I’ve already told this story here before, but I’m not feeling well and I’m very tired, and I thought that I could maybe smooth out the retelling of it for eventual inclusion in my personal history: I received my California driver’s license when I was sixteen, and I graduated from high school when I was seventeen. Between those two events, I managed to garner two driving tickets. In the wake of the first ticket, my license was... Read more
Because of illness, my wife and I and one of our sons were unable to participate in the funeral of my brother’s widow this morning in San Gabriel, California. That saddens me greatly. I would deeply like to have been there. However, we were able to watch the services via the modern and, to my mind, much under-appreciated miracle of Zoom. I was pleased at what was said; I thought that the remarks that were given nicely captured... Read more
First, though, a thought about earthquakes and divine providence. I submitted this column to Meridian way back on 27 February, and I had to re-read it this morning to see whether I still agreed with it. (I do.) I’m grateful that it has finally appeared: “A Purpose in Life’s Earthquakes” No other planet in our solar system has plate tectonics, which seems to be unique to Earth. Other planets—exoplanets—revolving around other stars may possess similar geology but, if... Read more
Mann tracht un Gott lacht is an old Yiddish proverb that means “Man Plans and God Laughs.” I was scheduled to be down in southern California by about now. I was to speak at my sister-in-law’s funeral in San Gabriel on Friday and then, thereafter, to visit with people in Santa Barbara on Saturday and to speak two or three times there in Santa Barbara on Sunday. Alas, though, my house has been a den of illness over... Read more
I spoke for about twenty minutes early this afternoon to members of the Utah Valley Interfaith Association and representatives of local government and other groups in connection with the full-size model of the ancient Israelite tabernacle that is currently located there. The model, which is open for free tours, stands adjacent to the church at 1230 South 500 East. Here is a rough text of what I had to say this afternoon. It’s been a long day —... Read more
In the most recently posted episode of The Interpreter Radio Show — originally broadcast on 16 April 2023, but edited since airtime in order to remove commercial and other extraneous breaks — the discussants are Bruce Webster, Kris Frederickson, and Martin Tanner. Here are the two segments of the program that are now available, at no charge and entirely at your convenience, as a service provided by the Interpreter Foundation: The New Testament in Context Lesson 20: “What... Read more
This post, which focuses again on the famous passage in Matthew 5:48 (in the King James Version, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”), is a continuation of “On Being ‘Perfect’ (Part One),” which went up on 2 April 2023. In our effort to understand Matthew 5:48, we should certainly not ignore the verse’s context. That is an all-too-common error in the explication and deployment of quotations from the Bible;... Read more
These new entries went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation, all of them compiled or selected by Dennis B. Horne: “Elder Spencer W. Kimball’s Apostolic Call Experience: From his own writings” ““I feel impressed to say…”: Items regarding President David O. McKay from the Journal of President Spencer W. Kimball” “Precious Highlights in President Spencer W. Kimball’s Journal: Located, described, linked, and dated by Dennis B. Horne” [The labor that went into this makes it... Read more
I spent about 5.5 hours today — minus a ten-minute break! — recording an interview with Stephen Murphy for his Mormonism with the Murph podcast. Brother Murphy is based in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. He tells me that the recorded material, which will be divided into (at least) two parts, will likely go up in about three weeks. As the sheer length of it might perhaps suggest to you, it was a wide-ranging conversation. “The Teachings... Read more
My wife and I went out to dinner last night with a former student of mine and her husband, who himself recently retired as a professor of biology at a university in Texas. They have been in the MTC lately and will soon begin eighteen months as a Church service couple in Egypt. She was a participant in an intensive Arabic program that I led, quite poorly, for BYU in Jerusalem back in the first half of (gulp!)... Read more
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