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Faith, Hope, and Love

Faith, Hope, and Love

Last updated on: October 1, 2025 at 4:31 pm by Dan Peterson

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Faith, Hope, and Love 2025-10-01T16:31:24-06:00 Dan Peterson

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A few of the town of Grand Blanc, Michigan, where Sunday’s massacre occurred. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

“Elder Bednar ministers in Michigan to victims of Sunday’s deadly attack: Apostle leads families at devotional to sing ‘Gethsemane’ twice, says Quorum of the Twelve wants them to feel their love in person”

Yesterday, I mentioned here a fundraiser that has been organized by an inspired Latter-day Saint for the widow and the special-needs son of the Michigan attacker, Thomas Jacob Sanford. I’m pleased that it’s going extremely well, as these items illustrate:

Fox News: “Mormon church members raise more than $150,000 for Michigan shooter’s family: Thomas Jacob Sanford accused of killing four people at Mormon church in Michigan before setting building ablaze” (And you might want to watch the video that, at least right now, is embedded with the story: The former FBI special agent whom they interview, Nicole Parker, turns out to be a Latter-day Saint who essentially bears her testimony of Christ.)
New York Post: “Mormons raise $180K for family of Michigan LDS church shooter Thomas Sanford: ‘They will face financial hardship’”

Thinking of this story, I could not possibly be more proud of my fellow Latter-day Saints.

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.” (James 1:27)

Although I’ve posted a few examples here, I haven’t particularly monitored it. But I’m told that quite a bit of online vitriol and criticism has been aimed at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since Sunday morning’s attack in Michigan. (There’s an allusion to that vitriol and criticism here.) So, in that regard, the results of this survey are interesting: “Americans Feel More Positive Than Negative About Jews, Mainline Protestants, Catholics: Most are neutral toward several groups; evangelical Christians viewed negatively, on balance, by non-evangelical Americans.” But, while not especially surprising (to me, at least), a subordinate finding of the survey is sadly disappointing: “Latter-day Saints (Mormons” feel positively toward other Christian groups in U.S., but the reverse is not true.”

Sunrise over Lake Michigan (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35)

“And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

“Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

“Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

“And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.” (Mosiah 18:8-11)

As I say, I’m deeply gratified by the charity of my fellow Saints toward those whom Thomas Jacob Sanford abandoned for the sake of murdering members of my church. Obviously, though, the direct victims of Mr. Sanford’s assault on a sacrament meeting need our love and care, as well. I know that there is always a threat of “giving fatigue,” but I want to call your attention to a fundraiser for Brother Greg Mikat. My wife and I made a small donation to the Sanford fundraiser, and we’ve made a similar contribution to this one. I invite you to consider joining us. Even a little bit can help:

On September 28th, my brother, Greg Mikat suffered life-threatening gunshot wounds and is currently in the ICU. Greg was attempting to stop the horrific attack at his church when the assailant shot him three times. This has been a devastating and unexpected tragedy for his family.

Greg is fighting hard, but the road to recovery will be long, with surgeries, hospital stays, and months of healing ahead. While Greg focuses on recovery, the family is also facing enormous challenges—medical bills, time away from work, and the daily expenses of keeping life moving during this crisis.

We are asking for help to ease this burden. Donations will go toward:

Medical bills and treatment costs

Lost wages while Greg and family members cannot work

Travel, food, and living expenses during recovery

Any amount—big or small—means the world. Your support will allow Greg’s family to focus on healing instead of financial stress.

We know not everyone can give financially, but prayers, shares, and kind words are also deeply appreciated. Thank you for standing with Greg and family in this heartbreaking time.

The student cheering section at the University of Colorado’s Folsom Field (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

I can’t say that I was unhappy to see this: “Big 12 reprimands, fines University of Colorado $50,000 for profane chants directed at BYU: ‘Hateful and discriminatory language has no home in the Big 12 Conference,’ league commissioner Brett Yormark said”

By contrast, incidentally, Colorado’s “Coach Prime” remains a class act: “Deion Sanders apologizes for Colorado fans’ profane chants directed at BYU: Sanders’ apology came after the Big 12 fined Colorado $50,000 for the incident”

Russell M. Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., prior to his call as an apostle and, ultimately, as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (provenance of photo unknown; available online)

My wife and I watched this morning’s memorial program for President Russell M. Nelson. We were moved by it. A personal highlight for me was the talk given by Susan H. Porter, the General Primary President of the Church, about her experiences with President Nelson. I first met President Porter when I was an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, where we were both students in the Honors Program — as was her eventual husband, the future Elder Bruce D. Porter of the Seventy. My wife and I spent time with them at their apartment near Frankfurt during his assignment in the Area Presidency that is based in Germany, and he and I would often lunch together at general conference season. I still miss him very much.

In thinking about President Nelson, too, I’m reminded of a deeply touching incident from October 2007, when he was still a member of the Quorum of the Twelve: “One of the Most Powerful Moments in General Conference | Love by Example” Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, also of the Quorum of the Twelve, was ninety years old at the time, and he was plainly in failing health. (He would pass away the following year.) But there he was, doing his best before an in-person congregation of roughly 21,000 as well as a very large international television and online audience. Apparently, as Elder Wirthlin was speaking at the pulpit, his legs and his balance began to give way, and, seeing what was happening, Elder Nelson, that dear and glorious physician, quietly stood up to help his faltering colleague. I hope that you’ll watch the brief video. It is so very representative of who Russell M. Nelson was and is — and a perfect illustration for the words of Elder Wirthlin with which the clip begins..

The tradition continues. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

On a rather different note: I’ve long been convinced of the immutable truth enshrined in Murphy’s Second Corollary:

It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious.

Happily, I’ve just encountered another empirical demonstration of the Second Corollary. To fully understand this, though, you’ll need just a bit of background: Here and here, I reposted some thoughts on the question of whether there can ever be any valid evidence, let alone proof, against the claims of the Restoration. I contended that, on the assumption that those claims are true, there can in the end be no disproof of them nor even any ultimately valid evidence against them — because true propositions, by definition, cannot be disproved.

However, I’ve just seen an attempted summary of what I said, as misunderstood by a pair of my zany critics. It runs as follows: All unfalsifiable subjective religious beliefs are automatically and objectively true.

This faux summary represents striking experimental verification, yet again, of Murphy’s Second Corollary, and the importance of such confirmation cannot be overstated: It is indeed impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious. QED. Today should be marked down and memorialized as yet another glorious landmark along the forward march of science!

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