FAIR

Apologetics

Bamboozled by the “CES Letter”

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Bamboozled by the “CES Letter” (free download)

In April 2013 Jeremy T. Runnells published a pdf booklet entitled, “Letter to a CES Director.” This booklet, which is now typically referred to as the “CES Letter,” catalogues Runnells’ concerns and reasons why he left The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Runnells has worked hard to make his booklet available to people everywhere (and in several languages) and has, unfortunately, been the agent for leading at least a few other believers out of Mormonism.

Sadly, most of those who have been bamboozled by the “CES Letter“ are Latter-day Saints who were blind-sided by scholarly-sounding interpretations of challenging data. In my opinion, however, the “CES Letter’s” caricature of Mormonism is fundamentally flawed and does not accurately represent either Mormonism or the only logical interpretations of the data.

Unfortunately, the reason the CES Letter has enjoyed any success is that most Latter-day Saints have never been exposed to some of the more complex matters in early Mormon history. On average, the typical Latter-day Saint has never needed to think outside of the box on Mormon-related philosophical, historical, or scholarly issues.

Also available for purchase in paperback edition

“Bamboozled by the ‘CES Letter'” explains, with a bit of humor, why these complex issues need not kill a testimony. Interpretation matters. A growing number of laymembers as well as educated Mormon scholars, are fully aware of the complex issues but continue strong in their faith because they recognize that there are logical interpretations which can be integrated with their belief in Mormonism.

Bamboozled by the “CES Letter” (free download)

Data, Doctrines, & Doubts: Improving Gospel Instruction

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This post originally appeared at Times and Seasons and is reposted here with permission.

By Walker Wright

I’m grateful for the invitation and excited to participate here at Times & Seasons. The following is a talk I gave in our recent Stake General Priesthood meeting as the newly called Stake Sunday School President. While many of the ideas below were conceived independently, I was heavily influenced by some of Ben Spackman’s writings (especially the quotes) when it came to their final form. Big thanks to him.

I’ve been asked to speak tonight on improving gospel instruction in the home and at church. So much time could be dedicated to analyzing the best teaching methods and the how-to of engaging gospel lessons. However, I will forgo these particulars partially due to time constraints, but mainly because they don’t really get to the heart of the matter. There are plenty of resources provided by the Church that can assist us in improving the mechanics of our teaching. Manuals like Teaching, No Greater Call or Preach My Gospel as well as Leadership and Teaching tutorials are free of charge and available at the Church website. Elder Packer’s Teach Ye Diligently has been a CES staple since the 1970s and is available used and cheap on Amazon. Lesson suggestions can be found scattered all over the Internet, from Mormon blogs to Pinterest.

But I’m not convinced that typical lessons suffer due to lack of skills or quality methods. In fact, I’d argue that most members most of the time are relatively capable in these processes. The problem is that as a Church we’ve become very good at teaching fluff. Elder Holland asked years ago, “Are we really nurturing our youth and our…members in a way that will sustain them when the stresses of life appear? Or are we giving them a kind of theological Twinkie—spiritually empty calories?” These “philosophies of men interlaced with a few scriptures and poems just won’t do.”[1] Feel-good entertainment, warm fuzzies, and trite platitudes should not be confused with edification just as, according to Howard W. Hunter, “strong emotion or free-flowing tears are [not to be] equated with the presence of the Spirit.”[2] In essence, I’m more interested in what and why we teach over how we teach it. Here are few suggestions that I think can help increase the what and why of gospel instruction:

“Read. Read. Read.”

President Hinckley taught, “We live in a world where knowledge is developing at an ever-accelerating rate. Drink deeply from this ever-springing well of wisdom and human experience. If you should stop now, you will only stunt your intellectual and spiritual growth…Read. Read. Read. Read the word of God in sacred books of scriptures. Read from the great literature of the ages.”[3] This accelerating knowledge includes groundbreaking biblical scholarship along with increasing transparency on the part of the Church regarding its historical documents. Academic and independent presses, including Oxford, Harvard, Greg Kofford, and others, are continually publishing important books on Church history, scripture, and theology. The Joseph Smith Papers Project provides both scholars and laypersons with the original documents and manuscripts of the Restoration, edits and all. Some of this new material has even been incorporated into the Church’s new Gospel Topics essays. These essays attempt to address controversial subjects such as polygamy, the Book of Mormon translation, and the priesthood ban.

In a recent presentation, the head of the Church’s Public Affairs Department Michael Otterson explained, “It’s the intent of Church leaders that these essays be more than just a one-read experience on LDS.org, but rather that their content and principles work their way into the larger tapestry of learning, especially for our youth.”[4] I wonder, however, if we are taking advantage of these materials. We are instructed in modern revelation to “study and learn, and become acquainted with all good books, and with languages, tongues, and people” (D&C 90:15); to “seek…out of the best books words of wisdom” (D&C 109:7; 88:118) that we “may seek learning even by study, and also by faith” (D&C 109:14). In order to understand the scriptures and our own doctrines, we need to be familiar with their historical and cultural contexts. Teaching, No Greater Call acknowledges that it is “helpful to study the political, social, or economic history of the times in which a scripture was given” in order to gain “a better understanding of a particular scripture passage.”[5]

We understandably want to follow Nephi’s example and “liken all scriptures unto us” (1 Nephi 19:23) as he did with Isaiah. However, Nephi largely occupied the same pre-exilic culture and background as Isaiah. Many of the same cultural assumptions and biases pervade Nephi’s writings. Yet, our “likening” can frequently be described as the art of making stuff up. The collective, honor/shame society of the ancient world is incredibly different from the life of a 21st-century American. Cultural psychologist Joe Henrich and colleagues have described our historically unique culture as WEIRD: Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic.[6] We tend to read these values and assumptions on to the texts, wresting the scriptures until their original meaning is unrecognizable. And while we may think that “having the Spirit” is all we need when it comes to reading the scriptures, it might be important to note that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by “the gift and power of God” and then later hired a Jewish professor to teach him Hebrew.[7] Granted, no one can be an expert in everything. There just isn’t enough time. But if this is the religion we have supposedly dedicated our lives to, perhaps we should reserve more time to learn about it.

Focus on Doctrine First, then Principles and Applications

In Elder Bednar’s book Increase in Learning,[8] he distinguishes betweendoctrines, principles, and applications. Doctrines, he explains, are the why: eternal truths that “pertain to the eternal progression and exaltation of Heavenly Father’s sons and daughters.” Principles are the what: “doctrinally based guideline[s] for the righteous exercise of moral agency.” Applications are the how: “the actual behaviors, action steps, practices, or procedures by which gospel doctrines and principles are enacted in our lives.”[9] In his book, Elder Bednar relays his experiences of meeting with thousands of Church members and leaders worldwide. He often asks, “In your living of the gospel of Jesus Christ and in your serving and teaching both at home and in the Church, have you focused primarily on doctrine, on principles, or on applications?” The answer, he points out, is consistently “applications.”

