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| + | #REDIRECT[[Overview of the CES Letter]] |
| − | {{Resource Title|A FairMormon Analysis of "Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony"}}
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| − | {{epigraph|Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.<br><br>—{{s|1|Thessalonians|5|19-21}}
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| − | {{FAIRAnalysisHeader
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| − | |title=Letter to a CES Director
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| − | |author=Jeremy Runnells
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| − | ==Overview==
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| − | The "Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony" is an online document which is critical of Latter-day Saint truth claims. The document is comprised of a list of issues that the author states caused him to lose his testimony, and it is hosted on a number of websites which are critical of the Church. <ref>The PDF version of the letter is located at <nowiki>http://cesletter.com/</nowiki>. A response to FairMormon's initial response is located at <nowiki>http://www.cesletter.com/debunking-fairmormon/</nowiki> FairMormon's standing policy is not to link to critical websites. To view these sites, copy and paste the links into your browser.</ref> The author states that he is "a disaffected member who lost his testimony so it’s no secret which side I’m on at the moment. All this information is a result of over a year of intense research and an absolute rabid obsession with Joseph Smith and Church history. With this said, I’d be pretty arrogant and ignorant to say that I have all the information and that you don’t have answers."
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| − | A long list of issues follows. The author ultimately concludes that "There are just way too many problems. We’re not just talking about one issue here. We’re talking about dozens of serious issues that undermine the very foundation of the LDS Church and its truth claims."
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| − | | |
| − | ===FairMormon's response===
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| − | In developing our response, our primary intended audience is not necessarily the author of the Letter nor his associates, but rather those individuals, perhaps faithful Latter-day Saints, perhaps questioning, perhaps once-faithful but now sincerely doubting, who may have come across this Letter and been troubled by its contents. We respond here to the original version of the letter that was actually sent to the CES director and posted on FutureMissionary.com. The author has since made some corrections based upon this analysis and posted an apologetic in defense of his position at <nowiki>http://www.cesletter.com/debunking-fairmormon/</nowiki>
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| − | {{response format|name=Letter to a CES Director|number=200}}
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| − | | |
| − | ==Detailed responses by section are found in linked subarticles below==
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItemIndex
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Book of Mormon Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Book of Mormon Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author asks why italicized text and errors from the King James Bible are present in the Book of Mormon. He also briefly discusses anachronisms, archaeology, and a theory that the Book of Mormon place names actually originated in the area around New York. The "View of the Hebrews" theory of Book of Mormon authorship is discussed.
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| − | |sublink1=Response to claim: "What are 1769 King James Version edition errors doing in the Book of Mormon?"
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| − | |sublink2=Response to claim: "What are these 17th century italicized words doing in the Book of Mormon?"
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| − | |sublink3=Response to claim: "The Book of Mormon includes mistranslated biblical passages that were later changed in Joseph Smith’s translation of the bible."
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| − | |sublink4=Response to claim: "DNA analysis has concluded that Native American Indians do not originate from the Middle East"
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| − | |sublink5=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Horses
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| − | |sublink6=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Cattle
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| − | |sublink7=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Sheep
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| − | |sublink8=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Swine
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| − | |sublink9=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Goats
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| − | |sublink10=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Elephants
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| − | |sublink11=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Chariots
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| − | |sublink12=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Wheat
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| − | |sublink13=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Silk
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| − | |sublink14=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Steel
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| − | |sublink15=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Iron
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| − | |sublink16=Response to claim: "There is absolutely no archaeological evidence to directly support the Book of Mormon"
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| − | |sublink17=Response to claim: "This is one of the reasons why unofficial apologists are coming up with the Limited Geography Model"
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| − | |sublink18=Response to claim: "Latter-day Saint Thomas Stuart Ferguson was BYU’s archaeology division (New World Archaeological Funding) founder"
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| − | |sublink19=Response to claim: Book of Mormon Geography
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| − | |sublink20=Response to claim: Hill Cumorah
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| − | |sublink21=Response to claim: "'Camora' and settlement 'Moroni' were common names in pirate and treasure hunting stories involving Captain William Kidd"
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| − | |sublink22=Response to claim: "'View of the Hebrews' compared to the Book of Mormon"
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| − | |sublink23=Response to claim: "The Book of Mormon taught and still teaches a Trinitarian view of the Godhead"
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItemIndex
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Book of Mormon Translation Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Book of Mormon Translation Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author of the letter asks, "Why is the Church not being honest and transparent to its members about how Joseph Smith really translated the Book of Mormon? How am I supposed to be okay with this deception?"
