The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ has been called the keystone of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church members have been continually encouraged to read, study, and ponder the Book of Mormon’s contents since it was first translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith. Joseph himself said that “a man would get closer to God by abiding by its precepts.” But how can we know this is true? [Read more…] about Asking Big Questions: How Can I Gain a Testimony of the Book of Mormon?
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Call for Papers: FAIR Book of Mormon Conference
Virtual conference to be held September 22-23, 2023
In an effort to expand understanding and appreciation of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, the executive committee of FAIR (Faithful Answers, Informed Response) welcomes you to submit your research as your application to present at this event.
This conference will be an excellent opportunity to connect with other experts in your field and make a meaningful contribution to the advancement of excellent scholarship and reasoned answers to critical questions about The Book of Mormon in an effort to create conditions where faith in Jesus Christ and His gospel can flourish.
Unlike FAIR’s Annual Conference in August, this will be a virtual-only conference – presenters may participate in person, remotely, or by submitting a pre-recorded presentation. Sessions will be live streamed at no cost. Conference presentations will then be published in book format.
Dates to remember:
- Intent to submit: May 15, 2023
- Submission deadline: June 15, 2023 – abstract & rough draft
- Submission guidelines:
- Please submit your full research paper, including the abstract.
- Papers – no more than 4000 words
- Abstracts – approximately 300 words
- Decision date: August 1, 2023
- Final Draft due: Sept 15, 2023
Submitting is easy! Just use our handy submission portal available here:
Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 14: The Early Church – The Endowment [A]
While the Endowment is a subject that I find comforting and fascinating to study, I will admit upfront that I’ve been feeling some trepidation regarding this section. In his Letter, Faulk actually describes and shows images of many of the temple signs, symbols, and tokens, and those are not things I’m comfortable discussing in a public setting. I take our temple covenants very seriously, and I don’t want to put myself or FAIR or any of the readers here in the position of potentially breaking those covenants. Because of that, there will be a large section of this topic that will just be skimmed over without the usual level of detail and documentation I try to provide.
And frankly, I’m actually appalled that Faulk would post that information for everyone to read and look at. I don’t believe in mocking someone else’s sincerely held religious beliefs, even when I find those beliefs strange or off-putting. Unfortunately, that’s what Faulk’s Letter leads to deeper in this section. While I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that wasn’t his intent, he does air these things publicly where they can and will be mocked by those who belittle them.
This week, however, we’ll be focusing most of our attention on the idea that the Endowment was copied from Freemasonry. There is some truth and a lot of untruth behind that charge. [Read more…] about Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 14: The Early Church – The Endowment [A]
Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – John 7–10
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Evangelical Questions: Is It True? How do you know?
by Jennifer Roach, MDiv, LMHC
Welcome back to Come Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions. My name is Jennifer Roach and today we’re going to talk about truth – and how you learn it. As you know we’re going through the Come Follow Me readings and addressing common questions that Evangelicals ask about our faith as we go along. Our purpose here is not to fuel debate but to help you understand where your Evangelical friends and family are coming from so that you can have better conversations with them, and perhaps even be able to offer them a bit of our faith in a way they can understand.
Our scripture this week comes from John 7:15-17. Jesus has gone up to the temple to teach and we get this:
The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?” Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” (NIV)
So, the question is: Do we approach gospel learning differently? [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – John 7–10
Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 13: The Early Church – The Word of Wisdom [B]
This week, we’re continuing with the Word of Wisdom discussion. There were some important concepts introduced in last week’s post: the need for ongoing revelation, the Word of Wisdom as a mark to set us apart from the rest of the world, that there are differences between the revelation found in D&C 89 and the version we follow today, and that it was not meant just for physical health, but also for spiritual health. These are things to keep in mind this week, too.
The LFMW picks up:
Additionally, the Lord’s Law of Health seems to lack real health considerations.
