Christmas is drawing near.  We give gifts at Christmas.  So is Thanksgiving, when we reflect on the many things we’ve been given.  So is the end of the year, leading up to which many of us (in the United States, at least) think of making tax-exempt donations.   Here’s a touching video, relevant to this season — and to all others:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ymy-oHLnnU#t=35   Posted from Marbella, Spain     Read more

    Are the Trump folks ready for prime time?  Have they ever heard of the Constitution?  Do they know anything about history?   http://www.sltrib.com/home/3201632-155/did-trump-spokeswoman-misspeak-she-says   I report.  You decide.   (Actually, I’ve decided already.  But I’ll let you do it for yourself.)   Posted from Marbella, Spain     Read more

    There has been a lot of talk, lately, about how being tainted by any association with the Interpreter Foundation, or with Mormon apologetics, or with BYU Religious Education, or with overtly expressed Latter-day Saint belief, might destroy one’s chances of attending graduate school or ever getting a decent job in academia.  Young scholars have been strongly advised to avoid such things like the plague.  And there has been concern in some circles — including mine — about a... Read more

    Is it Friday?   It is.   So here’s a hint:   There’s a new article today in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/nephis-good-inclusio/   Posted from Marbella, Spain   Read more

    It was fun yesterday, traveling from Istanbul to Málaga, to fly over Tunisia and Algeria — two countries where I’ve never yet set foot.   My wife and I met two of our neighbors there and, after settling in at the place where we’re staying, had an excellent meal of sea bass with them at a little restaurant directly on the Mediterranean.   But how, you may ask, can Peterson be doing this?  Is he siphoning funds from... Read more

    The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.  (Ernest Hemingway)   Ernest Hemingway, who spent a great deal of time at the bullfighting ring in Ronda that we visited a couple of hours ago, was anything but a theologian.  Still, his comment above seems to me to have clear theological application:  We learn to have faith in God by placing faith in him.  That is, we trust him, find that our... Read more

    For the 148th scripture roundtable posted by the Interpreter Foundation, Bruce Webster, Martin Tanner, and Shon Hopkin discuss the scriptural passages covered in 2016 Gospel Doctrine lesson 4, which are 1 Nephi 12-14:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/scripture-roundtable-148-book-of-mormon-gospel-doctrine-lesson-4-the-things-which-i-saw-while-i-was-carried-away-in-the-spirit/   Posted from Marbella, Spain     Read more

    There are people out there working very hard to save us Mormons from ourselves and, by redefining our faith to accord more fully with current secular-progressive ideology, to try to make Mormonism less of a force for evil, hatred, exclusion, sheer obsolescence, and cruel harm.   Like the Buddha, who found enlightenment but nevertheless graciously chose to remain in this rather dismal life in order to help others attain enlightenment too, some of them have chosen to remain members of the Church.  As the Latin credo... Read more

    I object when people call Islam evil because of ISIS, or blame Muslims generally for the appalling crimes of the so-called “Islamic State.”   But I’m very nearly as uncomfortable when other people claim that Islam has nothing whatever to do with ISIS or similar specimens of contemporary terrorism.   The reality is much more complex than either extreme is willing to allow.   Here’s a good article by a Muslim that addresses the latter claim:   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/11/18/does-isis-really-have-nothing-to-do-with-islam-islamic-apologetics-carry-serious-risks/  ... Read more

    This week’s assault on reason and common sense has now appeared in the Deseret News:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865641899/For-good-and-evil-among-all-nations.html   Posted from Marbella, Spain     Read more