The reasons as to why this is typically the focus of gospel teaching range from the more business oriented (such as “I can control applications”; they are “more tangible”) to preference and comfort (such as “I’m not comfortable teaching doctrine”; applications are easier). In a summary that made me want to clap when I read it, Elder Bednar writes, “I find it both noteworthy and troubling that in the dispensation of the fullness of times…many members are exasperatingly engaged in creating ever longer lists of detailed and disconnected gospel applications.” These “lengthy ‘to do’ lists” receive “disproportionate and excessive attention.”[10] This is why our Sunday School classes at times devolve into stories about two pairs of earrings, condemnations of R-rated movies, or debates over whether Coca-Cola is against the Word of Wisdom rather than, say, the relational nature of salvation and the abiding need to practice empathy and develop deep, meaningful connections with each other. An overemphasis on applications can distort fundamental doctrines and confuse principles and applications as ends in themselves rather than means to an end.

Encourage Question Asking and Cease Shaming Doubt

In response to the hypothetical query regarding questions and doubts about “the Church or its doctrine,” President Uchtdorf answered, “[W]e are a question-asking people because we know that inquiry leads to truth. That is the way the Church got its start — from a young man who had questions. In fact, I’m not sure how one can discover truth without asking questions. In the scriptures you will rarely discover a revelation that didn’t come in response to a question.”[11] Intellectual curiosity is the pursuit of truth, which Joseph Smith identified as one of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism.[12] To ask a question can be an act of vulnerability. In these moments of “uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure,”[13] we must be very careful not to shame others—especially youth—with the false notion that they are somehow faithless or spiritually lacking for their questioning or skepticism. “One of the purposes of the Church,” said President Uchtdorf, “is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith—even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty.”[14] It is true that Joseph Smith saw his own visionary experience as a prototype for the Church and desired his people to experience the same (especially by means of the temple).[15] However, the doctrines of eternal progression and continuing revelation indicate that knowledge is not static.[16] While we should always encourage personal spiritual experiences, we would do well to remember that “to some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” and “to others it is given to believe on their words…” (D&C 46:13-14; italics mine).

Furthermore, we should not mistake intellectual apathy for strong faith. And we certainly should not assume that the attainment of some sure knowledge is the attainment of all. It was Laman and Lemuel who declared, “And we knowthat the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses…” (1 Nephi 17:22; italics mine). This was not based simply on a desire to be disobedient or a refusal to “follow the prophet.” They were following the prophets of Israelite history. They were adhering to traditions and promises laced throughout the scriptures, from the Psalms to Isaiah. They were remembering the Lord’s preservation of Israel from the Assyrians and the fairly recent reforms of King Josiah.[17] Their absolute surety in prior revelations, authority, and tradition led them to see their prophetic father as possibly deranged, if not blasphemous, and caused them to miss out on further light and knowledge. When it comes to this subject, the words of Hugh B. Brown are pertinent:

Our revealed truth should leave us stricken with the knowledge of how little we really know. It should never lead to an emotional arrogance based upon a false assumption that we somehow have all the answers–that we in fact have a corner on truth, for we do not…[C]ontinue your search for truth. And maintain humility sufficient to be able to revise your hypotheses as new truth comes to you by means of the spirit or the mind. Salvation, like education, is an ongoing process.[18]doubts

This outlook is likely why President Brown was known to quote the following from historian Will Durant: “No one deserves to believe unless he has served an apprenticeship of doubt.”[19]

In conclusion, it is worth reflecting on these points. Do we study deeply and broadly or do we use the scriptures merely as “quote books” (to use Neal A. Maxwell’s term)?[20] Do we attempt to understand the scriptures on their own terms and within their own contexts without seeking to Mormonize them? How often do we skip the doctrine of our lessons and go straight for application? Do we confuse application and principles with doctrine? Do we shy away from hard questions or label every challenging bit of information as anti-Mormon? Most important of all, do we love those we teach?

As we go about our lives in the Church, I hope that we may learn to study, teach, and love more deeply.

 

NOTES

  1. Jeffrey R. Holland, “A Teacher Come from God,” General Conference, April 1998: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1998/04/a-teacher-come-from-god?lang=eng
  2. Howard W. Hunter, “Eternal Investments,” CES Address, 10 Feb. 1989: https://www.lds.org/manual/teaching-seminary-preservice-readings-religion-370-471-and-475/eternal-investments?lang=eng
  3. Gordon B. Hinckley, The Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997), 171.
  4. Michael Otterson, “On the Record,” FairMormon Conference, 7 Aug. 2015:http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/full-transcript-michael-otterson-address-at-fair-mormon-conference
  5. Teaching, No Greater Call, 55.
  6. Joseph Henrich, Steven J. Heine, Ara Norenzayan, “The Weirdest People in the World?” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33 (2010): 61-135.
  7. See Louis C. Zucker, “Joseph Smith as a Student of Hebrew,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 3:2 (Summer 1968): 41-55.
  8. David A. Bednar, Increase in Learning: Spiritual Patterns for Obtaining Your Own Answers (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011), Ch. 4 specifically.
  9. Ibid., 151.
  10. Ibid., 167.
  11. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “The Reflection in the Water,” CES Fireside, 1 Nov. 2009:http://www.ldschurchnewsarchive.com/articles/58360/President-Dieter-F-Uchtdorf-The-Reflection-in-the-Water.html
  12. Don Bradley, ““The Grand Fundamental Principles of Mormonism,” Sunstone (April 2006): 35-36.
  13. Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (New York: Gotham Books, 2012), 34.
  14. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Come, Join With Us,” General Conference, Oct. 2013: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/come-join-with-us?lang=eng
  15. See Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Random House, 2005), 202-205; Margaret Barker, Kevin Christensen, “Seeking the Face of the Lord: Joseph Smith and the First Temple Tradition,” in Joseph Smith, Jr.: Reappraisals after Two Centuries, Reid L. Neilson, Terryl L. Givens (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
  16. For the tension between these concepts, see Terryl L. Givens, People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture(New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), Ch. 2.
  17. See David Rolph Seely, Fred E. Woods, “How Could Jerusalem, “That Great City,” Be Destroyed?” in Glimpses of Lehi’s Jerusalem, ed. John W. Welch, David Rolph Seely, Jo Ann H. Seely (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2004); Neal Rappleye, “The Deuteronomist Reforms and Lehi’s Family Dynamics: A Social Context for the Rebellions of Laman and Lemuel,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 16 (2015): 87-99.
  18. Hugh B. Brown, “An Eternal Quest – Freedom of the Mind,” BYU Devotional, 13 May 1969:http://aims.byu.edu/sites/default/files/foundationdocuments/An_Eternal_Quest–Freedom_of_the_Mind–Hugh_B_Brown.pdf
  19. Richard D. Poll, “Apostle Extraordinary – Hugh B. Brown (1883 – 1975),” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 10:1 (Spring 1976), 70.
  20. Neal A. Maxwell, “Called and Prepared from the Foundation of the World,” General Conference, April 1986:https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1986/04/called-and-prepared-from-the-foundation-of-the-world?lang=eng

A Simple Hypothesis on Book of Mormon Translation

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unnamedThis post originally appeared at Mormon Puzzle Pieces and is reposted here by permission with some revisions.

By Ryan Larsen

Translation is interwoven with the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ancient prophets kept records containing a fullness of the Gospel which God preserved, hidden in the earth for many centuries, before making them known to a young Joseph Smith and providing Joseph with means to translate the records through the gift and power of God.

