FAIR

Faithful Study Resources for Come, Follow Me

Gender Issues

FAIR Questions: What did President Nelson mean by “the kind of body with which you will be resurrected” in his General Conference talk?

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FAIR has a service where questions can be submitted and they are answered by volunteers. If you have a question, you can submit it at https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/contact. We will occasionally publish answers here for questions that are commonly asked, or are on topics that are receiving a lot of attention.

Question:

In the time since General Conference, we have had several questions about the resurrection – whether our bodies will be resurrected in their perfect form, and what the difference would be between a Celestial versus a Terrestrial or Telestial resurrected body. [Read more…] about FAIR Questions: What did President Nelson mean by “the kind of body with which you will be resurrected” in his General Conference talk?

By Study and Faith – Episode 6: Cognitive Biases

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Podcast: Download (38.6MB)

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by Zachary Wright

Introduction

Someone I know, who is a very vocal LGBTQ+ advocate, once got into an argument with me about concepts behind gender.  I did everything I could to understand where they were coming from, seeing as this is a complex topic with differing perspectives.  However, they were trying to convince me (among other things) that gender is a social construct.  Having studied the issue, I pushed against their ideas, arguing that gender is more complicated than that and it certainly isn’t a mere social construct.  However, despite my best efforts, my research and perspectives fell on deaf ears.  Instead, my friend seemed to cling to the ideas of the people she agreed with.  I’ll be sure to go over LGBTQ+ perspectives another day.  However, my purpose in telling this story is to show an example of what researchers and psychologists call cognitive bias, which we’ll discuss today. [Read more…] about By Study and Faith – Episode 6: Cognitive Biases

Beyond the Rainbow: Supporting LGBT+ Saints Faithfully

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by Skyler Sorensen

Note: Skyler’s new book “Exclude Not Thyself: Thriving as a Covenant-keeping, Gay Latter-day Saint” will be available June 12. Pre-order now from the FAIR Bookstore!

When choosing to associate with a group, you have to consider the implications and effects the group has as a whole. In recent years our prophets and apostles have implored us to seek to understand the experience of our LGBT+ brothers and sisters. At a BYU devotional in 2017, and in regard to members of the Church with an experience under the LGBT+ acronym,  Elder Ballard said, “We must do better than we have done in the past so that all members feel they have a spiritual home where their brothers and sisters love them and where they have a place to worship and serve the Lord.” 

At the same time, pride celebrations are advertised by many as the best way to show LGBT+ people love and support. This juxtaposition has led some to the conclusion that the brethren are instructing us to use pride celebrations as the catalyst for showing “support” for LGBT+ people. But what message are we sending when we support such a movement? [Read more…] about Beyond the Rainbow: Supporting LGBT+ Saints Faithfully

What You Didn’t Hear About the LGBT Pamphlet at BYU

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BYU unquestionably made the right choice to remove an LGBT “resource pamphlet” from freshman welcome bags, but the public doesn’t understand why. Reporting has sympathetically portrayed student activists and their purported good motives, but failed to detail their disturbing and harmful recommendations. 

The latest tempest in the social media teapot features yet another clash between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the antagonism of the growing activist class. BYU administration prevented several groups from giving an LGBT “resource pamphlet” to all incoming Brigham Young University freshmen, and the groups are condemning it for censorship, breach of contract, and hard-heartedness toward the needs of its vulnerable students. 

But are you aware of what’s actually in the pamphlet – and why the school administration was unquestionably correct to intervene?  [Read more…] about What You Didn’t Hear About the LGBT Pamphlet at BYU

Come, Follow Me Week 20 – Numbers 11-14; 20-24

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Rejecting the Living Prophets by Following Future Prophets

by J. Max Wilson

(Adapted from his post at Sixteen Small Stones)

One of the key doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that we have living prophets and apostles today who are authorized by God to receive revelations for the Church and for the world. The scriptures are full of stories of how the people of the Church rejected the messages of the living prophets, often justifying themselves by appealing to the words of previous prophets. Even Jesus was rejected by appealing to Moses or Abraham.

