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Book Review – Who is Truth? Reframing Our Questions for a Richer Faith

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Available in the FairMormon Bookstore

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). We take this literally for the words “way” and “life,” but what if we also took it literally for the word “truth”? In their book Who What is Truth? Reframing Our Questions for a Richer Faith, that is exactly what authors Jeffrey L. Thayne and Edwin E. Gantt encourage us to do, changing our way of thinking from truth as an idea (this turns out to be rooted in Greek philosophy) to truth as a person (Hebrew thought).

The chapter headings give a good summary of what is covered: “What if truth is a person?,” “The ancient roots of person-truth,” “Faith in ideas, or faithfulness to a Person?,” “Knowing God vs. believing ideas about Him,” “Person-truth does not give us control,” “Knowing person-truth through covenant,” “Our on-and-off relationship with person-truth,” “What it means to be an authority on truth,” “The archnemesis of person-truth,” “What is sin, if truth is a person?,” “Rethinking the atonement of Christ,” and “Person-truth in a world of science and reason.” There is also a conclusion chapter, a list of further readings, and appendixes with more on Greek and Hebrew thought and questions and answers.

I was initially skeptical when offered this book to review. But it claimed to offer help for those having a faith crisis, and to strengthen faith in Jesus Christ and the Restoration, so I thought it would be worth a look. I was pleasantly surprised, and found myself agreeing with the conclusions (the good fruit being brought forth), even as I am still processing the explanations that led up to them. The authors anticipated skepticism, and they addressed all the potential red flags that came up in my mind as I read. [Read more…] about Book Review – Who is Truth? Reframing Our Questions for a Richer Faith

Book Review: A Case for the Book of Mormon

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Available from the FairMormon Bookstore

[A interview of the author can be found here.]

Tad Callister is an emeritus member of the Seventy and was the Sunday School General President until his release in the recent April General Conference. He has previously written books on the atonement and the apostasy. He has degrees in accounting and tax law and was a lawyer professionally. He is scheduled to speak at the 2019 FairMormon Conference in August.

This book presents both a spiritual and intellectual case for the Book of Mormon, drawing on previously published and unpublished books and talks by the author. In fact, the last chapter (which is a summary of the book) is a slightly modified version of his October, 2017 General Conference talk, “God’s Compelling Witness: The Book of Mormon,” and chapter two is from a talk he gave at a BYU Devotional on November 1, 2016, “The Book of Mormon: Man-Made or God-Given?” Much of the research cited is from FairMormon, Book of Mormon Central, and FARMS (now the Neal A. Maxwell Institute), along with classic scholarship from B. H. Roberts, Richard Lloyd Anderson, and Hugh Nibley.

The book has five parts, starting with an introduction stating that the Book of Mormon must be either true or false, a divine work or a fraud, and explaining why. And we are reminded why all this is important, with a quote from Anglican theologian, Austin Farrer: “Though argument does not create conviction, lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish” (page 9). [Read more…] about Book Review: A Case for the Book of Mormon

Book Review: The Joseph Smith Papers Documents, Volume 8: February-November 1841

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Available from the FairMormon Bookstore

This volume consists of 544 pages (including the usual introductions, reference material, and index) but covers only ten months of 1841. My first impression from reading the volume introduction was that a lot of things happened during that time, and yet this volume is being said to cover a relatively quiet period, before things really get busy. Indeed there are seven more volumes to come in the Documents series, which will presumably cover the rest of 1841 through mid 1844.

During this time, Nauvoo was growing, with revelations having just been received about building the temple and the Nauvoo House, and the Saints were being gathered. Some of the important documents included relate to the Nauvoo City Council and Nauvoo Legion, land and financial transactions, Orson Hyde’s trip to Jerusalem, three revelations, and fifteen sermons given by Joseph Smith. The following are some examples. [Read more…] about Book Review: The Joseph Smith Papers Documents, Volume 8: February-November 1841

Three Excerpts from “Answers Will Come: Trusting the Lord in the Meantime” by Shalissa Lindsay

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Available from the FairMormon Bookstore

[A review of the book can be found here.]

