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Jeff Markham

The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 59

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Part 59: CES Letter Other Concerns/Questions [Section A]

by Sarah Allen

 

We’re starting the last section of the CES Letter besides the conclusion, so it’s just a few more weeks of this series. This particular section is a hodgepodge of all of the different things Jeremy could think of that didn’t quite fit in the other sections, as well as other questions that revisit some of the ones already asked.

Jeremy begins with a quote taken from Richard Bushman, noted historian and author of Rough Stone Rolling, that was given during an informal fireside at someone’s home, filmed, clipped into a short, 2-minute video, then handed over to various critics to pass around: [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 59

The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 58

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Part 58: CES Letter Science Questions

by Sarah Allen

 

In this life, there are a lot of questions for which we don’t have answers, or only have partial answers. There is much still yet to be revealed, and one of the big lessons we need to learn in this life is that of having patience and trusting in the Lord to reveal things according to His timeline, not ours.

When I’m praying over some of these questions, two scriptures often come to mind as my answer. The most common one is D&C 58:3, which says, in part:

Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things…

The scripture verse that occasionally follows it up if I’m not satisfied by that answer and I get a little salty or frustrated over it is D&C 25:4, which reads:

Murmur not because of the things which thou hast not seen, for they are withheld from thee and from the world, which is wisdom in me in a time to come.

Sometimes, we’re just not ready for the answers yet, and we need to learn how to be okay with that. It’s not an easy lesson to learn, but it’s a pretty important one.

In this particular section of questions in the CES Letter, we’ll be discussing things that don’t have full, definitive answers yet. A lot of it is speculative, and a lot of Jeremy’s questions and comments are based on assumptions, not revealed doctrine. We’re mostly going to be talking about theories today.

I’m okay with not having explicit answers to these questions yet. Some of you won’t be, and that’s okay, too. Everyone has unanswered questions, and some of those questions can really bother us until we come to an answer that satisfies us. There’s nothing “wrong” or shameful about that. This church was restored because of Joseph Smith trying to get answers to his unanswered questions.

There are two things in particular that I think President Nelson excels at, and I think we’re very blessed to have a leader who does excel at those things. First, he is very good at separating the necessary from the extraneous, both in doctrine and practice. Under his leadership, the Church has streamlined various programs and taken steps to make things more simple and clear for us. He has shown that he’s open-minded and willing to change certain things to make our lives easier. He’s also told us that other things will not change, because they’re necessary for our salvation.

The second thing he’s really great at is closely related to the first, and that’s his ability to adapt to new information. When he’s informed that something isn’t working for many people, he seeks out ways to change it. When he learns new historical information, he adjusts his assumptions accordingly.

[Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 58

The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 57

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Part 57: CES Letter Temples & Freemasonry Questions [Section C]

by Sarah Allen

 

While Eastern societies and cultures are often well-versed in allegory and symbolism, Western societies and cultures are typically much more literal-minded, especially in the modern day. This can make studying the Gospel, particularly the temple, more challenging than it needs to be. So much of what happens inside the temple is symbolic. It can be difficult for us to fully understand what is being taught to us, and Jeremy Runnells takes that to extremes here in this portion of his CES Letter. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 57

The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 56

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Part 56: CES Letter Temples & Freemasonry Questions [Section B]

by Sarah Allen

 

Before picking back up with this week’s post, I just wanted to take a moment to thank Jeffrey Bradshaw and Brandon Cole for providing additional resources and information in the comments of last week’s posts, as well as Trevor Holyoak for pointing me toward a helpful eBook. It was very generous, and I learned a lot this week. I appreciate you guys.

I’m a lot less appreciative of Jeremy and the spin he puts on things. The word games he favors come out in full force in this section, where he conflates different concepts, makes broad assumptions, and gives dishonest readings of quotes. He seems like a smart guy with decent reading comprehension, so I have to believe that he’s doing it on purpose. An honest reading of these quotes in context more than answers his supposed questions, and yet, he avoids doing that on topic after topic. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 56

The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 55

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Part 55: CES Letter Temples & Freemasonry Questions [Section A]

by Sarah Allen

 

The next “problematic” topic the CES Letter discusses is the apparent link between the temple ceremony and Freemasonry. Admittedly, this isn’t a topic I know as much about as some of the others we’ve gone over. I’ve just never had many questions about Freemasonry, so I’ve never studied the topic much in the past. I love learning new things, though, so I’ve been looking forward to this section. It’s a difficult one to talk about because it’s so heavily centered on the endowment and, due to its sacred nature, that’s not something we talk about openly. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 55

The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 54

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Part 54: CES Letter Witnesses Questions [Section J]

by Sarah Allen

 

With the exception of Hyrum Smith, the stories of the three witnesses are much more recognizable to us as a whole than those of the eight witnesses. Today, I wanted to focus on the seven we aren’t as familiar with. Their contributions to early Latter-day Saint history deserve to be celebrated. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 54

The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 53

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Part 53: CES Letter Witnesses Questions [Section I]

by Sarah Allen

 

We’ll wrap up Jeremy’s issues with the Book of Mormon witnesses this week, and then I’d like to take a little time discussing some of the lesser-known witnesses. We’re all pretty familiar with the three witnesses, but aside from Hyrum and arguably Joseph Smith, Sr., we as a group aren’t as familiar with the eight witnesses or the unofficial witnesses like Mary Whitmer. Their stories are important, though, and I’d like to give them the spotlight for a bit.

Jeremy picks up with his seventh issue/problem: [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 53

The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 52

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Part 52: CES Letter Witnesses Questions [Section H]

by Sarah Allen

 

This post officially marks the one-year mark for this series (on Reddit, Part 1 was split into two parts). I honestly never thought this would take so long, or that anyone would still be interested. I thought that maybe five people at most would read them, and they’d peter out after a month or two due to lack of interest. Instead, you’ve all been very kind and encouraging, and I wanted to thank you all for that. The other Reddit mods, especially, have been incredibly supportive despite the influx of trolls it’s brought to the sub. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 52

The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 51

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Part 51: CES Letter Witnesses Questions [Section G]

by Sarah Allen

 

In this entry, I’d like to get through as much of the next few pages of the CES Letter as possible, so that we can wrap up the Witnesses section soon and move on to the next topic. There are a lot of different accusations to go through, many of which we’ve already covered, so I’m just going to dive right in.

The Letter picks up, again in big, red, capital letters: [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 51

The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 50

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Part 50: CES Letter Witnesses Questions [Section F]

by Sarah Allen

 

We’re continuing the saga of James Strang today, addressing Jeremy’s various concerns and comments. If you read the prior post, you know that this is a crazy story and Strang was a rather colorful character. Jeremy Runnells, of course, does not go into any of that history or the clear signs of deception, and only focuses on the few similarities between Strang and Joseph Smith—namely, that he claimed to translate some plates by the power of God and that he had some witnesses for those plates. We’ll go through those similarities and the differences in more detail as we go through Jeremy’s questions/comments.

Jeremy begins: [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 50