Matthew 25:31-46 Compare Matthew 16:27; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26; John 5:29   Three quick observations and an addendum that will explain my inclusion of the image above:   1.   The notion of an all-accepting, non-judgmental Jesus has no foundation in the New Testament.  Loving he is.  Indifferent and uncritical he is not.   2.   The criteria of judgment seem to be largely if not behavioral.  We won’t, I think, be asked a lot of theological questions... Read more

    I fell just a tad behind on my blogging goals during our just-completed stay in Upper Egypt.  I had expected that I would, but had actually  assumed that matters would be much worse.  As it happened, though, internet access aboard our Nile boat was far better than on previous occasions, including just last December.   We flew, very, very early on Monday morning from Cairo to Aswan, where we drove out onto the 1960s-era Soviet-built Aswan High Dam that... Read more

    Matthew 24:45-51 Compare Luke 12:41:46   What is the best way to prepare for the unexpected day of the Lord’s return?   We should prepare for it the same way we should prepare for the unexpected but certain day of our own deaths.   We should be doing what we’re supposed to be doing.  Patiently, faithfully, humbly going about our daily lives as disciples of the Lord.   Simple.  And the chief and most difficult challenge of our... Read more

    Flying into Cairo again this evening, I couldn’t help but contrast our experience tonight with the first time that my wife and I came to the city, roughly 41 years ago.  (Growing old has taken far less time than I had expected!)  I had passed through Cairo for a few days with a student group more than half a year earlier, en route to a study abroad experience in Jerusalem, but now I was arriving with a new... Read more

    Here’s a significant newspaper opinion piece on an often controversial and divisive subject:   “The church and LGBT youth suicide: Inaccurate claims may do more harm than good”   And let’s continue, for a moment, on the topic of the Church and gay issues:   “Church Expresses Support for ‘Fairness for All’ Approach: Equality Act provides no protections for religious freedom”   “Of Convocations and Coming Out”   ***   And, while we’re on controversial issues, here’s another:  ... Read more

    Mark 13:33-37 Luke 21:34-36 Compare Matthew 24:42-51; 25:13-15; Luke 12:38, 40; 19:12-13   As the saying goes, “When the time to perform arrives, the time for preparation has passed.”   We all know this, but — at least, if you’re anything like me — we also all violate the principle time after time after time.  In the last times, though, failure to be prepared may prove to be both physically and spiritually fatal.     Matthew 24:37-44 Compare... Read more

  I originally published this column, on mental health and the Latter-day Saints, on 21 March 2018 in the Deseret News:   The great Harvard philosopher and psychologist William James (1842-1910) took a very positive view of the effects of religious belief. “We and God have business with each other,” he wrote, “and in opening ourselves to his influence our deepest destiny is fulfilled. The universe … takes a turn genuinely for the worse or the better in proportion as... Read more

    Matthew 24:23-28 Mark 13:21-23 Compare Matthew 24:4-5, 11; Mark 13:5-6; Luke 17:20-21, 23-24, 37; 21:8   1.   Again, it’s really easy to sit back and condemn, or even to mock, those who have been, are being, or will be seduced by false teachers — as if such teachers came somehow clearly and obviously marked “false.”  If even the “very elect” are deceived, though, it’s reasonable to assume that those false teachers will be plausible and persuasive.  Instead... Read more

    I delivered the annual Religious Liberty Lecture at the University of Notre Dame Australia, in Sydney, during November of last year.  A videotape of that lecture — which focused on Islam and violence and on what my Australian hosts called “Islamophobia” — is now available online:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFwK33BHHt0   And here is a more or less related item from the British Psychological Society:   “Does Religion Really Cause Violence?”   Which reminds me of a column that Bill... Read more

    I published this column in the 28 June 2018 issue of Salt Lake City’s Deseret News:   During the fifth century before Christ, Jewish military colonies served at various locations in Persian-occupied Egypt as mercenary garrisons. The most famous of them was located on Elephantine Island, directly opposite the ancient city of Syene (modern Aswan), where it guarded Egypt’s southern border. (The name “Elephantine” reflects the importance of Egypt’s ancient ivory trade with inner Africa.) Most scholars believe... Read more