{"id":111062,"date":"2025-07-10T19:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T01:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=111062"},"modified":"2025-07-10T19:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T01:00:03","slug":"this-world-or-the-next-why-not-both","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/07\/this-world-or-the-next-why-not-both.html","title":{"rendered":"This World or the Next? Why Not Both?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>
\u201cPrimer desembarco de Crist\u00f3bal Col\u00f3n en Am\u00e9rica\u201d (The First Landing of Christopher Columbus in America), by Di\u00f3scoro Te\u00f3filo Puebla Tol\u00edn (Wikimedia CC public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This item has just been posted on the fossilized and entirely static website of the Interpreter Foundation: \u00a0\u201cSeek Ye Words of Wisdom<\/em>: \u201cColumbus among the Lamanites,\u201d<\/a> written by Andrew H. Hedges<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in\u00a0Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: Studies of the Book of Mormon, Bible, and Temple in Honor of Stephen D. Ricks<\/em>, edited by Donald W. Parry, Gaye Strathearn, and Shon D. Hopkin. For more information, go to\u00a0https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/books\/seek-ye-words-of-wisdom\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents of the Book of Mormon have long realized that the Nephite record is not necessarily a record of everything that happened in North and South America between 600 BC and AD 400. Internal evidence from the text itself makes it clear that the vast majority of events related in the book took place in a fairly limited area, even while allowing for the possibility that the Nephite \u201cinteraction sphere\u201d may have been quite extensive. This has resulted in numerous authors over the years making their case that one or another of a variety of peoples and cultures\u2014known today through archaeological remains\u2014living in the Americas during Book of Mormon times were the Nephites and Lamanites of the text.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Please note that today is Thursday, not Friday, and that this is not a new article in our journal but, rather, part of our book chapter reprint series. \u00a0New journal articles appear on Fridays, not on Thursdays. \u00a0Chapter reprints appear on Thursdays, not on Fridays. \u00a0Some time back, one unfortunate reader became confused, disoriented, and wildly indignant when he mixed the two up in his mind, accusing us of fraud and deception. \u00a0Don\u2019t be that guy.<\/p>\n

\"Magnificence.\"<\/a>
Igua\u00e7u Falls, as seen in Argentina. \u00a0I\u2019ve been there just once, and I would very much like to get back down to them someday. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I believe in free markets, and I\u2019m opposed both to socialism and to mercantilism (or neo-mercantilism), the latter of which, until recently, I had happily believed to be extinct. \u00a0So I\u2019m pleased to see reports such as this one out of Argentina: \u00a0\u201cThe Milei \u2018Miracle\u2019 Is a Vindication of Free Markets.\u201d<\/a> \u00a0The results of Mr. Milei\u2019s reforms are pretty much what I would have expected; I\u2019m surprised, after so many \u201cexperiments\u201d have been successfully conducted, that so many people seem still to be surprised at the results.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/a>
We tend not even to think about the significance or the origin of such terms as \u201cthe Red Cross\u201d and \u201cthe Red Crescent.\u201d \u00a0Perhaps, though, we should. \u00a0(Wikimedia CC public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve been told on multiple occasions throughout my now absurdly long life that, while religious people like me dream of pie in the sky when we die, secular people (such as those addressing and accusing me) care about making this world, the real<\/em> world, a better place. \u201cReligion is the opiate of the people,\u201d Karl Marx famously complained. Elsewhere, he remarked that, while \u201cphilosophers have said that the purpose of philosophy is to understand the world, the purpose is to change it\u201d \u2014 which, I think we (and its scores of millions of victims) can all agree, Marxism certainly did<\/em>. \u00a0Religion, in Marx\u2019s view, was a distraction from the real business of making this world a better place.<\/p>\n

And, of course, the critics of religious belief with whom I\u2019ve spoken on this subject may well be far better people than I am \u2014 that\u2019s a pretty low bar to clear, after all \u2014 and it\u2019s certainly possible that they\u2019re giving vast proportions of their time and wealth and energy to serve humanity.<\/p>\n