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| − | |sublink1=Response to claim: "Joseph Smith used a rock in a hat for translating the Book of Mormon"
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| − | |sublink2=Response to claim: "Why is the Church not being honest and transparent to its members about how Joseph Smith really translated the Book of Mormon?"
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItemIndex
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/First Vision Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "First Vision Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author states, "Like the rock in the hat story, I did not know there were multiple First Vision accounts. I did not know its contradictions or that the Church members didn’t know about a First Vision until 22 years after it supposedly happened. I was unaware of these omissions in the mission field as I was never taught or trained in the Missionary Training Center to teach investigators these facts."
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| − | |sublink1=Response to claim: "There are at least 4 different First Vision accounts by Joseph Smith"
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| − | |sublink2=Response to claim: "The dates / his ages are all over the place"
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| − | |sublink3=Response to claim: "The reason or motive for seeking divine help – bible reading and conviction of sins, a revival, a desire to know if God exists, wanting to know which church to join – are all over the place"
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| − | |sublink4=Response to claim: "Who appears to him – a spirit, an angel, two angels, Jesus, many angels, the Father and the Son – are all over the place."
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| − | |sublink5=Response to claim: "The historical record shows that there was no revival in Palmyra in 1820"
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| − | |sublink6=Response to claim: "Why did Joseph hold a Trinitarian view of the Godhead, as shown previously with the Book of Mormon, if he clearly saw that the Father and Son were separate embodied beings in the official First Vision?"
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| − | |sublink7=Response to claim: "There is absolutely no record of a First Vision prior to 1832"
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| − | |sublink8=Response to claim: "In the 1832 account, Joseph said that before praying he knew that there was no true or living faith or denomination upon the earth"
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Book of Abraham Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Book of Abraham Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author notes that, "Egyptologists have found the source material for the Book of Abraham to be nothing more than a common pagan Egyptian funerary text for a deceased man named “Hor” in 1st century AD. In other words, it was a common Breathing Permit that the Egyptians buried with their dead. It has absolutely nothing to do with Abraham or anything Joseph claimed in his translation for the Book of Abraham."
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| − | |sublink1="scholars have found the original papyrus Joseph translated and have dated it in first century AD, nearly 2,000 years after Abraham could have written it"
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| − | |sublink2="It has absolutely nothing to do with Abraham or anything Joseph claimed in his translation for the Book of Abraham"
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| − | |sublink3=Facsimile 1
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| − | |sublink4="The following image is what Facsimile 1 is really supposed to look like"
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| − | |sublink5=Facsimile 2
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| − | |sublink6=Facsimile 3
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| − | |sublink7="the sun gets its light from Kolob"
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| − | |sublink8="There’s a book published in 1830 by Thomas Dick entitled 'The Philosophy of the Future State'"
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| − | |sublink9="Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was directly asked about the papyri not matching the Book of Abraham in a March 2012 BBC interview"
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| − | |sublink10=Citation abuse in Jeremy Runnells' Response and Rebuttal to Brian M. Hauglid's Rational Faiths Essay: B.H. Roberts comment on the Book of Abraham
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItemIndex
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Polygamy & Polyandry Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Polygamy/Polyandry Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=Regarding Joseph's practice of polygamy, the author states that "Joseph Smith’s pattern of behavior or modus operandi for a period of at least 10 years of his adult life was to keep secrets, be deceptive, and be dishonest – both privately and publicly."
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| − | |sublink1=Response to claim: "Joseph Smith was married to at least 34 women"
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| − | |sublink2=Response to claim: "Of those 34 women, 11 of them were married women of other living men"
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| − | |sublink3=Response to claim: "Among them being Apostle Orson Hyde who was sent on his mission to dedicate Israel when Joseph secretly married his wife, Marinda Hyde"
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| − | |sublink4=Response to claim: "Joseph was 37-years-old when he married 14-year-old Helen Mar Kimball"
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| − | |sublink5=Response to claim: "Among the women was a mother-daughter set and three sister sets"
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| − | |sublink6=Response to claim: "Some of the marriages to these women included....threats of loss of salvation"
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| − | |sublink7=Response to claim: "President Hinckley publicly stating that polygamy is not doctrinal"
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| − | |sublink8=Response to claim: "D&C 132 is unequivocal on the point that polygamy is permitted only 'to multiply and replenish the earth' and 'bear the souls of men'"
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| − | |sublink9=Response to claim: "These married women continued to live as husband and wife with their prior husband after marrying Joseph"
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| − | |sublink10=Response to claim: "Unions without the knowledge or consent of the husband, in cases of polyandry"
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| − | |sublink11=Response to claim: "A union with a newlywed and pregnant woman (Zina Huntingon)"
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| − | |sublink12=Response to claim: Zina "married Joseph after being told Joseph’s life was in danger from an angel with a flaming sword."
