FAIR

Trevor Holyoak

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

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

Come, Follow Me Week 35 – Psalms 102–103; 110; 116–119; 127–128; 135–139; 146–150

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The Hymns of the Temple

Part 2

by Matthew L. Bowen

Praise is a dominant word in the latter third of the Psalter. The imperative plural Hebrew verbal expression hallelujah (halĕlû-yāh), “praise ye the Lord,” marks the beginning and ending of many of these temple hymns. In ancient Judah, ascending into the temple to praise Jehovah was a fundamental religious obligation. The gospel writer Luke notes that after the Ascension, Jesus’s earliest disciples “were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God” (Luke 24:53). The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ had given the disciples a sense of how the temple pointed to his incarnation and his unique role in saving Israel and all humanity (compare, for example, Mark 14:58; John 1:14; 2:19). [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 35 – Psalms 102–103; 110; 116–119; 127–128; 135–139; 146–150

Come, Follow Me Week 34 – Psalms 49–51; 61–66; 69–72; 77–78; 85–86

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The Hymns of the Temple

Part 1

by Matthew L. Bowen

The Psalms, originally written in Hebrew poetry,[1] were the hymns of the ancient Jerusalem temple.[2] Everything in them should be read and reflected upon with that in mind. Additionally, as Latter-day Saints, we are obligated to consider how these texts, within their temple and covenant context, can better connect us to the atonement of Jesus Christ in our time, just as they connected ancient Israelites and Judahites to Jehovah. The Psalms have much to teach us about the nature of God’s redemption and the role of the temple in that redemption.

Psalm 49 – The Price of Redemption, Christ’s Infinite Atonement, and the Temple

In Psalm 49, the futility and folly of earthly riches is expressed in terms of the value of God’s redemption. A key “atonement” term in Psalm 49 is the Hebrew pādâ and its nominal (noun) cognate pidyôn, “ransom” or “redemption”: [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 34 – Psalms 49–51; 61–66; 69–72; 77–78; 85–86

Come, Follow Me Week 33 – Psalms 1–2; 8; 19–33; 40; 46

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by Carl Trueman

If there is one question that seems to drive so much of modern life it is that of happiness.  What is it?  How does one attain it?  And perhaps more deeply, how does one know when one has attained it?  And it is therefore perhaps fitting that the Psalter, the great hymn book of the soul, begins with a description of what it is that characterized the ‘happy man’.

Readers of the English translation might be surprised by this, for many such translate the first line as ‘Blessed is the man’ not ‘Happy is the man.’  The reason is that the Hebrew word means both things in English.  In fact, we might say that not just the word but the concept of blessedness is the same as that of happiness in the Psalmists mind.  We live in a world where happiness is typically regarded as a psychological state.  The Psalmist’s world is one where happiness is being blessed by God. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 33 – Psalms 1–2; 8; 19–33; 40; 46