On the whole, though, research seems to indicate that, both historically and currently, religious people (supposedly focused like lasers on another world rather than this one) give substantially more of their time, effort, and financial resources to alleviating evils in this life. \u00a0One need only think of such foundations as the large networks of Catholic and Seventh-Day Adventist hospitals, the New York Presbyterian system, the former Latter-day Saint hospital system in the Intermountain West; of the role that Christian care for the sick and dying played in the emergence of Christianity across the ancient Mediterranean (as chronicled, for example, by the late Rodney Stark in The Rise of Christianity<\/em>); of Christian medical missionaries, and the like, to sense the truth of this. \u00a0The Swiss businessman Henry Dunant, who conceived of what became the International Red Cross, was a devout Christian. \u00a0Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross, was a devout Christian. The British parliamentarian William Wilberforce, leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade, was a devout Christian. \u00a0The English slave ship captain John Newton became a minister and an abolitionist after his conversion to Christianity, as he described in a justly famous hymn that, I\u2019m delighted to say, will shortly be included in the official hymnal of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
1.<\/div>\n
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
\nThat saved a wretch; like me!
\nI once was lost, but now am found,
\nWas blind, but now I see.<\/div>\n
2.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u2019Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
\nAnd grace my fears relieved;
\nHow precious did that grace appear
\nThe hour I first believed!<\/div>\n
3.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The Lord hath promised good to me,
\nHis word my hope secures;
\nHe will my shield and portion be
\nAs long as life endures.<\/div>\n
4.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
When we\u2019ve been there ten thousand years,
\nBright shining as the sun,
\nWe\u2019ve no less days to sing God\u2019s praise
\nThan when we first begun.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Arthur C. Brooks\u2019s 2006 volume, Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism<\/em>, made it much, much harder for secularists to preen themselves, as a class, on their superior compassion. \u00a0And many more articles and books making the same case have appeared since then.<\/p>\n

Religious people, it turns out, give more to charity than do nonreligious people. They donate more money \u2014 and not merely to their churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques. \u201cReligious people,\u201d wrote Brooks, \u201care more charitable in every measurable nonreligious way \u2014 including secular donations, informal giving, and even acts of kindness and honesty \u2014 than secularists.\u201d They\u2019re more likely to give money to family and friends, and, when they do, to give larger amounts. They\u2019re more likely to volunteer and to give blood. Even non-churchgoers, if they were raised in religious households, are more likely to donate to charity than those who were not.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the terrible flood in Texas, I\u2019ve seen angry secularists denouncing those who speak of \u201ckeeping the victims [of the disaster] in our thoughts and prayers\u201d \u2014 and even verbally assaulting and mocking the God in whom they don\u2019t believe. \u00a0Rather, they say, we should be looking at ways to prevent such catastrophic losses of life and to take real steps to help those who have been affected, as if prayer and this-worldly measures are, somehow, diametrically opposed, forcing an either\/or choice. \u00a0Clearly, though, they aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n

And, although I can\u2019t know for certain, I\u2019m relatively confident that a sizable proportion of those who are out there searching, under appalling conditions, for the victims of the flooding along the Guadalupe River are believing Texas Baptists and faithful Texas Catholics. \u00a0How many of them are members of American Atheists? \u00a0How many are dues-paid members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation? \u00a0I really couldn\u2019t say. \u00a0But I\u2019ll bet there aren\u2019t many<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"Cupid?<\/a>
The so-called \u201cEros\u201d statue at Piccadilly Circus is not really of \u201cEros\u201d at all. It was intended to represent \u201cChristian charity.\u201d (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here are a trio of horrifying stories that have recently been retrieved from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Interreligious Initiative for Forests Is Established in Peru:\u00a0The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participates in an interreligious initiative to protect the Amazon forests and respect indigenous peoples\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church Assists with Humanitarian Needs in the Marshall Islands\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAmid Texas Flooding\u2019s Death, Destruction, Latter-day Saints Leaders Talk of Ministering, Mercies and Miracles: Texas stake president, Area Seventy underscore patience, perspective and comfort in helping members and communities following catastrophic event\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Posted from Canmore, Alberta, Canada<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 This item has just been posted on the fossilized and entirely static website of the Interpreter Foundation: \u00a0\u201cSeek Ye Words of Wisdom: \u201cColumbus among the Lamanites,\u201d written by Andrew H. Hedges: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in\u00a0Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: Studies of the Book of Mormon, Bible, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":110497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2637,8838,2905,788,6390,12665],"class_list":["post-111062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-charity","tag-flood","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-mormon","tag-prayer","tag-texas"],"yoast_head":"\nThis World or the Next? 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