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Michael R. Ash

Assumptions

May 15, 2016 by Mike Ash

Einstein

“Assumptions are made and most assumptions are wrong,” Albert Einstein.

We assume the best, we assume the worst. We assume what others are thinking or how they may behave in any given situation. Assumptions are the beliefs which drive what we infer from the world around us. Practically every second of our waking hours we infer things about our environment and the people around us because of belief-based assumptions. Quite frankly, we couldn’t navigate through life is this wasn’t so.

With so many things coming at us from all directions, assumptions help us make quick decisions so we don’t get stuck like a deer in headlights when we decide to go outside, drive to the store, or choose what we want on our pizza.

Dr. Daniel Kahneman, a well-known non-LDS psychologist explains that we humans have two metaphorical ways in which we think. He calls these System 1 and System 2.i

System 1 is the fast-acting assumption-driven method. It’s the instinctive level that gives us our gut reactions, our knee-jerk responses, and sees initial patterns. It is ready to contribute at a moment’s notice, is typically the first system called up in our brains, and the one which creates a coherent interpretation of what’s going on. System 2 on the other hand, is the brute when it comes to brainpower and the king when it comes to analyzing difficult data. Unfortunately, System 2 is also lazy (and thinking literally uses a lot of energy) so it usually kicks in when System 1 is overwhelmed, when more brain power is required, or when System 1 needs some confirming support.

Because it’s impossible to analyze everything all the time, we generally must rely on instincts formed by past experiences and contexts—in other words, we have to rely on assumptions—on System 1’s preconceptions, biases, pattern recognition, and predictions in order to think. System 1 draws on past experience—either recent events or distant memories—to formulate a quick assumption. If System 1 can get away with it—and it often does—it deals with inconsistencies by filling in the blanks, smoothing over the rough spots, and by fabricating coherency. What a mess we are as humans.

Sometimes Latter-day Saints get criticized for believing in the Church (or the Book of Mormon, or the prophet, etc.) because of “feelings.” Anyone who has received a testimony from the Holy Ghost, however, knows that a spiritual witness is much more than feelings. One of the wonderful things I love about this Church is that we don’t believe that feelings alone are the path to knowing truth. We believe in both study and faith (D&C 88:118).

While critics equate the LDS “burning in the bosom” with emotional feelings, and claim that feelings are a poor source for knowing truth, the fact is that more and more psychological studies prove that all people apply non-rational “feelings” in their process of making important decisions. It’s a part of humanity from which we can’t escape. We certainly hope that logic and rationale are part of the process we use when making decisions that affect important details of our lives (or the lives of others). But rational thinking—study after study has shown—is not the sole tool our brains and hearts employ when coming to conclusions.

Our System 1 brains make assumptions. System 2 can either help System 1 see some errors in those assumptions, or can create evidence to confirm those assumptions. Ultimately, to make life manageable, we settle with beliefs with which we find comfort (otherwise we would never be able to decide what shirt to wear before leaving the house). When a belief is formed, System 2 comes up with rational support to confirm that we have made the right decision—even though at least part of System 1’s conclusion is driven by emotion rather than logic. And yes, this includes the “beliefs” of atheists and agnostics. So to claim that Latter-day Saints use “emotion” when determining truth, is like claiming that Latter-day Saints are human.

All people apply extra-rational ingredients when forming their beliefs. For those who belief in the divine, at least a few ingredients include spiritual elements. Richard Hooker, a 16th century Anglican Theologian wrote that the sources of spiritual authority are Scriptures, Tradition, and Reason. Later writers described these three sources with the analogy of the legs of a three-legged stool—each leg is necessary to hold up the stool. We might modify this approach for LDS use with an analogy of a four-legged table. In Mormon thought the sources of spiritual authority would be Scripture, Modern Prophets, Personal Revelation, and Reason.

As truth-seekers we should make every effort to include all four of these ingredients into the spiritual and intellectual process that generates our individual beliefs. Utilizing all four factors helps us arrive at truth—it doesn’t guarantee we’ll arrive at ultimate truth because, once again, that’s not possible for mere mortals. We have a better chance, however, of arriving at truth if we apply all four ingredients compared to using only a few of the components.

Unfortunately, from my many years of experience helping those who have struggled with intellectual issues that have challenged faith, I’ve found that many Latter-Day Saints do not apply all four components to their approach of determining truth. Using one or two of the tools may serve some members well, but others members may end up with damaged testimonies when something shakes their faith.

From my personal perspective too many members lean unevenly on the legs of Scripture and Modern Prophets. Now admittedly, those are pretty big legs when we measure spiritual truth, but God has given us two more tools that we shouldn’t brush aside.

Several years ago my friend Ben McGuire pointed out one of the more useful lessons we learn from the story of Lehi and Nephi’s vision of the Tree of Life. Lehi saw the tree in a vision and shared the information with his family. Nephi wanted to experience the spiritual manifestation as well, so he turned to the Lord and experienced his own vision of the tree (and apparently saw some things that weren’t mentioned by Lehi).

