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<\/a>\u201cElder Bednar ministers in Michigan to victims of Sunday\u2019s deadly attack:\u00a0Apostle leads families at devotional to sing \u2018Gethsemane\u2019 twice, says Quorum of the Twelve wants them to feel their love in person\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Yesterday, I mentioned here a fundraiser<\/a> that has been organized by an inspired Latter-day Saint for the widow and the special-needs son of the Michigan attacker, Thomas Jacob Sanford. \u00a0I\u2019m pleased that it\u2019s going extremely well, as these items illustrate:<\/p>\n Thinking of this story, I could not possibly be more proud of my fellow Latter-day Saints.<\/p>\n \u201cPure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.\u201d (James 1:27)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Although I\u2019ve posted a few examples here, I haven\u2019t particularly monitored it. \u00a0But I\u2019m told that quite a bit of online vitriol and criticism has been aimed at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> since Sunday morning\u2019s attack in Michigan. \u00a0(There\u2019s an allusion to that vitriol and criticism here<\/a>.) \u00a0So, in that regard, the results of this survey are interesting: \u00a0\u201cAmericans Feel More Positive Than Negative About Jews, Mainline Protestants, Catholics: Most are neutral toward several groups; evangelical Christians viewed negatively, on balance, by non-evangelical Americans.\u201d<\/a> \u00a0But, while not especially surprising (to me<\/em>, at least), a subordinate finding of the survey is sadly disappointing: \u00a0\u201cLatter-day Saints (Mormons\u201d feel positively toward other Christian groups in U.S., but the reverse is not true.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.\u201d (John 13:35)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cAnd it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another\u2019s burdens, that they may be light;<\/p>\n \u201cYea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life\u2014<\/p>\n \u201cNow I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?<\/p>\n \u201cAnd now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.\u201d \u00a0(Mosiah 18:8-11)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n As I say, I\u2019m deeply gratified by the charity of my fellow Saints toward those whom Thomas Jacob Sanford abandoned for the sake of murdering members of my church. \u00a0Obviously, though, the direct victims of Mr. Sanford\u2019s assault on a sacrament meeting need our love and care, as well. \u00a0I know that there is always a threat of \u201cgiving fatigue,\u201d but I want to call your attention to a fundraiser for Brother Greg Mikat<\/a>. \u00a0My wife and I made a small donation to the Sanford fundraiser, and we\u2019ve made a similar contribution to this one. \u00a0I invite you to consider joining us. \u00a0Even a little bit can help:<\/p>\n I can\u2019t say that I was unhappy to see this: \u00a0\u201cBig 12 reprimands, fines University of Colorado $50,000 for profane chants directed at BYU: \u2018Hateful and discriminatory language has no home in the Big 12 Conference,\u2019 league commissioner Brett Yormark said\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n By contrast, incidentally, Colorado\u2019s \u201cCoach Prime\u201d remains a class act: \u00a0\u201cDeion Sanders apologizes for Colorado fans\u2019 profane chants directed at BYU: Sanders\u2019 apology came after the Big 12 fined Colorado $50,000 for the incident\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n My wife and I watched this morning\u2019s memorial program for President Russell M. Nelson. \u00a0We were moved by it. \u00a0A personal highlight for me was the talk given by Susan H. Porter<\/a>, the General Primary President of the Church, about her experiences with President Nelson. \u00a0I first met President Porter when I was an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, where we were both students in the Honors Program \u2014 as was her eventual husband, the future Elder Bruce D. Porter of the Seventy<\/a>. \u00a0My wife and I spent time with them at their apartment near Frankfurt during his assignment in the Area Presidency that is based in Germany, and he and I would often lunch together at general conference season. \u00a0I still miss him very much.<\/p>\n In thinking about President Nelson, too, I\u2019m reminded of a deeply touching incident from October 2007, when he was still a member of the Quorum of the Twelve: \u00a0\u201cOne of the Most Powerful Moments in General Conference | Love by Example\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, also of the Quorum of the Twelve, was ninety years old at the time, and he was plainly in failing health. \u00a0(He would pass away the following year.) \u00a0But there he was, doing his best before an in-person congregation of roughly 21,000 as well as a very large international television and online audience. \u00a0Apparently, as Elder Wirthlin was speaking at the pulpit, his legs and his balance began to give way, and, seeing what was happening, Elder Nelson, that dear and glorious physician, quietly stood up to help his faltering colleague. \u00a0I hope that you\u2019ll watch the brief video. \u00a0It is so very representative of who Russell M. Nelson was and is \u2014 and a perfect illustration for the words of Elder Wirthlin with which the clip begins..<\/p>\n On a rather different note: \u00a0I\u2019ve long been convinced of the immutable truth enshrined in Murphy\u2019s Second Corollary:<\/p>\n It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Happily, I\u2019ve just encountered another empirical demonstration of the Second Corollary. \u00a0To fully understand this, though, you\u2019ll need just a bit of background: \u00a0Here<\/a> and here<\/a>, I reposted some thoughts on the question of whether there can ever be any valid evidence, let alone proof, against the claims of the Restoration. \u00a0I contended that, on the assumption that those claims are true<\/em>, there can in the end be no disproof of them nor even any ultimately valid evidence against<\/em> them \u2014 because true propositions, by definition, cannot be disproved.<\/p>\n However, I\u2019ve just seen an attempted summary of what I said, as misunderstood by a pair of my zany critics. \u00a0It runs as follows: All unfalsifiable subjective religious beliefs are automatically and objectively true.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This faux<\/em> summary represents striking experimental verification, yet again, of Murphy\u2019s Second Corollary, and the importance of such confirmation cannot be overstated: \u00a0It is indeed<\/em> impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious. \u00a0QED. \u00a0Today should be marked down and memorialized as yet another glorious landmark along the forward march of science!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u201cElder Bednar ministers in Michigan to victims of Sunday\u2019s deadly attack:\u00a0Apostle leads families at devotional to sing \u2018Gethsemane\u2019 twice, says Quorum of the Twelve wants them to feel their love in person\u201d Yesterday, I mentioned here a fundraiser that has been organized by an inspired Latter-day Saint for the widow and the special-needs son […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":40512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39200,2905,1715,788,9107,39203],"class_list":["post-113075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-grand-blanc","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-michigan","tag-mormon","tag-nelson","tag-university-of-colorado"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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