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| − | |sublink13=Response to claim: "The secrecy of the marriages and the private and public denials by Joseph Smith are not congruent with honest behavior"
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| − | |sublink14=Response to claim: "Why is there no mention of God commanding Adam or Noah and/or their immediate male children to have many wives?"
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| − | |sublink15=Response to claim: "Latter-day 'prophet, seer, and revelator' Lorenzo Snow strongly disagrees with FairMormon"
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Prophets Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Prophets Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author expresses concern about changes in doctrine. For example, "As a believing member, I had no idea that Joseph Smith gave the priesthood to black men. I’m supposed to go to the drawing board now and believe in a god who is not only a schizophrenic racist but who is inconsistent as well? Again, yesterday’s doctrine is today’s false doctrine. Yesterday’s 10 prophets are today’s heretics."
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| − | |sublink1="Brigham Young taught what is now known as 'Adam-God theory'. He taught that Adam is 'our Father and our God'"
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| − | |sublink2="Yesterday's doctrine is today's false doctrine. Yesterday’s prophet is today’s heretic."
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| − | |sublink3="Brigham Young said, 'The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy.'"
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| − | |sublink4="As a believing member, I had no idea that Joseph Smith gave the priesthood to black men"
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| − | |sublink5=Mark Hofmann
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| − | |sublink6="Why would I want them following the prophet when a prophet is just a man of his time?"
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Kinderhook Plates and Translator & Seer Claims Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Kinderhook Plates and Translator/Seer Claims Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author claims that, "Joseph Smith made a scientific claim that he could translate ancient documents. This is a testable claim. Joseph failed the test with the Book of Abraham. He failed the test with the Kinderhook Plates."
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| − | |sublink1=Kinderhook Plates
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| − | |sublink2=Book of Mormon
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItemIndex
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Testimony & Spiritual Witness Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Testimony/Spiritual Witness Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author asks the question, "Why is this Spirit so unreliable and inconsistent? How can I trust such an inconsistent and contradictory Source for knowing that Mormonism is worth betting my life, time, money, heart, mind, and obedience to?"
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| − | |sublink1=Response to claim: "Every major religion has members who claim the same thing: God or God’s spirit bore witness to them"
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| − | |sublink2=Response to claim: "it would likewise be arrogant of a Latter-day Saint to deny their spiritual experiences and testimonies of the truthfulness of their own religion"
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| − | |sublink3=Response to claim: "If God’s method to revealing truth is through feelings, it’s a pretty ineffective method"
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| − | |sublink4=Response to claim: "Joseph Smith received a revelation, through the peep stone in his hat, to send Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery to Toronto, Canada for the sole purpose of selling the copyright of the Book of Mormon"
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| − | |sublink5=Response to claim: "I saw a testimony as more than just spiritual experiences and feelings. I saw that we had evidence and logic on our side based on the correlated narrative I was fed by the Church about its origins."
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| − | |sublink6=Paul H. Dunn
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| − | |sublink7=Response to claim: "a testimony is to be found in the bearing of it"
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| − | |sublink8=Response to claim: "how can they be sure of the reliability of this same exact process in telling them that Mormonism is true?"
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| − | |sublink9=Response to claim: "I felt the Spirit watching 'Saving Private Ryan' and the 'Schindler’s List'. Both R-rated and horribly violent movies. I also felt the Spirit watching 'Forrest Gump' and the 'Lion King'."
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| − | |sublink10=Response to claim: "Why did I feel the Spirit as I listened to the stories of apostates sharing how they discovered for themselves that Mormonism is not true?"
