Thanks to Robert Boylan for calling this interesting presentation to my notice, by Jasmin Gimenez of Book of Mormon Central:   http://scripturalmormonism.blogspot.se/2016/06/temples-rising-from-destruction.html   Posted from Stockholm, Sweden     Read more

    In today’s reading, Alma 27, the Nephites give the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi a land called Jershon for their inheritance, as a place of refuge.   That’s a strikingly apt name for a “land of inheritance.”   See, for example,   Stephen D. Ricks, “A Nickname and a Slam Dunk: Notes on the Book of Mormon Names Zeezrom and Jershon”   and   Matthew L. Bowen, “‘They Were Moved with Compassion’ (Alma 27:4; 53:13): Toponymic Wordplay on Zarahemla and... Read more

    What we don’t know is actually very big and absolutely basic:   http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2016/06/the_biggest_myth_about_the_big_bang.html   Posted from Amsterdam, The Netherlands   Read more

    Two years ago today, our first grandchild was born in Orlando, Florida.   She was born in a wing of a local Orlando hospital that had been built with generous Disney donations, and the hospital’s public spaces were decorated everywhere with characters from Disney cartoons.  As it rapidly became obvious that Lena would not, and could not, survive, I became acutely aware of how much I had looked forward to one day introducing her to those characters via beloved movies and... Read more

    “I maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by scientific reductionism, with its claim in promissory materialism to account eventually for all of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neuronal activity.  This belief must be classed as a superstition. . . .  we have to recognize that we are spiritual beings with souls existing in a spiritual world as well as material beings with bodies and brains existing in a material world.”  (Sir John Eccles... Read more

      We’re all horrified by today’s mass murder in Orlando.   Although I’m about to board an airplane, I feel that I need to make at least a brief comment.   As I write, it seems overwhelmingly likely that this was yet another example of Islamist violence.   This is simply a redundant manifestation of the cancer growing out of Islam.  I use the term cancer quite deliberately.  It simply will not do for Muslims or sympathetic outsiders to... Read more

    This is a pretty simple illustration of the logical problem at the core of mainstream orthodox Trinitarianism:   http://scripturalmormonism.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-trinity-as-contradiction-of-basic.html   One response, of course, is to say “It’s a mystery.”   Fine.  But it remains logically incoherent.   Which is a bit of a problem.   “And this is life eternal,” declares Jesus himself in John 17:3, “that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”   If, however, God is essentially unknowable — if the relationship... Read more

    Today’s reading, Alma 26, raises an important issue for those who seek to serve God:   There is no question that sincere, hardworking disciples of Christ have accomplished a great deal, in and out of the Restored Church.  They’ve translated the scriptures, preached the Good News, built churches, founded hospitals, established orphanages, distributed food and clothing, served the sick and poor, and done innumerable good things all around the world.   But they remain instruments in his hands,... Read more

    In the 169th scripture roundtable to be posted by the Interpreter Foundation, Steve Densley, Ben McGuire, and Martin Tanner discuss Alma 17-22, which is the focus of 2016 Gospel Doctrine lesson 25:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/scripture-roundtable-169-book-of-mormon-gospel-doctrine-lesson-25-they-taught-with-power-and-authority-of-god/   We hope you’ll enjoy the discussion.     Read more

    Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya of Basra (AD 717 to AD 801) was a great early mystic of Islam.  Here are four passages from her:   O God! if I worship Thee in fear of Hell, burn me in Hell; and if I worship Thee in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise; but if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, withhold not thine everlasting beauty.   I seek forgiveness from God for my lack of sincerity when I say that... Read more