Multi-Faith
Academic and Mormon Views of Easter
So, I’ve been checking my blog stats, and with Easter upon us, it seems my post from last year about why Mormon’s don’t celebrate Easter is getting the most hits. While last year’s post was a little negative-that I think Mormon celebrations of Easter are lacking compared to other Christians’ Easter celebrations, I hope to […]
Larry Miller, Right to Die
It’s not often that my 2 loves (religion and sport) combine in a way for me to write about both. Here in Utah, the death of Larry Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz, is big news. Outside this area, it’s not a big story.
Does God care who wins?
Here in Utah, during the week of the Utah-BYU football game, also known as the “Holy War”, fans on each side and get downright fanatical. Being the church school, many mormons pretty much bear testimony that BYU is “the Lord’s school”, and that God wants BYU to win. Fans of Utah get quite upset about […]
Nahom-Archeaological Evidence of Book of Mormon
After Lehi’s family left Jerusalem, they traveled in the Arabian Peninsula on their way to the “promised land.” In 1994, an archeaological discovery in Yemen has the same name as mentioned in 1 Ne. 16: 34, “And it came to pass that Ishmael died, and was buried in the place which was called Nahom. Critics […]
Esther lived in Iran
I just finished a book called “DNA & Tradition”, by Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman. The book discusses evidence of Hebrew DNA, and talks about the science and religion of Judaism. As part of the discussion, I learned these interesting facts. The oldest diaspora communities are in Assyria, later conquered by Babylonia (now modern-day Iraq) and Persia […]
What’s the difference between Arabs & Persians?
Ok, I will confess that I love learning about the Middle East. I love learning more about Jews, Muslims, Arabs, etc. I have so much to learn. I’m a grad student working on some genetic studies (one of my many jobs). As part of the genetic study we are doing, we have our study participants […]
Social Drinking: How do you handle it?
I have about 5 part-time jobs. For one of them, I work as a freelancer for a television network. As part of my job, my company flies me all over the country to cover sporting events. During this past presidential campaign, I remember reading several articles first published in the Boston Globe, and reprinted in […]
Rock N Roll in the Conference Center
I had a very interesting time at the Conference Center this weekend. The Osmonds joined the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for a Pioneer Day celebration. The last time I was in the Conference Center was to attend the viewing of Pres. Hinckley, which was obviously a very somber occasion. When the Osmonds came out, there were […]
Center of Christianity in the Heart of Islam
As I mentioned before, I have been learning about Ancient and Medieval Church history from the Covenant Theological Seminary. What has been so interesting to me is that Turkey is a real center for Christianity. Paul spoke to the Ephesians in Ephesus (and his letter is in our bible now.) He also travelled to many […]
History of Baptism/Mikvah
The history of baptism is quite interesting, and much more complex than most people know. Baptism seems to be related to the ancient Jewish rite called “mikvah”, which was/is used for conversion to Judaism, ritual cleansing (Law of Moses type things, childbirth, women’s menstruation, and other things.) If you go to this link at Wikipedia, […]