In my interactions with the critics of the LDS Church, and in reading their arguments, I’ve taken note of something that I believe to be of immeasurable importance in our dialogue with and about other faiths. Indeed, I believe it is a key by which the judgment of one’s character can be quickly discerned (D&C 46:23). It is simply this:
There are a couple good firesides/lectures coming up, for those of you who are in the Salt Lake/Provo area.
First off, there will be a lecture given by John Gee this Thursday, June 19th, at 7:00pm at the Olivewood Bookstore in Provo (3330 N. University Ave., Suite C). He will be speaking about the message of the Joseph Smith Papyri. Dr. Gee received his doctorate degree from Yale University in Egyptology. He is currently William “Bill” Gay Assistant Research Professor of Egyptology at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, where he is a series editor for Studies in the Book of Abraham and a member of the editorial board of the Eastern Christian Texts series. He is also on the board of directors for the Aziz S. Atiya Fund for Coptic Studies at the University of Utah. I have read his short book A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri, and it was a great learning experience and introduction to the Joseph Smith Papyri. Anyone who is familiar with Hugh Nibley’s classic Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment knows that this papyri has a lot to do with the temple. This will certainly be a great lecture. If permitted, FAIR might videotape it and put it on YouTube. Seating is based on a first-come, first-served basis, so make sure to arrive there early.
Secondly, the Isaiah Institute (which I haven’t heard of before) is presenting a fireside with Avraham Gileadi on Thursday, June 26th, at 7:00pm at the ScenicView Academy in Provo (Room 245, 5455 North River Run Drive). He will be speaking on “The Learning of the Jews: Isaiah’s Impact on the Book of Mormon.” Dr. Gileadi obtained a Ph.D. in ancient Near Eastern studies and Hebrew Bible from BYU under the tutelage of professor R.K. Harrison of Wycliffe College, Toronto, Canada, with Hugh Nibley as chairman. He has translated and published the book of Isaiah into modern English and published it with analyses of many literary patterns in Isaiah’s prophecy discovered during many years of postdoctoral research. This fireside has been described thus:
Book of Mormon prophets don’t just quote Isaiah. Isaiah shapes their entire world view, their concept of God’s covenant people, and their understanding of the latter days. The learning of the Jews is key to interpreting the words of Isaiah and the Book of Mormon. Come and learn the learning of the Jews!
You are asked to RSVP to orders@isaiahinstitute.com to make sure there are enough refreshments.
When I first started TempleStudy.com I wanted to be absolutely sure that this blog would not turn into a place of defamation and profanation. I take my temple covenants very seriously, and did not want detractors from posting comments that would destroy the Spirit, the Gospel message, or the insightful discussions that would take place here. Consequently, initially I turned on comment moderation for all comments, so that all comments would have to be approved by me before appearing on the blog.
After having the site for several months now, and having more experience with other blogs that hold comments for moderation, I have found that it seems to be a significant deterrent from not only commenting, but perhaps even returning to the website after an initial visit. I want TempleStudy.com to be a place where we can talk about these fascinating subjects, and where people can add their own insights. I want people to want to return to the site. I want it to be a resource for people to learn more about the temple, in an appropriate and respectful setting, within the bounds the Lord has set.
Therefore, I have turned off comment moderation, so that any comments posted will appear immediately on the site. This will allow more real-time interaction with my readers, and between readers, on the site. To be sure, I will still be moderating comments, and I still hold the right of complete editorial control over what is said and how, but it will be after the fact. If there are inappropriate comments, they will be swiftly deleted. Comments may also be edited for content from time to time.
I hope this adjustment will help TempleStudy.com grow and be a place where we can learn how to appropriately discuss, study, and share the incredible insights that modern LDS scholarship has provided us on the holy temple. And there is still much yet to discover.
Do you ever find yourself away from a computer with a lot of time on your hands? Maybe your eyes are just tired from reading too much from the computer screen. Jott Networks has just recently introduced a new service called Jott Feeds that allows any RSS feed to be read to you over your phone. It’s very simple:
I have added a TempleStudy.com Jott Feed badge in the right-hand sidebar for easily adding a Jott Feed of this site to your Jott account. Now wherever you are at you can listen to TempleStudy.com with just your phone. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good.
The excellent thing about this service is that it works with any RSS feed. This means that you could listen to any of the following from your phone from wherever you might be:
This works best with feeds that have full content, otherwise it will just read a summary. Also, make sure you have plenty of minutes on your phone plan if you plan on using this very much, or use it during your unlimited off-peak hours.
One feature of TempleStudy.com that you may or may not have noticed is the “Shared Items” feature in the right sidebar. It looks something like the image on the right, if you scroll down beyond the “Top Posts,” “Favorite Posts,” “Recent Comments,” and “Recent Posts.” These shared items are links to those posts from the Bloggernacle that I think are interesting, usually about temples, apologetics, or other fascinating subjects that I think you might enjoy.
I use Google Reader (it’s the best, of course!) to browse the Bloggernacle, and whenever I come across a story I like I click the “Share” feature and it automatically adds a link to the story in this section of my sidebar. It’s a quick way to let you peek over my shoulder to see some of the more interesting articles I’ve been reading recently. I currently browse 72 blog feeds from the Bloggernacle. It’s a lot to take in, but I think I’ve got a good system now to sift the wheat from the chaff.
In fact, there is a whole web page devoted to the items I’ve shared with you. You can see it here. This page even has its own RSS feed, if you want to track my shared items in your own reader. In other words, you can track my tracking. Geeky, I know… Occasionally I may comment on an article I see, in which case at the beginning of the shared article you will see my name followed by my comment backed in blue, like this:
Google Reader also gives me the opportunity to share anything else with you from the web as I so choose. So if I come across a web page or something that I find interesting, and if it is not pertinent enough to deserve a full post, I might also add it to the shared items list and perhaps a few comments to go along with it.
Let me know if you like or use this feature of TempleStudy.com in the comments.