FAIR

LDS Scriptures

Come, Follow Me Week 4 – Genesis 5; Moses 6

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Taught in All the Ways of God: Teaching as the Theme of Moses 6

by Matthew L. Bowen

Moses 5 records that an angel taught Adam and Eve the meaning of the sacrifices God had commanded them to make upon their departure from Eden (see Moses 5:5-12). Adam and Eve, in turn, taught their sons and daughters what they had been taught by God and his messengers: “And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters” (Moses 5:12). The narrative then states that “Satan came among” Adam’s and Eve’s children, sowing doubt and disbelief in their parents’ teaching (Moses 5:13). The remainder of Moses 5 details the degree to which rebellion, rejection of parental teachings, and satanic secret combinations can amplify evil within the world.  [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 4 – Genesis 5; Moses 6

Come, Follow Me Week 3 – Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5

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The Two Trees

by V.H. Cassler

(This is from a presentation given at the 2010 FAIR Conference)

The Restored Gospel teaches me that the term “God” means an exalted woman and an exalted man married in the new and everlasting covenant (and we also get that from D&C 132). We are taught that there is no God without men and women loving each other as equals. Heavenly Father is not an old bachelor. In fact, the one who’s an old bachelor is Satan. This is revolutionary.

Second, the Restored Gospel teaches me that you will have your male or female body forever. It is not a curse, but a great gift and a blessing that you had to prove yourself worthy to have. Women in the audience, your breasts, your womb, your ovaries, are not cursings, sisters, they are blessings. And the Restored Gospel also teaches me that I will be married forever, and that I will have children forever, and that that life of being a woman married to my sweetheart and having children forever is the life that will bring me the fullest joy. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 3 – Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5

Come, Follow Me Week 1 – Moses 1; Abraham 3

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How did we get the books of Moses and Abraham?

The Come, Follow Me manual poses this question and gives links to articles on the Church’s website about the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible and the Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham. For further information, the following resources are available from FAIR and other trusted sites:

An Introduction to the Book of Abraham – the full text of this book by John Gee is available online for free from the publisher. (Click on the chapter titles to go to the text. You can also download PDF files from within each chapter that include photos and illustrations, which are very helpful.)

YouTube playlist of videos from FAIR on the Book of Abraham

Book of Abraham section of our website with common questions and answers

Book of Moses section of our website with common questions and answers

Interpreter Foundation 2021 Book of Moses Conference videos – Kent P. Jackson’s “How We Got the Joseph Smith Translation, the Book of Moses, and Joseph Smith—Matthew” is a good place to start.

More Come, Follow Me resources here.

 

Rethinking Revelation and the Human Element in Scripture

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Available in the FAIR Bookstore

by Michael R. Ash

Those who have read any of my writings in the past several decades will know that I’ve been a volunteer for FAIR for more than twenty years. I’m an active Latter-day Saint who accepts prophets as the divinely called and authorized agents of Christ’s church on earth. And, like many other believing members, scholars, and LDS-scientists, I also try to think rationally and logically, and I embrace the general conclusions of secular science and “objective” history.

Faith-Crisis

In the more than forty years that I’ve been reading and writing about LDS scholarly issues (including the twenty years I’ve been volunteering for FAIR), I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing the intellectual reasons people leave the faith. Obviously, there are many reasons that people leave the Church, but I’ve always been interested in the historical and scientific issues that unseat some LDS testimonies. [Read more…] about Rethinking Revelation and the Human Element in Scripture

Inspiration, Intellect, and Rethinking Revelation

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by Michael R. Ash

for FAIR Newsletter 2021 1211

Inspiration and Intellect are two sides of the same coin in how Latter-day Saints believe that God communicates with His children. We know that the Spirit testifies to eternal truths, but we often forget (or neglect) the role that intellect plays in uncovering truth. The late Apostle Hugh B. Brown said, “revelation does not come only through the prophet of God nor only directly from heaven in visions or dreams. Revelation may come in the laboratory, out of the test tube, out of the thinking mind and the inquiring soul, out of search and research and prayer and inspiration.”[i] Likewise, the Lord instructed the Saints to “seek learning… by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118). This counsel was repeated several more times in modern revelations (see D&C 11:22, 90:15, 93:53; and 109: 7, 14), and the admonition led Joseph to establish the “School of the Prophets” (D&C 88:127).

The dual-nature or dual-sources for discovering truth presents some challenges, however. The first challenge is that neither source—neither inspiration nor intellect—can provide infallible and inerrant data.

