{"id":34600,"date":"2016-06-26T03:48:29","date_gmt":"2016-06-26T09:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=34600"},"modified":"2016-06-26T03:50:40","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T09:50:40","slug":"a-personal-testimony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/06\/a-personal-testimony.html","title":{"rendered":"A personal testimony"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Lauterbrunnen, in the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland \u2014 the inspiration for Tolkien\u2019s elvish Rivendell and, for roughly seven months, within my area of missionary assignment. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons) \u00a0Landscapes such as this thrill me, but they also inspire me with a powerful and unexpected yearning for something more.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back in 2009, I posted a (relatively) brief expression of my belief, and of why I find Mormonism<\/a> so very deeply satisfying, on the Mormon Scholars Testify website:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/mormonscholarstestify.org\/151\/daniel-c-peterson-2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It seems appropriate for me to call attention to that statement every decade or so. \u00a0Just so people know where I stand.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Grasmere, from above (Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I fully understand how Wordsworth derived inspiration from the Lake District, which has long been another of my favorite places on Earth. \u00a0I am, very decidedly, a Romantic.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consider this famous poem, a lament regarding what he saw as the materialism, the lack of spirituality, the frenetic overactivity, and the distracted distance from nature that he sensed in his time, that Wordsworth wrote in 1806, while he and his wife and sister were living at Dove Cottage in Grasmere:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The world is too much with us; late and soon,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Little we see in Nature that is ours;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The winds that will be howling at all hours,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It moves us not.\u2013Great God! I\u2019d rather be<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Wordsworth thought life too hectic, materialistic, and divorced from spiritual sensibilities in 1806, what would he make of us now? \u00a0He thought that the occasional carriage traffic past Dove Cottage was irritatingly distracting. \u00a0What would he think of today\u2019s non-stop automobile traffic racing past his little home? \u00a0And of the buses full of tourists that disgorge themselves in front of it several times each day? \u00a0And of the hotel that blocks its view of the lake?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Brockwood Hall, Cumbria, England<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 Back in 2009, I posted a (relatively) brief expression of my belief, and of why I find Mormonism so very deeply satisfying, on the Mormon Scholars Testify website: \u00a0 http:\/\/mormonscholarstestify.org\/151\/daniel-c-peterson-2 \u00a0 It seems appropriate for me to call attention to that statement every decade or so. \u00a0Just so people know where I stand. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA personal testimony<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Back in 2009, I posted a (relatively) brief expression of my belief, and of why I find Mormonism so very deeply satisfying, on the Mormon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/06\/a-personal-testimony.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A personal testimony\" \/>\n<meta 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