Questions arise concerning how Joseph Smith performed the translation. Specifically, people want to know whether the words in the Book of Mormon’s English translation should be attributed directly to God or to Joseph Smith. Critics and scholars alike have taken interest.

My own interest was recently sparked during an online discussion with a polite critic who claimed that David Whitmer’s description of Joseph Smith seeing English words appear while translating, which he would read out loud to his scribes, means that Mormons are locked into defending and believing that God Himself chose every word in the Book of Mormon. I explained to my critic friend why the question is more complicated than that, and he came to agree. So, I decided to share my ideas in hopes of broadening the general discussion. [Read more…] about A Simple Hypothesis on Book of Mormon Translation

Fair Issues 94: Moroni and the Hill Cumorah

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MAThe Book of Mormon model for a Mesoamerican geography has – like virtually all scholarly models – a handful of anomalies or potentially problematic issues.  One of those areas of concern legitimately asks how the golden plates could have been dug out of the ground in upstate New York, if Book of Mormon events took place in Mesoamerica.

In this installment brother Ash discusses several possibilities concerning how Moroni may have traveled to deposit the golden plates on the family farm of Joseph Smith.

The full text of this article can be found at Deseret News online.

Brother Ash is author of the book Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt, as well as the book, of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith. Both books are available for purchase online through the FairMormon Bookstore. Tell your friends about the Mormon Fair-Cast. Share a link on your Facebook page and help increase the popularity of the Mormon Fair-Cast by subscribing to this podcast in iTunes, and by rating it and writing a review.

The views and opinions expressed in the podcast may not reflect those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or that of FairMormon

Fair Issues 90: True scholarship vs. wishful thinking

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MAIn this installment brother Ash introduces the Mesoamerica model as a possible location for at least some of the Book of Mormon geography along with how an authentic ancient text should only be supported by rigorous scholarship and not wishful thinking and the misuse of scholarly data.

The full text of this article can be found at Deseret News online.

Brother Ash is author of the book Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt, as well as the book, of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith. Both books are available for purchase online through the FairMormon Bookstore. Tell your friends about the Mormon Fair-Cast. Share a link on your Facebook page and help increase the popularity of the Mormon Fair-Cast by subscribing to this podcast in iTunes, and by rating it and writing a review.

The views and opinions expressed in the podcast may not reflect those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or that of FairMormon

 

On The Record

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This presentation will cover the role of Church Public Affairs and how it interacts with the Church and the press. Brother Otterson will also discuss many of the issues and misconceptions he deals with, as well as respond to questions from the audience.

Michael R. Otterson has been serving as the Managing Director of the Public Affairs Department since 2008, with responsibility for public affairs issues of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide.

He was educated in England, his birthplace, where he completed his formal journalistic training. For eleven years he worked as a journalist on newspapers in Britain, Australia and Japan.

Since 1976, he has worked in the London, Sydney and Salt Lake City Public Affairs Offices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In his current role as Managing Director he oversees many contemporary concerns facing the church such as women’s issues, religious freedom and an ever-expanding global church.

Best of FairMormon Conference 2015: Michael Otterson – On The Record

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Michael_Otterson_FairMormon_Aug_7_2015On the Record – (audio only)

Fair Mormon conference Aug 6-7, 2015

This is a wonderful conference, full of bright people asking and answering great questions. The list of speakers and their topics is impressive, and it’s encouraging to see how FairMormon has grown in recent years.  Among the rich assortment of topics in these two days of presentations, I’ve thought carefully about what I could and should contribute that’s related to my work in Church Public Affairs that would also be helpful to this inquiring audience.

First some background. This is somewhat of a personal nature, so please forgive me for that, but it has a bearing on what I will say later. I’m a convert to the Church, and in my particular line of work I have found that to be an advantage. I was 19 when I joined the Church in England, after a rather intense and lengthy engagement with lots of missionaries. Before I joined the Church I read everything I could get my hands on, and my first hint at that time of the controversial nature of our faith came from my visit to the large city library in Liverpool. Now, when I mention Liverpool as my birthplace, I’m frequently asked whether I knew the Beatles. The answer is “No, not personally,” although my wife as a teenage girl did once knock on Paul McCartney’s front door with the excuse that she needed to use the bathroom. She was admitted, but sadly he wasn’t home. But in the Church, Liverpool is more importantly known as the landing place for the first missionaries in this dispensation outside of North America, Heber C. Kimball having leapt to the dock as his ship, the Garrick, moored there in 1837. Later, in 1851, Franklin D. Richards compiled the first edition of The Pearl of Great Price in Liverpool, and the city became the publishing center for the Millennial Star.

One hundred and thirty years after Heber C. Kimball’s leap to the dock on the River Mersey, I went to the main library in that same city to see what I could find about Mormons. I found more than 30 volumes that either dealt with the subject in detail or in extracts. If memory serves, all but two of those volumes had a negative tone or were outright attacks.  I therefore became familiar, even before I was a member, of the nature and tone of criticism of the Church.

The fact that I am here suggests that I didn’t find those arguments more persuasive than the Book of Mormon itself – not intellectually, and especially not when matched against a powerful spiritual witness of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Fast forward to April 19, 1970, where I was living in Australia with my new bride. When a dear patriarch laid his hands on my head to give me a patriarchal blessing, his words included this phrase:  “You will be given opportunities to defend the gospel.” I was always interested in that choice of words – “defend,” not “preach” or “proclaim” or “teach.” What was it that the patriarch saw that I didn’t at that time, in choosing the word “defend?”

One month later my wife and I were at the temple in New Zealand where, since I was now an elder, we could be sealed. In the temple, where we stayed for a week, one of the veteran temple workers approached me.  “You’re a journalist, aren’t you?” he asked. The question surprised me because I wasn’t aware I had mentioned that to anyone. He then directed me, rather forcefully, to listen very carefully to the language of the male initiatory ordinance that had to do with defending truth. I won’t mention them here, but I think of those words every time I do initiatory ordinances.

Fast forward again, to 1974, back in England where I was Business Editor of the Liverpool Daily Post. One day I took a call from President Royden Derrick, who was the president of the England Leeds Mission, which covered all of northern England. He was in Hull, a city on the northeast coast almost directly east of Liverpool, where he had seen a critical letter about the Church in a local newspaper from a minister of another faith. He knew my profession, and wondered if I had a suggestion as to how it might be handled.  I took a few minutes to write a kind, conciliatory letter to the paper and included an invitation to anyone who wanted to know what we really teach to “come and see.” The letter was duly printed, and although I didn’t know it, I had just embarked on a journey that would immerse me in Church public affairs for the next 40-plus years.

Two years later I was invited by the Church to manage the newly opened Public Affairs office in London, and three years after that I returned to Australia at Church invitation to establish a public affairs office for the Pacific Area based in Sydney. For the past 24 years I have been here at Church headquarters.