Not having all the answers is more blessed. (p. 29)

In our quest for faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a tremendous and indispensable asset. But not because it offers all the answers to every possible question. Even—perhaps especially—within the restored gospel, there have to be some opportunities for us to question and doubt. They provide the opposition against which faith can grow and strengthen. In fact, Christ has deliberately withheld some things for this express purpose.1 He told Mormon, “I will try the faith of my people.”2

Hence, the Lord supports faith but does not demand it. He lets us discover substantial internal evidences in latter-day scriptures, but withholds incontrovertible proof. He gives us eleven witnesses of the gold plates, but leaves Book of Mormon geography uncertain. By not compelling us to believe, Christ offers us the chance to be “more blessed.” He told the Nephites who had seen him that “more blessed are they who shall believe in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me.”3

And He told his doubting Apostle Thomas, “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”4 [Read more…] about Three Excerpts from “Answers Will Come: Trusting the Lord in the Meantime” by Shalissa Lindsay

Jim Bennett: Standing My Ground

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[Jim Bennett is the author of “A Faithful Reply to the CES Letter from a Former CES Employee“]

So it’s been a few days since Bill Reel published our twelve hours of recorded conversations we had for his Mormon Discussions podcast. And since then, I’ve been wading through the comments and finding that the consensus seems to be that in our Historic Podcast Battle for Church Trueness, Bill won handily, and I, and the Church, lost.

That assessment comes from the regular audience for Bill Reel’s podcast, which I’d be willing to bet includes far more disaffected or former church members than it does active Latter-day Saints. I expected their reaction to what I said to be interpreted through a far more skeptical lens than my own, and it doesn’t surprise me to see them giving the victory to “their guy” instead of me. Even so, I don’t think their interpretation is a fair or objective assessment of the discussion that took place.

I did not know Bill Reel prior to these podcasts, but a mutual friend thought it would be fun to see the two of us go “toe to toe” about the response I’d written to the CES Letter. My reply, perhaps naively, was that I was happy to speak to anyone about it, but I wasn’t interested in a debate so much as a discussion. Bill agreed to that, and we had the first of six early-morning recording sessions a few weeks ago. I thought the exchanges were respectful; I thought Bill gave me ample opportunity to represent my position, and I was overall pleased with the conversation as a whole.

Then they were published, and comments like the following started rolling in:

[Read more…] about Jim Bennett: Standing My Ground

FairMormon Conference Podcast #23 – Richard Lloyd Anderson, “Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses”

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This podcast series features past FairMormon Conference presentations. This episode is a presentation from 2004. If you would like to watch the presentations from our most recent conference, you can still purchase video streaming.

Richard Lloyd Anderson, Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses

Transcript available here.

Richard Lloyd Anderson (1926-2018) was a Professor Emeritus of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, and senior research fellow at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University. More information about him can be found in this tribute. His book, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses, is available at a discount from the FairMormon Bookstore.

Audio and Video Copyright © 2015 The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. Any reproduction or transcription of this material without prior express written permission is prohibited.

Church Developments and Their Timescales

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I was recently thinking about some of the significant programmatic changes that have happened in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the last few years. People have evaluated them in various ways and labeled them a success or failure, but popular opinion often swings on short-term thinking. For example, when, in October 2012, President Monson announced changes in the age limits for full-time missions, some made the coupled assumptions that this would either result in a proportional increase in convert baptisms or it should be considered a failure. It did not lead to a large increase in convert baptisms and some considered it only on that basis; however, this hasty act of labeling ignores a foundational bad assumption as well as a host of secondary effects that potentially act on a much longer time scale and are interesting in their own right.

The problem started with faulty assumptions. The first of these is that those who convert are in some sense “caused” by missionaries rather than merely facilitated. It is rooted at least partly in the experiences of a past era in which people in the United States and other sociopolitically similar areas could be reached by door-to-door salesmen and, correspondingly, that an increase in the number of people engaged in these activities would result in a proportionate gain in initial interest, teaching, baptisms and so forth. This assumption of course ignores years of entreaties that finding is the duty of the members of the Church while teaching is the responsibility of the full-time missionaries and that we should cease praying only that the missionaries find the honest in heart but rather that we should instead pray to be able to open our own mouths to share the gospel and invite others to come unto Christ. The reality is then that the model upon which the assumption (that more missionaries would lead to proportionately more convert baptisms) was based was largely invalid and the members of the Church should realize that missionary finding only ever constitutes a modest portion of the the success of the Church’s missionary efforts. The reality is members letting their light shine, setting examples of good works in the world and sharing the gospel in their individual circumstances, combined with a certain number who find the Church of Jesus Christ through their own individual searching are together a far more stable and effective source of interest.

