FAIR 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.
Testimony and Spiritual Witness in the CES Letter
Overview |
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Brief responses and additional resources, CES Letter sections |
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Detailed responses, CES Letter sections |
Testimony and Spiritual Witness in the CES Letter
The CES Letter lists several concerns about receiving a testimony through a spiritual witness. Although there are many subsections (e.g., "Same Claims," "Outsider Test for Faith," etc.), the repeated concern is how can we be certain that we know the truth through a spiritual witness, especially when others claim a spiritual witness for the opposite of what we believe.
Resources addressing this concern include the following:
- Revelation
- "The CES Letter Rebuttal, Part 37: Testimony/Spiritual Witness Questions, Section A"
- "The CES Letter Rebuttal, Part 38: Testimony/Spiritual Witness Questions, Section B"
- "The CES Letter Rebuttal, Part 39: Testimony/Spiritual Witness Questions, Section C"
- "The CES Letter Rebuttal, Part 40: Testimony/Spiritual Witness Questions, Section D"
- "The CES Letter Rebuttal, Part 41: Testimony/Spiritual Witness Questions, Section E"
- "The CES Letter Rebuttal, Part 42: Testimony/Spiritual Witness Questions, Section F"
- Blake T. Ostler, "Spiritual Experiences as the Basis for Belief and Commitment", 2007 FairMormon Conference
- Wendy Ulrich, "'Believest thou…?': Faith, Cognitive Dissonance, and the Psychology of Religious Experience", 2005 FairMormon Conference
- Steve Densley, "FAIR Questions 2: Recognizing the Voice of the Spirit", FAIR blog, 28 August 2011
- Steve Densley, "'Was that a revelation?' General Conference and Agents of the Divine", FAIR blog, 1 April 2022
Some resources related to specific issues raised in this section of the CES Letter include the following: