- Stephen C on 20th and 21st Century Physicist Disciple-Scholars: “DaveW: I actually didn’t know lasers were inherently chromatic. I guess that makes sense. PWS: Yes, I will definitely include Francis Collins (who I believe is speaking at BYU soon if I’m not mistaken) when I do the biologist disciple-scholars post.” Jan 28, 10:44
- on 20th and 21st Century Physicist Disciple-Scholars: “Francis S. Collins. Director of NIH and the National Human Genome Institute. In The Language of God, he wrote that one of the things he loved about studying the human genome was that he was learning the language God used to create humans. He also said that scientific discoveries were an opportunity to worship.” Jan 28, 09:49
- on 20th and 21st Century Physicist Disciple-Scholars: “As a person with a degree in physics, I have to register a complaint about the image at the top where the green laser goes through a prism and turns into a whole rainbow. (Actually, it seems to be spreading before it actually hits the triangular prism.) Lasers are inherently monochromatic. Only white light can give a full rainbow when passed through a prism, and lasers can never be white, and this one is clearly green. I know it’s just a pretty picture generated by AI, but I needed to say it.” Jan 28, 09:07
- on Religion and Health by Attendance: “There is probably some of that reverse causality, but we get similar results if we look at other measures like religious salience (e.g. “how important is religion in your life, etc.”)” Jan 28, 05:36
- on Religion and Health by Attendance: “Are you saying that people have better health if they’re more religious? Or is it just that people aren’t able to attend church as much when they’re in poor health?” Jan 27, 16:42
- on A Review: Bring Them to Zion: The 1856 Handcart Emigration Organization, Leadership, and Issues: “I’m reminded of Chad Orton’s statements about this: As I’ve studied the pioneers, I’ve discovered that there were truly those whose faith grew with every footstep they took, and Francis Webster is one of the great examples of that. There were also those whose faith diminished with every footstep that they took. But there were also those on the journey whose faith pushed them ahead, but they ended the journey with basically the same amount of faith that they started with…. The phrase in there that no one in the company ever left, you know, no one ever left the company—that’s just not historically accurate. (Mormon Channel, Legacy—“Sweetwater Rescue.”) Why was that the case? As a general rule, what is true now was true then. People tend to get out of an experience what they put into it…. The evidence is clear that not everyone came through the experience with the same certainty that he did. While it is not known that anyone in the company apostatized directly as a result of the trials they endured in the cold and snow, there were Martin Company members who subsequently left the Church. (Chad M. Orton, “Francis Webster,” BYU Studies 45, no. 2 [2006], 125.)” Jan 27, 15:34
- on A Review: Bring Them to Zion: The 1856 Handcart Emigration Organization, Leadership, and Issues: “Therefore, what?” Jan 27, 15:19
- on A Review: Bring Them to Zion: The 1856 Handcart Emigration Organization, Leadership, and Issues: “Ken, I’m seen the Francis Webster quote many, many times, but everytime time I do, I find myself wanting to ask all the other pioneers in those two companies whether they agree that it was worth the price they paid. I suspect several of them might have disagreed with Brother Webster’s evaluation of the bargain.” Jan 27, 15:06
- on A Review: Bring Them to Zion: The 1856 Handcart Emigration Organization, Leadership, and Issues: “Good review. Thanks. At the risk of lapsing into hagiography, to me, the following two quotations sum up the “Tragedy on the Trail.” I’ve always loved what Brother Francis Webster had to say in response to criticism of leaders for what happened to the two ill-fated companies: “I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Hand Cart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that Company and my wife was in it. … [ellipses sic] I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the Angels of God were there. “Was I sorry that I chose to come by hand cart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Hand Cart Company.” That, and what Brother Levi Savage said after warning the Saints not to depart so late in the season: “Brethren and sisters, what I have said I know to be true, but seeing you are to go forward, I will go with you, will help you all I can, will work with you, will rest with you, will suffer with you, and if necessary, I will die with you. May God in his mercy bless and preserve us.”” Jan 27, 05:51
- on Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 1/25: “Kent, I really like your comment, the one you added because church got canceled. I grow a garden. Gardens have a purpose to help with the grocery bill. But sometimes my garden costs more than I save on groceries and I also grow flowers. What is the purpose of flowers? My husband is slow, 50+ years in understanding that I garden for nothing but the joy of growing things. Well, flowers are pretty, but then so is a sunset. So are mountains and the ocean. And animals. In fact, pretty much all of creation is beautiful. And animals, even the butt ugly ones are beautiful. And why do animals need a purpose other than their own marvelous existence? Why does the sunset need a purpose other than it own marvelous existence? To think God’s creation has a purpose and that purpose is us humans strikes me as kind of arrogant. How stuck up can we humans be to think we are the sole purpose of everything created. Maybe God is a gardener and created all this, even us, just for the joy of creating things, and because flowers are pretty.” Jan 26, 21:42
