![\"Haleakala,](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2021\/05\/Haleakala_National_Park_Maui_Hawaii_United_States_-_panoramio_2.jpg\")
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I think that I failed to call y0ur attention to this item, which went up two or three days ago on the still barely-alive website of the Interpreter Foundation:<\/p>\n
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\u201cBook of Moses Essays #54: Moses Sees the Garden of Eden (Moses 3): Spiritual Creation (Moses 3:5\u20137)\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Thinking about creation right now, I can\u2019t help but picture the crater of Haleakala, where we stood on Sunday afternoon.\u00a0 (See above.)\u00a0 In a very real way, it is a reminder of creation.\u00a0 Haleakala, after all, created the bulk of today\u2019s Maui.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This blog has a resident atheist who was born into what seems to have been a nominally Catholic family but who lost any faith that he may once have had \u2014 and it\u2019s not at all clear that he ever did<\/em> have any faith \u2014 while still in parochial school under the tutelage of various nuns.\u00a0 He utterly disdains the concept of learning anything specifically about what Latter-day Saints believe or why we believe it.\u00a0 So he chose to mock us today for our supposed notion that God simply \u201cblinked\u201d this world and the universe into existence.\u00a0 We\u2019ve tried on numerous occasions to help him understand that we don\u2019t, in fact, believe in creation ex nihilo<\/em>.\u00a0 Completely in vain.\u00a0 Accuracy seems to be irrelevant to his comprehensive disdain for theists and theism.\u00a0 He keeps assuring us, for instance, that we reject science.\u00a0 When we ask which particular sciences we reject \u2014 there are, interestingly, several professional scientists who often comment here, although, not insignificantly he is not one of them \u2014 he typically goes silent and then changes the subject.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n On matter of creatio ex nihilo,<\/em> by the way, see<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Blake T. Ostler, \u201cOut of Nothing: A History of Creation\u00a0ex Nihilo<\/i>\u00a0in Early Christian Thought.\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Review of Paul Copan and William Lane Craig. \u201cCraftsman or Creator? An Examination of the Mormon Doctrine<\/a> of Cration and a Defense of\u00a0Creatio ex nihilo.<\/i>\u201d and Review of Paul Copan and William Lane Craig.\u00a0Creation out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration.<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ostler, Blake T. (2005) \u201cOut of Nothing: A History of Creation\u00a0ex Nihilo<\/i>\u00a0in Early Christian Thought,\u201d\u00a0Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989\u20132011<\/em>: Vol. 17 : No. 2 , Article 9.<\/span> \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Or even D. C.\u00a0Peterson, \u201cDoes the Qur\u2019an Teach Creation Ex Nihilo<\/em>?\u201d in By Study and Also by Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley<\/em>, ed. J. M. Lundquist and S. D. Ricks (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1990), 1:584-610, or D. C. Peterson,<\/span>\u00a0\u201cCreation\u201d, in Jane Dammen McAuliffe et al., eds.,<\/span>\u00a0Encyclopedia of the Qur\u2019<\/em><\/span>\u0101<\/span>n <\/span><\/em>(<\/span>Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2001-2006), 1:472-480.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In the spirit of my allegedly well-documented hatred and fear of science, here are some interesting items \u2014 the first of which seems appropriate to my recent thoughts about Haleakala:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cVolcanoes on Mars Could be Active, Raising Possibility that the Planet was Recently Habitable: New observations reveal that\u00a0Mars could still be volcanically active, raising\u00a0the possibility for habitable conditions below the surface of Mars in recent history.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA \u2018lake\u2019 on Mars may be surrounded by more pools of water: New radar data add to evidence of water under Mars\u2019 south pole, but it\u2019s not \u201ca slam dunk yet\u201d\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPlanet-forming disks around stars may come preloaded with ingredients for life: Methanol found around a hot, young star must have formed in cooler interstellar environs\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But, alas, the current pandemic continues to dominate much of the news, and we apparently want<\/em> it that way:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHow India\u2019s COVID-19 crisis became the worst in the world: New variants and relaxed public health measures likely fueled the country\u2019s surge\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNew Study Estimates More Than 900,000 People Have Died Of COVID-19 In U.S.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUS unlikely to achieve COVID-19 herd immunity, experts say\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHesitancy about vaccines may keep Utah from reaching herd immunity\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJana Riess: Half of U.S. Latter-day Saints are COVID-19 \u2018vaccine hesitant\u2019 or \u2018vaccine refusers\u2019: Study finds members believe in vaccinations in general, and they trust their church leaders to do the right thing. Yet LDS authorities have been urging them to get the shot, and 50% don\u2019t want to.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Too bad.\u00a0 The work of preaching the Gospel has been seriously hurt by the pandemic.\u00a0 The vital labor of redeeming the dead has been brought to a virtual halt.\u00a0 And an astoundingly large proportion of the Saints seem to be perfectly content with that.\u00a0 I confess that I find the response of many Americans, and American Latter-day Saints, utterly baffling.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAmericans as young 12 could get the Covid-19 vaccine this week. Some experts think it could turn the pandemic around\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHow to detect, resist and counter the flood of fake news: Although most people are concerned about misinformation, few know how to spot a deceitful post\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no link between the Covid-19 vaccines and infertility. Here\u2019s why\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Some of you may have run across a former Latter-day Saint turned zealous evangelical Protestant by the name of Michael Flournoy.\u00a0 I\u2019ll freely confesss that, for one reason or another, conservative Protestant attacks on the Restoration no longer interest me very much, and I\u2019ve paid no real attention to Mr. Flournoy.\u00a0 Lately, however, and by sheer coincidence, I\u2019ve come across his name a few times, so it caught my attention when I saw this on the blog of the prolific and extraordinarily bright Irish Latter-day Saint Robert Boylan.\u00a0 Some of you may find it of interest, particularly if (unlike me) you\u2019ve ever crossed swords with Michael Flournoy:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>Abstract<\/span><\/h4>\n
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation<\/span><\/h4>\n
\nAvailable at: https:\/\/scholarsarchive.byu.edu\/msr\/vol17\/iss2\/9<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n