When Nephi told Laman and Lemuel that he, like his father, has seen the Tree of Life vision his brothers complained that they didn’t understand the vision. Did you ask the Lord? Nephi asked his brothers.

“We have not,” they replied, “for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us” (1 Nephi 15:9).

We believe that this Church is a church of revelation—not just revelation to prophets, but revelation to all members. Each person in this Church can receive personal revelation relevant to their sphere of responsibility. Prophets have stewardship over the entire world during their administration, stake presidents for their stake, bishops for their wards, parents for their homes, and each person for their own personal challenges.

In addition to personal revelation, I fear that we sometimes overlook Reason in our quest for finding truth. God gave us brains and expects us to use them. While we must certainly live, at times, by faith we don’t need to live by blind faith. I personally am utterly opposed to the idea that God is some sort of deceiver who makes the geological, archaeological, genetic, or other scientific evidences appear to support a view contrary to traditional assumptions. Truth is truth and if there is evidence that runs contrary to one of our beliefs, it could mean that more secular truth is still to come, but it could also mean that our belief is based on an unwarranted assumption rather than on an eternal truth.

For example, in 1963—more than a decade before black Latter-day Saints were allowed to receive the priesthood—the late LDS scholar Eugene England met with Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith (who would later become president of the Church) and discussed the belief that black people were less valiant in the premortal existence. Brother England recalled:

I got an appointment with him [Joseph Fielding Smith] and asked him directly if I must believe in the “pre-existence hypothesis” to have good Church standing. He replied, “Yes, because that is the teaching of the scriptures.” I asked him to show me the teaching in the scriptures, since I had not been able to see it there. President Smith patiently went through the sources with me, particularly the Pearl of Great Price, and then he said something quite remarkable: “No, you do not have to believe that Negroes are denied the priesthood because of the pre-existence. I have always assumed that because it was what I was taught, and it made sense, but you don’t have to believe it to be in good standing, because it is not definitely stated in the scriptures. And I have received no revelation on the matter.”ii

Assumptions drive our inferences about the things which we encounter. Sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong. We need to be careful that we don’t elevate our personal assumptions to the state of revelation, indisputable fact, or eternal truth. Faulty assumptions about what we should expect from prophets, scriptures, or even from God, can set us up for problems when these assumptions are not met. In such scenarios we may feel that prophets, the scriptures, or that God has failed rather than recognizing that we have built a house of beliefs on the sandy foundation of mistaken assumptions.

If we shore up our beliefs with the words of past and living prophets, personal revelation, and intellectual study and judgement, we will build a stronger foundation that should weather storms of spiritual disaffection.

i Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (Macmillan, 2011). ii Eugene England, “Are All Alike Unto God? Prejudice Against Blacks and Women in Popular Mormon Theology,” Sunstone April 1990, 20.

Michael Ash has been a member of FairMormon for more than a decade and has been published in various print and e-publications including the “Ensign.” He’s the author of “Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt,” as well as “Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph.”

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: apologetics, assumptions, Einstein, Michael R. Ash, Truth

Faith and Reason 68: Plain and Precious Parts

April 30, 2016 by Julianne Hatton

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bib

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

by: Michael R. Ash

Most Christians today and in Joseph Smith’s day believe that the Bible is complete –that it contains everything that God intended, and that no new scriptures should be added. From Joseph’s translation of the Book of Mormon, however, we learn that the Bible is not complete and that many important parts are missing. Today’s scholarship sides with Joseph Smith. The scriptures we have today are the result of actions taken in the second century AD by those who had a different Bible than those at the end of that same century.

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 has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, 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: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Podcast Tagged With: bible, Church History, Faith and Reason, Joseph Smith, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash

Faith and Reason 67: The Apostasy

April 16, 2016 by Julianne Hatton

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burn

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

by Michael R. Ash

The apostasy was already under way while some of the apostles still lived and they warned that worse times would come after they were gone. As long as they were around, they could correct erroneous doctrines and confound false teachers, but they knew and prophesied of times to come when the church would go astray. Through the prophet Joseph Smith, our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ restored the fulness of the gospel. The true Church of Jesus Christ is on the earth again today. Because of the Restoration, the teachings and ordinances necessary for salvation are available to all people.

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 has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, 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: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash, Podcast Tagged With: apostasy, Faith and Reason, Joseph Smith, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash, Podcast

Faith and Reason 66: More Book of Abraham Evidences

March 17, 2016 by Julianne Hatton

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An Angel Saves Abraham, by Del Parson.

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

By Michael R. Ash

Non-LDS Near Eastern scholar David Noel Freedman said that he had never encountered an Abraham account where the patriarch himself was threatened with sacrifice until he saw the claim in the Book of Abraham. Upon further reflection he acknowledged that a similar tradition existed in an ancient Abrahamic document, but an English translation was not available until the 1890’s.  What are the chances that Joseph Smith could have gotten so many things right by mere guesswork?

