{"id":101636,"date":"2023-09-04T14:10:56","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T20:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=101636"},"modified":"2023-09-04T14:10:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T20:10:56","slug":"they-just-keep-coming-brainlessly-but-without-pause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/09\/they-just-keep-coming-brainlessly-but-without-pause.html","title":{"rendered":"They just keep coming, brainlessly but without pause"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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\"\"<\/a>
I presume that this outdoor dining area at the Lahaina Fish Company, where we enjoyed a meal some months ago while looking across at the island of La\u0304na\u2018i, no longer exists. \u00a0(No, the photo was not taken in Scottsdale, Arizona, where I\u2019m currently located.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This article of mine \u2014 inspired by the heartbreaking recent events in the former Maui town of Lahaina \u2014 appeared yesterday in Meridian Magazine<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cLosing an Earthly Paradise.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"I'm<\/a>
The main terminal at the Provo Airport \u00a0 (Image from the Provo City website)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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For us, flying out of Provo (and back into Provo) is about as good as it gets, flying-wise. \u00a0Just a few minutes on surface streets (no freeway travel required, no traffic jams risked). The airport<\/a> is small but clean and new. \u00a0The lines range from manageable to non-existent. \u00a0Security is quick and efficient. \u00a0So is luggage retrieval. \u00a0There are no interminably long walks to and from the gate. \u00a0It\u2019s enough to make flying pleasant again. \u00a0Or, at least, not something to dread. \u00a0Although there are only limited flights and destinations available through Provo, I would heartily recommend it to anybody living in Utah Valley who can make it work.<\/p>\n

So far, by contrast, I very much dislike the new Salt Lake Airport \u2014 which, in deep self-pity, I\u2019ve termed WAI-US, for \u201cWorst Airport in the United States.\u201d \u00a0After a long and tiring series of flights from, say, Tel Aviv or Sydney, it\u2019s disheartening to have to hike in from a far-distant arrival gate to a still-empty baggage carousel, accompanied along the route by an instrumental rendition of \u201cPioneer children sang as they walked, and walked, and walked\u201d over the airport\u2019s sound system. \u00a0(Maybe I was only imagining that last part?)<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a>
The experience of the Eight Witnesses as re-created for the documentary \u201cUndaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon,\u201d in a still photograph by James Jordan. I frankly confess that I was disappointed, at first, by the very mundane appearance of this scene. But then I realized that my reaction was irrational. That the experience of the Eight Witnesses with the plates of the Book of Mormon was mundane, prosaic, matter of fact, is precisely the POINT of their experience and what gives their account its remarkable evidentiary power.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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A while back, I saw a discussion (or, perhaps more accurately, an instance of what often passes<\/em> there for a \u201cdiscussion\u201d) over at an overtly anti-Mormon (and very largely, though not entirely, atheistic) message board.\u00a0 It focused on the golden plates that were purportedly connected with the Book of Mormon.\u00a0 I found it amusing for a number of reasons, but one of the principal reasons for my amusement is that these are people who (I\u2019ve observed them for years) proudly insist on their uniquely powerful commitment to evidence and rationality.\u00a0 (I won\u2019t bother to note, below, where supporting evidence for the discussants\u2019 claims is absent because non-existent.\u00a0 It\u2019s every single time.)\u00a0 Here are some of the highlights of the conversation, such as it was:<\/p>\n