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Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 3; Mark 1; Luke 3

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Evangelical Questions: Wait. You Don’t Believe in the Trinity?

by Jennifer Roach, MDiv, LMHC

Mark 1:10-11 “And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Welcome back to Come Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions. I’m Jennifer Roach and today we’re looking at a popular question you might get from your Evangelical friends or family members: Why don’t you believe in the Trinity?  As you know we’re following the Come Follow Me readings in the New Testament this year and this week’s reading brings up the question in Mark 1:11 because we have Jesus being baptized, the voice of God calling down from Heaven, and the Spirit appearing in the form of a dove.  So it’s understandable that our friends get confused on this issue. Here we are reading Mark 1, but denying the Trinity. What gives? [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 3; Mark 1; Luke 3

Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – John 1

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Evangelical Questions: Why did Joseph Smith change the meaning to some verses in the Bible?

by Jennifer Roach, MDiv, LMHC

This week we come to a very important verse in scripture.  John 1:1 traditionally translated, “In the beginning was the word.”  You’ll find it that way in almost every translation. It’s often the first verse beginning Greek students learn, “Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος” and straight away they are introduced to the complexities of translating. The text literally says, “In the beginning was the logos.” We look at that verse now, with the benefit of centuries of translation on our side and know “logos” means Jesus in some sense. Translators, theologians and scholars have been settled on this for a very long time. So it’s a fair question to ask, “Why did Joseph Smith step out of the established translation on this verse?”  Now, your Evangelical friends or family members may not be able to point to this specific verse and see the differences, but if you’re in conversation with them about the New Testament the issue of Joseph’s variations in translation are going to come up eventually. Let’s look at how Joseph translated the same verse: [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – John 1

Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 2; Luke 2

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Evangelical Questions: Why are temples still needed?

by Jennifer Roach, MDiv, LMHC

Luke 2:22, 27

And when the days of her (Mary’s) purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him (baby Jesus) to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord…And he (Simeon) came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law.

Again we will be looking at a section of scripture in the Come Follow Me readings that corresponds to a common question Evangelicals have about our faith. Last time we talked about how an Evangelical’s value of showing loyalty to Christ makes them suspicious of some of our claims. This week we’re going to talk about the temple – why Evangelicals are skeptical of the need of a temple, why they think that way, and some of the ways you can have better conversations with them that lead to a natural but confident sharing of your testimony.

What Do Evangelicals Understand About Temples? [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 2; Luke 2

Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 1; Luke 1

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Evangelical Questions: Is Jesus God?

by Jennifer Roach, MDiv, LMHC

Matthew 1:21

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Introduction

So, right off the bat we have an interesting point of conversation that could come up with your Evangelical friends: Who do you believe Jesus is? [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 1; Luke 1

Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Introduction

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Jennifer Roach introduces this new video series that will follow our Come, Follow Me study of the New Testament in 2023.

Each week we’ll talk a look at the CFM readings in the New Testament with a specific eye looking for places where there is either a resonance or a dissonance with what the average Evangelical Christian in the US believes. And each week we’ll look at a specific question an Evangelical might ask if they were in conversation with you about this text.

The idea isn’t to give you ammunition to shoot down your Evangelical friends in debate, but to try to better understand their questions and provide an informed and faithful answer.

We have so much in common with our EV friends and neighbors, but sometimes members of the church get a little shy of talking about scripture because the whole thing can end up in a muddle. This series will give some framework for understanding how they hear the same passage and how to answer questions that might come up.

More Come, Follow Me resources here.

 

Jennifer Roach earned a Master of Divinity from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, and a Master of Counseling from Argosy University. Before her conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints she was an ordained minister in the Anglican church. Her own experience of sexual abuse from a pastor during her teen years led her to care deeply about issues of abuse in faith communities.

Come, Follow Me Week 22 – Joshua 1–8; 23–24

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Trying to Serve the Lord Without Offending the Devil

By Nick Galieti

(Originally published on February 11, 2015 as part of our “Rise Up” podcast for youth)

When it comes to living our lives, we have a lot of choices placed before us. We have our choice of schools to attend after high school, or even a choice of career path. Spiritually speaking, we have a choice to make. When viewing the world around him, even Joshua in the Old Testament dealt with this same question. In Joshua 24:14-15 he was speaking prior to his death and reflecting on the different choices that he made in his life when he recorded this often quoted passage: [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 22 – Joshua 1–8; 23–24

Faithfully Informed Podcast #2 – Interview with Sarah Allen, author of 60+ part “CES Letter” Rebuttal

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Sarah Allen has been writing a 60+ part series of articles responding to the “CES Letter” at r/lds on Reddit, which is now also being published on the FAIR blog. In this interview with Amber Rothamer, she talks about how she got started and the experiences she’s had over more than a year in writing the rebuttal.

