July 2011
LATIN – apologeticus GREEK – apologetikos Apologetics: “The branch of theology that is concerned with defending or proving the truth of Christian doctrines” (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2009).
JOURNAL CONTENTS
- Message from the President
- FAIR Conference Auction
- Conference Audio/Video Streaming
- Promoting FAIR
- Donating to FAIR
- FAIR Podcasts — Challenging Issues
- FAIR Podcasts — Best of FAIR
- FAIR Blog
- FAIR Facebook and Twitter
- Mormon Scholars Testify
- MormonTemples.net
- FAIR’s Front Page
- FAIR Bookstore
- Ask the Apologist
- Copyright Notice & Disclaimer
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Hurry and get your conference tickets. We have to close off the online conference ticket sales on Sunday, July 31, at midnight. That is THIS WEEK! So get your tickets now!Let me repeat again: CONFERENCE TICKETS WILL *NOT* BE AVAILABLE ONLINE AFTER MIDNIGHT ON SUNDAY, JULY 31.After that, you can still purchase your tickets at the door, but you won’t be able to get lunch with your full-price purchase. We have a fabulous line up that you won’t want to miss. Topics such as emigration, presidential politics, Egyptian art and polygamy, and Book of Mormon translation should make this an exciting two days. Plus, we may have another exciting announcement at the conference. Stay tuned!We are also pleased to announce a new speaker for the conference. Dr. Ugo Perego will be speaking and the title of his talk is Joseph Smith, The Question of Polygamous Offspring and DNA Analysis.
Chris Watkins was planning on attending and presenting but, unfortunately, he won’t be able to join us this year. We hope to have him speak in a future conference.
I look forward to seeing you at the conference. Please be sure to come up and say hello to me. I appreciate all of the support you give to FAIR. Everyone is welcome to come to the conference. We even provide a discount for students and CES employees. All they have to do is show a student ID or a CES ID or card at the registration table.
I hope you choose to come. See you there!
–Scott Gordon President of FAIR
FAIR CONFERENCE AUCTION
If you have books you would like to donate to our FAIR Conference auction, please bring those to the conference as well. Your old book, which is cluttering up your bookshelf, might be someone else’s new treasure.
CONFERENCE AUDIO/VIDEO STREAMING
We are audio streaming the conference again! Yes, you heard me right! We got positive feedback last year, so we are doing it again. To help defray our costs, this service will cost $15 for both days combined. We will be providing audio, and if all goes well there may also be some video and/or slideshows available. You can order the service at:
http://bookstore.fairlds.org/product.php?id_product=1085
Instructions regarding access and feedback will be downloadable from the bookstore. After you order the service, follow the bookstore instructions to download your streaming log-in instructions. A high-speed Internet connection is recommended.
PROMOTING FAIR
Invite your friends to the upcoming FAIR Conference. Tell your friends to sign up for the FAIR Journal. Please link to FAIR at www.fairlds.org and to the FAIR Wiki at en.fairmormon.org. Please click on “Like” on the FAIR Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/fairlds
DONATING TO FAIR
FAIR is labor of love. We are a group of volunteers who spend many hours trying to research and publish information to help members respond to critics. We try to price our conferences to be accessible to as many as possible. But, providing this information does cost money. In all of your charitable giving, please consider donating to FAIR. It is only through your donations that we are able to stay in operation.
If you can donate $10, or $10,000, every dollar helps us.
You can also mail a check to our address:
FAIR, PO Box 491677 Redding, CA 96049-1677
FAIR PODCASTS — CHALLENGING ISSUES
FAIR Issues 14: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 14
If Mormon prophets can make mistakes, are we allowed to pick and choose which of their words we should follow? And why should we follow their counsel if they might be wrong? What if the prophet is wrong? What are the consequences of following a prophet’s erroneous opinion? Listen to this episode for a discussion of these issues.
FAIR Issues 14: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 14
FAIR Issues 15: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 15
In this episode, Michael Ash asks, what are the consequences of not following the prophet? What happens to those who privately or publicly disagree with the prophets or official church doctrines?
FAIR Issues 15: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 15
FAIR Issues 16: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 16
In what ways might a prophet err, and still be considered to be a prophet? Is a prophet required to be morally perfect? Why would a prophet have erroneous views about Book of Mormon Geography or the history of the Bible? Is it expedient for modern-day prophets to have infallible views on the location of the Hill Cumorah or the breadth and depth of Noah’s flood? Should a prophet know everything about quantum physics or chemistry?
FAIR Issues 16: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 16
FAIR Issues 17: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 17
Does God reveal everything to His prophets? What types of things are revealed? How does the way in which prophets receive revelation compare to the way in which the rest of us receive it? Michael Ash discusses these and other questions in this episode.
FAIR Issues 17: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 17
FAIR Issues 18: Can imperfect scriptures lead to God?
Mormons believe the Bible to be the work of God, so far as it is translated correctly. We therefore readily accept the possibility of error within the Bible on the basis that there may have been mistranslations. But what about the Book of Mormon? As it was translated by a prophet of God, should we consider it to be inerrant? What effect can language have on the transmission of prophesy or in the translation of scriptures? If it is possible for even the Book of Mormon to contain errors, how are we supposed to know what is true in the scriptures? These issues are discussed in this episode.
FAIR Issues 18: Can imperfect scriptures lead to God?
FAIR PODCASTS — BEST OF FAIR
Best of FAIR 7: The Joseph Smith Papers
What are the Joseph Smith papers? Why are they important? How does the project work? And what does this all tell us about Joseph Smith? In the address from the 2008 FAIR Conference, Ron Esplin gives a behind-the-scenes look at the publication of the Joseph Smith papers. He explains that the project is first and foremost an effort to be like other documentary editing projects that provide materials that historians can use to write about Joseph Smith. He discusses how this is being done and why it’s important.
Best of FAIR 7: The Joseph Smith Papers
Best of FAIR 8: DNA and the Book of Mormon
Dr. David Stewart examines the issues surrounding DNA studies used to condemn the Book of Mormon. He concludes: “The recent explosion of molecular DNA data has led to a considerable increase in knowledge about our roots. However, some individuals have drawn and widely publicized conclusions far beyond those validated by existing data. The claims of critics that DNA evidence disproves traditional LDS teachings about Native American ancestry are based in a misunderstanding or misrepresentation of science and ignorance of history and scripture. There is still much we do not know about the genetics of ancient and modern populations, but careful study demonstrates that the teachings of LDS prophets are fully consistent with existing DNA data.
Best of FAIR 8: DNA and the Book of Mormon
FAIR BLOG
A Reply to Ms. Erickson
by Stephen Smoot on July 7th, 2011
CNN has published an interview with a woman named Tricia Erickson, who has spoken out on why Mitt Romney is not qualified to be president of the United States. Instead of criticizing Romney for his political platforms, which is what one would expect in a discussion surrounding a political election, she instead has focused on (surprise!) his religion. She has made some rather pernicious swipes at Mormonism that are true to form amongst zealous Evangelical counter-cultists.
A Note on the First Visions of Paul and Joseph Smith
by Stephen Smoot on July 11th, 2011
Luke reports three accounts of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus in the book of Acts.
A Note on the First Visions of Paul and Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith: The Profile of a Prophet
by Stephen Smoot on July 15th, 2011
The following PDF attachment is an exploration into Joseph Smith meeting the criteria of an authentic prophet. It was originally part of my review of Joel Kramer’s anti-Mormon DVD The Bible vs. Joseph Smith. Upon the wise suggestion of Greg Smith, a fellow FAIR volunteer, I excised this portion of my review and rewrote parts of it to stand alone as a separate article. As you may discover upon reading, this article does have a sort of devotional flavor to it. But I hope that the main point behind this article is easily recognizable.
With that in mind, I offer for the reader’s consideration Joseph Smith: The Profile of a Prophet for those interested. Feel free to download and keep a copy if you wish.
Joseph Smith: The Profile of a Prophet
Mitt Romney, Fox News, and the Mormon Question: A Few Questions for Discussion
by Stephen Smoot on July 18th, 2011
Christian, adjective: of, relating to, or professing Christianity or its teachings : the Christian Church.
informal having or showing qualities associated with Christians, esp. those of decency, kindness, and fairness.
noun a person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Jesus Christ and his teachings.[1]
A few weeks ago CNN published an interview with Tricia Erickson, a dedicated Evangelical critic of Mormonism, wherein it was repeatedly affirmed that neither Mitt Romney nor the Church he belongs to is authentically Christian. On Sunday, July 17, 2011 the Deseret News printed an article that reported how “‘Fox & Friends’ co-host Ainsley Earhardt said Mitt Romney was not a Christian during her program this morning.” The pertinent statement by Ms. Earhardt, as reported by the Deseret News, is as follows…
Mitt Romney, Fox News, and the Mormon Question: A Few Questions for Discussion
FAIR FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
We hope you will check out the FAIR Facebook pages and click “Like.” The more that click “Like” the better we do.
We have a new page for MormonVoices
Our Twitter account:
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MORMON SCHOLARS TESTIFY
Mormon Scholars Testify now has 325 testimonies, representing 142 schools or organizations. There are new testimonies added every week. Many of them have very interesting stories that are uplifting and testimony building. Check out the Website and read the testimonies here:
If you like the testimonies, link to them from your Facebook or other social network.
MORMONTEMPLES.NET
Please don’t forget to link to our Website at Mormontemples.net
FAIR’S ‘FRONT PAGE’
Receive daily updates containing news clippings about how the LDS Church is represented in the media. FAIR’s Front Page (FFP) is a free service; you can un-subscribe at any time. To receive this service just click on the link below, enter your email address in the white box, and push the “Sign-Up” button.
ASK THE APOLOGIST
The public is invited to submit questions related to LDS *apologetic* issues to “Ask the Apologist.” This feature can be accessed by clicking on the following link:
Mark the box labeled “Questions (for the FAIR apologists).” Then fill in accurate information in the five white boxes and push the “Send Comments” button. All inquiries will be shared with members of the FAIR List and the questioner may receive multiple responses from FAIR volunteers. All responses reflect the opinions of the respondents only and not the official position of FAIR or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
