![\"Alberta](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2022\/07\/cardston-alberta-temple-exterior-1126230-wallpaper-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>In the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s regular chapter reprint series, an article by Dr. Gregory L. Smith<\/a> went up this week: Steadfast in Defense of Faith: \u201cAll Bleeding Stops . . . Eventually\u201d: Helaman\u201ds Warriors and Modern Principles of Trauma Revisited\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cIn 2002, Dialogue<\/em> published an article entitled \u201cHelaman\u2019s Stripling Warriors and the Principles of Hypovolemic Shock.\u201d The author addresses the report in Alma 57:25\u201326 that 200 of Helaman\u2019s 2,060 stripling warriors suffered loss of blood sufficient to faint but that none of them perished. In it, the author argues that principles of trauma medicine rationally make the story \u201chighly unlikely or even outright impossible\u201d since the fatality rate among the 200 who fainted should have been much higher.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n My wife and I are in California, so we were unable to attend the funeral of President Jeffrey R. Holland earlier today. \u00a0And, because we were literally on the road at the time, we weren\u2019t even able to participate online. \u00a0But we intend to do so, probably tonight. \u00a0A link to a video of the funeral services is provided here: \u201cPresident Holland Remembered as a Teacher, Father and Apostle of Love, Learning and Hope \u2018President Jeffrey R. Holland left a huge mark, loving personal memories of his influence, and his unforgettable testimony of God on all that he touched,\u2019 says President Dallin H. Oaks\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n See also this coverage, from the Deseret News<\/em>: \u201cPresident Holland\u2019s painful last months hailed as master class of an apostle of contagious conviction:\u00a0At funeral, speakers say he pushed past \u2018intense, personal, physical challenges to bring love, laughter and the light of Jesus Christ to others in life-altering ways\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019ve just watched a twenty-minute video about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> in the Kingdom of Tonga: \u201cThe Mormon Monarchy of Tonga \u2014 The Rise of the World\u2019s Most Devout Latter-day Saint Nation\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n It is, to put it mildly, very, very strange. \u00a0I\u2019m no specialist on Tonga \u2014 I\u2019ve never even been there \u2014 and I cannot speak with any authority about the accuracy of what is said in the video regarding Tongan history, political culture, and sociology, or about their interactions with the Church. \u00a0But have a look at the thing! \u00a0The visual illustrations are exceedingly odd. \u00a0Do those \u201cLatter-day Saint missionaries\u201d look anything remotely like real Latter-day Saint missionaries to you<\/em>? \u00a0Do the purported \u201cTongans\u201d look very Tongan? \u00a0The Latter-day Saint scriptures that the people are reading don\u2019t look like our real scriptures. \u00a0The church interiors that are shown are distinctly foreign to our chapel architecture. \u00a0At least three or four enormous Tongan \u201ctemples\u201d are shown, but none of them looks like the two real temples in Tonga \u2014 neither the one in Nuka\u2019alofa<\/a>\u00a0nor the one that\u2019s nearing completion in Neiafu<\/a>. \u00a0(Is that really supposed to be the Angel Moroni on top?) \u00a0I presume that this video (or whatever the heck it is) is a product of artificial intelligence, and that it\u2019s telling us something quite significant about the reliability of AI. \u00a0And it makes me disinclined to trust the account that the video provides of the progress of the Church in Tonga. \u00a0Is this sober history, or is it mere carnival fun-house distortions?<\/p>\n There\u2019s only one brief period in the year when citing it is wholly appropriate, so I really wouldn\u2019t be able to look myself in the face if I didn\u2019t take this opportunity to quote\u00a0\u201cIn Memoriam [Ring out, wild bells],\u201d by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892):<\/p>\n Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,<\/span> Ring out the old, ring in the new,<\/span> Ring out the grief that saps the mind<\/span> Ring out a slowly dying cause,<\/span> Ring out the want, the care, the sin,<\/span> Ring out false pride in place and blood,<\/span> Ring out old shapes of foul disease;<\/span> Ring in the valiant man and free,<\/span> Of course, you may have the opportunity to sing some of these words on Sunday. \u00a0(There are perhaps two Sundays annually when congregations sing it.) \u00a0Whether you do or you don\u2019t, though, Lord Tennyson\u2019s words are worth lingering over and thinking about. \u00a0I wish you a very Happy New Year, a wonderful 2026!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This is a solemn occasion: \u00a0I\u2019m dipping into the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122 for the last time ever in 2025. \u00a0And here\u2019s what I\u2019ve come up with for today:<\/p>\n Posted from Newport Beach, California<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 First of all, however, Happy New Year! In the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s regular chapter reprint series, an article by Dr. Gregory L. Smith went up this week: Steadfast in Defense of Faith: \u201cAll Bleeding Stops . . . Eventually\u201d: Helaman\u201ds Warriors and Modern Principles of Trauma Revisited\u201d: \u201cIn 2002, Dialogue published an article entitled \u201cHelaman\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":75504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>
(LDS.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/a>
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The flying cloud, the frosty light:<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The year is dying in the night;<\/span>
\nRing out, wild bells, and let him die.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ring, happy bells, across the snow:<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The year is going, let him go;<\/span>
\nRing out the false, ring in the true.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For those that here we see no more;<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ring out the feud of rich and poor,<\/span>
\nRing in redress to all mankind.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And ancient forms of party strife;<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ring in the nobler modes of life,<\/span>
\nWith sweeter manners, purer laws.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The faithless coldness of the times;<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes<\/span>
\nBut ring the fuller minstrel in.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The civic slander and the spite;<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ring in the love of truth and right,<\/span>
\nRing in the common love of good.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ring out the thousand wars of old,<\/span>
\nRing in the thousand years of peace.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The larger heart, the kindlier hand;<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ring out the darkness of the land,<\/span>
\nRing in the Christ that is to be.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>\n