What has changed in those 40 years? Less than we might think, in terms of the questions being asked today. In fact, many of them are pretty similar to questions that confronted me in the Liverpool Library, which were the same as those raised in Joseph Smith’s day: the veracity of the Book of Mormon, the witnesses, the translation process, the nature of revelation, the personal history of Joseph Smith.  Perhaps it shouldn’t have, but it mildly surprised me, in the wake of publication on LDS.org of a series of in-depth essays on various topics, that so many faithful members expressed surprise at discovering some things like multiple accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision for the first time in their life-long membership. Since I was reading that readily available stuff in 1967 before I was even a member of the Church, I had erroneously imagined that most members read the same things. For example, the Improvement Era – the forerunner to the Ensign – carried a detailed article on eight contemporary accounts of the First Vision in its April, 1970 edition.

In other ways, a great deal has changed in the past few decades, and I don’t just mean world-class historical scholarship and the immense amount of research material and resources that are at our fingertips today, such as the Joseph Smith Papers, and insightful work by some brilliant young and emerging historical scholars. I refer primarily to the environment created by the Internet, and to social media in particular, which has brought both challenges and opportunities that we all recognize.  For Church Public Affairs, the explosion of voices – both pro and con – have made our work demanding and exciting all at the same time. For instance, I love the Church’s passionate commitment to religious freedom as a universal human right, and I applaud its increasing transparency – evidenced again this week in the announcement of the latest volume of the Joseph Smith Papers.

Since we are often on the cutting edge of public issues, I’d like to give you an insight today into how Church Public Affairs works, and then I’d like to share some perspectives on some much-discussed topics that will illustrate that working process. I have chosen to call this discussion “On the Record” because I think some things have not been said clearly enough, or they have been overlooked or misconstrued.  I won’t be breaking any new ground today on such perennial topics as race or polygamy or other questions on which there are more competent speakers. I will try to leave 10 minutes at the end for questions, and I invite you to write your question on a card and pass it to an usher in the next 30 minutes or so. Please focus your questions on matters directly related to public affairs so I have a chance of responding. (So, no, I don’t know where the Ten Lost tribes are…. Although I did have a bishop once who was called by a member at 1 o’clock in the morning who asked him exactly that. The bishop’s pointed response: “I presume they are all in bed”).

How Public Affairs is structured

The Public Affairs work of the Church is overseen by the Church’s Public Affairs Committee, which is chaired by a member of the Twelve. Other General Authorities or General officers include the senior president of the Seventy, the Presiding Bishop, the Church’s legal counsel, one of the female general officers, and an additional seventy who serves as executive director of the department. The executive director works particularly closely with me, especially on strategic planning matters.  In addition, several senior Public Affairs staff, including myself, attend the weekly committee meetings.

The first thing I want to put on the record is this: Public Affairs does not have its own agenda, independent from the Brethren. I work on a daily basis with the member of the Twelve and the Executive Director. In addition to regular meetings twice a week with the member of the Twelve, we talk every day, often several times.  With the executive director, I make presentations to the full Quorum of the Twelve monthly and receive direction from them. Sometimes a member of the staff with a particular specialty makes a presentation and receives counsel. I mention this because we sometimes have rocks thrown at us by some bloggers who love to postulate as to why Public Affairs does this or that. One blogger even referred to Public Affairs recently as a “rogue department,” which would be news to the Brethren.  Newsflash:  We don’t freelance.

Sadly, the insight and understanding of some who love to write volumes of commentary seems often in inverse proportion to the amount of words they write. Perhaps it’s simply easier to target Public Affairs because it seems less disrespectful than criticizing Church leaders.  If so, we are honored to take those “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” A thick skin is a pre-requisite for Public Affairs employment. This makes me think of that wonderful verse in Acts, when the high priest and his council were attempting to intimidate Peter and the apostles, and had them beaten up. Verse 41 of Acts 5 says: “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” And the next verse notes, almost parenthetically, “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” (Acts 5:41-42).

No member of the Public Affairs staff would last long if he or she issued a statement on behalf of the Church that had not been approved.  Of course, we frequently suggest a response to a breaking issue, but the Brethren are not shy in editing or rejecting those statements or writing their own versions.  In addition, the member of the Twelve who chairs the Public Affairs Committee will confer with other members of the Twelve or with the First Presidency on major issues. Our task is to find language that most accurately reflects what’s in the Brethren’s minds.  There is no place for private agendas on the part of staff.

I’m taking more than a moment on this point because it is extraordinarily important.  This audience probably understands, but let me give you an example of what happens when it isn’t understood. Earlier this year, the Church held a news conference to call on the Utah Legislature to pass a bill that treated religious rights and gay rights in a balanced and fair way. Three apostles attended that news conference, and Elder L. Tom Perry later attended the bill signing with the Governor and other community leaders. Some people actually challenged the validity of the message because there were “only” three members of the Twelve, and not all of them plus the First Presidency.  Presumably these three apostles were “rogue” also. This so reminds me of the Savior’s critique of “blind guides” who “strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” (Matt. 23: 24)

What about other communications, for instance on Mormon Newsroom?  Newsroom and the department’s Facebook and YouTube channels are among the primary communications media we use to disseminate significant news and latest developments.  Much of what is posted there deals with routine news stories, but even these cannot be posted without approval from Church Correlation, which has the responsibility to ensure that all Church communications are doctrinally sound and consistent.  Because of the nature of our work, Correlation gives us high priority when we are dealing with breaking news or issuing a commentary on a significant topic. But again, there is a check-and-balance system that should give members of the Church a high level of comfort that what they read on Newsroom has been well vetted. Are we infallible? Of course not. Might we occasionally make mistakes or fail to choose exactly the right word in a statement or interview? Assuredly, yes. But you can be sure we know who runs the Church, and of the respect we have for the established processes.

“Defend” v “Promote”

Despite the words my patriarch chose when he said I would have opportunities to “defend the gospel,” there are words I prefer to use other than “defend.” If all we ever play is a defensive game, the most we can hope for is a draw. While it can be extraordinarily difficult when under attack or critique from unfriendly voices, it’s important that we try not to sound defensive. We would do better to explain or promote an idea, concept or principle. For example, when the “Book of Mormon Musical” first surfaced, despite its blasphemy, crudeness and bad language, we opted for a non-defensive statement that taught a principle. Our much-quoted response was: “The Book of Mormon musical may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people’s lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ.”  As many of you know, we even took out ads in the show’s Playbill, inviting people who had seen the show to now “read the Book.”

It isn’t easy to avoid sounding defensive when things we love are belittled. This applies also to critiques of the Brethren themselves. Personally, I view habitual criticism of the Brethren as one of the most pernicious of pastimes, so let me spend a moment on this.  I will use the term “Brethren” here because this is an LDS audience and you all know what that term usually means – the General Authorities of the Church, and in particular the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles. I try to avoid that term when talking to secular media because it sounds strange, even antiquated, to non-LDS ears, and I generally opt instead for the term “Church leadership.”

If memory serves, I think the first time I encountered an accusing finger pointed at the Brethren was from an English journalist who I’d invited to meet with a visiting apostle while I was managing the Church’s London public affairs office. He asked how we could justify leaders of the Church flying trans-Atlantic jets when Jesus used a donkey.  My response to him was that as soon as they invent a trans-Atlantic donkey we would be happy to use it. That may not have been original – I can no longer remember whether I borrowed it from something I’d heard – but it did seem to address the absurdity of the question. I can hardly believe it when I hear people question the motives of the Brethren for the work they do, or when they imply there is somehow some monetary reward or motive.

