{"id":106698,"date":"2024-08-25T15:41:38","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T21:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=106698"},"modified":"2024-08-26T15:28:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T21:28:28","slug":"setting-the-record-straight-though-without-much-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/08\/setting-the-record-straight-though-without-much-hope.html","title":{"rendered":"Setting the Record Straight, Though Without Much Real Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
The new Orem Utah Temple by night, in a photo by Brent R. (presumably my former stake president) on ChurchofJesusChristTemples.org. \u00a0The Orem Utah Temple is within (fairly long but quite manageable) walking distance of my house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In our priesthood meeting today, we considered the address given by Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the most recent annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>. \u00a0It is entitled \u201cCovenant Confidence through Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/a> \u00a0The passage in his remarks that most stood out to me is actually repeated twice, almost verbatim. \u00a0I think that Elder Soares really wanted us to register the point that he was making:<\/p>\n

Therefore, if we change our preparation to enter the temple, we will change our experience in the temple, which will transform our lives outside of the temple. . . .<\/p>\n

The ongoing and accelerating building of temples will continue to excite, inspire, and bless us. Yet more important, as we change our preparation to enter the temple, we will change our experience in the temple, which will transform our lives outside of the temple.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Arabic<\/a>
The Qur\u2019an (Wikimedia Commons public domain image). \u00a0I taught the Qur\u2019an for many years at Brigham Young University in both English and Arabic. \u00a0I\u2019ve spoken and published on it, and I read a portion of it in Arabic most every day of the week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A week ago today, I posted a blog entry entitled \u201cIt\u2019s So Big!\u201d<\/a> in which I compared the length of the Book of Mormon to the length of the longest books in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, and to that of the Qur\u2019an. \u00a0It had hit me with peculiar strength that day how very long the Book of Mormon is. \u00a0On the strength of those comparisons, I observed that \u201cJoseph Smith is by far the single most prolific contributor of purportedly scriptural text within any significant strand of the Judeo-Christian or Islamic religious tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over on the Peterson Obsession Board, at least, some of The Usual Suspects soon began, as is their custom, to misunderstand what I had written and to deride and mock their faulty misreadings of what I had posted:<\/p>\n