{"id":108373,"date":"2024-12-23T14:22:22","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T21:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=108373"},"modified":"2024-12-23T14:22:22","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T21:22:22","slug":"there-is-still-time-to-help-in-lighting-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/12\/there-is-still-time-to-help-in-lighting-the-world.html","title":{"rendered":"There is still time to help in lighting the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
\u201cThe Virgin of the Lilies\u201d (La Vierge au lys [1899]), by William-Adolphe Bouguereau
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image) \u00a0I suspect that veneration of the Virgin Mary reflects a dimly perceived ancient theological truth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Now available at no charge on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: \u00a0\u201cInterpreter Radio Show \u2014 December 15, 2024\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Bruce Webster and Kris Fredericton hosted the 15 December 2024 episode of the Interpreter Radio Show. They discussed Come, Follow Me<\/em> Doctrine & Covenants lesson 2, Moroni\u2019s prophecies about our days, the Church\u2019s disaster relief efforts, and Christmas music.<\/p>\n

Their conversation was recorded. \u00a0It has now been edited to remove commercial breaks, archived, and placed online for your convenience.<\/p>\n

The Interpreter Radio Show can be heard on Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 PM (MDT), on K-TALK, AM 1640, or you can listen live on the Internet at ktalkmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: President Russell M. Nelson, center; first counselor, President Dallin H. Oaks, left; second counselor, President Henry B. Eyring, right (LDS.org). The photo was taken immediately after President Nelson accession to leadership of the Church in early January 2018. \u00a0All three are sustained by faithful members of the Church as prophets, seers, and revelators.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Having celebrated his one hundredth birthday back on 9 September of this past year, President Russell M. Nelson continues to amaze. \u00a0Here, you can enjoy his piano performance of \u201cSilent Night,\u201d recorded in his home during the Christmas season in 2022: \u00a0\u201cThe Prophet Extends a Christmas Wish of Heavenly Peace:\u00a0Read and watch social media Christmas messages from the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and some General Officers\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Weihtnachtsstern<\/a>
Adventsstern (\u201cAdvent Star\u201d);Wikimedia Commons public domain image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even amid the glories of the Winter Solstice holiday season, unfortunately, we need to keep track of the evils routinely visited upon humanity by theists and theism. \u00a0(No season of the year is more prone to exploitation by religious people.) \u00a0Accordingly, I share some materials here that I\u2019ve recently extracted from the inexhaustibly horrific Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122. \u00a0Here are just a few of them:<\/p>\n

\u201cLatter-day Saints Around the World: December 2024:\u00a0Bottle-cap donation blesses children with cancer in Bolivia, and Congolese government helps with women and children\u2019s initiative.\u201d<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

Newsroom features stories from its dozens of websites worldwide to show what members and leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are doing to serve their communities. Today, we feature news from Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, South Korea, Peru and Tonga.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSummary of 2024 Light the World News\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGlobal Efforts Continue to Light the World in 2024: A look at how members and friends of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are spreading the Light of Christ this Christmas season\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 I found the accompanying video amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSustainable Solutions: Clean Water and Gardens Transform a Community in Mexico\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church of Jesus Christ Offers Condolences and Help to Residents of Vanuatu Following Earthquake\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church of Jesus Christ Expands Educational Opportunities for Indigenous Youth in Mexico\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church Donates Mental Health Facility to Regional Hospital:\u00a0\u201cThis is more than humane, this is Godly.\u201d\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church and Midwest Food Bank Unite to Fight Hunger\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDonation to Women\u2019s Hospital in Bolivia Aims to Decrease Infant Mortality:\u00a0Modern medical equipment that helps support children and mothers during childbirth now available in La Paz\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Engel<\/a>
\u201cAngels Appearing Before the Shepherds,\u201d by Henry Ossawa Tanner (ca. 1910)
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alas, one of the clearest illustrations of the wickedness of religious people is their attempt to commandeer the music of the Winter Solstice holiday season, which has been disturbingly successful. \u00a0Having failed to share a musical piece in yesterday\u2019s blog entry, I compensate by offering two specimens today. \u00a0Both have been drawn directly from the Hitchens File<\/em>:<\/p>\n