Let me share the reality.  Not all the Brethren have been businessmen, but most have had extraordinarily successful careers by the time they are called to be an Apostle. As President Spencer W. Kimball once pointed out, the ability to lead people and an organization is a more-than-helpful attribute in a Church of millions of people, especially when combined with spiritual depth and a rich understanding of the gospel.  Because several have been highly successful in business careers, when they become apostles their stipend and allowances may literally be less than a tithe on what they previously earned.

Some of the Brethren have been educators. Elder Scott was a nuclear physicist, Elder Nelson a heart surgeon. Several were highly successful lawyers. Right now we have three former university presidents in the Twelve. President Boyd K. Packer was also an educator by profession, although in his spare time and in his earlier days he loved to carve beautiful things out of wood. That sounds curiously related to another scripturally honored profession – that of a carpenter.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be called to the Twelve?  In most cases you have already had a successful career. You know you will continue to serve the Church in some volunteer capacity, but you have begun to think of your future retirement. The First Presidency and the Twelve, of course do not retire. Neither are they released. With their call comes the sure knowledge that they will work every day for the rest of their lives, even if they live into their nineties, until they literally drop and their minds and bodies give out. Their workday begins early and does not end at 5pm.  The Twelve get Mondays off, and those Mondays are frequently spent preparing for the rest of the week. If they have a weekend assignment, they will often travel on a Friday afternoon. Periodically, even though in their 80s, they face the grueling schedule of international speaking conferences and leadership responsibilities.

What about when they are home? I have the cell phone numbers of most of the Brethren because I sometimes have to call them in the evening, on weekends or when they are out and about. I’m not naïve enough to think that I am the only Church officer to do so. So even their downtime is peppered with interruptions. I invariably begin those calls by apologizing for interrupting them at home. I have never once been rebuked for calling. They are invariably kind and reassuring, even early in the morning or late at night.

Their primary time off each year is from the end of the mission presidents’ seminar at the very end of June, through the end of July. And while this time is meant as a break, most of the Brethren use this time to turn their thoughts, among other things, to October General Conference and preparation of their remarks. During Christmas break they do the same for April conference. Every one of them takes extraordinary care and time in deciding on a topic and crafting their messages. The process weighs on them for months as they refine draft after draft.

This is not a schedule you would wish on anyone. Yet they bear it with grace and find joy for some overwhelmingly important reasons – their testimony and commitment to be a witness of the Savior of the world and their desire to strengthen His children everywhere. They would be the very first to acknowledge their own faults or failings, just as we can readily point to the apostles of the New Testament and see imperfect people.

As I read the gospels and the book of Acts, or the various letters written by the apostles to the various groups of members scattered throughout the Mediterranean area, I get a glimpse of extraordinary men. Men with individual faults, certainly. Yet I choose not to view Peter through a critical lens that dwells on the impetuous elements of his nature, or as the wavering soul who failed to affirm he knew the Christ. I see him more in the winter of his life, having weathered trials and storms to become one of the towering figures of Biblical history, whose name and accomplishments have endured for two millennia. The same can be said for many others of the ancient apostles, perhaps especially Paul whose life transformed him from persecutor to persecuted. And so today, because my testimony tells me that the gospel has been restored, I see the senior Brethren in the same way.  Yes, they are individual, mortal men, but the Lord has given them, not me, the mantle to lead the Church and make the tough decisions.  I am not lionizing the Brethren. I am not over-awed because I have shaken the hand of an apostle. But I do sustain them with all my heart, and I have a quiet and reassuring confidence born of personal experience and exposure to their councils that the Church is in good hands.

The big questions

Certain it is that the Brethren have to wrestle with big questions. Let me turn to some of those now, and since I am about half way through I have time to address perhaps three or four before we break for questions. Since it has become such a big question, I’ll talk a little about the emergence of gay rights and what it has meant for the Church, especially as it relates to religious freedom.

I will also talk a little about dissent and disciplinary councils, and the in-depth Church essays now appearing on LDS.org. And I’ll end with an explanation of what principles shape and drive our messaging from Public Affairs.

One advantage in having worked for Church Public Affairs for so long is that one gains a long-term perspective that comes with institutional memory, and that sometimes is valuable. Certainly you don’t have to be very old to remember a time when some of the language used in the Church to describe homosexual behavior was intemperate, even harsh, by today’s standards. We’ll talk more about that in a moment. But the fundamentals haven’t changed. Sex outside marriage is morally wrong, by God’s law. Sex with a person of the same sex is wrong, by that same standard.  The doctrine hasn’t changed, but our way of addressing it has changed significantly.

Most people here will understand the word “presentism” – defined by Webster’s as “an attitude toward the past dominated by present-day attitudes and experiences.”  Presentism is a common problem. It’s so easy to dig into the past and find a statement that reflects the norms of the times in which it was stated and then incorrectly apply it to our day. Is there any one of us who wouldn’t like to un-say or un-write something we once said that in today’s parlance seems at best in-artful, and at worst, offensive?

Unquestionably, there has been a more careful and considerate choice of language in the past few years, as the Church has engaged with the pro-gay rights movement. As I said, this doesn’t reflect a change in a doctrinal understanding of the purpose of sex, marriage and the family, or what constitutes sin, but it does reflect a deeper understanding and consciousness among Church leadership of the unwelcome trials of some of our own people.

While acknowledging that, it would be a mistake to assume that the Brethren were ignorant of these trials years ago. I’m thinking particularly of Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Twelve, who was a stake president in – of all places – San Francisco in the ‘80s when the AIDS epidemic broke out. I was with Elder Cook when we interviewed him on camera about this topic, and it was clear that he was deeply, emotionally touched by his experiences in helping several gay members with AIDS navigate their last days. Likewise, I have heard others among the Brethren describe the pain they feel for families, including gay family members, who have been torn apart while trying to navigate this extremely difficult issue.

As same-sex attraction has become more talked about in society, our language has changed in order to speak to an evolving audience even as our standards of chastity have remained constant. One might say the same for co-habitation before marriage of heterosexual couples. We don’t like it, we discourage it, we teach young people chastity before marriage, but we also understand the reality that most of the world today has different, ever-changing standards or values, and a strident voice from the Church is going to do nothing to change behavior.

Toward the end of the 2012 presidential election campaign, Public Affairs prepared a website that we called “mormonsandgays.org.”  The site included several interviews with members of the Twelve, and it had the most intense scrutiny by the Brethren before it was launched. Frankly, the website had more than one purpose.  In the heat of an election campaign in which a member of the Church was his party’s nominee for the presidency, we thought it likely that the “gay issue” would be dragged into the campaign at some point, and we would be confronted with all of the misrepresentation and distorted perspectives that we had dealt with ever since Proposition 8 in 2008.  But the website was also an opportunity to recognize the plight of some of our own young people who were struggling with their sexual identity.

In some Latter-day Saint homes, when teens had “come out” as gay to their parents, the reaction had been anything but compassionate, or reflective of a mutual search for understanding. In extreme cases, young people were ordered out of their homes. Being homeless and destitute made such young people prey to drug pushers, prostitution and other degrading experiences, and in some cases even to suicide.  I am unaware of any Church leader who countenanced such actions, but awareness of some of these problems was not universal among leadership and certainly not among the membership at large. Mormonsandgays.org, which was carefully scrutinized by the Brethren before it launched, was designed to address that by encouraging parents and other family members to embrace their children, brothers or sisters while not condoning immoral behavior.

