The FairMormonTV Roku channel has now been updated with FairMormon Conference presentations from 2017. You can add the free channel to your Roku account here.
FairMormon Conference Podcast #25 – Jeff Robinson, “Thinking Differently About Same-Sex Attraction”
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This podcast series features past FairMormon Conference presentations. This episode is a presentation from our 2018 conference. (If you would like to watch the video of this and the other presentations from the 2018 conference, you can still purchase video streaming.)
Jeff Robinson, Thinking Differently About Same-Sex Attraction
Transcript available here.
Dr. Robinson received his Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Brigham Young University. His doctoral dissertation was a qualitative study in of married Latter-Day Saint men with histories of homosexual activity. For the last 25 years he has worked in private practice specializing in assisting individuals experiencing a conflict between their experience of same-sex attraction and their religious beliefs and/or personal values. He has given numerous presentations on the issue of same-sex attraction and has conducted training for therapists and a variety of settings. He and his wife Wendy are the parents of eight children and the grandparents of eight.
Audio Copyright © 2018 The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. Any reproduction or transcription of this material without prior express written permission is prohibited.
FairMormon Conference Podcast #24 – Brad Wilcox, “‘Have You Been Saved By Grace?’ How Do We Respond?”
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This podcast series features past FairMormon Conference presentations. This episode is a presentation from our 2018 conference. (If you would like to watch the video of this and the other presentations from the 2018 conference, you can still purchase video streaming.)
Brad Wilcox, “Have You Been Saved By Grace?” How Do We Respond?
Transcript available here.
Brad Wilcox is a professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University where he also enjoys working with such programs as Especially for Youth, Women’s Conference, and Campus Education Week. He is the author of the book The Continuous Atonement and the BYU devotional “His Grace is Sufficient.” Brad grew up in Provo, Utah, except for childhood years spent in Ethiopia, Africa. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chile and later returned to that country to preside over the Chile Santiago East Mission from 2003 to 2006. He and his family have also lived for a time in New Zealand and Spain where he directed study abroad programs for Brigham Young University. Brad has served as a member of the Sunday School General Board. He and his wife, Debi, have four children and six grandchildren. Reading, writing, teaching, and traveling are some of his favorite things. He loves Peanut M&M’s and pepperoni pizza, but he realizes that doesn’t sound too healthy so he is really trying hard to learn to love salads.
Audio Copyright © 2018 The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. Any reproduction or transcription of this material without prior express written permission is prohibited.
Three Excerpts from “Answers Will Come: Trusting the Lord in the Meantime” by Shalissa Lindsay
[A review of the book can be found here.]
Not having all the answers is more blessed. (p. 29)
In our quest for faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a tremendous and indispensable asset. But not because it offers all the answers to every possible question. Even—perhaps especially—within the restored gospel, there have to be some opportunities for us to question and doubt. They provide the opposition against which faith can grow and strengthen. In fact, Christ has deliberately withheld some things for this express purpose.1 He told Mormon, “I will try the faith of my people.”2
Hence, the Lord supports faith but does not demand it. He lets us discover substantial internal evidences in latter-day scriptures, but withholds incontrovertible proof. He gives us eleven witnesses of the gold plates, but leaves Book of Mormon geography uncertain. By not compelling us to believe, Christ offers us the chance to be “more blessed.” He told the Nephites who had seen him that “more blessed are they who shall believe in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me.”3
And He told his doubting Apostle Thomas, “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”4 [Read more…] about Three Excerpts from “Answers Will Come: Trusting the Lord in the Meantime” by Shalissa Lindsay
Book Review: Answers Will Come: Trusting the Lord in the Meantime
[Excerpts from the book can be found here.]
The main thing that FairMormon as an organization tries to do is to provide reasonable answers to questions and criticisms in an easily digestible format. However, there are some questions that don’t seem to have satisfying answers at this time. These are the questions that require us to have faith and keep holding on, choosing to continue believing and living the gospel while we pray and wait for answers to be revealed to us. This can be very difficult for someone going through a faith crisis or other trials, when it seems as if we have to have answers now in order to just keep going.
That is where this book fits in. It is written by a woman who has been through many trials and a crisis of faith, and has learned to trust while waiting for answers. “When I was a young adult, my unanswered gospel questions threatened to overwhelm my testimony, choking my trust in God. I begged the Lord for doctrinal answers only He could give. Instead, He wisely offered me tutorials in trust. In this book, I share those in-the-meantime answers that for me have created intellectual breathing space. These ideas help me joyfully choose faith until all the answers come” (Introduction page).
The book is written in an unusual way. There is one idea per page, with the body text appearing only on the odd-numbered pages. The alternating pages have a (usually) very brief topical title or summary. This is so that you can read a little bit at a time, and it works remarkably well. [Read more…] about Book Review: Answers Will Come: Trusting the Lord in the Meantime
FairMormon Conference Podcast #23 – Richard Lloyd Anderson, “Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses”
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This podcast series features past FairMormon Conference presentations. This episode is a presentation from 2004. If you would like to watch the presentations from our most recent conference, you can still purchase video streaming.
