Dave's Mormon Inquiry

What Did We Lose?

In 70 AD, the Romans capped their extended campaign to crush a Jewish revolt by destroying the magnificent temple in Jerusalem. The Jews lost their temple. Earlier, they had lost political autonomy and the kingship; later, in 132 AD, another Jewish revolt was suppressed and Jews were barred from living in or even entering Jerusalem. Despite this loss of temple, king, and land, the Jews adapted and Judaism endured. In the 19th century, Mormons had their own sharp if somewhat less dramatic struggle with American government and culture. What did we Mormons lose?

The End of the World

I took a stroll through the End of the World last week. Brought the wife and kids and a picnic lunch. It was beautiful, as always. But one of these days (and it won't be long) it will be gone. Maybe us too.

I'm speaking of the Yellowstone Caldera, of course. What's unnerving is not so much the size of the thing (35 miles across at places) but the regularity and predictability of its eruptions, combined with the impending end of its rather lengthy cycle. Here's how naturalist and writer Tim Cahill sums things up in his pleasant little book Lost in My Own Backyard: A Walk in Yellowstone National Park (2004).

The Huckleberry Ridge eruption ... happened about 2.1 million years ago. The Mesa Falls eruption occurred 1.3 million years ago, and ... the Lava Creek event happened about 640,000 years ago. ... Some texts are willing to say that there's a cataclysmic supervolcano eruption in Yellowstone every 600,000 years or so. I don't have to tell you again that the last one was 640,000 years ago.