Month: February 2009

Man Builds Massive Model of Herod’s Temple

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A retired farmer spent 30 years building this massive model of Herod's Temple

A retired farmer spent 30 years building this massive model of Herod's Temple. Picture: Geoff Robinson Photography

The Telegraph reported today about a man from Norfolk, England, who has spent the last 30 years building an awesome, gigantic and highly detailed scale model of Herod’s Temple.  Here are some interesting facts about it:

  • Estimated 33,000 hours to construct
  • Measures 20ft by 12ft
  • Includes 4,000 tiny human figures, with authentic time-period dress
  • 1:100 scale
  • Everything is hand-made down to every clay brick and tile
  • Took 3 years of research
  • Still not finished
  • Not for sale
  • Resides in a building in the creator’s back garden
  • The creator, Alec Garrard, is now 78 years old, and he started it when he was in his 40’s
  • Some historians believe it to be the best representation of the temple in the world

Now that is pretty creative!  You can see many more great photographs of the model at the Telegraph’s picture gallery.

Power in the Right Hand

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Sustaining Church officers during the solemn assembly of April 2008 General Conference

Sustaining Church officers during the solemn assembly of April 2008 General Conference

I have been thinking recently about the power, significance, and symbolism of using our arms, particularly our right arm or hand.  I’m not sure what it is that gives this power to the way we use our arms and hands, but there is a fundamental force that comes from using them.  It could be that we use our arms and hands to accomplish most of what we do in a day; they are our main tools of action.  We use our arms and hands to get dressed, eat, drive, use a computer, handle objects, express ourselves, shake hands, signal to people, communicate, and do many of the things we do every day.  But there is something else that makes our arms and hands powerful, especially when we raise them up.  [Read more…]

Orson Scott Card on Hugh Nibley & C.S. Lewis

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Dr. Hugh Nibley lecturing

Dr. Hugh Nibley lecturing

Orson Scott Card wrote a great article today on Mormon Times, highlighting the tremendous influence that Hugh Nibley and C.S. Lewis have had on his “Christian education” over the years, but particularly when he was younger.

I couldn’t agree more with his feelings about the impact that these two scholars have had.  I’ve particularly been influenced, even fundamentally changed, by the writings of Hugh Nibley, and I’m just beginning to get into Lewis.  Like I’ve said in the past, in a way I’ve felt personally mentored by Nibley through reading his work, a sentiment shared by Orson Scott Card:  [Read more…]

Answering Questions about Mormonism

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A few months ago we showed a TV news story of an interview with a missionary who, how should we say, didn’t quite know how to answer questions about the Church or the temple, and which just left more suspicion and misunderstanding than it dispelled.  We concluded that we must have a good grasp of our own religion in order to answer questions intelligently and articulately, and to teach others about our beliefs.

Yesterday I received an email with a link to a videoclip of a Harvard student, Rachel Esplin, who answered questions about the Church and Mormonism in a very clear and forthright manner.  It looks like the event was an “Engaging Religious Differences” panel discussion, in which many different religious views were shared. Greg has more details at Believe All Things, who referenced aquinas at Summa Theologica on the same topic.

Take a look below.


Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose – 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.