As President of the Twelve Apostles, Ezra Taft Benson warned: “Beware of those who would set up the dead prophets against the living prophets, for the living prophets always take precedence.”  [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 20 – Numbers 11-14; 20-24

Come, Follow Me Week 3 – Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5

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The Two Trees

by V.H. Cassler

(This is from a presentation given at the 2010 FAIR Conference)

The Restored Gospel teaches me that the term “God” means an exalted woman and an exalted man married in the new and everlasting covenant (and we also get that from D&C 132). We are taught that there is no God without men and women loving each other as equals. Heavenly Father is not an old bachelor. In fact, the one who’s an old bachelor is Satan. This is revolutionary.

Second, the Restored Gospel teaches me that you will have your male or female body forever. It is not a curse, but a great gift and a blessing that you had to prove yourself worthy to have. Women in the audience, your breasts, your womb, your ovaries, are not cursings, sisters, they are blessings. And the Restored Gospel also teaches me that I will be married forever, and that I will have children forever, and that that life of being a woman married to my sweetheart and having children forever is the life that will bring me the fullest joy. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 3 – Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5

Come, Follow Me Week 51 – The Family: A Proclamation to the World

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The Proclamation Is a Light Against Sophistry

by Cassandra Hedelius

In September 1995, President Hinckley used a big word. “With so much of sophistry that is passed off as truth, with so much of deception concerning standards and values, with so much of allurement and enticement to take on the slow stain of the world, we have felt to warn and forewarn.” He then presented the new Proclamation to the World. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 51 – The Family: A Proclamation to the World

Come, Follow Me Week 50 – Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 & 2

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We Believe All that God Has Revealed

by Cassandra Hedelius

On social media and other discussions, it’s very common for LGBT activists/allies to invoke the ninth Article of Faith. They take for granted that the church’s teachings on marriage and sexuality are wrong, and assert that God will soon change them. After all, “we believe that God will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God!” [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 50 – Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 & 2

FAIR Conference Podcast #65 – Edwin E. Gantt, “Agentic Sexuality: How a Latter-day Saint Perspective Can Rescue Humanity from the Tyranny of the Abstract”

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This podcast series features past FAIR Conference presentations. This presentation is from our 2021 conference held in August. If you would like to watch the presentations from the conference, you can still purchase the video streaming.

Edwin E. Gantt, Agentic Sexuality: How a Latter-day Saint Perspective Can Rescue Humanity from the Tyranny of the Abstract

A transcript is available here.

Edwin’s book, Who Is Truth: Reframing Our Questions for a Richer Faith, is available from our bookstore.

Edwin E. Gantt is currently Professor of Psychology at Brigham Young University and a Research Fellow of the Wheatley Institution. He received his doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from Duquesne University. He is the author of over 80 scholarly articles and book chapters. His primary research interests revolve around the questions of moral agency and the relationship between religion, science, and psychology. He is co-author (with Richard N. Williams) of Hijacking Science:  Exploring the Nature and Consequences of Overreach in Psychology, editor of the textbook series Taking Sides:  Clashing Views on Psychological Issues, and Co-Editor of the journal Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy (the official journal of the Association of Latter-day Saint Counselors and Psychologists). He teaches courses in the History and Philosophy of Psychology, Personality Theory, Qualitative Research Methods, Psychology of Religion, and (his favorite) LDS Perspectives on Psychology. He and his wife Anita live in Springville and have four wonderful sons, two amazing daughters-in-law, and two beautiful grandsons.

 

FAIR Conference Podcast #63 – Carl Trueman, “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution”

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Podcast: Download (12.6MB)

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This podcast series features past FAIR Conference presentations. This presentation is from our 2021 conference held in August. If you would like to watch the presentations from the conference, you can still purchase the video streaming.

Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution

Carl’s book by the same name is available from the FAIR Bookstore.

Carl R Trueman is a graduate of the Universities of Cambridge (MA) and Abderdeen (PhD) and formerly served on faculty at the Universities of Nottingham and Aberdeen and Westminster Theological Seminary (PA).  Before joining the Grove City College faculty in 2018, he was the William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in Religion and Public Life at Princeton University.  He is married with two adult sons and is also an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.  He is the author of numerous books, including Histories and Fallacies and The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, both from Crossway, and joint editor (with Bruce Gordon) of The Oxford Handbook of Calvin and Calvinism (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).