Apologetics

Part 47: CES Letter Witnesses Questions [Section C]

By Sarah Allen

 

Last week, the bulk of my’s commentary was on Martin Harris. Today, it’ll be about David Whitmer, with a little bit about Oliver Cowdery. After that, it segues into the same criticism about “spiritual eyes” that many of you have heard repeatedly over the years, and then on to James Strang and other issues. I don’t know how much we’ll get through today, but we’ll at least finish up the questions on the three witnesses.

Strangely enough, Jeremy doesn’t go into any detail or questions about the other eight witnesses or the unofficial witnesses at all. I don’t know why, except that they may be harder to explain away than the three witnesses who saw an angel and heard the voice of the Lord. For the eight witnesses in particular, their experience was a tangible one without any spiritual or supernatural significance. Before we’re done with the Witnesses section of the CES Letter, I think I’d like to talk about some of those other witnesses, since they tend to get glossed over not just by Jeremy, but by a lot of other people as well. As a people, we’re less familiar with them than we are with the three witnesses. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 47

Part 46: CES Letter Witnesses Questions [Section B]

By Sarah Allen

 

Today and next week, we’ll be talking about the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon. Martin Harris bears the brunt of it, which will likely take this entire post, with less about David Whitmer and hardly anything about Oliver Cowdery. Apparently, Jeremy couldn’t find much else to attack Oliver for, beyond the divining rod we discussed last week. He goes on at length about Martin Harris, though, so I’m just going to jump right in without a longer introduction.

We are told that the witnesses never disavowed their testimonies, but we have not come to know these men or investigated what else they said about their experiences.

For once, he’s partially right. They never disavowed their testimonies. As a history geek, though, I have to disagree with the second statement. Jeremy may not know much about these men or investigated what else they said, but some of us certainly have. We have a wealth of information about them at our fingertips. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 46

Part 45: CES Letter Witnesses Questions [Section A]

By Sarah Allen

 

When I sat down to gather my sources and figure out how I wanted to open this section of questions/concerns, the topic I kept circling back to was that of unanswered Gospel questions. We all have them. I have plenty of them myself. In that regard, none of us are very different from Jeremy or anyone else who has ever asked these and other questions. Having Gospel questions and the search for answers to those questions is how the restoration of the Gospel came about in the first place. It’s how each of us was able to gain and maintain a testimony. And it’s why Oliver Cowdery was given the revelation I’m going to address later in this post.

But, depending on how we go about it, that search for answers to those questions can lead us down several different paths. We’ve talked at length throughout this series about how to get answers to your questions: pray, study, experiment upon the word, and lean on God to direct your efforts. And if you ask in faith, nothing wavering, the Holy Ghost will manifest to you the truth of all things. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 45

Part 44: CES Letter Priesthood Restoration Questions [Section B]

By Sarah Allen

 

In today’s post, we’ll be talking about the fact that Joseph updated many of the revelations between the aborted publication attempt of the Book of Commandments in 1833 and the publication of the Doctrine and Covenants in 1835. Jeremy’s main focus, which comprises his questions 3–5, is about Section 27, which I referenced briefly last week. It’s a lot of ground to cover, particularly if I want to try to include question #6 which is the last question in this section. Rather than write a more lengthy introduction, I’m just going to pick up where we left off.

Question/point #3 is a long one, comprising an entire page and a half of the CES Letter. It begins: [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 44

Part 43: CES Letter Priesthood Restoration Questions [Section A]

By Sarah Allen

 

The first two times in my life that I ever felt the Spirit, I was a kid in Primary, too young to even know what the feeling was or what it was trying to teach me…but it was so unusual that I remembered it. The first time I felt it, we were learning the words to “The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning.” The second time I felt it, we were learning the words to “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer.”

When I was a few years older, after I had more experience with the Holy Ghost and knew how to recognize it for what it really was, I remembered those first two times I felt His presence and I understood the lessons He was teaching me: that Joseph Smith really did kneel down in that grove of trees, that he really did see God the Father and the Savior, and that the Priesthood really was restored to the Earth. Those were the very first things the Holy Ghost ever taught me, and He has reconfirmed them to me many, many times over the years.

We’ve already discussed the First Vision in this blog series and now, we’re going to discuss the restoration of the Priesthood. Like many of the topics in this Letter, this is one I take seriously. Supposed anachronisms or similar city names are one thing, but the restoration of the Priesthood is something else entirely. It’s literally one of the foundational pillars of my testimony. I’m sure that’s true for many of you, as well. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 43

Part 42: CES Letter Testimony/Spiritual Witness Questions [Section F]

By Sarah Allen

 

This will be the final post in the section about the Spirit. Next time, we’ll move on to the restoration of the Priesthood and after that, to the Witnesses (which is the largest section in the entire CES Letter), Freemasonry, the Fall/Creation/Adam and Eve, and other issues. We’re in the homestretch, though, and the end of all of this is in sight. It’s been an interesting journey for me and, I hope, for you. I never expected this project to take so much time and effort, and I certainly wasn’t expecting to still be working on it ten months later. It’s been incredibly rewarding, though, and I wanted to thank you all for the support and encouragement you’ve given me as we’ve gone through these issues one by one.

Today, I wanted to open this post with the words of our beloved prophet, President Nelson. In the April 2020 General Conference, he gave a talk entitled “Hear Him,” all about learning how to decipher the words of the Savior given to us through the Spirit. Each of us hears Him in different ways, so we need to learn how the Spirit speaks specifically to us.

In this talk, President Nelson taught: [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 42

Part 41: CES Letter Testimony/Spiritual Witness Questions [Section E]

By Sarah Allen

 

There’s a lot of ground to cover today, and it appears the next few questions/concerns are again about discernment. This is ground we already covered during the Prophets section, but we’ll be going over it again in more detail here.

The CES Letter picks up with question/point #6:

6. Paul H. Dunn: Dunn was a General Authority of the Church for many years. He was a very popular speaker who told powerful, faith-promoting war and baseball stories. Many times Dunn shared these stories in the presence of prophets, apostles, and seventies. Stories such as how God protected him as enemy machine-gun bullets ripped away his clothing, gear, and helmet without ever touching his skin and how he was preserved by the Lord. Members of the Church shared how they strongly felt the Spirit as they listened to Dunn’s testimony and stories.

 Unfortunately, Dunn was later caught lying about his war and baseball stories and was forced to apologize to the members. He became the first General Authority to gain “emeritus” status and was removed from public church life.

It’s ironic that Jeremy is calling Paul Dunn out for inaccuracy and exaggeration when he does the same thing repeatedly throughout this Letter—including in these very paragraphs. Some of Dunn’s stories were exaggerated, yes. Not all of them were, but a fair number certainly were and it was rightfully a scandal when it was exposed. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 41

Part 40: CES Letter Testimony/Spiritual Witness Questions [Section D]

By Sarah Allen

 

The topic we’re going to cover today is one that I’m passionate about, and that’s personal study: study of the scriptures, study of Church history, study of the prophets, and study of the Gospel. Many if not all of the prophets of the Restoration have encouraged us to do our own studying in addition to the lessons we receive in Sunday School, Seminary, or Institute.

At church the goal is to learn the doctrine. Some history gets thrown in, particularly when we’re talking about the Doctrine and Covenants, but for the most part that isn’t the focus of our lessons. That’s something we’re meant to study on our own time. We’ll skim through the scripture verses we were meant to read that week, and we’ll go over some words of modern prophets that align with those scripture verses, but we don’t really dive in very deeply to most of the topics we cover each year because there are just so many. Many teachers only have time to hit the most important points and skim over the rest. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 40