and then, afterwards,... Read more

New Testament Notes 66-67

February 26, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Matthew 6:24 Compare Luke 16:13 The admonition against attempting to serve two masters seems obviously, undeniably true, based on personal and universal human experience. I can’t help but think, in this context, of the title of Søren Kierkegaard’s little devotional classic, Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing. And also of the comment of James 1:8: “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” *** Matthew 6:25-34 Compare 12:22-32.... Read more

Elder David B. Haight on the 1978 priesthood revelation

February 25, 2019 By Dan Peterson

From the website of the Interpreter Foundation: The Strait and Narrow Path: A Video Supplement for Come, Follow Me Lesson 9: “He Taught Them as One Having Authority” *** From the indispensable Jeff Lindsay: “‘A Strange Piece of Work’ Poorly Explained by a Non-LDS Witness of the Book of Mormon Translation” *** I was involved in a small meeting up in Salt Lake City last Thursday afternoon. I was anticipating that Elder Gary Stevenson... Read more

New Testament Notes 64-65

February 25, 2019 By Dan Peterson

Matthew 6:19-23 Compare Luke 11:34-36; 12:33-34 1. The transience of earthly treasures — referring not only to wealth, but to popularity, power, status, beauty, reputation, pleasure, and other such things — is a staple of religious moralizing, and not solely among Christians. And justly so, because one of the most obvious and undeniable facts of human life is that such things simply don’t last. Fame, beauty, reputation, power, and popularity typically fade — after... Read more

Some background notes, again, about the “Islamic State”

February 25, 2019 By Dan Peterson

William Hamblin and I published this column in the Deseret News back on 4 October 2014: Amid the recent attention garnered by the barbaric cruelty and spectacular battlefield success of the Islamic State and its new caliphate (on which, see our previous column “Turning the clock back to the 7th century in Iraq?“), the sudden arrival on the scene of a new and very threatening terrorist group called “Khorasan” might easily be overlooked. (In fact, some commentators... Read more