It seems that construction of the proposed Cody Wyoming Temple will go forward on the site that had been selected for it, and very possibly even with the tall tower of the original architectural plan: “Surprise: Gigantic 77-Foot Steeple For Mormon Temple In Cody Gets Approved After All: By not specifically rejecting the 77-foot steeple that’s caused months of controversy, the Cody Planning and Zoning Board apparently has OK’d the initial Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... Read more
With a weekend looming before you, are you afraid that it’s going to be another interminable wasteland of playing Solitaire and binge-watching re-runs of I Love Lucy? Take heart. Bid adieu to ennui and despair. The Interpreter Foundation has your back. Here are two articles that have appeared just today — perfect for the weekend! — on the Foundation’s website: “Withstanding Satan’s Siege through Christ’s Iron Rod: The Vision of the Tree of Life in Context of Ancient... Read more
I’ve been saddened at the news over the past few hours. The destruction of the historic town of Lahaina on Maui and the loss of life there are depressing. I first visited Lahaina in 1970, staying in the old Pioneer Inn. Nearly a century and a quarter old, it was built almost entirely out of wood — and it’s now apparently gone. The massive banyan tree nearby has been damaged, if not killed. Lahaina’s art galleries and restaurants... Read more
The interview that I did on Monday is now available for your viewing both at The Last Dispensation and at Christian Homestead. Watch it at your own risk. And something interesting has just gone up on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: “Conference Talks: The Story-Cycles of the Patriarchs and Temple Progression,” given by John S. Thompson My wife and I went last night to a showing of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. It... Read more
I recorded an interview on 1 Corinthians 14-16 earlier today with Hank Smith and John Bytheway for their Follow Him podcast. We had a good time. (At least, I did.) I’ll try to announce here when it goes up. We went out to dinner with friends last night and then, together, attended a strong performance of Newsies at the Hale Centre Theatre. I’m not really into dance (which is putting it mildly), but the choreography was very good.... Read more
Early this afternoon, I recorded a joint virtual podcast interview with Troy Ables, of The Last Dispensation, and Jarred Davies, from Christian Homestead. I’ll try to mention it when the interview goes up, just in case anybody out there is even remotely interested. (I expect that some of my most obsessive critics will want to hear it, at least.) Latter-day Saints don’t use the term natural theology very often, if at all. In fact, we don’t... Read more
To my mind, the improvised panel discussion this past Friday, which was the last day of the 2023 FAIR conference, was truly remarkable. I’m almost tempted to label it “historic,” as it included three of the most prominent current experts on Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon all together on the stage. I repeat here what I posted about it on that day: Jenny Reeder was supposed to speak this morning about “The Eliza R. Snow Project,” but... Read more
A new article went up today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. (It’s Friday. You weren’t expecting a new article today? Seriously?) The title of the new article is, simply, “Credo.” And, well, umm, I’m the author of the thing. Heck, I even recorded it, and the audio is available at the link that I’ve supplied. Abstract: The Restoration began with the stunning divine declaration to the Prophet Joseph Smith that the Christian sects of... Read more
The first presentation at today’s FAIR Conference was “BYU-Pathway: Serving the Hidden Many” from Brian K. Ashton, the president of BYU-Pathway Worldwide. It was absolutely thrilling. BYU-Pathway Worldwide (obviously yet another horror drawn from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™) is something of which, I think, all members of the Church — in the developed world and beyond, ought to be aware. (There are more students currently enrolled with BYU-Pathways Worldwide than there are at... Read more
The Interpreter Foundation has been around long enough that, rather in the manner of Turner Classic Movies, it has amassed a considerable library of good materials that are as satisfying today as they were when they first appeared. Here is one of them, which went up earlier today: “Conference Talks: “By the Blood Ye Are Sanctified”: The Symbolic, Salvific, Interrelated, Additive, Retrospective, and Anticipatory Nature of the Ordinances of Spiritual Rebirth in John 3 and Moses 6“ Jeffrey... Read more
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