It was reported on MADB that Kevin Graham was in a serious accident and in a coma. Kevin used to live about 50 miles (80 km) from me–before marrying his bride from Brazil. I invite one and all to join me in keeping Kevin and his family in prayer–for both his physical–and spiritual well being.
Blog
Is failure acceptable in what we do?
I have been giving a lot of thought to success and failure as of late. I have recently taken a national exam to become a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I have yet to receive the results, but should in the next day or two. With that said, I have been preparing myself to either celebrate like crazy, or figure out how to pick myself up and get back on the horse. I have been doing a lot of thinking about my family, and how much they mean to me. They have been a huge support in this whole process, an I know they will continue to stand by me. Then I watched a video blog by Glenn Beck (don’t worry, no politics will seep in here). He gave a list of successful men who had at one time failed in their lives’. I’d like to name just a few here: Milton Hershey, Henry Ford, Walt Disney. I thought of others: Billy Joel, Harlin Sanders of KFC fame, Phil Knight of Nike, Glenn Beck himself, and the list goes on. There have been church leaders try and fail in ways to follow The Lord. Joseph Smith learned a valuable lesson after losing the 116 pages, when he failed to listen the first time to The Lord. There have been times in my life I did not heed the whisperings of the Spirit and was worse off because of it. We try and fail every day in what we do. As the cliche goes, everybody makes mistakes. Christ is the only one in my memory who never failed in doing what he was asked to do. He executed with perfection, the commandments given him by our Father.
Now, what does this have to do with Apologetics and defending the Church? I was thinking about times in my life and about experiences from others where they may have felt inadequate to speak up, or else feel they did not accurately answer a question posed to them by a critic, or even a friend. We receive a lot of questions on the FAIR list from Bishops, Ward Mission Leaders, Missionaries, and others seeking answers to questions. One thing to keep in mind, there is always some answer to the question. Another thing to tag onto that last statement is: The answer can be “I don’t know.” There is nothing wrong with this at times. It gives us a chance to learn, explore, research and grow in our knowledge. We can then go in search of an answer to the critic or sincere question. Even if we do put forth an effort to find an answer, there may not be one out in the open. Critics have scoffed at us when we are asked to “shelf” an answer. I will say that there are answers to many questions, there are times in life where “shelving” a question or concern is perfectly OK. If we are not in tune with the promptings of the Spirit when searching for answers, we could bring more problems to our situation than good. It is OK to fail in finding answers right away, it may take years to find the answer, and if we never do, it is alright. We must remember that the core questions of the truth are there, and we must keep faith in them. The rest is gravy to go along with the core building blocks of our faith (Christ Lives, Joseph Smith is and was a prophet, Book of Mormon is true, God speaks to a prophet today). Those are the things I consider vital, I may be missing some, but you get the idea. Failure to answer a critic’s attack or the perceived inability to answer a sneer about what we believe is not the end all. Fair, The Maxwell institute, and others give us great material to work with, and it is there to be utilized in defending truth. We can use these things to succeed where we may have failed before. Combine these resources with those the Church gives and the things that come to us through the Holy Ghost, and we have before us a strong arsenal
Failure in anything can be seen as a stepping stone for success. This is the same with Apologetics and answering the questions that can and will come to us from others, and even from ourselves. Stay close to the core, eternal truths of the gospel, and with that will come the answers, or else the peace the gospel brings. For those of you seeking answers, I wish you the best, and may you be blessed in your search. For those of you giving answers and who are engaged in the fight for truth, keep your head up, eyes open, your knees worn from prayer, and remember, failure is acceptable in life, as it often serves to make us stronger and more determined in our journey.
**Comments posted here represent my own views, not the views of FAIR, The Church of Jesus Christ, or others who participate on this blog.
Evolution and Mormonism
A week or so ago the world noted the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Dubbed “Darwin Day,” the event was met in the press with many stories related to evolution and the effect that evolutionary theories have had on not just the biological sciences, but also on society as a whole.
