{"id":36476,"date":"2016-09-07T15:05:55","date_gmt":"2016-09-07T21:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=36476"},"modified":"2016-09-07T15:08:58","modified_gmt":"2016-09-07T21:08:58","slug":"the-critics-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html","title":{"rendered":"“The Critic’s Chair”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"LDS<\/a>
They\u2019re not doing enough, and they\u2019re doing it for the wrong reasons, and they\u2019re not doing it well. Okay. Whatever. But they\u2019re DOING something.
(LDS.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a very good piece by Ryan Larsen, quite apropos to a time when critics are vigorously attacking the Church over its humanitarian aid programs:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/mormonpuzzlepieces.blogspot.com\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html?m=1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The situation reminds me of two favorite passages from very distinct places. \u00a0The first of them was already mentioned by somebody today, but, unfortunately, I can\u2019t recall who it was. \u00a0I think of it in connection with the folks who fault us for doing no charity if we don\u2019t mention doing charity, and who fault us for boastfulness if we do<\/em> mention what we do:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a>But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and\u00a0a winebibber, a friend of\u00a0publicans\u00a0and sinners. But wisdom is justified\u00a0of her children. \u00a0(Matthew 11:16-19)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second comes from a speech delivered by former President Theodore Roosevelt \u2014 he had been out of office for about a year \u2014 at the Sorbonne in Paris\u00a0on 23 April 1910. \u00a0It\u2019s entitled \u201cThe Man in the Arena\u201d:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking of those who criticize the Church and the Saints for not doing enough, or not doing it well, or allegedly doing it for the wrong motives, or whatever.
\nIn the meantime, the Saints who are involved in these humanitarian aid programs and who are donating to support them simply keep on working.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 This is a very good piece by Ryan Larsen, quite apropos to a time when critics are vigorously attacking the Church over its humanitarian aid programs: \u00a0 http:\/\/mormonpuzzlepieces.blogspot.com\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html?m=1 \u00a0 The situation reminds me of two favorite passages from very distinct places. \u00a0The first of them was already mentioned by somebody today, but, unfortunately, […]<\/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-36476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"The Critic's Chair"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    This is a very good piece by Ryan Larsen, quite apropos to a time when critics are vigorously attacking the Church over its humanitarian aid\" \/>\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\/09\/the-critics-chair.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""The Critic's Chair"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    This is a very good piece by Ryan Larsen, quite apropos to a time when critics are vigorously attacking the Church over its humanitarian aid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-07T21:05:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-07T21:08:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/09\/hs_whatchurchdoing_helpinghands.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"The Critic's Chair\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-07T21:05:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-07T21:08:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    This is a very good piece by Ryan Larsen, quite apropos to a time when critics are vigorously attacking the Church over its humanitarian aid\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“The Critic’s Chair”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"The Critic's Chair\"","description":"    This is a very good piece by Ryan Larsen, quite apropos to a time when critics are vigorously attacking the Church over its humanitarian aid","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"The Critic's Chair\"","og_description":"    This is a very good piece by Ryan Larsen, quite apropos to a time when critics are vigorously attacking the Church over its humanitarian aid","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2016-09-07T21:05:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-07T21:08:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/09\/hs_whatchurchdoing_helpinghands.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html","name":"\"The Critic's Chair\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-09-07T21:05:55+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-07T21:08:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    This is a very good piece by Ryan Larsen, quite apropos to a time when critics are vigorously attacking the Church over its humanitarian aid","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/the-critics-chair.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“The Critic’s Chair”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36476\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}