Monthly Archives: November 2009

Doubting Darwinism – 150 Years of The Origin of the Species

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[Cross posted from Sixteen Small Stones]

Romanes's 1892 copy of Ernst Haeckel's embryo drawings

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of “The Origin of the Species” by Charles Darwin. If you’ve followed my blog for a significant time you know that I have doubts about the compatibility of Darwinism and the belief in God as the Creator.

I remember as a high-school biology student, in addition to various other evolutionary facts, our teacher showed us the famous Heackel drawings of the developmental stages of embryos. He made us all memorize the phrase “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.” And he insisted that it was a scientific “fact” that proved that Darwin’s theory was undeniably true. It was all very convincing and I believed him. As a faithful member of the LDS church I reasoned that “evolution” was simply the device which God employed to bring to pass the creation. This was in 1989 and little did I know that the “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” hypothesis had, even then, been long discredited.

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‘Exodus’ and Archeology

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I’ve been reading a fair amount of believers’ accounts of Bibilical archeology lately.  One of the most interesting issues to explore is ‘Exodus’ and its historicity.

To sum up:  it is impossible to prove through archeology that the exodus took place as described in the Bible.  In fact, there are significant problems, even among believing (Christian and Jewish) archeologists, trying to find a timeline that works.  In this post, I’m going to concentrate on three large problems:  who was the Pharoah during Moses’ time?; where was the Red Sea?; and, finally, where was Mount Sinai?

It seems clear to me that the historicity of the exodus is impossible to prove.  Yet, my take is that some kind of exodus did take place because the event is central to the Jewish identity.  The fact that the exodus took place is also confirmed in latter-day revelation (see 1 Nephi 4:2 for an example).  This message is extremely important for Mormons because Book of Mormon archeology is also very difficult to prove, yet we nonetheless continue to believe in it.  It seems there are lessons here for Jews, Mormons and other Christian believers.

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Friday Forum: 1 Nephi 12:17 “The Devil Made Me Do It”

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Discuss 1 Nephi 12:17

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17 And the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost.   1 Nephi 12:17

Ok M* Readers. What do you think is  are the BIGGEST modern “mists/Temptations” of  Satan  in our day?

If you know or have an opinion, please do tell.

A Strict Parent

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In January 2009, the interviewer from the BBC Britain asked me if I thought I was a strict parent.  I have never liked the word strict, because I have associated it with a parent who yells a lot, is stern looking and engages in power struggles.  So, in response to the question, I said, “I wouldn’t use the word strict to describe me, but I would say I am firm.”

I shared my thoughts about the word strict with a wise friend of mine.  She looked me in the eye and said, “You are wrong about people who are strict.  A strict parent DOESN’T HAVE TO YELL.”

All of the sudden I wondered if the semantics of the word strict have been changed in recent years.

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Part VII Sephardic Jews and the LDS Connection: The First Thanksgiving or Sukkoth in America

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The first recorded evidence of a Jewish presence in England were the Jews of Normandy, who came with William the Conquerer, in 1066 AD.   The Jews in England flourished  and dispersed themselves into the towns of medieval England. The English communities which had  a  large Jewish population, large enough to sustain a synagogue were:  Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Colchister, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, Lincoln, London, Northhampton,Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Stamford, Winchester, Worcester and York.

Unfortunately peace for the English Jews was short-lived; beginning in 1189, massacres and anti-Jewish riots began.  In 1290, the Jews were expelled from England. Elizabeth Hirschman in When Scotland was Jewish proposes many of the Jews emigrated to Scotland where they joined Scottish Jews who had already established a presence a few centuries earlier. Thus the Jews in Scotland and few remaining Jews in England learned a valuable lesson which was to assimilate as a protective measure against losing their fortunes and their very lives.

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