My wife and I went out to dinner last night at one of our favorite restaurants, the Market Street Grill in South Jordan.  Then, for the first time, we attended a performance on the center stage at the new Hale Centre Theatre, not too far away.   We had already seen a performance of Forever Plaid, some time ago, on the Theatre’s smaller but still rather large secondary stage.  (See “The New Hale Centre Theatre, in Sandy, Utah.”) ... Read more

    Continuing with my introductory book on Islam for Latter-day Saints.  I’ve just discussed how, according to Islamic belief and teaching, we will be judged according to our works at the Last Day.   Nevertheless, there is divine grace in Islam, which God will bestow upon those who have sought to know Him and to carry out His will. “God will do away with their foulest deeds and reward them according to their noblest actions.”[1] How will individual people be... Read more

    I won’t pretend to have socialized with him on a regular basis; there are, I would guess, thousands of Latter-day Saints who had more and closer personal contact with Thomas S. Monson than I did.  Still, I had a few memorable encounters with him, and I’ll share a couple here.   I first met him when he came to Switzerland, roughly halfway through my mission there.  He was a member of the Council of the Twelve at the... Read more

    When the Book of Mormon first issued appeared in an 1830 press-run of 5,000 copies, the response, particularly from the American frontier elite, was overwhelmingly negative.   It was, said one contemporary newspaper, “a bungling and stupid production.”  “We have no hesitation in saying that the whole system is erroneous. . . .  There is no redeeming feature in the whole scheme; nothing to comment it to a thinking mind.”   Contrary to what such denunciations might have led... Read more

    I continue chugging along with my manuscript on Islam for Latter-day Saints.  Here, I’m discussing the Qur’an’s portrayal of the end of all things and the Last Judgment:   We are the witnesses of all your thoughts and all your prayers and all your actions. Not an atom’s weight in earth or heaven escapes your Lord, nor is there any object smaller or greater, but is recorded in a glorious book.[1] The records of men’s deeds will be... Read more

  I’ve posted several items on this theme — most recently, yesterday.   The important German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) is best known for his 1960 work Wahrheit und Methode (English: Truth and Method).  He is considered one of the most important exponents of the modern European “continental” tradition in philosophy.   Here are some passages from the “Introduction” to that book:   Speaking about the “investigations” that Wahrheit und Methode will discuss, Gadamer says that They are concerned to seek... Read more

    Continuing with my manuscript on Islam for Latter-day Saints:   As we saw in the last chapter, one of the major themes of the Qur’an is the Day of Judgment, when the Lord will come with his angels.[1] On that day, which will be announced by a trumpet, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. In terms that are similar to those of the Bible, the Qur’an says that great earthquakes will accompany that terrible... Read more

    I receive a fair amount of hate mail.  This afternoon, for example, the following treatise (quoted in its entirety, except for a family-blog-unfriendly pejorative) arrived at my inbox:   you and your cult acolytes love the word ‘scientism’.  that’s cult-speak… [obscene epithet deleted].   Now, I recognize this fellow’s characteristic style and his, um, reasoning; he’s been sending me similar messages for a number of years now.  He’ll write to me several times a week, occasionally even more than once per... Read more