The Challenge of Inspiration [Read more…] about Inspiration, Intellect, and Rethinking Revelation

Come, Follow Me Week 50 – Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 & 2

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We Believe All that God Has Revealed

by Cassandra Hedelius

On social media and other discussions, it’s very common for LGBT activists/allies to invoke the ninth Article of Faith. They take for granted that the church’s teachings on marriage and sexuality are wrong, and assert that God will soon change them. After all, “we believe that God will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God!” [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 50 – Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 & 2

Come, Follow Me Week 49 – Doctrine and Covenants 137-138

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Heirs of the Celestial Kingdom of God

by David W. Smith

Many people today misunderstand the nature and blessings of God’s love. “God loves me just as I am, so I don’t need to change,” they might say, or “Because God loves me, He will accept me as I am into heaven.” To use a scriptural phrase: “If it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.”[1]

Elder D. Todd Christofferson explained, “Because God’s love is all-embracing, some speak of it as ‘unconditional,’ and in their minds they may project that thought to mean that God’s blessings are ‘unconditional’ and that salvation is ‘unconditional.’ They are not. Some are wont to say, ‘The Savior loves me just as I am,’ and that is certainly true. But He cannot take any of us into His kingdom just as we are, ‘for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence.’ Our sins must first be resolved.”[2]

President Russell M. Nelson taught, “The full flower of divine love and our greatest blessings from that love are conditional.”[3] This message is a key part of two visions given to two Josephs. These visions are the last two sections in the Doctrine and Covenants. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 49 – Doctrine and Covenants 137-138

Come, Follow Me Week 48 – Doctrine and Covenants 135-136

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By René Krywult

A view of the bedroom in Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith was martyred

This week’s Come, Follow Me lesson starts with the following words:

The afternoon of June 27, 1844, found Joseph and Hyrum Smith in jail once again, accompanied by John Taylor and Willard Richards. They believed they were innocent of any crime, but they submitted to arrest, hoping to prevent violence against the Saints in Nauvoo.

There were several reasons for this arrest: [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 48 – Doctrine and Covenants 135-136

“Ask the Egyptologist” Virtual Fireside for Sustaining Members on Dec. 1

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The Book of Abraham is an incredible book that contains many truths about the gospel. But there are often questions about the Book of Abraham that can be difficult to understand or answer. There is a feeling among some critics that the Book of Abraham is evidence that the Church is not true.

With this in mind, we are pleased to announce a video streaming fireside “Ask the Egyptologist” with Dr. John Gee.  Dr. Gee has a Ph.D. in Egyptology from Yale University and has been prolific in academic publication. The fireside will take place on December 1st at 7 pm Mountain Time. For those in other time zones where it’s not convenient to watch it live, it will be recorded for later viewing.

Please submit your questions to him now, and then he will do his best to answer as many of the questions as possible.

This is, however, an exclusive event that is only available to our sustaining members and to our larger donors. To become a sustaining member you can sign up here for an annual membership, or here for a monthly subscription.

We hope to see you there!

About John Gee:

John Gee is the William (Bill) Gay Research Professor in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University. He has authored over one-hundred and fifty publications including three books and editor of eight books and has edited a peer-reviewed international professional journal. He has served on the board of trustees of national and international organizations.

The FAIR Bookstore is currently carrying two of John’s books: An Introduction to the Book of Abraham and Saving Faith: How Families Protect, Sustain, and Encourage Faith

FAIR Conference Podcast #66 – Mike Ash, “Rethinking Revelation and the Human Element in Scripture: The Prophet’s Role as Creative Co-Author”

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Podcast: Download (11.0MB)

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This podcast series features past FAIR Conference presentations. This presentation is from our 2021 conference held in August. If you would like to watch the presentations from the conference, you can still purchase the video streaming.

Mike Ash, Rethinking Revelation and the Human Element in Scripture: The Prophet’s Role as Creative Co-Author

Mike’s book is available from the FAIR bookstore.

Michael R. Ash, a FairMormon member for more than twenty years, has been featured in nearly 90 podcasts and 30 videos. In more than two decades of writing LDS-themed material, and as a former weekly columnist for Mormon Times (owned by the Deseret News), his works include over 160 on-line articles, as well as articles in periodicals such as the Ensign, Sunstone, Neal A. Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.

Michael is also the author of four LDS books. In 2008 FAIR published his book Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt (which is available in English, German, and Italian). Mike quickly followed this publication with his second book, Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith. In 2015 Michael published Bamboozled by the CES Letter: An honest response to the .pdf pamphlet entitled “Letter to a CES Director”, and this year he has introduced his newest book, Rethinking Revelation and the Human Element in Scripture: The Prophet’s Role as Creative Co-Author.