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| − | }}
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| − | | |
| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItemIndex
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Priesthood Restoration Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Priesthood Restoration Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author states, "Like the First Vision story, none of the members of the Church or Joseph Smith’s family had ever heard prior to 1834 about a priesthood restoration from John the Baptist or Peter, James, and John. Although the priesthood is now taught to have been restored in 1829, Joseph and Oliver made no such claim until 1834. Why did it take five years for Joseph or Oliver to tell members of the Church about the priesthood?"
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| − | |sublink1=Response to section: "Although the priesthood is now taught to have been restored in 1829, Joseph and Oliver made no such claim until 1834."
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| − | |sublink2=Response to section: "Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery changed the wording of earlier revelations when they compiled the 1835 Doctrine & Covenants"
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItemIndex
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Witnesses Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Witnesses Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=Regarding the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, the author states, "At the end of the day? It all doesn’t matter. The Book of Mormon Witnesses and their testimonies of the gold plates are irrelevant. It does not matter whether eleven 19th century treasure diggers with magical worldviews saw some gold plates or not. It doesn’t matter because of this one simple fact: Joseph did not use the gold plates for translating the Book of Mormon."
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| − | |sublink1=Response to section: "If Oliver Cowdery’s gift was really a divining rod then this tells us that the origins of the Church are much more involved in folk magic and superstition"
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| − | |sublink2=Response to section: "who all shared a common worldview of second sight, magic, and treasure digging"
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| − | |sublink3=Response to section: "Martin Harris was anything but a skeptical witness"
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| − | |sublink4=Response to section: "he was known by many of his peers as an unstable, gullible, and superstitious man"
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| − | |sublink5=Response to section: "Whitmer responded that the angel 'had no appearance or shape'"
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| − | |sublink6=Response to section: "As scribe for the Book of Mormon and cousin to Joseph Smith, there was a serious conflict of interest in Oliver being a witness"
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| − | |sublink7=Response to section: "I did not see them uncovered, but I handled them and hefted them while wrapped in a tow frock"
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| − | |sublink8=Response to section: James Strang and the Voree Plates Witnesses
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| − | |sublink9=Response to section: No Document of Actual Signatures
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| − | |sublink10=Response to section: "James Strang’s claims and Voree Plates Witnesses are distinctive and more impressive compared to the Book of Mormon Witnesses"
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| − | |sublink12=Response to section: "the fact that all of the Book of Mormon Witnesses – except Martin Harris – were related to either Joseph Smith or David Whitmer"
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| − | |sublink13=Response to section: "in light of their superstitions and reputations"
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| − | |sublink14=Response to section: "The mistake that is made by 21st century Mormons is that they’re seeing the Book of Mormon Witnesses as empirical, rational, nineteenth-century men"
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| − | |sublink15=Response to section: "It doesn’t matter because of this one simple fact: Joseph did not use the gold plates for translating the Book of Mormon"
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| − | |sublink16=Citation abuse in the original Letter to a CES Director: Anthony Metcalf's Ten Years Before the Mast
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| − | |sublink17=Citation abuse in the original Letter to a CES Director: Stephen Burnett to Br. Johnson
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| − | |sublink18=Citation abuse in the original Letter to a CES Director: John Whitmer states that he saw the plates by a supernatural power
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItemIndex
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Temples & Freemasonry Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Temples & Freemasonry Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author of the letter asks, "Does the eternal salvation, eternal happiness, and eternal sealings of families really depend on medieval originated Masonic rituals in multi-million dollar castles? Is God really going to separate good couples and their children who love one other and who want to be together in the next life because they object to uncomfortable and strange Masonic temple rituals and a polygamous heaven?" We respond to these questions in this article.
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| − | |sublink1=Response to section: "Just seven weeks after Joseph’s Masonic initiation, Joseph introduced the LDS endowment"
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| − | |sublink2=Response to section: "We have the true Masonry"
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| − | |sublink3=Response to section: "why doesn’t the LDS ceremony more closely resemble an earlier form of Masonry?"
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| − | |sublink4=Response to section: "Freemasonry has zero links to the Solomon’s temple"
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| − | |sublink5=Response to section: "What does it say about the Church if it removed something that Joseph Smith said he restored?"
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Science Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Science Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author concludes that "The problem Mormonism encounters is that so many of its claims are well within the realm of scientific study, and as such, can be proven or disproven. To cling to faith in these areas, where the overwhelming evidence is against it, is willful ignorance, not spiritual dedication."
