I share here two more of the Interpreter Foundation’s super-short videos about the witnesses to the Book of Mormon plates. As with the previous short features that I have called to your attention, they have been drawn from the Foundation’s two-part docudrama Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. The first of them (“Cumulative Evidence of the Plates”) features Paul Warner, who is a retired federal judge. The second that I will share today is focused on the question of “Why Does God Use Physical Objects?” and features the popular Brigham Young University professor, podcaster, and author Gerrit Dirkmaat.
We hope that you will watch them. But not only that. We encourage you to share them with others, to recommend them to others, and to encourage others to share them. Thank you!
In his talk “Great Shall Be The Peace of Your Children,” given during the (October 2000 priesthood session of the semiannual general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Gordon B. Hinckley said,
Now comes the craze of tattooing one’s body. I cannot understand why any young man—or young woman, for that matter—would wish to undergo the painful process of disfiguring the skin with various multicolored representations of people, animals, and various symbols. With tattoos, the process is permanent, unless there is another painful and costly undertaking to remove it. Fathers, caution your sons against having their bodies tattooed. They may resist your talk now, but the time will come when they will thank you. A tattoo is graffiti on the temple of the body.
Perhaps it might be a good idea, even for practical reasons of health and hygiene, to follow President Hinckley’s counsel against tattoos:
“Thinking about getting a tattoo? New research might change your mind”
But wait a minute! Wow. That was a close one. I almost fell for that theistic propaganda about tattoos! Plainly, though, President Hinckley’s discouraging of tattoos is straight out of the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™. If you want to lead a full and satisfying life, you must ignore theists whenever they try give you advice. And what could possibly be more important than securing the benefits of alcohol consumption instead of adhering to the Latter-day Saints’ so-called “Word of Wisdom.” Here’s an illustration of one of those benefits, from BBC Science Focus: “Alcohol has a dramatic impact on your biological age. Here’s how: The effects of alcohol extend beyond a sore head the next day.”
Please don’t forget that the annual FAIR Conference — this year entitled FAIR and Valiant Voices — is rapidly approaching. I hope to be there — I’m on the program, after all — and I hope that you will be, as well. (Please note that Junior Banza and Jeff Bradshaw, representing the Interpreter Foundation, will also be on the program.) Information about the speakers, the location (different this year than in previous years), and so forth is available at this link.
The 2024 annual FAIR conference, FAIR and Valiant Voices: United in Faith, will be held Thursday, August 8 and Friday, August 9. The beautiful new location is the American Heritage School in Salt Lake City. For questions about ticketing, sponsorship opportunities, or other details, please contact us at conference@fairlatterdaysaints.org.
This is a thought-provoking, stimulating article: “‘Be more engaging than the algorithm’ — Why the mom behind the ‘Opt-Out Family’ movement is causing a stir: Erin Loechner didn’t just cut down on social media. She deleted all of her accounts and is now helping other families do the same.”
I don’t entirely agree with the stance that she’s taking, but I can certainly see her point. Is there a feasible and beneficial middle ground?
We are looking for people to serve as “super fans” for Six Days in August, which we’re currently expecting to open in theaters on the evening of Thursday, 10 October 2024. What would a “super fan” do? He or she would, of course, try to attend a screening of the film on that weekend. (The box office totals for a film’s opening weekend are a major indicator for theater owners, by which they gauge whether or not they want to commit their screen or screens to it on the following weekend.) But we also want “super fans” to take others to see the movie. We want them to take their immediate and extended families, their neighbors, their friends, their ward members.
An independent Latter-day Saint film like Six Days in August obviously lacks the massive publicity and distribution resources that major motion picture studios have behind them, and films oriented toward Latter-day Saint audiences also have, by their nature, a smaller market than do films that are aimed at the general population. So we hope that a large proportion of the distribution “water” for Six Days in August can be carried via word-of-mouth invitations and recommendations.
We hope that you will like and enjoy Six Days in August. We are confident that it can be a springboard for good conversations with . . . well, with immediate and extended families, neighbors, friends, and ward members. Please mark the date and, if you can manage it, plan on attending at least one showing with a few hundred of your closest personal acquaintances on that opening weekend.
Posted from Newport Beach, California
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