Richard Lloyd Anderson, Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses
Transcript available here.
Richard Lloyd Anderson (1926-2018) was a Professor Emeritus of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, and senior research fellow at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University. More information about him can be found in this tribute. His book, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses, is available at a discount from the FairMormon Bookstore.
Audio and Video Copyright © 2004 The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. Any reproduction or transcription of this material without prior express written permission is prohibited.
Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone’s Experience with the Scriptures and the Savior
Cross-posted from Truth Will Prevail
Cobbled together by Dennis B. Horne
Note: In his earlier years, in some talks given in the 1970s, as a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone referenced a marvelous spiritual experience he received. The below contains both published text and newly transcribed wording that was withheld for whatever reason (perhaps felt to be too sacred then), from the published version, that gives further insight into the experience. Links are provided so readers can listen to both of the talks at their convenience:
Let me tell you the greatest experience I believe I have had in all my readings of the scriptures—and I am sharing something that is very tender with me. I remember the night that I read 3 Nephi the 17th chapter [3 Ne. 17]. That is when I discovered the Lord Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, my Savior, my personal Savior; and I believe that is where I finally found the description of the Savior as I thought him to be.
He had been with the Nephite people all the day long, you will recall, and finally said: [Read more…] about Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone’s Experience with the Scriptures and the Savior
FairMormon Conference Podcast #22 – Daniel Peterson, “Apologetics: What, Why, and How”
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This podcast series features past FairMormon Conference presentations. This episode is a presentation from our 2018 conference. (If you would like to watch the video of this and the other presentations from the 2018 conference, you can still purchase video streaming.)
Daniel Peterson, Apologetics: What, Why, and How
Transcript available here.
A native of southern California, Daniel C. Peterson received a bachelor’s degree in Greek and philosophy from Brigham Young University (BYU) and, after several years of study in Jerusalem and Cairo, earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Peterson is a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at BYU, where he has taught Arabic language and literature at all levels, Islamic philosophy, Islamic culture and civilization, Islamic religion, the Qur’an, the introductory and senior “capstone” courses for Middle Eastern Studies majors, and various other occasional specialized classes. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on Islamic and Latter-day Saint topics–including a biography entitled Muhammad: Prophet of God (Eerdmans, 2007)—and has lectured across the United States, in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and at various Islamic universities in the Near East and Asia. He served in the Switzerland Zürich Mission (1972-1974), and, for approximately eight years, on the Gospel Doctrine writing committee for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also presided for a time as the bishop of a singles ward adjacent to Utah Valley University. Dr. Peterson is married to the former Deborah Stephens, of Lakewood, Colorado, and they are the parents of three sons.
Audio Copyright © 2018 The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. Any reproduction or transcription of this material without prior express written permission is prohibited.
Book Review: We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps
William Wines Phelps (usually known as W. W. Phelps) is probably most often thought of in conjunction with some of the most beloved hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Praise to the Man,” “The Spirit of God,” “Gently Raise the Sacred Strain,” and “If You Could Hie to Kolob” are just a few of the fifteen hymns that he wrote that appear in the current hymnal. But there was so much more to his life, and Bruce Van Orden, an emeritus professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University, has been researching it for decades. This research was recently given a boost by the Joseph Smith Papers Project, which gave greater access to materials that Phelps was involved with.
There is little known about Phelps’s early life, or where and how he was educated, but he grew into a very intelligent and articulate man. He joined the Church in 1831 at age 39, and his talents were immediately put to use. He served in church leadership councils, including the Council of Fifty (it was he that coined the term “theodemocracy”); he was a writer, poet, and printer, and actually did more ghostwriting for Joseph Smith than was previously realized. He was also very much a family man, as well as a close friend of Joseph (again, moreso than has previously been understood). This book concentrates on these facets of his life.
[Read more…] about Book Review: We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps
FairMormon Questions: First Presidency Statement on Temples
FairMormon has a service where questions can be submitted and they are answered by volunteers. If you have a question, you can submit it at http://www.fairmormon.org/contact. We will occasionally publish answers here for questions that are commonly asked, or are on topics that are receiving a lot of attention.
QUESTION:
The First Presidency recently issued a statement on temples. In it, they said “Prophets have taught that there will be no end to such adjustments as directed by the Lord to His servants.” I am wondering what prophet prior to this statement said this?
ANSWER:
Here are some relevant quotes:
On 4 May 1842, after President Joseph Smith gave the first Nauvoo-era endowment to a small group of Latter-day Saints, he told apostle Brigham Young that “this is not arranged perfectly; however we have done the best we could under the circumstances in which we are placed. I wish you to take this matter in hand: organize and systematize all these ceremonies.” (https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/joseph-smith-and-doctrinal-restoration/7-joseph-smith-and-restitution-all-things)
Joseph Fielding Smith noted that the “work of salvation for the dead came to the Prophet [Joseph Smith] like every other doctrine — piecemeal. It was not revealed all at once.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, volume 2, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols., (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954–56), 168.)
[Read more…] about FairMormon Questions: First Presidency Statement on Temples
