• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FairMormon

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Come, Follow Me Resources

  • Find Answers
  • Blog
  • Media & Apps
  • Conference
  • Bookstore
  • Archive
  • About
  • Get Involved
  • Search

FairMormon Staff

Faith and Reason 54: New World Writings

August 30, 2015 by FairMormon Staff

https://media.blubrry.com/mormonfaircast/p/www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/New-World-Writings1.mp3

Podcast: Download (11.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

 

From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

One reason that LDS scholars believed Book of Mormon events transpired in Mesoamerica is it’s the only place in the western hemisphere where a true writing system can be found for the Book of Mormon period. Since Joseph Smith’s day, however, critics have argued that there were no complex writing systems known in the New World during Book of Mormon times. Science has changed all that. Excavation of a tomb in Mirador uncovered the “remnants of two ancient bark paper books or codices”. An article in Science 86 explains that the Maya “wrote books on folded bark concerning historical, mythological, religious, astronomical, and mathematical matters”. Why have only four out of hundreds of Mesoamerican codices survived? Part of the reason, of course, would be deterioration with time. A second reason was that the Spanish priests destroyed these written records in their zeal to wipe out what they believed to be pagan superstitions.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a media personality in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

A Simple Hypothesis on Book of Mormon Translation

August 24, 2015 by FairMormon Staff

unnamedThis post originally appeared at Mormon Puzzle Pieces and is reposted here by permission with some revisions.

By Ryan Larsen

Translation is interwoven with the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ancient prophets kept records containing a fullness of the Gospel which God preserved, hidden in the earth for many centuries, before making them known to a young Joseph Smith and providing Joseph with means to translate the records through the gift and power of God.

Questions arise concerning how Joseph Smith performed the translation. Specifically, people want to know whether the words in the Book of Mormon’s English translation should be attributed directly to God or to Joseph Smith. Critics and scholars alike have taken interest.

My own interest was recently sparked during an online discussion with a polite critic who claimed that David Whitmer’s description of Joseph Smith seeing English words appear while translating, which he would read out loud to his scribes, means that Mormons are locked into defending and believing that God Himself chose every word in the Book of Mormon. I explained to my critic friend why the question is more complicated than that, and he came to agree. So, I decided to share my ideas in hopes of broadening the general discussion. [Read more…] about A Simple Hypothesis on Book of Mormon Translation

Filed Under: Apologetics, Book of Mormon, LDS History

Faith and Reason 53: The Marketplace

August 15, 2015 by FairMormon Staff

https://media.blubrry.com/mormonfaircast/p/www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/The-Marketplace.mp3

Podcast: Download (5.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

 

From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

In Helaman 7:10 we read that Nephi went to pray on a tower in a garden by “the highway which led to the chief market”. This is the only use of the word “market” in the entire Book of Mormon and is mentioned only in passing.  Turning to Mesoamerica we find that a marketplace did indeed exist in ancient Mesoamerican times. Not only did large Mesoamerican cities have markets, but they typically had a main or chief market, according to recent discoveries by non-LDS scholars and archaeologists.

 

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a media personality in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

On The Record

August 8, 2015 by FairMormon Staff

This presentation will cover the role of Church Public Affairs and how it interacts with the Church and the press. Brother Otterson will also discuss many of the issues and misconceptions he deals with, as well as respond to questions from the audience.

Michael R. Otterson has been serving as the Managing Director of the Public Affairs Department since 2008, with responsibility for public affairs issues of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide.

He was educated in England, his birthplace, where he completed his formal journalistic training. For eleven years he worked as a journalist on newspapers in Britain, Australia and Japan.

Since 1976, he has worked in the London, Sydney and Salt Lake City Public Affairs Offices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In his current role as Managing Director he oversees many contemporary concerns facing the church such as women’s issues, religious freedom and an ever-expanding global church.

Filed Under: Apologetics, FAIR Conference, General

Faith and Reason 52: Mesoamerican Cultures

August 2, 2015 by FairMormon Staff

https://media.blubrry.com/mormonfaircast/p/www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Meso-American-Cultures.mp3

Podcast: Download (15.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

 

From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by: Michael R. Ash

When we compare Book of Mormon cultural history with what is known of Mesoamerican history for the same period, we find some amazing similarities and no areas of serious conflict. A list of common cultural traits includes a belief in the cosmos with multiple realms, an underworld, flood legends, mountains as holy places where man connected with deity, and mounds…symbolizing the ascent to heaven. Modern archeology also verifies that the level of civilization depicted in the Book of Mormon generally agrees with Nephite and Lamanite chronology. When we compare this picture to what we find in Mesoamerican archaeology and historical research, the similarities fit the Book of Mormon in ways that Joseph Smith could not have known.  In addition to this, Mesoamericanists now agree that native inhabitants built seagoing rafts and traveled from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec both northward and southward in trading expositions…yet another interesting connection.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a media personality in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Faith and Reason 51: Unknown New World

July 26, 2015 by FairMormon Staff

https://media.blubrry.com/mormonfaircast/p/www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Unknown-New-World.mp3

Podcast: Download (12.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

 