This issue remains a difficult one. The Church is now working to further develop mormonsandgays.org, and version 2.0 is scheduled for completion and launch early next year. Meanwhile, the topic leads us naturally to a related one, and that is the Church’s position on religious freedom vis-à-vis LGBT rights.

Even as early as Proposition 8, the Church said publicly that it did not oppose extending rights to LGBT people covering such areas as housing, employment, probate, hospital visits, etc., that posed no threat to the family. The problem it had was with efforts to redefine marriage. Even at that early date I remember the Brethren opining strongly that legalizing gay marriage would bring multiple challenges to religious freedom. In that, they were remarkably prescient. If you aren’t aware of the great cultural clash that has arisen between LGBT rights proponents and many faith groups over the perceived threat to religious rights, I can assure you that it’s becoming one of the great social issues of the day.

It’s beyond my scope today to dig more deeply into this topic than I need to, but even a casual read of what many LGBT advocates are saying about religious rights is sobering. The ink was barely dry on the recent decision by the Boy Scouts of America’s National Executive Council to allow gay scout leaders, when the Human Rights Campaign – one of the major LGBT advocacy groups – was saying that it was a helpful “first step” – meaning they won’t be satisfied until all churches are also forced to accept gay scout leaders in their troops. Even before the scout issue arose, many on that side of the debate had been clamoring for removing university accreditation from religious colleges who failed to meet the LGBT definition of what is or isn’t socially acceptable. And removing tax exemption from churches has been another agenda item emerging recently.

The Church’s response has been a model of restraint, reasonableness and Christ-like behavior. While not yielding an inch on our Father’s plan for his children and the purpose of our life here on earth, including how sexuality is to be expressed, the Church has recognized the legitimacy of LGBT claims to fair housing, employment and other services such as those I have mentioned. Further, without the Church’s public call last January in a news conference for an equitable treatment of both religion and LGBT rights, Utah would not have the laws it has today protecting the rights of both.

Going forward, the Church will continue to urge for this kind of balance. It is not easy for all of our members to understand this. There are some whose views carry a tone we heard many years ago, and who believe that any gesture of compassion toward LGBT people is tantamount to condoning sin, even though simple attraction in itself is not a sin.

Others seem to want to reshape the Church into whatever the latest politically correct social convention says it should be. Consequently, much internal teaching needs to be done on this topic, especially among our youth and millennial members – i.e. young adults. Wisely, the Brethren will chart a course that adheres to the doctrine of the Church while emulating Christ’s inclusiveness and love for all people.

Can members have their own views on this topic and still stay faithful to the Church? That’s a question we hear often, and it arises from a number of different scenarios.  Can a member be a Democrat and a good Mormon? That one makes me smile, because if the members who ask it could travel to some countries of the world and meet faithful members of the Church who belong to their national communist parties I fear their blood pressure might be permanently damaged. Can I believe in women’s rights and be a good Mormon? Can I think that our hymnals might benefit from a good revision? If I sometimes think that every minute of our three-hour block isn’t entirely inspirational, am I on the road to apostasy?

I don’t mean to be flippant, because I know that some questions are more important than others. All I can tell you is how I approach this subject personally. I have never found the Church to be an intellectual straitjacket.  We have an enormously diverse membership.  I have spent time with members of the Church on every continent where we have units. One of the most thrilling aspects to being a Latter-day Saint is the sense that we belong to a diverse but unified global family.  Because I’m British, I admittedly joke about the French from time to time – it’s kind of an obligatory thing that goes with British citizenship.  (Actually, I’ve never forgiven them for backing the wrong side in the American Revolutionary War). And, of course, the French respond in kind about the English.  But if I’m on a plane and sitting next to a French Latter-day Saint, I feel an immediate bond. National and cultural differences evaporate. I have far more in common with that person than with one of my own non-LDS countrymen, even one my own age from my hometown or school. As a Latter-day Saint, I know instantly that my newly met French acquaintance and I share the most important core values and experiences, and we have the same broad aspirations for this life and the next. I am content to rest on the assurance that as Latter-day Saints we are, in reality, no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens in a kingdom that traverses all national boundaries and cultures.

Am I interested in making sure that my French seat companion comports precisely with my views in every nuanced interpretation of how to live his or her life?  Do I insist that we both must be on exactly the same point on our spiritual journey? Or do I, like the Lord, allow room for personal interpretation, growth and understanding?

It is only when my friend begins to insist that I interpret everything his way, or that he suggests the Brethren are misleading the members, or that he elevates himself to be more than my friend but rather my uninvited teacher, that I may worry about his direction. If he tells me about his blogs and public demonstrations to prove the Brethren are wrong, and resists counsel, I might expect that Church leaders would counter that influence even if they would prefer not to. If kindness and gentle persuasion and love unfeigned prove unsuccessful, I would fear for his eternal future. But I would not deny him the right to believe differently.  While I love the diversity in the Church, I don’t believe that ultimately, diversity trumps unity. “If ye are not one, ye are not mine.”

To my certain knowledge, the First Presidency and the Twelve do not direct the outcomes of disciplinary councils, and studiously avoid doing so. Indeed, as the court of final appeal, the First Presidency cannot do so. They must remain independent.  Church policy is that decisions rest with bishops and stake presidents, both as to whether to hold such councils and what the outcome might be.  Of course, stake presidents may confer with Area Seventies up their priesthood line for counsel about process, but not about decisions and outcomes.

There has been speculation recently that disciplinary councils, or invitations to a sit-down with the bishop, have coincided and therefore have the appearance of being centrally directed.  This is not the case, however, and there is a simple, plausible explanation that requires no mental gymnastics to understand. General Authorities – including all of the quorums of seventy – come to Church headquarters every six months for training right before General Conference. Over the years, these training sessions cover a wide range of diverse topics.  If how to hold disciplinary councils in accordance with Church processes is one of those topics – which it was recently was – it isn’t surprising that as the training works its way down to the stake and ward level, some leaders may feel better prepared to engage with members whom they feel need counsel. This might especially occur at a time when some members are publicly campaigning for changes counter to Church policy or doctrine. Frankly, I don’t know whether there has been any increase in such counseling, and if there has, whether I have correctly identified the reason. But looking for a conspiracy behind every hint of change isn’t healthy and is rarely accurate.

I promised a word about the in-depth essays on LDS.org that address subjects that some members have found challenging.  Frankly I don’t have much to say about these. Feedback we received on LDS.org suggests that some members felt the essays should have been placed in a more prominent position and preceded by a major announcement. Other members think they got more attention than they deserved. Overall, I think there’s some merit in the argument that they should have been more prominent from the beginning, but there is more context to this. Certainly several of them received significant press coverage when published. Those who follow Church developments closely will have seen an increasing emphasis on study and learning in the home, on Sabbath day observance that incorporates such learning into our daily lives, and an increasingly flexible teaching curriculum that draws on many resources – including these essays – for content and support. It’s the intent of Church leaders that these essays be more than just a one-read experience on LDS.org, but rather that their content and principles work their way into the larger tapestry of learning, especially for our youth.