(1) When John Menzies Macfarlane, a Scottish convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, needed a special song for Christmas 1869 for the choir that he conducted in St. George, Utah, he wrote one. \u00a0(St. George had only been founded in 1861, and it was still a very small and rough little settlement struggling to survive in an arid desert climate; its tabernacle and temple were still several years in the future.)<\/p>\n

Here is the song that he wrote, in a performance by the Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square: \u00a0https:\/\/www.lds.org\/media-library\/video\/2013-12-0031-far-far-away-on-judeas-plains?lang=eng<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFar, Far Away on Judea\u2019s Plains\u201d was first published in Salt Lake City\u2019s\u00a0Juvenile Instructor<\/em>\u00a0twenty years later, in 1889. \u00a0Since then, it has become a popular Christmas carol well beyond the confines of the Latter-day Saint community \u2014 one of the relatively few Restoration hymns to travel across denominational lines.<\/p>\n

Brother Macfarlane has clearly never been to Judea, which is very much hill country. \u00a0It would be roughly as difficult to find a flat plain in Judea as to find a tropical jungle there.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
The Judean hills. Or, if you\u2019re still in a 6 April Christmas mood, \u201cJudea\u2019s plains.\u201d (Photo by David Shankbone, from Wikimedia Commons.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(2) \u00a0The words to \u201cOnce in Royal David\u2019s City\u201d were written by the Anglo-Irish children\u2019s poet Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895), who is also remembered for her hymns \u201cThere is a Green Hill Far Away\u201d and \u201cAll Things Bright and Beautiful.\u201d \u00a0The carol was set to music shortly thereafter by an organist named H. J. Gauntlett.<\/p>\n

1 Once in royal David\u2019s city
\nstood a lowly cattle shed,
\nwhere a mother laid her baby
\nin a manger for His bed:
\nMary was that mother mild,
\nJesus Christ her little Child.<\/p>\n

2 He came down to earth from heaven
\nwho is God and Lord of all,
\nand His shelter was a stable,
\nand His cradle was a stall:
\nwith the poor, and meek, and lowly,
\nlived on earth our Savior holy.<\/p>\n

3 And our eyes at last shall see Him,
\nthrough His own redeeming love;
\nfor that Child so dear and gentle
\nis our Lord in heav\u2019n above,
\nand He leads His children on
\nto the place where He is gone.<\/p>\n

4 Not in that poor lowly stable,
\nwith the oxen standing by,
\nwe shall see Him, but in heaven,
\nset at God\u2019s right hand on high;
\nwhen like stars His children crowned
\nall in white shall wait around.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Winter<\/a>
King\u2019s College, Cambridge, with the marvelous chapel on the left. \u00a0I regret the neoclassical addition to the right, but there it is. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is \u201cOnce in Royal David\u2019s City\u201d in a performance by the choir of King\u2019s College Cambridge, recorded in King\u2019s College Chapel, which happens to be one of my favorite pieces of architecture in the world: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TT3cfXd3Shk<\/a>\u00a0 (Err, sorry. \u00a0I meant to say that King\u2019s College Chapel is yet another of the abominations imposed upon us by religionists, along with the music that\u2019s frequently performed in it.)<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Now available at no charge on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: \u00a0\u201cInterpreter Radio Show \u2014 December 15, 2024\u201d Bruce Webster and Kris Fredericton hosted the 15 December 2024 episode of the Interpreter Radio Show. They discussed Come, Follow Me Doctrine & Covenants lesson 2, Moroni\u2019s prophecies about our days, the Church\u2019s disaster relief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":38260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38296,20665,20662,38299,5072,38302],"class_list":["post-108373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cecil-frances-alexander","tag-far-away-on-judeas-plains","tag-john-menzies-macfarlane","tag-once-in-royal-davids-city","tag-st-george","tag-william-adolphe-bouguereau"],"yoast_head":"\nThere is still time to help in lighting the world<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  Now available at no charge on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: \u00a0"Interpreter Radio Show \u2014 December 15, 2024" Bruce Webster and Kris\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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