I’ll come clean and say that Poker is one of my guilty pleasures. I’ve got a Texas Hold ‘Em game on my Treo and I usually stop to watch whenever I’m channel surfing and run across a high-stakes Poker tournament on TV. I’m also a modest fan of Jazz music, so I was entertained by a story I caught today on Weekend Edition. The story was about a new music collection that’s been released by Ricky Jay called Ricky Jay Plays Poker. The collection includes Poker-related music down through the decades, a good portion of which is classic Jazz and Folk music. Snippets of the songs were played throughout the interview. I especially like the last song they played, “Dolan’s Poker Party” by Frank Crumit. Here’s the story: “Hustler Ricky Jay Deals Poker Music, History” (listen).

Another interesting story I heard today, also on Weekend Edition, was about an Eagle Scout from Maryland who has earned all 122 merit badges the Boy Scouts of America has to offer. His last merit badge was bugling, which he says he saved until the end because he never was very musical. It’s interesting to hear how getting all these merit badges has positively affected his career choices and his understanding of the world around him. Here’s the story: “Maryland Eagle Scout Earns All 122 Merit Badges” (listen).

A third and final story I found interesting today, once again on Weekend Edition, was about the Scott’s Miracle-Gro company and a controversial policy they have against employing people who smoke cigarettes. The policy (among other changes) was initially proposed to cut health care costs. The story was done in two segments. Here’s the first one, where Scott’s VP of Corporate Communications, Jim King, answers questions about the policy: “Miracle-Gro Faces Lawsuit over No-Smoking Policy” (listen); and here’s the second one, where they discuss in further detail a lawsuit over the policy that’s being brought against Scott’s by one of its employees: “Former Miracle-Gro Employee Challenges Policy” (listen). :syzygy:

I heard a great story yesterday on This American Life that was apparently a repeat, but I hadn’t heard it before so it was new to me. I only caught the first act ((This American Life is typically broadcast in two to five acts, usually different stories on a similar theme. The theme of this episode (in three acts) is strange places within short distances of major metropolises. The third act, about the government cracking down on smoke stack emissions in Chicago even though the residents like the emissions, sounds like it could also be entertaining, but, as I mentioned, I haven’t heard it, yet.)), but it was a hilarious true story of a kid named Alex who got shipwrecked on a desert island in the middle of New York City. The island he got stuck on is Ruffle Bar which is situated in the middle of Jamaica Bay to the Southeast of New York City, within two miles of civilization on all sides. The story involves drinking and some generally irresponsible behavior which I should say I don’t condone. What makes this story so entertaining is the irony that someone could get stuck on a deserted island so close to civilization.

I can’t link straight to the episode because This American Life has a horrible archiving system (no permalinks!), but if you want to find it (to order a CD or whatnot), go to This American Life, click the 2006 archive on the left sidebar, and look for the episode that originally aired February 3 titled “In the Shadow of the City”. What I can provide a link to, though, is the streaming audio feed for this particular episode: Listen. Enjoy!

If you’re a Latter-day Saint, please read this and consider posting a comment. There are a few questions for you and I’d like to get as many responses as possible. Thanks.

I’m starting a personal in-depth study of the book of Galatians and I have a few observations to make and questions to ask.

I’ve noticed that many Latter-day Saints and Evangelicals employ Galatians 1:6-9 when preaching against or defending themselves from each other. Even if you don’t recognize the zip code, you’re probably familiar with the passage:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

It’s clear to me from our mutual use of this passage against each other that Latter-day Saints and Evangelicals preach different and incompatible gospels—either one of us or the other is correct, or we are both wrong, but we cannot both be right. When considering a passage like this, whether we are LDS or Evangelical, it’s natural for us to assume we’re the ones with the true gospel and they’re the ones with the false gospel. But how many of us simply jump to that conclusion without reading through the rest of the epistle to see if Paul further expounds upon the gospel he advocates? This is the aim of my present study. I want to get to the bottom of this, not to prove my own beliefs, but to better understand the gospel Paul is really trying to preach here.

I’ve read the book of Galatians a couple of times in the last week or two and I’m starting to hit the limits of what I can draw from the text myself, so I’ve decided to consult reputable commentaries and study resources from Evangelical and Latter-day Saint sources.