Much discussion preceded the publication of these essays, including a determination about their length. At one point, 50-page page essays or even longer were contemplated, and some were drafted with extensive footnotes. But it was acknowledged that few rank-and-file members would wade through such heavy work, other than scholars who were already familiar with the substance of the issues. An alternative was considered – a brief two- or three-page commentary, but this was felt to be inadequate and failed to meet the main criterion of transparency. The result of these deliberations is what you currently have on LDS.org and generally these essays have been well received. Although highly competent LDS scholars prepared initial the drafts, they had extensive review by Church History staff and other scholars. Their review was followed by a rigorous reading for accuracy and balance by the Twelve before approval by the First Presidency.

Now, let me wrap up and then we’ll take some questions.  Earlier, I mentioned the importance of not being too defensive. I hope I have not sounded overly defensive today.  You may find this a little surprising coming from someone whose profession is public relations, but I’d like to leave you with a final thought.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell, also a former chairman of the Public Affairs Committee, used to talk about what he called “the central dilemma of public affairs.” Do we let our light shine so that men may see our good works, or does that risk looking like doing alms before men, for the praise of the world.

Today we have an additional dilemma. The core function of the Public Affairs department is to build relationships with opinion leaders whose influence can either help or hinder the Church’s mission. We can do much good in society with that objective. It leads to such things as engagement with other churches, with political leaders of different stripes, with LGBT and other community leaders and many others.

At the same time, the Church from ancient times has essentially been counter-cultural, which means that it often pushed back against social conventions and established institutions. Jesus talked a lot about sheep, but he never acted like one. He challenged social norms, associated with people who polite society rejected, and confronted the Establishment when it displayed hypocrisy. The apostles, too, fearlessly challenged convention time after time in order to teach gospel truths.

So how do we balance these two seemingly competing principles, of building relationships in the secular world with those outside the Church who see things differently, yet pushing back against growing secularism and disaffiliation with organized religion?

The answer to these and other difficult questions is found in following Jesus Christ in every circumstance. This is our principal mandate, our prime directive. Our Church bears the Savior’s name. It’s His Church. The teachings are His and we try to model our lives on what Jesus taught. Our messages from the Church, therefore, must always be crafted with that in mind, and the Church’s actions must always be consistent with what it says.  In every decision that we make, and every recommendation we take forward, we try to keep that in mind. What would the Savior do?  Those associated with FairMormon, in particular, have an obligation to engage with the kind of language with which the Savior would identify, and avoid polemical, confrontational tactics. We have identified six simple principles that, rather than defend, assert what we stand for. They are these:

  1. We have faith in God, strive to live the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ and embrace God’s plan for his children, bringing joy into our lives and the lives of others.
  2. We are strong supporters of the family, defenders of strong, enduring marriages and child bearing, and of raising well-educated children with high moral values.
  3. We value and defend freedom, including freedom of religion, respect individual agency and moral choices, freedom to worship and freedom to share our faith.
  4. We hold and try to live by strong moral values, including personal honesty and trustworthiness, and other Christ-like attributes.
  5. We serve others, including those in our own faith and those not of our faith. Charity, or love of our fellow men and women, is a source of joy.
  6. We strive to demonstrate through the redemptive power of the gospel that lives can change for the better. We think of this in terms of faith, repentance and the Atonement.

Such are the issues and challenges that face us today. Thank you for listening. In the name of Jesus Christ.

I’ll now be happy to take a few of your questions for the next 10 minutes, so let’s look at the cards.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-pr-leader-shares-insights-at-fairmormon-conference?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LDSNewsRoomTop15+%28RSS%3A+LDS+Newsroom%29

Joseph Smith and Magic

by

Anthony_Sweat_Translating_with_Martin
Artistic depiction of Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon by peering into a seer stone kept at the bottom of a hat.

A common accusation levied against the Prophet Joseph Smith is that he was heavily involved with “magic.” Not in an abstract believe-in-something-greater-then-yourself kind of “magic,” but in more of a literal “Harry Potter” sense. This myth is propagated both by anti-Mormons and at times concerned believers. It is unfortunate that this troubling falsehood keeps being brought up from time to time, but as I hope to show to those who may be concerned by the allegation, it is misleading.

These claims, which are as old as the church itself, range from Joseph Smith owning a Jupiter Talisman, magic parchments, and a mars dagger (which was used in ritualistic magic). Some claim that Joseph Smith and his family were involved in drawing “magic circles,” and many other ridiculous accusations. Some of these allegations can be dismissed as having absolutely no evidence to support them, or coming from sources that need to be viewed with extreme skepticism. The one accusation, however, that I do want to discuss in more detail is that Joseph Smith, through magical means, used a stone to search for buried treasure, and that this was the basis for him claiming to have found a “golden bible.” This proves, the anti-Mormons say, that the Book of Mormon (and by extension The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was founded on occultism, and not by God.

Before addressing this topic, I first want to paint a picture of the world of Joseph Smith in the early to mid 1800s. It was in many ways completely different then the modern world in which we now live. Practices like dowsing (also known as divining­­­­–––the practice of using a rod to find water or ore) was commonplace in that century, and was believed to be scientifically valid, the rod pointing towards the water like a compass points towards magnetic north. (An interesting side note, while certainly not as common now, dowsers are still employed by many farmers today). Seers who used stones to find lost objects were also not uncommon; in fact around the vicinity of the small town of Palmyra at least four people were operating as such. These practices certainly seem extremely strange to us in our day, and it is easy to dismiss them as the superstitions of simple, uneducated country folk. But it was not limited to them. It truly was part of the early modern worldview. For example, Sir Isaac Newton, arguably the greatest scientific mind of all time–––who died 78 years before Joseph Smith was born–––believed in alchemy (that common metals could be transformed to gold or silver). As we can see, if we are to try and understand why Joseph Smith may have done some of the things he did, we need to look at it under a 19th century lens, not our 21st century one.

Another important point to consider is the American frontier at the time was steeped in a religious and biblical culture–––much more so then we are today–––and many (though not all) would have certainly viewed these practices as falling under biblical approval. The Bible certainly lends credit to God use of physical objects in miraculous ways. Consider Jacob’s use of peeled poplar and hazel sticks to produced striped and spotted stock, Moses’ and Aaron’s rods, the Urim and Thummim, and consecrated oil to heal the sick as examples. It is critical to note, however, that the Bible absolutely condemns magic and sorcery. This is important: all who believe in the Bible (or virtually any other book of scripture for that matter) most certainly believe in supernatural, unexplainable miracles, but point to God as the source, not magic. Most of these practitioners–––be it “dowsers” or “seers”–––were practicing Christians, and as such they would have believed that they were given their gifts from God, not that they had some inherent magical power.

This brings us to the question of what Joseph Smiths involvement in all of this was. Early historical documents do show that prior to the Restoration Joseph Smith was involved in the practice of using a seer stone to find lost or hidden objects. As was discussed earlier in this post, this does not show that he believed in, or practiced, magic or sorcery in any form. Rather he, as a young man, believed either that he had been blessed with a gift from God, or that he had a talent for finding lost objects which was not incompatible with the scientific worldview at the time (much like dowsing). Unfortunately, there are no first hand accounts of this, and so we are without Joseph’s own thoughts and feelings on the matter and are left to draw conclusions based on the testimony of witnesses and other evidences. Also, many of the second hand accounts were given many years later, which adds a layer of complexity when trying to determine exactly how and to what extend Joseph Smith was involved. Hopefully throughout the remainder of this post I might be able shed some light and perhaps bring some context to this subject.