[Read more…] about Church Developments and Their Timescales

FairMormon Conference Podcast #22 – Daniel Peterson, “Apologetics: What, Why, and How”

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This podcast series features past FairMormon Conference presentations. This episode is a presentation from our 2018 conference. (If you would like to watch the video of this and the other presentations from the 2018 conference, you can still purchase video streaming.)

Daniel Peterson, Apologetics: What, Why, and How

Transcript available here.

A native of southern California, Daniel C. Peterson received a bachelor’s degree in Greek and philosophy from Brigham Young University (BYU) and, after several years of study in Jerusalem and Cairo, earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Peterson is a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at BYU, where he has taught Arabic language and literature at all levels, Islamic philosophy, Islamic culture and civilization, Islamic religion, the Qur’an, the introductory and senior “capstone” courses for Middle Eastern Studies majors, and various other occasional specialized classes. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on Islamic and Latter-day Saint topics–including a biography entitled Muhammad: Prophet of God (Eerdmans, 2007)—and has lectured across the United States, in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and at various Islamic universities in the Near East and Asia. He served in the Switzerland Zürich Mission (1972-1974), and, for approximately eight years, on the Gospel Doctrine writing committee for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also presided for a time as the bishop of a singles ward adjacent to Utah Valley University. Dr. Peterson is married to the former Deborah Stephens, of Lakewood, Colorado, and they are the parents of three sons.

Audio Copyright © 2018 The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. Any reproduction or transcription of this material without prior express written permission is prohibited.

Book Review: Faith is not Blind

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Available at a discount from the FairMormon Bookstore

Bruce C. Hafen was a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy until 2010 when he was given Emeritus status. Prior to that, he was a president of BYU-Idaho and dean of the BYU Law School. He also was recently the president of the St. George Temple. Marie K. Hafen, his wife, taught at BYU-Idaho, BYU, and the University of Utah, as well as serving on the Young Women General Board and on the Deseret News board of directors.

This book is an expansion of a talk they gave together at a BYU-Hawaii devotional on January 24, 2017, which was an updated version of a talk called “Love Is Not Blind: Some Thoughts for College Students on Faith and Ambiguity” at a BYU devotional on January 9, 1979. Since 1979, the Internet has of course come to be a new avenue for people to stumble across things that would destroy their faith, and much of the book focuses on that.

The Hafens suggest a three part model for understanding stages of belief that people might go through. First, is what they call “simplicity.” This is when people have an innocent faith and “tend to think in terms of black or white – there is very little gray in [their] perspective. And many youth and young single adults have a childlike optimism and loyalty that make them wonderfully teachable. They typically trust their teachers, believe what they read, and respond eagerly to invitations for Church service. New adult converts often have similar attitudes” (page 8). [Read more…] about Book Review: Faith is not Blind

FairMormon Conference Podcast #19 – Elder Kevin W. Pearson, “A Sacred and Imperative Duty”

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This podcast series features past FairMormon Conference presentations. This episode is a presentation from our conference earlier this year. If you would like to watch all the presentations from the 2018 conference, you can still purchase video streaming.

Elder Kevin W. Pearson, A Sacred and Imperative Duty

Written talk available here.

Elder Kevin W. Pearson
August 2018

Elder Kevin W. Pearson was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 5, 2008. At the time of his call, he had been serving as the president of the Washington Tacoma Mission. He previously served as a counselor in the Europe East Area, President of the Pacific Area, and as an assistant executive director of the Missionary Department. He is currently serving at Church headquarters as an area assistant with the North America Southwest Area. Elder Pearson also serves on the Communication Services Committee and Strengthening Church Members Committee.

Elder Pearson received a bachelor of science degree in finance from the University of Utah in 1981. In 1983 he received a master’s degree in business administration in corporate finance from Harvard Business School. Prior to his call as a mission president, he was working as the chief executive officer at Ingenix, Inc.

Elder Pearson has served in a number of Church callings, including full-time missionary in the Finland Helsinki Mission, stake missionary, elders quorum president, ward Young Men president, high councilor, counselor in a bishopric, bishop, and mission president.

Kevin Wayne Pearson was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 10, 1957. He married June Langeland in June 1980. They are the parents of six children.

Audio and Video Copyright © 2018 The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. Any reproduction or transcription of this material without prior express written permission is prohibited.