Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Travel and Religion
“Well, I’ve been afraid of changin'”

“Well, I’ve been afraid of changin'”

Last updated on: April 1, 2026 at 5:24 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

“Well, I’ve been afraid of changin'” 2026-04-01T17:24:56-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Our Solar System (NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory; (Wikimedia CC public domain image)
Not even remotely to scale, and without the dwarf planetoid Pluto.

This article, which went up earlier today, is not a new journal article. It’s a reprint. From a book. Please don’t become confused, indignant, and upset, as one poor and unfortunate fellow did a couple of years back, when he imagined that we were trying to put one over on him by substituting a reprint for a new article, even though the item that set him off had clearly been identified as a reprint. Anyway, here’s what went up today: “‘My Name is the Sun’: Patriarchs, Planets, and the Book of Abraham,” Abraham and His Family in Scripture, History, and Tradition, written by Allen Hansen and Spencer Kraus:

Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Abraham and His Family in Scripture, History, and Tradition, edited by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, John S. Thompson, Matthew L. Bowen, and David R. Seely. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/abraham-and-his-family.

“Abraham 3 discusses the stars and planets—including the enigmatic Kolob—before revealing that Abraham was part of the divine council. Some have read Abraham 3 Christologically, arguing that Kolob is Jesus. We hold that this identification is sound and bridges the two halves of the chapter. The other celestial bodies should also be identified with the “noble and great ones” (Abraham 3:22). Numerous Jewish traditions exist of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as cosmic rulers identified with or divinely appointed over physical stars or planets. The continuity and prominence of these traditions from the Second Temple period to the Middle Ages is striking. We will show how these traditions should inform our reading of the Book of Abraham, shedding light on the divine council, the Abrahamic covenant, and the use of astronomy to teach divine truths.”

This building, at the corner of Mission Avenue and Walnut Grove Drive in Rosemead, California, is the chapel that I attended with increasing regularity over the course of my childhood and adolescence, first in the Rosemead Ward and then in the newly created San Gabriel Ward, from which I was called on my mission to German-speaking Switzerland. I’m grateful to Wade Englund for having located this photo for me on Facebook. I recall it being mostly faced with green stucco as I grew up, and then being changed to white. The chapel no longer exists.

You’re probably aware of this story by now: “Changes to the Sunday Class Meeting Schedule: Two-hour church to include weekly Sunday School, Relief Society, Young Women, and priesthood quorum meetings”

Some have expressed concern about the changes, and I admit to having some concerns myself: For instance, twenty-five minutes is an awfully short length of time to allow any serious discussion about the often fairly lengthy readings in scripture that undergird the Come, Follow Me curriculum. Especially considering how long it might take for congregants to move between sacrament meeting and Sunday School and Relief Society and Young Women and priesthood quorum meetings. We’re a rather inefficient lot, sometimes. It takes us a while to move through meetinghouse hallways and find our seats.

The San Gabriel and Rosemead Ward chapel was demolished some years ago. It was quite a shock to me when I drove by one day and saw this scene. (Thanks to Wade Englund for locating this photograph.) I had exactly the same shock one day when I drove to see the house in which I had been raised until I left for college, and saw only am empty lot with a portable construction outhouse on it. The sensation of seeing the sites of one’s childhood erased is an arresting one. The ward building was still standing, though, in the summer of 1977, because, by invitation, I was back speaking then in my former ward’s sacrament meeting — my parents had moved to Whittier and I had just graduated from BYU — when, out of the blue, a young Colorado woman whom I had dated twice at BYU and who was just visiting California (but who had found out from my parents where I was), suddenly swept into chapel with a non-LDS high school girlfriend who was studying at Caltech. That young woman and I were married the following year.

Here’s a comment from one of my own readers here on this blog:

I gotta say, vis-à-vis truncated discussion times, I’m not a fan. My first impression is it feels like a doubling down on dumbing down, and on memorizing proof-texts. We’ll see, I guess.

We will see. And it could certainly go that way, which would be quite sad. It seems to me that the Brethren are very serious about wanting us to make real, focused, in-depth study of the scriptures a major part of our home and family worship and of our discipleship. And, honestly, our regular Sunday School classes were never an adequate substitute or replacement for such study. Not even back in the days of the three-hour block.

It would be great if the twenty-five weekly minutes that will soon be allotted to Sunday School could be effectively used by prepared class members — by members who have read and pondered the material individually and with family at home — to share insights, helpful suggestions, and inspiring applications. That would be ideal.

It’s conceivable that many Latter-day Saints have come to regard our bi-weekly Sunday School classes as functioning in lieu of home scripture study for their respective weeks. This change should make it clear that such is not the case.

Looking across to Moloka’i from Maui (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

I mentioned yesterday that my wife and I have backed out of two planned trips to Hawaii since the beginning of the year. I also mentioned that the Interpreter Foundation and/or donors to the Interpreter Foundation would have paid for neither of them.

But here’s an idea that the small group of my obsessive critics who specialize in this line of thinking might want to take and run with: Maybe that’s the reason we backed out! They like to claim that my lavish lifestyle of travel and fine dining is paid for by Interpreter. So maybe I decided not to go on these two trips when the Foundation refused to pony up the money for them. Anything’s possible!

Since the Salt Lake Temple is undergoing major renovations and Temple Square is being significantly reconfigured, the area is a major construction zone at the moment, and will be so for at least a bit longer. This is how it looked during the Christmas of 2008. The Conference Center is the low building in the upper lefthand corner of this Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph. It’s much larger than it looks here.

I continue to observe mocking, derogatory, and (I think) faux-indignant responses to the placement on Temple Square of Michael Hall’s sculpture entitled “Jesus Christ Carrying the Cross.” (See “Do Latter-Day Saints Really Abhor The Cross Of Jesus?”) One line of criticism that I just saw claims that a statue of the Savior bearing his cross somehow clashes with the temple and is incompatible in some way with the spectacular display of Christmas lights that adorns Temple Square every year.

I’m not sure that I understand the objection. As a provisional hypothesis, though, I’m wondering whether these complaints, registered by former Latter-day Saints, come from people whose scripture study never quite progressed beyond the Christmas stories in Matthew 1:18-2:23 and Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-20. After all, despite the fact that the New Testament accounts of the life of Jesus all end remarkably well, those who’ve read beyond the birth narratives know that Jesus does, in fact, go through a, well, rather rough patch prior to his resurrection. (See, for example, Matthew 26:36-27:66; Mark 14:32-15:47; Luke 22:39-23:56; John 18:1-19:42.)

Not coincidentally, it’s that period of difficulties that is being commemorated across Christendom this very week — during what is often called Easter week or, traditionally in mainstream Christian churches, “Holy Week” — because it encompasses the Atonement of Jesus Christ and culminates in the great event of Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of Christ. Those are the two moments in the life and ministry of Jesus that give Christmas and even Christmas lights their deepest meaning and that confer their power and efficacy upon the ordinances of the temple.

Travel and Religion

History and Religion

Previous Post

March 31, 2026

Is the Church collapsing? And two questions on the Qur’an

Next Post

April 2, 2026 Suitable for Easter Week

True or False: Cornelius was a Roman centurion who was the first Gentile convert.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE