![\"Wikimedia](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/02\/Saints_Driven_From_Jackson_County_Missouri_by_C.C.A._Christensen.png\")
<\/a>Carl Christian Anton Christensen (d. 1912) (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Episode 2o in the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s series of mini-documentaries has now gone up online: Becoming Brigham<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>Episode 20 \u2014 Why are the Heavens Silent?<\/a> \u00a0Initially, Episode 21 had appeared on Meridian Magazine<\/em>, out of sequence. \u00a0But that has now been corrected, and Episode 21 will go up a week from today. \u00a0(There is method in our madness.)<\/p>\n I hope that you\u2019re watching, enjoying, and spreading the word about these short video lessons \u2014 today\u2019s installment is less than eleven minutes long \u2014 in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>.<\/p>\n And this item, written by Kyler Rasmussen<\/a>, went up today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: \u00a0\u201cInterpreting Interpreter: Evaluating Zelph\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n This post is a summary of the article \u201cA Scientific Evaluation of the Zelph Revelation<\/a>\u201d by Jerry D. Grover Jr. in Volume 69 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>. All of the Interpreting Interpreter<\/em>articles may be seen at https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/category\/summaries\/<\/a>. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter<\/em> series is available at https:\/interapreterfoundation.org\/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n A video introduction to this Interpreter article is now available on all of our social media channels, including on YouTube at https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/0j_W7UEqgGk<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Takeaway:<\/strong> Grover outlines what we know and can infer about the story of Zelph, suggesting the information provided by Joseph could fit in an authentic historical setting, and that the events he described are unlikely to be connected with the Book of Mormon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As membership retention and membership attrition in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continue to be burning topics of discussion online (and probably elsewhere), this article, written by Justin Dyer<\/a>, is essential reading: \u00a0\u201cOpinion: Moving from a deficit-oriented to a data-driven perspective on Latter-day Saints:\u00a0A BYU Studies report collects data from Harvard, the Pew Research Center and others to share a more complete picture of Latter-day Saint faith, well-being and retention.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 I hope, eventually, to get to the BYU Studies<\/em> article on which it draws.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A week ago Sunday, I announced a prize (the precise nature of which still remains to be determined) for the zaniest answers to the following urgently burning questions about my just-completed trip to Discovery Bay, Washington, out on the Olympic Peninsula:<\/p>\n As I explained, the competition was principally designed to gratify the interests of the folks at the Peterson Obsession Board, although participation wasn\u2019t restricted<\/em> to them. \u00a0All<\/em>, I said, were welcome to propose answers to the questions. \u00a0Even sane<\/em> people.<\/p>\n I\u2019m now in a position to reveal the true and factual answers to the four questions that I posed and that are reproduced above without alteration:<\/p>\n With his wife, two second-generation units, and a tag-along third-generation unit, Peterson traveled to Port Townsend, Washington, in order to empty out the storage unit of one of the 2GUs and thereupon to drive its contents to a temporary location in Utah. (The names and genders and other identifying information of the others involved in this disreputable operation have been concealed so as to protect them, insofar as such protection is even possible, from exploitation and weaponization by the holy warriors of the Peterson Obsession Board.) \u00a0That, at least is the cover story. \u00a0At this early stage of the investigation, it remains impossible to know what the real<\/em> motive for the journey was.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Unbelievably, Peterson ate food during every single day<\/em> of his trip to, from, and in Washington. \u00a0For example, he consumed cereal in the morning and then, in the evening, some seafood (it being an area surrounded by seawater), and, one night, a couple of tacos. \u00a0Weird and indefensible stuff like that<\/em>. \u00a0For those who may be eager to invest the research time to acquire more detailed<\/em> information on his food intake, the Peterson crime family\u2019s receipts from local eateries and grocery stores are probably still retrievable from area landfills, along with the relevant packaging materials (where relevant). \u00a0It\u2019s conceivable that items connected with specific members of the clan can still be distinguished from one another on the basis of residual DNA.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is a silly question. \u00a0The fact that Peterson fraudulently financed this trip isn\u2019t a matter of induction from particular empirical data. \u00a0Rather, it\u2019s a conclusion that inescapably follows by logical deduction from (a) his low character and (b) the sheer fact that he took the trip. \u00a0As President Trump explained to Kristen Welker of NBC\u2019s Meet the Press<\/em> on Sunday when she rudely suggested that no evidence exists to demonstrate that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and that the California gubernatorial primary and the Los Angeles mayoral primary are currently being stolen, \u201cAll I have to do is look, and I listen.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Seriously? \u00a0How does anything about his trip to Washington fail<\/em> to prove him both a buffoon and depraved? \u00a0Really. \u00a0Come on. \u00a0If you\u2019re not willing to play the game, just get out of the building. \u00a0Of course, you\u2019ll first need to obtain Dr. Arkham\u2019s signature on your discharge papers. \u00a0And be sure to pick up your street clothes and your personal effects at the guard desk on the way out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Episode 2o in the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s series of mini-documentaries has now gone up online: Becoming Brigham,\u00a0Episode 20 \u2014 Why are the Heavens Silent? \u00a0Initially, Episode 21 had appeared on Meridian Magazine, out of sequence. \u00a0But that has now been corrected, and Episode 21 will go up a week from today. \u00a0(There is method in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":30658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2683,2905,40028,9419,788,39149],"class_list":["post-116537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-disaffection","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-lilburn-w-boggs","tag-missouri","tag-mormon","tag-retention"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a><\/a>\n
<\/a>
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/blockquote>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n