From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting

the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

While Mesoamerican archaeology has seen tremendous advances in the last two decades, a lot more research, money, and time will be required before a full picture and evaluation of ancient Mesoamerican life can be made. The emerging picture, however, fits neatly into the descriptions contained within the pages of the Book of Mormon. In the days of Joseph Smith, almost nothing was known about the former inhabitants of Mesoamerica. What little knowledge we do have about the ancient New World has come to light in very recent years.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Faith and Reason 50: Book of Mormon Geography

July 19, 2015 by FairMormon Staff

https://media.blubrry.com/mormonfaircast/p/www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BOM-Geography-1.mp3

Podcast: Download (12.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

 

From the book: Of Faith and Reason, 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

Is there an official Church position on the location of Book of Mormon events? The answer is a simple no.  Just because Joseph Smith spoke with Moroni and translated the Book of Mormon, doesn’t mean that he necessarily knew where the events took place. Joseph Smith never claimed to have revelation on the question of Book of Mormon geography. Without revelation to settle the issue, Joseph was as free to speculate as anyone else. The fact that Joseph could have made incorrect assumptions about the geography of events in his own book supports the proposition that Joseph was not the author, but was instead, the translator.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Faith and Reason 49: Disarming Ammon

July 12, 2015 by FairMormon Staff

https://media.blubrry.com/mormonfaircast/p/www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Disarming-Ammon.mp3

Podcast: Download (10.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

 

From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

At least as early as the ninth century BC, artwork in the ancient Near East attests to the practice of cutting off the arms, hands, feet, or other body parts of vanquished enemies. Scholars who have studied this ancient custom suggest the severed limbs might have served as vouchers for rewards or mercenary pay upon presentation to an authority.

It has just recently been shown that the Aztecs had a similar practice. Ancient artwork depicts Aztec warriors holding the severed arms of their enemies like trophies. Aztecs who proved their prowess in battle often gained social privileges such as the right to wear special clothing and enjoy special foods. Bringing back the severed arms of an enemy was one way to prove valor in combat.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Faith and Reason 48: King Benjamin’s Speech

June 29, 2015 by FairMormon Staff

https://media.blubrry.com/mormonfaircast/p/www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/King-Benjamins-speech1.mp3

Podcast: Download (7.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

 

From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

Secondary to the spiritual insight gained by reading the sermon of King Benjamin, we also find additional evidence of the Book of Mormon’s link with the ancient Old World. Not only does King Benjamin’s speech have strong similarities to ancient Near Eastern traditions, but so does his son Mosiah’s coronation.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Faith and Reason 47: Columbus

June 17, 2015 by FairMormon Staff

https://media.blubrry.com/mormonfaircast/p/www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Columbus-1.mp3

Podcast: Download (7.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

In the early part of the Book of Mormon, Nephi saw in a vision a “man among the Gentiles” who left his people and crossed “many waters” (1 Nephi 12:22). Nephi saw that “the Spirit of God” was with this man who eventually came to the Americans and the descendants of the Lehites.  Latter-day Saints have interpreted this verse as referring to Christopher Columbus.

In the last few decades there has been a growth in scholarship regarding Columbus –much of it starting in 1991 with the translation of Libro de las profecias. This new look at Columbus reveals a spiritual man who was driven, in part, with a desire to spread Christianity. Columbus believed that he was guided to the New World by the Holy Spirit.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 6
  • Go to page 7
  • Go to page 8
  • Go to page 9
  • Go to page 10
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 16
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Blog

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


RSS-Icon RSS Feed (all posts)

Subscribe to Podcast

Podcast icon
Subscribe to podcast in iTunes
Subscribe to podcast elsewhere
Listen with FairMormon app
Android app on Google Play

Pages

  • Blog Guidelines

FairMormon Latest

  • Come Follow Me Week Three: The Turning of Hearts
  • Joseph Smith’s First Vision
  • Willing to Be Weak
  • FairMormon Finances
  • FAIR Voice Podcast #25: Interview with Blake Ostler

Blog Categories

Recent Comments

  • Debbi Rollo on Joseph Smith’s First Vision
  • Glenn Thigpen on Willing to Be Weak
  • Rob Peters on Joseph Smith’s First Vision
  • Wendy Ulrich on Willing to Be Weak
  • Rosalie Hamilton Milliner on Joseph Smith’s First Vision

Archives

Footer

FairMormon Logo

FairMormon is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Our Friends

  • Book of Mormon Central
  • BYU Religious Studies Center
  • BYU Studies
  • Interpreter Foundation
  • LDS Perspectives Podcast
  • Pearl of Great Price Central

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • iTunes
  • YouTube

Donate to FairMormon

We are a volunteer organization. We invite you to give back.

Donate Now

Donate to us by shopping at Amazon at no extra cost to you. Learn how →

Site Footer

Copyright © 1997-2021 by The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No portion of this site may be reproduced without the express written consent of The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc.

Any opinions expressed, implied, or included in or with the goods and services offered by FairMormon are solely those of FairMormon and not those of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) Logo

FairMormon™ is controlled and operated by the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR)