{"id":95836,"date":"2022-07-19T21:54:06","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T03:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=95836"},"modified":"2022-07-20T00:01:11","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T06:01:11","slug":"a-questionable-extermination-and-an-indisputable-explosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/a-questionable-extermination-and-an-indisputable-explosion.html","title":{"rendered":"A questionable extermination and an indisputable explosion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Merneptah Stele as it has been displayed for many years in the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square in Cairo
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a link to an article of mine that went up in Meridian Magazine<\/em> yesterday.\u00a0 Because I\u2019ve been on the road and in the air for much of the past thirty-six hours or more, I\u2019m a bit late in calling attention to it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes Merneptah Stele Contain the First Extra-biblical Mention of Israel?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>
A view of the northern side of Mount Saint Helens on 17 May 1980, one day before its famous modern eruption.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

During our flight this morning from Vancouver, British Columbia, down to Portland, Oregon, I had a window seat on the left hand side of the aircraft.\u00a0 And I thoroughly enjoyed it.\u00a0 Not merely because I had a good view of such things as the San Juan Islands and Seattle, Washington, but, even more, because I got an excellent look at several of the Cascade volcanoes.\u00a0 To see them lined up this way, as I have on a few previous occasions, is to really be able to visualize the so-called \u201cring of fire\u201d that runs around the rim of the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve never flown between Vancouver and Portland before, so this was very new and very exciting to me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that I saw British Columbia\u2019s Mount Garibaldi, but I enjoyed excellent views of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount Hood, and, in the distance, Glacier Peak and Mount Jefferson.\u00a0 I had an especially good and close look at Mount Saint Helens (with Mount Adams in the background), and particularly at its devastated northern side and its post-1980 horseshoe-shaped crater.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mount Saint Helens was apparently once called \u201cthe Mount Fuji of America\u201d because of its conical symmetry prior to May 1980, and Native American lore praised it for its beauty.\u00a0 It\u2019s not quite so pretty these days, and it\u2019s 451 meters (1314 feet) shorter than it was within still relatively recent memory.\u00a0 The deforestation on its north side was still quite apparent from my vantage point, sitting transfixed at the airplane window.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A photo of the northern side of Mount Saint Helens taken on 19 Mary 1982 by the United States Geological Survey\u00a0 (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I received the sad news this afternoon that a member of my ward in Utah, Philip LaFleur<\/a>, has passed away.\u00a0 The holder of a doctorate from the University of Michigan in nuclear chemistry (whatever that may be!), he had retired and moved to Utah many years ago after a career spent in the eastern United States in government and then in private industry.\u00a0 We had very many good conversations over the years.\u00a0 During my years of teaching Gospel Doctrine classes, he often substituted for me when I was absent.\u00a0 And, for two or three years, when he was our high priest group leader, I served in the group leadership with him.\u00a0 His health had recently taken a turn for the worse, but it apparently went really down hill late last week.\u00a0 I was, by quite a distance, the youngest of that high priest leadership.\u00a0 But now I\u2019m the last of them.\u00a0 Our secretary died several years ago, as did the other member of the leadership, Jed Adams<\/a>.\u00a0 I\u2019ve missed them, and now I\u2019ll miss Phil.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Oregon's<\/a>
The Portland Oregon Temple was the first Latter-day Saint temple to be built in Oregon.
(LDS Media Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Driving out of Portland this morning, we passed the Portland Oregon Temple, which is another of my favorite Latter-day Saint buildings.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that we\u2019ll get a chance, this time, to do a session there.\u00a0 But we\u2019ve done it before and I would like at some point to do it again.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a>
Nightfall at the Supreme Court\u00a0 (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an article by Daniel Ortner<\/a> that I think worthy of your attention if you\u2019re a citizen of the United States of America \u2014 or somebody who is interested in the United States of America:<\/p>\n

