I was sitting in my high priests group meeting earlier today, and, as I looked around, I thought what a good group it was to be with.  I counted at least eleven or twelve former bishops sitting around me, for example, and I know of many remarkable acts of service associated with most of them.  I’ve known several of these men for decades now.   The lesson for the meeting focused, among other things, on service.  It included a... Read more

    It’s a worthy effort.  The article, published by a newspaper based in Columbus, Georgia, has — as could easily have been predicted — brought out a number of haters and religious bigots.  But it’s a decent article, in and of itself:   http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/living/religion/article58805308.html   Of course, neither the book nor the article was written for bigots or haters.  There are sane, decent people out there — the “silent majority,” as it were — and they’re the real audience.... Read more

      Here’s a column that I published nearly six years ago in the Deseret News, about one of my favorite biblical sites in the land of Israel:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700038919/Capernaum-bears-witness-of-Christ.html?pg=all     Read more

    Some propagandists for atheism would have you believe that, in order to be truly evil, humans must be motivated by religion.  This article provides convincing evidence — though vastly more such evidence could be supplied, from every era and every culture — that such insinuations are historically unsupportable and, indeed, blatantly untrue:   http://www.livescience.com/53615-horrors-of-the-colosseum.html     It was, in fact, only with the Christianization of the Roman Empire that the gladiatorial games and their associated violent entertainments were banned.... Read more

    A brief article with some still photographs, accompanied by a video that lasts just slightly more than three minutes:   http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/dieter-uchtdorf-recounts-childhood-refugee-ordeal?cid=HP_FR_2-5-2016_dPAD_fMNWS_xLIDyL2-1_     Read more

    Today’s reading, 2 Nephi 19 (= Isaiah 9) is full of messianic language.  No wonder it’s been a favorite over many Christian generations.   “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (verse 2).   From a Christian point of view, Isaiah seems to conflate the first coming of the Savior with his second:   “For every battle of the... Read more

    Well, I finally saw 13 Hours.   It’s a very gripping movie, and not really — despite how we know the story turned out — as much of a downer as I had expected it to be.  Nor, although there’s obviously plenty of violence in it, was it unduly graphic.  I went partly out of duty, both as an Arabist and as a political junkie.  But it’s a good film.   It’s not as political as it could have... Read more

    Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. C. S. Lewis     Read more

    My friend Ralph Hancock calls my attention to this somewhat longish but brilliant essay by James W. Ceaser of the University of Virginia:   http://www.weeklystandard.com/what-next-for-the-left/article/2000801#.VrYVAKnoqAk.facebook   Its insights and implications go far beyond mere partisan politics, and even beyond politics altogether.     Read more

    It’s overwhelmingly likely that The Donald will win the Republican primary in New Hampshire.  But Republican and independent voters there have the glorious opportunity to finish off his non-substantive and irritating campaign.  Will they seize their chance?  Will they make the nation proud?   If Mr. Trump were to come in second there next week, it would seriously if not fatally damage his quest for the presidency.  What a wonderful thought!  His appeal is predicated to a remarkable... Read more