To the best of our ability it appears that he first used a seer stone to help locate lost objects in 1819-1820. In one of the early accounts it appears that Joseph Smith used the stone to help locate some lost cows. In another second hand account he was asked to tell the future, but he refused–––which is an important point. In his 2009 FAIR conference presentation, Brant Gardner stated, “I suspect that the refusal tells us about the spheres in which Joseph believed that particular talent operated. That refusal suggests Joseph made a distinction between that which was holy (which I believe he classified as religion) and his other functions (which I believe he classified as a talent).” In other words, this shows that Joseph Smith was concerned with not trying to extend his “talents” to do something that God would not sanction (i.e. prophesying the future without divine approval). But as this example demonstrates, it appears that he viewed the searching for lost objects to help others in an entirely different category, one which God did not disapprove.

Another common accusation was that Joseph Smith used this seer stone to con others into paying him to find lost treasure. The only well documented “treasure hunt” that Joseph Smith participated in was the 1825 expedition with Josiah Stowell (or Stoal) Sr. Josiah Stowell hired Joseph to help him find what he believed to be a lost Spanish silver mine (see previously linked FAIR presentation for more information). It is noteworthy that Joseph Smith was taken to court over the incident by Josiah Stowell’s nephew who accused him of conning his uncle. Josiah Stowell testified on Joseph Smith’s behalf and it appears he was acquitted of the charge. In his written history, Joseph Smith testifies that he actually was the one who persuaded Josiah to give up searching for the mine. His own humorous response to the accusation “was not Joseph Smith a money digger?” was “Yes, but it was never a very profitable job for him, as he only got fourteen dollars a month for it.” As we can see, it is very difficult to paint him in the light of a treasure seeking con artist.

The questions that most concerned Latter-day Saints probably have concerning this matter, however, are probably more along the lines of: did Joseph Smith actually have the gift to find lost objects using a stone? Are there any implications with the translation of the Gold Plates? Why would Heavenly Father choose as His prophet someone who practiced something that seems so foreign and strange to us? While we don’t have answers to all the questions on this subject, I hope to be able to offer up some ideas to anyone who may be struggling with this issue.

The seer stone believed to have been used by Joseph Smith in translating the Book of Mormon (October 2015 Ensign)
The seer stone believed to have been used by Joseph Smith in translating the Book of Mormon (“Joseph the Seer,” October 2015 Ensign).

First, we have no idea if Joseph Smith felt like his early use of a seer stone was assisted by a spiritual gift–––he said nothing on the matter. It would not surprise me at all if Heavenly Father had blessed the young boy with a gift that he used to assist others in finding things that were lost. That being said, my faith also allows 100% for a young Joseph Smith who was interested in an old tradition common to his time, and not believing it to be under biblical condemnation, sought to learn about and practice it. Remember, he was a teenager at the time, and one who sought truth from God wherever he could (even in a grove of trees). Would it not be unreasonable for such a young man to see if there was any truth among the local “seers” in his area? And could that not have sparked in interest in his teenage mind to see if he also possessed a “talent” for such things?

Whether his use of a seer stone was inspired by God, or a practice he became interested in and picked up on his own, we can only speculate. What is clear, however, is that Heavenly Father used this to further his purposes and prepare the young Joseph Smith for the great work that lay ahead of him. Because Joseph Smith was familiar using a stone to find lost objects, it would absolutely make sense to him that he could use stones to translate a “lost” language from an ancient record. It was a physical object that he could put his faith in while God used him to work mighty miracles. Did Heavenly Father need to use a stone or Urim and Thummim to translate the Book of Mormon? No, of course not. In fact, later Joseph Smith stopped using the stone to receive revelation because he no longer needed it. God didn’t need Moses’ rod to part the Red Sea either. But the rod, like the stone, was familiar to His prophets and it served as a catalyst to build their budding faith while they grew into the great men God intended them to be. God took Joseph Smith as he was, a “rough rolling stone,” and molded him into the great prophet of the restoration.

I would like to finish by quoting Elder D. Todd Christofferson:

We should be careful not to claim for Joseph Smith perfections he did not claim for himself. He need not have been superhuman to be the instrument in God’s hands that we know him to be. In May, 1844, Joseph declared: “I never told you I was perfect, but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught.” He had commented earlier: “Although I do wrong, I do not the wrongs I am charged with doing: the wrong that I do is through the frailty of human nature, like other men. No man lives without fault. Do you think that even Jesus, if He were here, would be without fault in your eyes? His enemies said all manner of evil against Him—they all watched for iniquity in Him.” Joseph Smith was a mortal man striving to fulfill an overwhelming, divinely- appointed mission against all odds. The wonder is not that he ever displayed human failings, but that he succeeded in his mission. His fruits are undeniable and undeniably good.

To me the greatest way to defend accusations against the Prophet, and to calm any nagging doubts, is to look at the fruits of Joseph Smith, namely the Book of Mormon and the work of the Restoration. Could such a work be brought forth by an uneducated farm boy who dabbled in magic and had no assistance from the Divine? I would testify absolutely not–––that this could only be brought forth by the gift and power of God. Ultimately, however, we each need to determine this for ourselves. The beauty of the Book of Mormon is that for us, it is something physical that we can read, study, and ask God ourselves to determine the truth of what it contains. The exact mechanics of how the plates were translated, or how Joseph Smith became prepared to translate them is a secondary issue. And if we can determine the truthfulness of the end product, we can be assured that while we may not have all the answers, God’s hand was involved from the beginning to the end.

Fair Issues 92: A short history of LDS Mesoamerican scholars

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MAIn this installment brother Ash relates the history of Dr. M. Wells Jakeman and Thomas Stuart Ferguson along with the work done by John L. Sorenson whose work was published in the 1984 Ensign.

The full text of this article can be found at Deseret News online.

Brother Ash is author of the book Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt, as well as the book, of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith. Both books are available for purchase online through the FairMormon Bookstore. Tell your friends about the Mormon Fair-Cast. Share a link on your Facebook page and help increase the popularity of the Mormon Fair-Cast by subscribing to this podcast in iTunes, and by rating it and writing a review.

The views and opinions expressed in the podcast may not reflect those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or that of FairMormon

 

 

Fair Issues 91: New light on Book of Mormon geography

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MAIn this episode brother Ash sheds light on Book of Mormon geographic models from the perspective of both amateur enthusiasts and professional scholars.

The full text of this article can be found at Deseret News online.

Brother Ash is author of the book Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt, as well as the book, of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith. Both books are available for purchase online through the FairMormon Bookstore. Tell your friends about the Mormon Fair-Cast. Share a link on your Facebook page and help increase the popularity of the Mormon Fair-Cast by subscribing to this podcast in iTunes, and by rating it and writing a review.

The views and opinions expressed in the podcast may not reflect those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or that of FairMormon