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 has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, 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: Book of Abraham, Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Podcast Tagged With: Abraham, Faith and Reason, Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith Papyri, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash, Pearl of Great Price

Faith and Reason 65: Heliocentric Universe

March 5, 2016 by Julianne Hatton

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helio

According to the Book of Abraham, the highest celestial objects “govern” the objects below them (see Abraham 3:3, and Facimile 2, fig. 5). Likewise, when we turn to the Apocalypse of Abraham, we find that God’s throne is in the highest of heavens and that His commands are passed down by angels through the various levels of heaven. Each of the higher levels governs and commands the lower levels. While such a cosmology makes little sense from the heliocentric cosmology of Joseph Smith’s milieu, it makes perfect sense from the ancient cosmologies accepted by the ancient people of the Near East.

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 has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, 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: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Podcast Tagged With: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash

Faith and Reason 64: Ur and Olishem

February 10, 2016 by Julianne Hatton

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mesopotamia

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

the Prophet Joseph Smith by Michael R. Ash

Recent scholarship suggests that Ur might have been in northern Syria and southern Turkey in a place known anciently as Aram-Naharaim (northwestern Mesopotamia in ancient times). Not coincidentally, ancient Aram-Naharaim was under the influence of Egypt during the days of Abraham. An added layer of support comes from the Book of Abraham’s mention of the Plain of Olishem, which apparently was a part of the land of Chaldea. While the bible never mentions such a place, scholars have recently discovered and inscription of the name Olishem dating to about 2250 BC in Northwestern Syria –just where we would expect to find it according to Joseph Smith.

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  has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, 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 Tagged With: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash, Ur and Olishem

Faith and Reason 63: Four Hundred Year Baktun

January 9, 2016 by Julianne Hatton

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Mayan-Calendar-01

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

by Michael R. Ash

The time obsessed Maya measured time by a four hundred year interval known as a baktun. The baktun was made up of the extremely important twenty year sub-interval known as the katun. Not only do we find the four hundred year baktun in the Book of Mormon, but Moroni bids us farewell “Four hundred and twenty years” –or one katun after the final baktun following the sign that was given of the coming of Jesus Christ.

“Bamboozled by the CES Letter” can be found here:

http://www.shakenfaithsyndrome.com/bamboozle/bamboozled.pdf

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  has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, 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: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Podcast Tagged With: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash

Faith and Reason 62: Earthquakes and Volcanoes

December 29, 2015 by Julianne Hatton

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sam_lam

In approximately 6 BC, Samuel, the Lamanite prophet, prophesied of Christ’s birth and death and revealed that when the Savior died there would be three days of darkness, great upheavals, and destruction. About forty years later, at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, the Nephites saw the fulfillment of this prophecy (see Helaman 14). From a scientific point of view, the calamities which would fit the description of destruction recorded in the Book of Mormon  would have to be an earthquake followed by a volcanic eruption –which we now know can be triggered by earthquakes. Since the Book of Mormon likely took place in ancient Mesoamerica, it is of interest to note that Mesoamerica lies in an active earthquake zone –a fact that would have been unknown to Joseph Smith.

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  has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, 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: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Podcast Tagged With: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash, Podcast

Faith and Reason 61: Uto-Aztecan Language

November 22, 2015 by Julianne Hatton

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BOM

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

by Michael R. Ash

Painting by Arnold Friberg

When the Lehites arrived in the New World over two thousand years ago, they would have merged with existing native populations. Within a few generations, the spoken language of their descendants would likely have become that of their neighbors. It’s also possible, however, that some of the original Hebrew words used by the Lehites were picked up by their neighbors and continued to be used even after the Hebrew language disappeared. Near Eastern language expert Dr. Brian Stubbs argues for a possible link between Uto-Aztecan (a family of about thirty Native American Languages) and Hebrew. As a professional linguist, Stubbs avoids the pitfalls of amateurs who simply point to similar words between two different languages.

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  has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, 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: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash, Podcast Tagged With: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash

Faith and Reason 60: List of Book of Mormon Items

November 15, 2015 by Julianne Hatton

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open-book-of-mormon-407425-gallery

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

by Michael R. Ash

Critics frequently claim that the Book of Mormon is contradicted by New World archaeology. This may have been true in 1830 when the Book of Mormon was published, but it is no longer true today. Dr. John Clark of the New World Archaeological Foundation recently compiled a list of sixty items mentioned in the Book of Mormon. The list includes items such as steel, swords, barley, cement, thrones, literacy and more. A dozen years after the Book of Mormon was printed only eight of those sixty items had been confirmed by archaeological evidence. By the turn of the twenty-first century , however, forty-five of those sixty items (or 75 percent) have been confirmed by archaeological evidence.

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  has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, 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: Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash, Podcast Tagged With: Book of Mormon, Faith and Reason, Julianne Dehlin Hatton, Michael R. Ash, Podcast

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