Evangelical resources

These are the Evangelical commentaries and study resources that have been recommended to me or are within easy reach:

• Galatians (Tyndale New Testament Commentary Series) by R. Alan Cole
• A Navpress Bible Study on the Book of Galatians (Lifechange Series)
• Galatians (Reformed Expository Commentary Series) by Philip Graham Ryken
• Galatians (Crossway Classic Commentary Series) by Martin Luther, edited by Alister McGrath and J. I. Packer
• Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture Series) edited by Mark J. Edwards
• Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume by Matthew Henry

I already own Matthew Henry’s complete commentary and recently purchased the Tyndale commentary and the NavPress study guide. I’ve put in a special order at [Christian Gift and Bible] for the reformed expository commentary and Luther’s commentary, so I should have those by the end of the week. The ancient Christian commentary looks really good, so I may end up ordering it later.

Latter-day Saint resources

Here are the LDS commentaries and study resources that I’ve found:

• Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, Vol. II: Acts–Philippians by Bruce R. McConkie
• Verse by Verse: Acts Through Revelation by D. Kelly Ogden and Andrew C. Skinner
• The New Testament Made Easier Part 2: Acts Through Revelation (Gospel Studies Series) by David J. Ridges
• The New Testament for Latter-day Saint Families edited by Thomas Valletta, Robert Barrett, and Bruce L. Andreason
• Scripture Study for Latter-Day Saint Families: The New Testament by Dennis H. Leavitt

I stumbled across a copy of the McConkie commentary at my parents’ house, which was lucky because apparently they don’t own volumes 1 or 3. I may end up ordering my own copy of all three volumes from Amazon, but for now the second volume is all I need. I haven’t purchased any of the others on this list yet, for reasons I will explain below.

The Seminary Student Study Guides and Institute Student Manuals have also been recommended to me, but I was warned to look for the older editions. Apparently, the older editions are more like a verse by verse commentary than the current editions, but are harder to find since they’re out of print.

Observations and questions

My first observation is simply to point out the sheer volume of commentaries and study resources published by Christian sources and the contrasting lack of LDS resources. A quick search for “galatians commentary” on Amazon turns up hundred of publications from various Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant publishers, but the list of LDS resources I’ve given above seems to be the whole of what is available. Another interesting note is that the LDS resources are all study aids for the entire New Testament or large sections of it. An LDS study guide or commentary on the book of Galatians by itself doesn’t seem to exist. ((The only books of scripture I can find specific LDS study resources for are Isaiah and Revelation. See for example: Isaiah Made Easier in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, Understanding Isaiah, and Understanding the Book of Revelation.))

Surely Latter-day Saints study the Bible, so what am I missing here? Do Latter-day Saints not rely on commentaries and other Bible study resources to the same degree that Evangelicals do? Is this simply a result of the population difference between Evangelicals and Latter-day Saints? Is there some other explanation? ((I’m nearly certain this has nothing to do with Latter-day Saints’ preference for their own scriptures over and above the Bible (if there even is such a preference, which is certainly debatable), for there also appears to be a shortage of resources for studying the Book of Mormon and other LDS volumes of scripture. For instance, you cannot find a commentary of the book of 3 Nephi by itself, though this is arguably the most important book in the Book of Mormon.))

I mentioned above that I hadn’t yet purchased any of the LDS resources on my list. My chief reason for this is simply not knowing which are reputable and which aren’t, and feeling ill-equipped to make that judgment myself. So, the most important question I have for any Latter-day Saints who have read this (thanks for sticking around this long, by the way) is simply: which of the above resources have you used in your own scripture study? Can you approve or disapprove of any of the above publications? Can you recommend additional resources that aren’t on my list? Okay, that was three questions, but you get the idea. I am grateful in advance for any observations and answers you’re willing to share.

I hear a lot of interesting stories on NPR, so I’m going to start highlighting a few of them from time to time on my blog. Tonight I heard a couple great stories on All Things Considered that I’d like to share.

The first story is about a bizarre problem that’s killing commercial bees all over the U.S. called Colony Collapse Disorder. This is a big deal because a lot of the crops we consume are pollinated by these bees. Here’s the story: “Disease Hits Bees, and Vital Crops Suffer” (Listen).

The second story is about one the best Iranian food chefs in Washington, D.C. The kicker is that he’s not even from Iran. Instead, he’s from El Salvador. He started as a bus boy in an Iranian restaurant and worked his way into the kitchen. Now he owns his own restaurant and flies all over the world to cook for special events. My favorite part of this story is the part about the deeply religious people who are shocked to find out that a Christian Latino had prepared their Islamic Halal dinner (they calm down when they learn he does everything by the book). Here’s the story: “In D.C., Top Iranian Chef Hails From El Salvador” (Listen).