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Faith and Reason

Faith and Reason 67: The Apostasy

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

The apostasy was already under way while some of the apostles still lived and they warned that worse times would come after they were gone. As long as they were around, they could correct erroneous doctrines and confound false teachers, but they knew and prophesied of times to come when the church would go astray. Through the prophet Joseph Smith, our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ restored the fulness of the gospel. The true Church of Jesus Christ is on the earth again today. Because of the Restoration, the teachings and ordinances necessary for salvation are available to all people.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt. He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 66: More Book of Abraham Evidences

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

By Michael R. Ash

Non-LDS Near Eastern scholar David Noel Freedman said that he had never encountered an Abraham account where the patriarch himself was threatened with sacrifice until he saw the claim in the Book of Abraham. Upon further reflection he acknowledged that a similar tradition existed in an ancient Abrahamic document, but an English translation was not available until the 1890’s.  What are the chances that Joseph Smith could have gotten so many things right by mere guesswork?

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt. He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 65: Heliocentric Universe

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

By Michael R. Ash

According to the Book of Abraham, the highest celestial objects “govern” the objects below them (see Abraham 3:3, and Facimile 2, fig. 5). Likewise, when we turn to the Apocalypse of Abraham, we find that God’s throne is in the highest of heavens and that His commands are passed down by angels through the various levels of heaven. Each of the higher levels governs and commands the lower levels. While such a cosmology makes little sense from the heliocentric cosmology of Joseph Smith’s milieu, it makes perfect sense from the ancient cosmologies accepted by the ancient people of the Near East.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt. He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 63: Four Hundred Year Baktun

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

The time obsessed Maya measured time by a four hundred year interval known as a baktun. The baktun was made up of the extremely important twenty year sub-interval known as the katun. Not only do we find the four hundred year baktun in the Book of Mormon, but Moroni bids us farewell “Four hundred and twenty years” –or one katun after the final baktun following the sign that was given of the coming of Jesus Christ.

“Bamboozled by the CES Letter” can be found here:

http://www.shakenfaithsyndrome.com/bamboozle/bamboozled.pdf

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 62: Earthquakes and Volcanoes

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

By Michael R. Ash

In approximately 6 BC, Samuel, the Lamanite prophet, prophesied of Christ’s birth and death and revealed that when the Savior died there would be three days of darkness, great upheavals, and destruction. About forty years later, at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, the Nephites saw the fulfillment of this prophecy (see Helaman 14). From a scientific point of view, the calamities which would fit the description of destruction recorded in the Book of Mormon  would have to be an earthquake followed by a volcanic eruption –which we now know can be triggered by earthquakes. Since the Book of Mormon likely took place in ancient Mesoamerica, it is of interest to note that Mesoamerica lies in an active earthquake zone –a fact that would have been unknown to Joseph Smith.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 61: Uto-Aztecan Language

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

When the Lehites arrived in the New World over two thousand years ago, they would have merged with existing native populations. Within a few generations, the spoken language of their descendants would likely have become that of their neighbors. It’s also possible, however, that some of the original Hebrew words used by the Lehites were picked up by their neighbors and continued to be used even after the Hebrew language disappeared. Near Eastern language expert Dr. Brian Stubbs argues for a possible link between Uto-Aztecan (a family of about thirty Native American Languages) and Hebrew. As a professional linguist, Stubbs avoids the pitfalls of amateurs who simply point to similar words between two different languages.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 60: List of Book of Mormon Items

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

Critics frequently claim that the Book of Mormon is contradicted by New World archaeology. This may have been true in 1830 when the Book of Mormon was published, but it is no longer true today. Dr. John Clark of the New World Archaeological Foundation recently compiled a list of sixty items mentioned in the Book of Mormon. The list includes items such as steel, swords, barley, cement, thrones, literacy and more. A dozen years after the Book of Mormon was printed only eight of those sixty items had been confirmed by archaeological evidence. By the turn of the twenty-first century , however, forty-five of those sixty items (or 75 percent) have been confirmed by archaeological evidence.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 58: Cement

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

According to the critics and what was known about ancient America during Joseph Smith’s day, the Native Americans did not work in cement. Recent research, however, shows that some Native Americans began using cement extensively at about the time indicated in the Book of Mormon. One of the most notable uses of cement is in the temple complex at Teotihuacan, north of present day Mexico City.  According to David S. Hyman, the structural use of cement appears suddenly in the archaeological record, and its earliest sample is a highly developed product. Although exposed to the elements for over 2,000 years, this structure still exceeds many modern day building code requirements.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Television Host, News Anchor, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 41: Sheum

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From the book: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidendences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

By Michael R. Ash

Among the crops cultivated by the Nephites beginning in the second century BC we have not only barley but also sheum –for which critics claimed there was no translation. However, within the last forty years, we have learned the the most important cereal grain among the Akkadians of Mesopotamia was called she’um. It is certainly possible that the Jaredites –who originally lived in Mesopotamia may have given the name sheum to some new cultivated plant they encountered in the New World. Their descendants would have continued to use this name and passed it on to future generations.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.

Faith and Reason 40: Thieves and Robbers

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From  the book:

Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith

by Michael R. Ash

In the Book of Mormon, we find the terms thieves and robbers. To modern Americans, the words are interchangeable  (which is what we find in the King James Bible). Under ancient Near Eastern law, however, there is a significant difference between the two types of criminals and how the law should punish them. Without exception, the Book of Mormon uses the terms thieves and robbers correctly, according the specific type of criminal as well as what we now know about ancient Near Eastern law.

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt.  He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton  is a broadcast journalist living in Louisville, Kentucky. She has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, Radio and Television Host, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.