The Age of the Earth I’m sometimes described online as believing in a young Earth, even a literal six-day creation. But youth, I suppose, is relative. When I’m directly asked how old I believe the Earth to be, I always respond that it seems to be roughly 4.54 billion years old. I hope that’s clear enough. Evolution: The evidence for evolution is, in my judgment, convincingly powerful. Moreover, evolutionary theory seems to me... Read more
My friend Stan Barker has reminded me of the wonderful speech given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks — then a member of the Council of the Twelve and now, of course, first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — in the April 2015 General Conference: Twenty-five years ago my esteemed BYU teacher Hugh W. Nibley spoke of the dangers of surrendering to the cares of the world. He was asked... Read more
The other day, I called attention to a discouraging piece from Dr. Jeff Lindsay, the Interpreter Foundation’s man in China: “Friendly Fire from BYU: Opening Old Book of Abraham Wounds Without the First Aid” He has now followed up on that short essay with a more upbeat one: “My Uninspired ‘Translation’ of the Missing Scroll/Script from the Hauglid-Jensen Presentation” *** http://blog.fairmormon.org/2016/01/12/what-did-president-kimball-think-about-pressure-regarding-the-pre-1978-priesthood-ban/ This isn’t, of course, merely a historical issue. There are those... Read more
“A man is accused of threatening a Phoenix mosque the day after the New Zealand attack” I’ve spoken in the mosque in Tempe to which the article refers. *** “Why religious sanctuaries have become sites of unholy violence” *** “‘I don’t have any grudge’: Husband of victim says he forgives terrorist — Farid Ahmad, whose wife Husna Ahmad was killed in the New Zealand terrorist attack says he harbours no hatred toward terrorist... Read more
Living matter, unlike non-living matter, assimilates and processes energy, stores and manages information, and replicates or reproduces itself. In this regard, whales and roses and snakes and hawks and redwoods are dramatically different from the inanimate nature around them. Carrying out these common biological functions requires a basic minimum level—indeed, really, a remarkably high degree—of complexity. “Molecular biology,” writes Michael Denton, has shown that even the simplest of all living systems on earth today, bacterial cells,... Read more
Matthew 13:18-23 Mark 4:13-20 Luke 8:11-15 When these passages speak of those who fall away quickly, they describe them as having “no root in themselves.” I assume that this means something like having no testimony, or, at least, having an inadequate testimony. We should always be working strengthen our personal convictions, to send our roots deeper into the soil. It surprises me — it surprised me as a bishop — to see how many people fail... Read more
In his important book Religion of a Different Color, Paul Reeve recounts an interesting episode involving Brigham Young: An early mixed-race (Black and American Indian) member of the Church named William McCary — a rather tenuous and somewhat erratic and even unbalanced fellow, as it turned out, who ultimately didn’t endure faithfully to the end — had encountered racial prejudice among some Church members. In response to this, President Young counseled the Saints to “use the man... Read more
“Did the New Zealand Shooter Change the Cultural Script? In livestreaming the massacre, he may have created the next innovation in the mass-killing contagion.” *** It hardly needs to be said that I’m not a Clintonista. I’ve never voted for either Bill or Hillary, and I never will. Nor am I any kind of special fan of their daughter, Chelsea. But this is flatly absurd: “Students At New Zealand Vigil Confront Chelsea Clinton: You ‘Stoked’... Read more
There has, quite understandably, been a huge amount of coverage of the recent dedication of the Rome Italy Temple. But another temple is about to be dedicated. This one is in the Congo. One of the leaders of the Interpreter Foundation is there, and he will be supplying information about the new temple and about the members of the Church whom it will serve. Here is his first installment: The Kinshasa DR Congo Temple: A Personal Perspective... Read more
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New Testament Notes 128-129
Matthew 13:31-33 Mark 4:30-32 Compare Luke 13:18-21 The parable of the mustard seed seems to suggest that the Church, though initially dismissed as tiny, insignificant, and irrelevant, will grow to a surprisingly large size. And this, of course, seems already to have happened — not just anciently but in the current dispensation. (Founded with a membership of six in 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now numbers well over sixteen million members.) But,... Read more