Flattery has three levels.

Flattery 101:  Money 

Flattery picks up where the sincere compliment ends.  Telling someone he or she is smart, beautiful, strong, handsome, talented, etc., can be sincere, but can also turn into a sweet-talk, soft-soap, kiss-up manipulation.  As Shakespeare put it, “O, flatter me, for love delights in praises.”

The goal at this level is usually monetary gain.

Flattery 202:  Power

At the second level, flattery has a deeper meaning and dangerous purpose which should especially concern us today.  As I explain in my book on agency, every major villain in the Book of Mormon excelled at flattery – sympathetic promising words on the tongue of a charismatic personality – to gain power.  To name a few:     

• Sherem was “learned, that he had a perfect knowledge of the language of the people; wherefore, he could use much flattery …”[i]

• King Noah’s people “became idolatrous,

To read more from Daniel, visit his blog: Sic Et Non.

Why is there anything at all?

Either the universe — by which, in this instance, I intend the ensemble, the totality, of all that exists — has always existed in some form or another, a simple brute fact that requires and admits of no explanation, or it came into existence.  The cosmological theory of the “Big Bang,” overwhelmingly dominant in recent decades, suggests that the universe that we know began to exist approximately 13.8 billion years ago.

There seem to be two options here: Either nothing caused the known universe to exist or something cause the known universe to exist.

With that in mind, the so-called Kalaam Cosmological Argument — which draws its name from its origin among medieval Arab Muslim philosophers — comes into play.  One of its foremost contemporary advocates, the evangelical Protestant philosopher William Lane …

The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.

Beginning Jan. 4, 2021, four temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be performing proxy work for the dead, more than nine months after the Church closed all of its temples due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest two to join Phase 3 operations on that first Monday of the new year are the Apia Samoa and Brisbane Australia temples, as announced Monday, Dec. 28.

The Taiwan Taipei Temple was the first to reopen for proxy ordinances, on Dec. 21, with the Nuku’alofa Temple following a week later.

On Dec. 7, the First Presidency identified those four temples as the first to advance to Phase 3 in the Church’s four-phase reopening plan. 

Temple patrons in the districts of temples in Phase 3 can call a week before the reopening date …

To read more from Rhonda, visit Evalogue.Life.

We recently laid my mother to rest after she passed peacefully in a care facility in the presence of family. My mother had her funeral planned in advance, but COVID threw many traditions out the window and we ended up hosting a Zoom funeral in a totally different way. This article shares some ideas if you find yourself in the sad situation of planning a virtual funeral, like so many during this difficult time. Funerals are so very important, and I hope this helps you to properly honor a life.

Before getting into the details, I do want to say that we were blessed with the opportunity to be with my mother before she passed. We had the gift of taking shifts round-the-clock vigil while holding her hand, and all seven of her children were together with her at one point. …

The late management guru Stephen R. Covey made the words seven habits almost a brand name with the success of his bestselling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

But what of the seven habits of the highly unsuccessful, those who launch high-profile businesses only to have their dreams crash and burn, sometimes taking others’ personal savings with them? What are their recurring habits that lead to self-destruction and business failure?

Some would ask, “Why would we want to know these habits?” I believe knowing the habits of the highly unsuccessful might be just as practical as learning the habits of the successful. At least one would know what to avoid!

Here’s my list of the seven habits of the highly unsuccessful:

Get an office in a high-rent district. Many start-up owners, especially if they come from large companies, feel they need to put forth a great image …

The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.

Just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, a Church News Viewpoint posed a hypothetical question: “What would we give to live Sept. 10, 2001, again?”

For most Latter-day Saints living in the United States, that forgettable Sept. 10th was a Monday filled with Monday’s rituals: the beginning of a new work week, family home evening, and maybe an hour or two watching the football game.

“Who knew,” the Viewpoint author asked, “that Monday would be the day before a new generation would suffer its own day of infamy.”

The ongoing COVID-19 tragedy did not arrive with 9/11’s noise and suddenness. Outside of China, where the virus was beginning to claim headlines, most began 2020 with little association with pandemics outside of a few doomsday flicks and perhaps …

Relationships require selfless service to survive. Although there are multiple reasons people cite for their relationship dysfunctions, from infidelity to arguments, relationship problems usually all have two things in common: dishonesty and selfishness.

According to The Institute For Family Studies, the leading causes of divorce are: infidelity, incompatibility, drinking or drug use, growing apart, a lack of commitment, and too much arguing.

In my own studies of families who are working to overcome dysfunctional family relationships and fractured family bonds through Teaching Self-Government parenting services, I’ve noticed that the main causes of broken or damaged family bonds can be grouped into a handful of reasons. These reasons include: lack of communication, laziness, not valuing family, arguing and fights, lies and manipulations, excuses for bad behavior, disrespect for parental authority and position of the child, losing common values, and only being concerned with one’s own feelings and wants.

Every reason listed …

Some years ago, my husband and I were living in Florida looking for a home to buy. A friend in the ward let us know about a home in her neighborhood that soon would be available for purchase. We bought the property, and we moved in. We enjoyed the spacious corner, but the entire property only had one medium-sized tree, and that oak tree was in the wrong place. We felt troubled because our only tree sat just three feet from our bathroom window. We recognized that as the tree grew into fuller maturity, its roots would invade the piping underneath the bathroom part of the house and cause serious damage.

It appeared that the tree would need to be destroyed. We mourned the idea of losing the only tree we had, but we also knew we needed to be good stewards in protecting and preserving our home against future …

In its 43rd year, the annual Festival of Lights at the Washington, DC Temple grounds and adjacent Visitors’ Center offered a unique drive-through edition this December due to COVID-19 safety recommendations. The driving route gave visitors a special, close-up view of the iconic Washington, D.C. Temple since it closed for renovations in March of 2018. A landmark used for traffic reports, the Washington, D.C. Temple sits atop a hill close to the Capital Beltway and is viewed daily by thousands driving on one of the busiest freeways in the United States. This brief video beautifully captures how tens of thousands of attendees enjoyed this beloved community tradition celebrating Jesus Christ’s birth with stunning views of over 400,000 colorful lights and two life-sized nativities.

“The Festival of Lights has brought people from all over the region together in joy and peace for decades. While 2020 has modified the Christmas plans for …

In my own family we have a spectrum of political opinions. When I’ve suggested we all leave politics at the door, one of our grown kids actually argues with that.

How can we turn off the contention and restore peace? Let me start with an idea I heard years ago: “The secret to peace isn’t war; it’s travel.” This is a wonderful reminder that when we get to know someone—really know them—we grow to love them. We’d never declare war on them.

 So the first step is to really get to know the other person. Instead of sizing them up as unreasonable or close-minded, let’s be reasonable and open-minded. Let’s ask questions and actually listen.

Say someone has made a statement you disagree with—in fact, you know they’re dead wrong and you want to set them straight. But how often does that work? Have you ever been in a quarrel …