http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=jbms&id=112
Some excerpts:
“Also worth noting is the relative strength of comparative linguistic evidence. The nature of comparative linguistic evidence provides large bodies of data—several thousand words per language—that is nonforgeable. Ruins and buildings yield some facts, though who built them is not always one of the facts revealed. Words of a translation can be debated endlessly, [...]
The brain is an amazing thing; hypnosis can block pain. There are plenty of hypnosis weight-loss clinics for helping people to lose weight and to quit smoking. As we get more detailed knowledge of the brain, it will become a trivial thing to improve one’s willpower. Instead of procrastinating, we’ll be able [...]
The View from the Center of the Universe says we’re the first generation that can tell stories about the creation that might actually be true. We should take the mythological imagery we have around us and reinterpret it so that it corresponds to something real instead of something imagined, thus giving people a sence [...]
Joy, glory, and knowledge
Here’s the passage that refers to element and spirit:
D&C 93:33-34 For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.
In the Book of Mormon, joy is used almost interchangeably with glory. Nephi says
2 [...]
David H. Bailey is an LDS mathematician, perhaps best known for his work on the “spigot algorithm” for pi. He has written rather extensively on the relationship between science and LDS theology.
Agency and intelligence
So much of LDS theology is focused on agency:
the premortal war in heaven over agency in mortality
the purpose of earth life, a probationary state in which we are “free to choose”
the [...]
Light and truth
The “element” physics of light and truth are interesting. Light (energy) and truth (information) are both conserved quantities (though Hawking had his doubts, he’s recanted). In special relativity, the speed of light is the maximum speed at which information can travel. Rolf Landauer showed in 1961 that forcing a bit to a particular [...]
This is the first in a series of posts on my interpretations of various scriptures relating to the nature of existence.
Spirit and Element
First, we’re materialists:
D&C 131:7-8
There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is
more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes. We cannot [...]
I don’t agree with a lot of this, but it’s a fairly well-known talk and doesn’t seem to be anywhere else on the internet. It’s an honest attempt to examine the idea of whether God can be held responsible for his creations’ actions, and what the purpose of suffering is, both for mortals and [...]
http://hanson.gmu.edu/vi.html