[Read more…] about Evolution and Mormonism
Same Process, Different Outcome
In a different thread on this blog, an ex-member of the Church mentioned that he and his friends—some still in the Church and some no longer in the Church—regularly met for lunch and were able to remain friends despite their now-different takes on the truth claims of the Church. As part of his comment he made what I consider to be a very interesting statement:
Our biggest problem was that we maybe believed in the church too much…and to some here it seem too literally and then tried to learn more.
Current Biology, SMGF, and Lamanites
[Details about the exchanges between Dr. Woodward and Dr. Southerton have been shared with me by Dr. Woodward himself. He also read, edited and approved this blog entry.]
On January 28, 2009 Simon Southerton posted the following comments on the discussion board at exmormon.org about my recent scientific publication on Native American origins. He also took the opportunity to criticize Dr. Scott Woodward, former molecular biologist at Brigham Young University and current director of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF).
Having great familiarity and being personally involved with the subjects mentioned in Southerton’s remarks, I deemed it necessary to provide an alternative and more accurate version of the facts. This is simply a rebuttal to Southerton’s specific posting and it is not meant to be another treatise on the Book of Mormon vs. DNA issue, since there is already a great abundance of LDS scholarship addressing the topic.
[Read more…] about Current Biology, SMGF, and Lamanites
Deacons then and now
Despite having a priesthood organization that resembles that of the New Testament church, the latter day church sometimes receives criticism for any perceived changes between then and now. For example, biblical fundamentalists contrast instructions in the pastoral letters that deacons should be husbands of one wife to the current LDS practice of ordaining twelve year old boys. I am open to hearing arguments of whether that means at least one one wife, exactly one wife, or at most one wife and what the implications are for widowers, divorcees, polygamists, and celibates. [Read more…] about Deacons then and now
Isn’t same-sex marriage just like couples that don’t have children?
Monte Neil Stewart (President, Marriage Law Foundation) deals with this argument here (p. 344 / 32nd page). To summarize his argument:
- Marriage is society’s mechanism to regulate and ameliorate the consequences of passion (that is, children). Even in our contraceptive culture there are many unintended births. Marriage law isn’t to make all sex procreative, but only seeks to encourage that man-woman sex occur within marriage as a protection when it is procreative.
- There is no procreation requirement of marriage because government has not felt that it was their place to ask.
- During centuries marriage has encompassed the central facts of child-bearing and child-rearing and laws have been designed to regulate entry into and continuation of the child-centered institution. This has continued without a specific request that parents declare any intentions about children.
Regardless of the claims that no harm would be done with same-sex marriages, there would be significant harm to the understanding and nature of marriage and to the usefulness of that institution for society’s goals.
The Jackson County Temple
A lot of times our FAIR wiki writers are being purposefully brief by featuring the simplest explanation. There is a hope that those who need more nuance and more possibilities explored will take advantage of the additional resources we point to. I like it when those struggling with an intellectual problem think independently about it. When they find their own solution to a criticism that works for them, I encourage them to stick with what works. Sometimes I will speak up if I see that a particular solution is inadequate and perhaps setting up someone for a future fall from encountering a more advanced criticism. [Read more…] about The Jackson County Temple
Zina and Joseph, In Very Deed
A few years ago I presented a paper at the 2006 FAIR Conference entitled Zina and Her Men concerning the tangled (and much misunderstood) marital relationships of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young. In preparing for the limited presentation time available in the conference format, I was not able to present much of the information that I had gathered relative to Zina and her relations with Joseph.
When considering the relationship of Zina and Joseph, it is natural in today’s voyeuristic society to ask a blunt question: Was Joseph Smith sexually active with Zina as one of his plural wives?
[Read more…] about Zina and Joseph, In Very Deed
Merry Christmas!
Even though the Saviour was almost certainly NOT born on 25 December [See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas], I would like to wish all of FAIRBlog’s readers a very merry Christmas.
Why should I do that, you might ask? Let’s look at the the word itself: The word, “Christmas” derives from the words “Christ” and “Mass”–in essence, it is a mass (what we would call a “Sacrament Meeting” celebrating the Lord, Jesus Christ.
While we should be celebrating Him EVERY day, Christmas–TODAY–is a good day to start! 😉
Have a joyous one–and may God richly bless you as you treat Him as Lord in the coming year!
