FAIR

Apologetics

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 Motte, the Bailey, and the Gospel of Instagram

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The world is full of delightful people pursuing delightful accomplishments, and the gospel promotes love, hope, and unity. How blessed the day when we’ll be able to think only of lovely and praiseworthy things! Unfortunately, scripture’s plain warnings about sin and wickedness are still relevant, and we can’t just ignore them no matter how hard the Adversary argues “I am no devil, for there is none.”  

Scriptures warn followers of Christ that evil uses good to deceive us. A devil who only ever said “come be evil!” wouldn’t get far. A devil who makes a persuasive case that evil is actually good is far more dangerous. Even when we know the difference between eternal truth and the philosophies of men, a dash of flattery, a threat to our social status, an accusation that we’re harming others can persuade us to reevaluate.  What used to seem clear-cut can become murky when the lines are deliberately blurred.  [Read more…] about The Motte, the Bailey, and the Gospel of Instagram

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

The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 49

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Part 49: CES Letter Witnesses Questions [Section E]

by Sarah Allen

 

In this post, we’ll be talking about the absolutely insane story of James J. Strang. He faked his own death, claimed to have been appointed Joseph’s successor by a letter he produced, claimed ordination to the role by an angel, formed a breakaway sect of the Church referred to as the Strangites which many of the Book of Mormon witnesses as well as members of Joseph Smith’s family temporarily joined after his death, claimed to find and translate a set of plates of his own supposedly taken from the Book of Laban, became a State Representative, claimed there was a sea monster in Lake Michigan, crowned himself the earthly king of the Kingdom of God while residing on Beaver Island, Michigan, fired a canon at his detractors, cozied up to John C. Bennett, and led an infamous band of Mormon pirates before he was murdered by a group of his own former followers. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 49

Come, Follow Me Week 9 – Genesis 24–27

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Worldview Apologetics: Revealing the Waters in Which We Swim

by Jeffrey Thayne

(This is from a presentation given at the 2021 FAIR Conference)

Introduction

Let’s imagine two roommates, James and Greg, who both attend BYU. They live under the same roof, they are both practicing Latter-day Saints, and they both claim to believe in the doctrines taught by the Proclamation on the Family about sexuality and gender. However, despite these shared beliefs, the way they experience Church culture, policies, practices, and traditions couldn’t be more different. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 9 – Genesis 24–27