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\u201cOverturning Roe v. Wade<\/em> Did Not Impose Religion on America: The Supreme Court\u2019s decision did not establish religion or violate the religious freedom rights of pro-choice Americans. Instead, it created space in the public square for the pro-life convictions of people of faith.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Featuring<\/a>
Sympathetic, meticulously accurate, high quality films like the 1922 British documentary advertised in this vintage photograph have been around for quite a while.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mira Fox is too trusting in the purported accuracy of the depiction of Latter-day Saints and their beliefs provided by Dustin Lance Black and Andrew Garfield in the recent Fox\/Hulu miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven<\/em>, and there a couple of regrettable photographs that accompany her article, but this is a thoughtful piece from a Jewish perspective:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMormonism and Judaism are dominating television. Is that good for representation?: \u2018Under the Banner of Heaven,\u2019 \u2018Unorthodox\u2019 and numerous other shows focused on minority religions have premiered recently. But their portrayals aren\u2019t always flattering.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And here, for anybody who might be interested in comparing it to the link above, is a Jewish reaction to the recent Netflix miniseries Unorthodox<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA Rabbi\u2019s Reflection on \u2018Unorthodox'\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t yet had time or opportunity to listen to this interview of Jana Riess by Steve Goldstein, but it might be worth a listen:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy Netflix and Hulu are infatuated with shows about Mormons\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

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

\"\"<\/a>
A harbor seal at Depoe Bay, Oregon
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve just been out walking along the edge of the cliff on which we\u2019re staying, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a foggy day here.\u00a0 Thus far, perhaps for that reason, we haven\u2019t yet seen any whales this time.\u00a0 But there are hundreds and hundreds of very vocal seabirds on the rocks nearby, and Canadian geese on the lawn, and about twenty harbor seals just at the foot of the cliff.\u00a0 We spent a while watching the seals in the sea and on the rock, and I don\u2019t think that I had ever previously realized how remarkably awkward they are out of the water.\u00a0 I wonder if they ever regret their evolutionary decision to forsake the land in order to live in the sea.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Depoe Bay, Oregon<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 Here\u2019s a link to an article of mine that went up in Meridian Magazine yesterday.\u00a0 Because I\u2019ve been on the road and in the air for much of the past thirty-six hours or more, I\u2019m a bit late in calling attention to it: \u00a0 \u201cDoes Merneptah Stele Contain the First Extra-biblical Mention of […]<\/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":[28248,2556,329,29039,29639,13259,29767,29800,1809,29746,27155,29743,29453,26800,28245,951,873,28968,29740,29779,28272,1561,1920,2935,2938,1582,5772,28239,28269,28278,29036,29755,2905,1812,1815,7113,26762,29791,788,55,1667,29773,29776,29782,29770,29731,2160,21835,16037,8283,27152,29749,6600,22325,29752,29764,29803,26767,26519,29785,19751,29788,29734,29794,2358,3946,29797,28242,29758,29761,29737,8531,17629],"class_list":["post-95836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-andrew-garfield","tag-anti-mormon","tag-anti-mormonism","tag-brenda-lafferty","tag-british-columbia","tag-canaan","tag-cascade","tag-cascade-volcanoes","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-coast","tag-daniel-ortner","tag-depoe-bay","tag-dobbs","tag-dobbs-v-jackson","tag-dustin-lance-black","tag-egypt","tag-film","tag-fx","tag-gezer","tag-glacier-peak","tag-hulu","tag-israel","tag-jana-riess","tag-jew","tag-jewish","tag-jews","tag-judaism","tag-krakauer","tag-lafferty","tag-lafferty-brothers","tag-laffertys","tag-lafleur","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-latter-day-saints","tag-lds","tag-lds-church","tag-merneptah","tag-mira-fox","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism","tag-mormons","tag-mount-adams","tag-mount-hood","tag-mount-jefferson","tag-mount-rainier","tag-mount-saint-helens","tag-movie","tag-netflix","tag-oregon","tag-orthodox","tag-ortner","tag-pacific-ocean","tag-pharaoh","tag-pharaonic","tag-philip-lafleur","tag-portland","tag-portland-oregon-temple","tag-roe","tag-roe-v-wade","tag-san-juan-islands","tag-scotus","tag-seattle","tag-stele","tag-steve-goldstein","tag-supreme-court","tag-television","tag-trapped-by-the-mormons","tag-under-the-banner-of-heaven","tag-unorthodox","tag-vancouver","tag-victory","tag-volcano","tag-volcanoes"],"yoast_head":"\nA 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