Sarah’s “CES Letter” response series can be found on the FAIR website here:

https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Sarah_Allen_CES_Response_Posts

Sarah Allen is brand new in her affiliation with FAIR. By profession, she works in mortgage compliance and is a freelance copyeditor. A voracious reader, she loves studying the Gospel and the history of the restored Church. After watching some of her lose their testimonies, she became interested in helping others through their faith crises and began sharing what she learned through her studies. She’s grateful to those at FAIR who have given her the opportunity to share her testimony with a wider audience.

Amber Rothamer currently operates as the Project Manager at FAIR, streamlining the volunteer application process and organizing the many operations of FAIR into easy to manage teams led by its volunteer base. Amber has over 5 years experience spearheading marketing campaigns for radio and social media as a social media marketing manager, and specializes in written and visual content creation. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University Idaho where she majored in Broadcast Journalism with a minor in music and worked for both the school paper and the school radio station. Amber is driven by a passion to connect people through effective communication both professionally and personally. At home she focuses on building her young family of herself, her husband, and infant son, on open and honest communication. When Amber is blessed with free time, she enjoys traveling with her family, family history, and singing songs for her son.

 

Faithfully Informed Podcast #1 – Kerry Muhlestein on “Learning to Love Isaiah”

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Amber Rothamer is FAIR’s Project Manager. She will be hosting a new podcast series called “Faithfully Informed.” In this first episode, she interviews Kerry Muhlestein on his new book, Learning to Love Isaiah: A Guide and Commentary.

Autographed copies of Learning to Love Isaiah: A Guide and Commentary are available from the FAIR Bookstore. [Read more…] about Faithfully Informed Podcast #1 – Kerry Muhlestein on “Learning to Love Isaiah”

FAIR Voice #34: Witnesses Pt. 1 with Daniel C. Peterson

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Dr. Peterson joins Hanna to talk about the upcoming feature film Witnesses as well as discuss some of the important historical issues surrounding the witnesses themselves. You won’t want to miss this interview or this film! As mentioned in the intro, FAIR’s conference is soon! Please look here for more details.

A native of southern California, Daniel C. Peterson received a bachelor’s degree in Greek and philosophy from Brigham Young University (BYU) and, after several years of study in Jerusalem and Cairo, earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Peterson is a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at BYU, where he has taught Arabic language and literature at all levels, Islamic philosophy, Islamic culture and civilization, Islamic religion, the Qur’an, the introductory and senior “capstone” courses for Middle Eastern Studies majors, and various other occasional specialized classes. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on Islamic and Latter-day Saint topics–including a biography entitled Muhammad: Prophet of God (Eerdmans, 2007)—and has lectured across the United States, in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and at various Islamic universities in the Near East and Asia. He served in the Switzerland Zürich Mission (1972-1974), and, for approximately eight years, on the Gospel Doctrine writing committee for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also presided for a time as the bishop of a singles ward adjacent to Utah Valley University. Dr. Peterson is married to the former Deborah Stephens, of Lakewood, Colorado, and they are the parents of three sons.

Hanna Seariac is a MA student in Greek and Latin at Brigham Young University. She works as a research assistant on a biblical commentary and as a research assistant on early Latter-day Saint history. Her interests thematically center around sacrifice, magic, and priesthood as it pertains to ancient Judaism, early Christianity, ancient Egyptian religion, and early Restoration history.

FAIR Voice #35: Witnesses pt. 2 with actors for Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery

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Please remember to see the film Witnesses! In this episode, Hanna talks with actors Caleb and Paul who play Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith respectively about what it was like to play these characters and to talk more about the film. Actor Paul described playing Joseph Smith as the role of a lifetime and actor Caleb was largely introduced to Latter-day Saint religion through this film. This conversation does not disappoint!

Hanna Seariac is a MA student in Greek and Latin at Brigham Young University. She works as a research assistant on a biblical commentary and as a research assistant on early Latter-day Saint history. Her interests thematically center around sacrifice, magic, and priesthood as it pertains to ancient Judaism, early Christianity, ancient Egyptian religion, and early Restoration history.