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| − | |sublink1="no death of any kind (humans, all animals, birds, fish, dinosaurs, etc.) on this earth until the 'Fall of Adam'"
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| − | |sublink2="Science has proven that there was no worldwide flood 4,500 years ago"
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| − | |sublink3="Other events/claims that science has discredited"
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| − | |sublink4="the sun gets its light from Kolob"
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| − | |sublink5="They carried honey bees across the ocean? Swarms of them?"
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItem
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Scriptures Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Scriptures Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author states that "To believe in the scriptures, I have to believe in a god who endorsed murder, genocide, infanticide, rape, slavery, selling daughters into sex slavery, polygamy, child abuse, stoning disobedient children, pillage, plunder, sexism, racism, human sacrifice, animal sacrifice, killing people who work on the Sabbath, death penalty for those who mix cotton with polyester, and so on."
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| − | |sublink1="that Laban would send his servants after Nephi and his brothers is ridiculous considering that the same God who had no problem lighting stones and taming swarms of bees"
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| − | |sublink2="God kills all the firstborn children in Egypt except for those who put blood on their doors?"
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| − | |sublink3="Got a rebellious kid who doesn’t listen? Take him to the elders and to the end of the gates and stone him to death!"
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| − | |sublink4="I’m asked to believe in not only a part-time racist god and a part-time polygamous god but a part-time psychopathic schizophrenic one as well"
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| − | }}
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| − | | |
| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItemIndex
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Other Concerns & Questions
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Other Concerns & Questions"
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| − | |summary=The author notes that, "Under [Quentin L.] Cook’s counsel, FAIR and unofficial LDS apologetic websites are anti-Mormon sources that should be avoided. Not only do they introduce to Mormons 'internet materials that magnify, exaggerate, and in some cases invent shortcomings of early Church leaders' but they provide many ridiculous answers with logical fallacies and omissions while leaving members confused and hanging with a bizarre version of Mormonism."
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| − | |sublink1=Response to claim: 2013 Official Declaration 2 Header Update Dishonesty
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| − | |sublink2=Response to claim: "Zina Diantha Huntington Young"
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| − | |sublink3=Response to claim: "Brigham Young Sunday School Manual"
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| − | |sublink4=Response to claim: "The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy"
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| − | |sublink5=Response to claim: "Church Finances"
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| − | |sublink6=Response to claim: "Tithing"
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| − | |sublink7=Response to claim: "Names of the Church"
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| − | |sublink8=Response to claim: "Some things that are true are not very useful"
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| − | |sublink9=Response to claim: "Criticizing leaders"
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| − | |sublink10=Response to claim: "the scary internet"
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| − | |sublink11=Response to claim: "Going after members who publish or share their questions, concerns, and doubts"
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| − | |sublink12=Response to claim: Strengthening the Church Members Committee
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| − | |sublink13=Response to claim: "When the prophet speaks the debate is over"
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| − | }}
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| − | ==== ====
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| − | {{SummaryItemIndex
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Conclusion
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| − | |subject=Response to section "Conclusion"
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| − | |summary=The author concludes, "FAIR and these unofficial apologists have done more to destroy my testimony than any anti-Mormon source ever could. I found their version of Mormonism to be alien and foreign to the Chapel Mormonism that I grew up in attending Church, seminary, reading scriptures, General Conferences, EFY, mission, and BYU. Their answers are not only contradictory to the scriptures and teachings I learned through correlated Mormonism…they’re truly bizarre."
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| − | |sublink1=Response to claim: "Among the first sources I looked to for answers were official Church sources such as Mormon.org and LDS.org. I couldn’t find them."
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| − | |sublink2=Response to claim: "FAIR and these unofficial apologists have done more to destroy my testimony than any anti-Mormon source ever could"
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Debunking FairMormon
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| − | |subject=Debunking FairMormon
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| − | |summary=The author of the ''Letter to a CES Director'' spent approximately eight months and over 500 pages responding to FairMormon's analysis of the CES Letter. He calls this document "Debunking FairMormon". The document incorporates our original summary responses and the author responds line-by-line to reassert his original claims.
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Citation abuse
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| − | |subject=Citation abuse in the ''Letter to a CES Director''
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| − | |summary=Examples of citation abuse in the ''Letter to a CES Director'' which demonstrate quote mining and quote duplications in order to make the hostile quotes appear to be more numerous.
