“Premortal Life and Mortal Life: A Fearful Symmetry”

March 15, 2024 By Dan Peterson

A new article has just been posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: “Premortal Life and Mortal Life: A Fearful Symmetry,” written by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw Abstract: Bodily weakness, along with the varied circumstances into which we were born, provide the essential initial and ongoing conditions that shape the challenges and opportunities of our mortal probation. In life, we are not expected merely to preserve our innocence in defiance of worldly tendencies, nor are we compelled to cede... Read more

“Innovations and Initiatives at BYU and BYU-Idaho”

March 14, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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Last night, I was among a group of people who had been invited to a meeting with Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a member of the Seventy, who currently serves as Commissioner of Education for the Church Educational System; Elder Alvin F. Meredith III, who is also a member of the Seventy and who was relatively recently appointed president of Brigham Young University-Idaho; and C. Shane Reese, the still relatively new president of the main Brigham Young University campus in... Read more

“Objective Public Proof”?

March 13, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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I occasionally use the expression objective public proof. I’ve recently been asked what I mean by it. Let me take the phrase apart just a bit. “Proof,” as the word is typically used and as I am using it here, is a fact or a piece of information that demonstrates the existence of something or, more broadly, the truth of a proposition. In mathematics, which (along with formal logic) probably illustrates the notion of “proof” most clearly, a proof... Read more

Some Notes on “Fine-Tuning” and the Multiverse

March 12, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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The following is basically a close paraphrase or a gloss (for my note-taking purposes) of “A Beginner’s Guide to the ‘Fine-Tuning’ Argument” by Max Baker-Hytch of the University of Oxford. As always with such notes, I make no claim of originality for what follows but share them because, while I’m taking notes for my own eventual use elsewhere, I think others might find them of potential interest. I do not claim entries on this blog as publications of mine:... Read more

Offense and Defense

March 11, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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I think that apologetics, as such, is inevitable. Stripped of specifically religious elements, it’s merely the defense of a position. Scholars defend positions all the time, as they should. So do all the rest of us. Whenever there is disagreement — e.g., over religion, politics, political candidates, even favorite restaurants or best vacation destinations — there will be affirmative statements and there will negative ones. “The food is wonderful there.” “Maybe, but the service is really, really slow.” “It’s... Read more

One Investigator’s Story

March 10, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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For many years now, my most devoted atheist commenter here (never a Latter-day Saint) has repeatedly (and repetitiously) asserted that religious claims can neither be examined, tested, nor investigated. (Which, I’m guessing, is intended to show — in what might perhaps be a kind of folk echo or pop version of once-fashionable logical positivism — that such claims are nonsense. He never actually formulates an argument, so I’m left to speculate. But that seems to be what’s in the... Read more

Was Jesus funny?

March 9, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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I agree with this article, which was written by a Roman Catholic: “Does Jesus Have a Sense of Humor? Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is like us in every way except sin. This includes having a sense of humor.” It reminds me of the review of a book from another Catholic thinker that I came across a couple of years ago: “Making God Laugh: A new book makes the case that humor is heavenly.” Alas, though, I... Read more

“Oh say, what is truth?”

March 8, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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Cody Quirk has kindly called to my notice an article about an interesting discovery in Central America: “Archaeologists in Panama find ancient tomb filled with gold treasure — and sacrificial victims.” Although the site and the golden artifacts that were found by the archaeologists date to a period that is somewhat after the end of the narrative of the Book of Mormon, and although they were located in an area that, according to the Mesoamerican model that I find... Read more

A clear rebuke in the House of the Lord at Kirtland

March 7, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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I hope that I don’t offend or violate any confidences with the little story that I’m about to tell. I wasn’t asked to keep it confidential, and I won’t share the crucial personal name — not least because, having never known it, I’m unable to share it. Moreover, I hope that I’m accurately recalling what happened as it was told to me. I think that it’s worthy of reflection in the light of the transfer of ownership of the... Read more

A few more thoughts on the Kirtland Temple deal

March 6, 2024 By Dan Peterson

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Amidst the general rejoicing among Latter-day Saints at our church’s recovery of the Kirtland Temple (and other properties in Kirtland and in Nauvoo) — joy in which I enthusiastically share — we should probably not forget that the transaction has caused deep sadness among not a few members of the Community of Christ, including at least some (and maybe all) in its leadership. For example, please listen to the honest and touching statement on the matter from Lachlan Mackay,... Read more