This is a bit of an odd statement to me. The Word of Wisdom was not meant to be an all-encompassing list of everything that was healthy or unhealthy. It doesn’t cover every single individual circumstance. It makes very few definitive health statements, and mostly just says whether things are good or not good according to the Lord’s definition. [Read more…] about Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 13: The Early Church – The Word of Wisdom [B]
Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 18; Luke 10
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Evangelical Questions: Church Discipline
by Jennifer Roach, MDiv, LMHC
Welcome back to Come Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions. My name is Jennifer Roach and today we’re going to talk about Church Discipline. As you know we’re going through the Come Follow Me readings and addressing common questions that Evangelicals ask about our faith as we go along. Our purpose here is not to fuel debate but to help you understand where your Evangelical friends and family are coming from so that you can have better conversations with them, and perhaps even be able to offer them a bit of our faith in a way they can understand.
Our scripture this week comes from Matthew 18:6:
But who so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned.
Cornerstone: A FAIR Temple Preparation Podcast – Episode 2: Covenants and Ordinances with BJ Spurlock
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Have you ever felt that the gospel is a bunch of things to check off a list? Have you ever wondered what’s up with this “covenant path” that Church leaders talk so much about? If so, join us for this episode with BJ Spurlock as we explore covenants, ordinances, and how God teaches us through symbolism.
BJ Spurlock is a Sunday School teacher in Kentucky, blogs at thingsastheyreallyare.com, and has also written for FAIR and Public Square Magazine.
Jacob Crapo was born and now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. He served his mission in Upstate New York and was an ordinance worker in the Las Vegas Temple. One of Jacob’s dreams is to help build a temple. He is an electrician by trade but his real passion is helping others access the powers of heaven.
Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 12: The Early Church – The Word of Wisdom [A]
One of the things about the online Latter-day Saint community that has always surprised me is just how often people try to argue the Word of Wisdom. As someone who was born in the covenant and raised mostly in Utah with a lot of friends who shared my beliefs, I’ve never felt the desire to drink alcohol, coffee, or tea, or to do drugs. I have my fair share of other temptations, but breaking the Word of Wisdom has never been one of them. Because of that, it’s hard for me to understand the very large focus on this topic that so many people have.
We don’t abstain from coffee, tea, or alcohol because those things are inherently sinful on their own. The Savior drank wine, after all. In fact, He was even accused of being a “winebibber,” or a drunkard. Obviously, this was an exaggerated accusation by people looking for ways to discredit His teachings, but He did still occasionally partake of wine. [Read more…] about Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 12: The Early Church – The Word of Wisdom [A]
Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 15–17; Mark 7–9
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Evangelical Questions: “What Apostasy?”
by Jennifer Roach, MDiv, LMHC
Welcome back to Come Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions. My name is Jennifer Roach and today we’re going to talk about the Apostasy. As you know we’re going through the Come Follow Me readings and addressing common questions that Evangelicals ask about our faith as we go along. Our purpose here is not to fuel debate but to help you understand where your Evangelical friends and family are coming from so that you can have better conversations with them, and perhaps even be able to offer them a bit of our faith in a way they can understand.
Our scripture this week comes from Matthew 16:18:
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
On the one hand, what a fantastic, reassuring scripture. And on the other hand, you can immediately see how there is a lot of debate about what this actually means. And I’ll be honest, Latter-day Saint friends, some of the ways we talk about the apostasy are adding to the confusion and I think as we go along you’ll be able to see what I’m talking about. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 15–17; Mark 7–9
Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 11: The Early Church – The Kinderhook Plates
This past weekend, we were blessed to hear from the prophets and some of our other church leaders during General Conference, and Sunday is Easter. The messages to focus on our Savior, avoid contention, and increase our ability to receive personal revelation, including from our patriarchal blessings, hit me especially hard this year. The very nature of this series, and of the previous one I did, means that I am wallowing in contention and things that cause the Spirit to flee. Though the tone of this letter is less overtly hostile than that of the CES Letter, the intent and the manipulations behind the words are identical. Because I’m surrounding myself with this kind of thing, sometimes it does diminish my capacity for personal revelation. It also means that sometimes, I don’t react with as much compassion and empathy as I’d like to.
This kind of material stirs up ill feelings in me toward the authors and that has a tendency to spread to other situations. There was a notable example just this past week. I went through a difficult experience that left me very upset and stressed out. With my emotions heightened, I didn’t react with as much understanding and grace as I probably should have. Because I learned of it shortly after working on last week’s post, that fed into how I was feeling and made it worse than it otherwise would have been. Conference was the balm of Gilead that I needed. [Read more…] about Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 11: The Early Church – The Kinderhook Plates