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/An "open letter" to Elder Quentin L. Cook
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| − | |subject=The author's "open letter" to Elder Quentin L. Cook
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| − | |summary=Six months prior to writing the "Letter to a CES Director," the author posted an "Open Letter" to Elder Quentin L. Cook in an online ex-Mormon forum. This "open letter" represents a good summary of the issues that he would later cover in the "CES letter."
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| − | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Attempts to "spread the word"
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| − | |subject=Attempts to "spread the word" about the CES Letter and media response.
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| − | |summary=Efforts to "spread the word" using the CES Letter involve vandalism and email spam.
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| − | {{:Mormonism and apologetics/"ad hominem"/Case study/Jeremy Runnells}}
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| − | |link=http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/eye-of-the-beholder-law-of-the-harvest-observations-on-the-inevitable-consequences-of-the-different-investigative-approaches-of-jeremy-runnells-and-jeff-lindsay
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| − | |title=Eye of the Beholder, Law of the Harvest: Observations on the Inevitable Consequences of the Different Investigative Approaches of Jeremy Runnells and Jeff Lindsay
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| − | |author=Kevin Christensen
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| − | |authorlink=http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/author/kevinc/
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| − | |vol=10
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| − | |date=2014
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| − | |start=175
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| − | |end=238
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| − | |summary=In his Letter to a CES Director, Jeremy Runnells explains how a year of obsessive investigation brought about the loss of his testimony. In an LDS FAQ, LDS blogger Jeff Lindsay deals with all of the same questions, and has done so at least twenty years and has not only an intact testimony, but boundless enthusiasm. What makes the difference? In the parable of the Sower, Jesus explained that the same seeds (words) can generate completely different harvests, ranging from nothing to a hundred-fold increase, all depending on the different soil and nurture. This essay looks at how different expectations and inquiries for translation, prophets, key scriptural passages on representative issues can lead to very different outcomes for investigators.
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| − | |link=http://blog.fairmormon.org/2014/05/20/coping-with-the-big-list-of-attacks-on-the-lds-faith/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fairldsblog+%28FAIR+Blog%29
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| − | |title=Coping with the “Big List” of Attacks on the LDS Faith
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| − | |author=Jeff Lindsay
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| − | |date=May 20, 2014
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| − | |summary=One of the challenges in defending one’s faith is coping with critics who use the “Big List” technique in their attack. This involves throwing out numerous arguments to create the impression of an overwhelming barrage that decimates the faith in question (see the related post, [http://mormanity.blogspot.com/2006/05/if-only-10-of-these-charges-are-true.html “If Only 10% of These Charges Are True…“]). The Big List is loaded with barbed questions that weren’t written in search of a real answer. If there is a good defense to the arguments raised at first, never mind, there are many more to be launched in different directions.
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| − | As with many topics in fields like history, science, and religion, the issues raised in Big List attacks are often complex and may require exploring abundant details to answer questions properly. Even for those who are prepared to answer questions on a wide variety of topics, the time it takes to lay a foundation and properly answer a question can be taken by the instantly impatient critics as an admission of weakness and confirmation that they are right, and then it’s time to move on to the next attack and the next. If reasonable answers are promptly provided for some attacks, or if the alleged weakness on further examination actually proves to be evidence in favor of the faithful position, the response can be ignored as new attacks from the Big List are hurled out.
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| − | {{PerspectivesBar
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| − | |link=http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/fair-conferences/2014-fairmormon-conference/reflections-letter-ces-director
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| − | |title=Some Reflections On That Letter To a CES Director
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| − | |author=Daniel C. Peterson
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| − | |authorlink=http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/authors/peterson-daniel
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| − | |date=8 August 2014
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| − | |publication=Proceedings of the 2014 FairMormon Conference
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| − | |summary=Some of you don’t know what the “Letter to a CES Director” is. It’s a letter that’s been circulating online for about a year now…a year and a half, I think, as far as I know, that has gotten quite a bit of circulation. It’s a kind of compendium of standard critical arguments against the truth claims of the Church. ....I don’t object to the attempt in the “Letter to a CES Director” to subject the claims of Mormonism to reasoned examination. I just don’t think the effort went nearly far or deep enough.
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| − | [[es:La crítica del mormonismo/Documentos en línea/Carta a un Director del SEI]]
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| − | [[Category:Letter to a CES Director]]
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