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FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 9 Days!

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General Conference is coming up in 9 days! It will be held October 1-2, and will have morning and afternoon sessions on Saturday and Sunday, along with an evening session for everyone on Saturday. More information is available here.

In preparation, we are doing a daily countdown with posts from different people explaining how they feel about General Conference, how they prepare, tips for getting the most out of it, how to deal with associated social media posts, etc.

About Those Conference Predictions

by Benjamin Pacini

Anyone who is making conference predictions is probably just trafficking in conference-mania.

Ask me how I know. [Read more…] about FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 9 Days!

Yet another critical website pretending to be something it’s not – “LDS Discussions”

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Websites critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are popping up regularly, some gaining more traction than others. FAIR has responded specifically to some of them, like the so-called “CES Letter,” “Letter to My Wife,” and MormonThink. There are many other similar websites that FAIR has not responded to, partly because the topics raised in these sources are usually addressed in our wiki anyway, and partly because many of these sites overlap, because they are mostly re-hashing old arguments. [Read more…] about Yet another critical website pretending to be something it’s not – “LDS Discussions”

FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 10 Days!

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General Conference is coming up in 10 days! It will be held October 1-2, and will have morning and afternoon sessions on Saturday and Sunday, along with an evening session for everyone on Saturday. More information is available here.

In preparation, we are doing a daily countdown with posts from different people explaining how they feel about General Conference, how they prepare, tips for getting the most out of it, how to deal with associated social media posts, etc.

Contextually Concrete Revelation

by Samuel Major

When I moved to Chicago to begin my master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, I went with the intention to be unashamed about the gospel and a desire to be fully prepared to defend it. From orientation week forward I made it well known that I was one of those “Mormons” and that my religion was everything to me. I was going to be an intellectual missionary for the church. I would prepare for General Conference with the intention of figuring out new ways to clearly defend the gospel so that I could articulate its precepts to a room full of hostile, secular academics. This meant that I would watch General Conference like I would listen to a university lecture in a philosophy department- organizing notes about gospel doctrines logically and preparing rebuttals for the arguments I anticipated would be brought up in class.  [Read more…] about FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 10 Days!

FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 11 Days!

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General Conference is coming up in 11 days! It will be held October 1-2, and will have morning and afternoon sessions on Saturday and Sunday, along with an evening session for everyone on Saturday. More information is available here.

In preparation, we are doing a daily countdown with posts from different people explaining how they feel about General Conference, how they prepare, tips for getting the most out of it, how to deal with associated social media posts, etc.

Yesterday’s post is here. I was apparently so excited to get started that I embedded the wrong video! That has now been corrected, so you can go back and watch it.

Today (in the video that was originally posted yesterday) Jennifer Roach talks about what you can do to help others that are upset about something they hear in General Conference.

Jennifer Roach earned a Master of Divinity from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, and a Master of Counseling from Argosy University. Before her conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints she was an ordained minister in the Anglican church. Her own experience of sexual abuse from a pastor during her teen years led her to care deeply about issues of abuse in faith communities.

FAIR’s Countdown to Conference Begins Now!

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General Conference is coming up in 12 days! It will be held October 1-2, and will have morning and afternoon sessions on Saturday and Sunday, along with an evening session for everyone on Saturday. More information is available here.

In preparation, we will be doing a daily countdown with posts from different people explaining how they feel about General Conference, how they prepare, tips for getting the most out of it, how to deal with associated social media posts, etc.

Today we will start things off with a video from Jennifer Roach: “What should you do if you hear something in Conference that you really don’t agree with?”

Jennifer Roach earned a Master of Divinity from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, and a Master of Counseling from Argosy University. Before her conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints she was an ordained minister in the Anglican church. Her own experience of sexual abuse from a pastor during her teen years led her to care deeply about issues of abuse in faith communities.

 

 

Come, Follow Me Week 39 – Isaiah 40–49

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Comfort Ye My People: The Crucial Historical Background to Understanding Isaiah 40

By Kerry Muhlestein

It is understandable that the Come Follow Me curriculum does not have us read Isaiah 36-39. That covers material which we already covered in 2 Kings 18-19. Yet we cannot understand what is going on in many of the earlier Isaiah chapters, and certainly not in the chapters just after this block, if we don’t remind ourselves of the events that are described in Isaiah 36-39. While I go more into depth on these things in both my podcast, The Scriptures Are Real,  and in my commentary, Learning to Love Isaiah, here we will give brief excerpts from that commentary that hopefully will help the reader gain a better understanding of the first few chapters of the reading. After these excerpts, I will also note another literary structure that begins at chapter 40 which is very helpful in understanding the next 17 chapters of Isaiah. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 39 – Isaiah 40–49

Come, Follow Me Week 38 – Isaiah 13–14; 24–30; 35

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Isaiah’s ability to speak to many time periods at once

By Kerry Muhlestein

I have found that one of the great keys to understanding Isaiah is to see how his writings apply to more than one time period. By that I mean that the same verse or set of verses are intended to be fulfilled in more than one time era. I believe that often Isaiah was inspired to write in a way which allowed his writings to be fulfilled in ways and times even he did not foresee. In my own experience, when I can see the original context and fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies, I am better able to apply it to myself, and I draw more power from it. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 38 – Isaiah 13–14; 24–30; 35

Come, Follow Me Week 37 – Isaiah 1–12

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A time to study Isaiah

by Kerry Muhlestein

It seems to me that this year, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have fervently embraced the Come Follow Me program, we have come to learn from and love the Old Testament more than ever before. I have high hopes we will have that same experience with Isaiah. Many have loved Isaiah for a long time. Many have struggled with Isaiah despite wrestling with his writings for years. Many find some things they love and yet feel that overall Isaiah is confusing. With the spiritual scriptural momentum we are carrying with us, and with all of the resources that are being made available, wherever each person is in their ability to learn from Isaiah, we can all come out of the next five weeks of Isaiah study with an even greater love for and understanding of Isaiah. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 37 – Isaiah 1–12

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 36 – Proverbs 1–4; 15–16; 22; 31; Ecclesiastes 1–3; 11–12

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Proverbs Primer

by Matt Christiansen

Imagine an encounter with Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos.  After introductions and pleasantries, the discussion turns more substantive, and he asks about your big picture dreams and aspirations. You seize the opportunity and lay out a detailed blueprint for the most productive, impactful, and meaningful life you can imagine. He listens intently, occasionally asking questions to clarify vagaries, and even offers bits of advice.

Your allotted time is spent (apparently, he’s a busy man), but before leaving he reaches into his suitcoat, pulls out a checkbook, and then proceeds to date and sign a personal check. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 36 – Proverbs 1–4; 15–16; 22; 31; Ecclesiastes 1–3; 11–12