FAIR

2022 FAIR Conference videos are now available to watch!

Prophets

Come, Follow Me Week 48 – Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah

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Habakkuk – For our day

by Jennifer Roach, LMHC

Habakkuk is the book you never knew you needed.

The problem of evil is a question every generation must grapple with.  If God exists, why does he allow school children to be killed in a shooting? If God is good, how can he let people suffer as they do? If God cares about his children, how can poverty, disease, and violence rampage us as they do?

Habakkuk grappled with this question too. In his day the question was, “If God loves us, why do the Babylonians terrorize us?”  I offer the following reading of Habakkuk – for his day, and for our day – as an answer to the problem of evil. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 48 – Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah

Come, Follow Me Week 47 – Jonah; Micah

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A Gourd, a Worm, and an East Wind: Discovering God’s Extensions of Love in the Book of Jonah

by Matt Crawford

Jonah called Gath-hepher home—a town which was west of the present-day Sea of Galilee (see 2 Kings 14:25). When the Lord called Jonah on a mission from his comfortable home to the Assyrian city of Nineveh,[1] he did not hesitate to act. Jonah immediately “rose up to flee unto Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3).[2] [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 47 – Jonah; Micah

President Joseph F. Smith Explains What “Mormonism” Really Is

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(submitted by Dennis B. Horne)

Editorial Note: In the below article, President Smith defines the label “Mormonism” very much as President Russell M. Nelson has. These prophets are one in their views on this matter. President Smith also expounds in some detail on many facets of church practice and doctrine, including the future. Most of the material is as true and relevant today as it was a hundred and twenty years ago—there is great consistency in church teachings and practice. One effect of his message is to make one proud to be a faithful member of the Restored Church of Jesus Christ. The original article is titled, The “Mormonism” of Today: [Read more…] about President Joseph F. Smith Explains What “Mormonism” Really Is

Come, Follow Me Week 46 – Amos; Obadiah

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Amos and Prophets

by Daniel Ortner

Amos is considered one of the “minor” prophets. But Amos 3:7 is a verse that is one of the more frequently cited in General Conference. According to the BYU Scripture Citation Index, it has been cited around 109 times. That’s more than any single psalm in the book of Psalms (not more than the whole book of Psalms). More than whole books of the Old Testament such as Judges, Ruth, and Esther. More than a lot of well known verses in the New Testament or Book of Mormon. And even about as frequently as 1 Nephi 3:7. It is a pretty big deal. Ultimately the popularity of this verse says a lot about our devotion to following the Lord’s prophet and apostles. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 46 – Amos; Obadiah

Come, Follow Me Week 45 – Hosea 1–6; 10–14; Joel (additional post)

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Why is Obedience Greater than Sacrifice?

Meditations on Hosea 6:6

by Benjamin Pacini

My children know that the rule on Sunday is that they can only watch “church videos.” They’ve gotten to know them so well that when I began playing one of my favorites, it was two seconds in before my son shouted from the other room “that’s ‘Music of the Gospel’–I love that one!”  [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 45 – Hosea 1–6; 10–14; Joel (additional post)

Come, Follow Me Week 43 – Ezekiel 1–3; 33–34; 36–37; 47

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True Prophets Call Us to Repentance

by Daniel Ortner

Ezekiel’s Prophetic Call to Cry Repentance

Chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of Ezekiel feature Ezekiel’s prophetic call. Just like the prophet Isaiah and Ezekiel’s contemporaries Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel is called as part of a vision where he sees the throne of God and feels the overwhelming presence of God. From each of these calls we can learn something significant about the role of a Prophet. For instance, from Jeremiah we learned a few weeks ago how God knew Jeremiah before he was born and foreordained him to be a prophet. But from Ezekiel we learn about a prophet’s mission to people to repentance whether or not that message is popular. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 43 – Ezekiel 1–3; 33–34; 36–37; 47

President Harold B. Lee Testifies about Revelation in Book of Mormon Translation

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by Dennis B. Horne

In late 1973, only two months before he passed away, President Harold B. Lee visited Rick’s College (now BYU-Idaho), where he attended a luncheon and then gave the college devotional address. As President of Rick’s at that time, Henry B. Eyring was present with President Lee and described the events in his journal. These journal notations ended up in his biography, where they portray an unusually intense spiritual outpouring among those present. [Read more…] about President Harold B. Lee Testifies about Revelation in Book of Mormon Translation

FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 2 Days!

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General Conference is now just 2 days away! It will be held October 1-2, and will have morning and afternoon sessions on Saturday and Sunday, along with an evening session for everyone on Saturday. More information is available here.

In preparation, we are doing a daily countdown with posts from different people explaining how they feel about General Conference, how they prepare, tips for getting the most out of it, how to deal with associated social media posts, etc.

Musings on General Conference

by Trevor Holyoak

My earliest memories of General Conference are of me and my siblings playing with Legos while our parents tried to watch (and listen) in the same room. I knew it was our church leaders and prophet speaking, but to me it was just an opportunity to not have to go to church in person. As I got older, I paid a little more attention – particularly when my dad would take me to the stake center to watch the Priesthood session, and the times I took a date to Temple Square to watch it – but I didn’t start fully appreciating it until my mission. As a missionary, I fell in love with General Conference. I watched all the sessions all the way through for the first time in my life. Part of it may be that I realized how special this was for the members I watched it with – they spent the entire day at the church, and had a picnic together between sessions – but I think it was the first time I realized just what it was that I was watching: that these leaders were called of God to lead His church, and they were telling us what we needed to hear at that moment. [Read more…] about FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 2 Days!

Evaluating Claims that Contradict the Prophets

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Seven years ago, a FAIR conference presentation identified a harmful ideology among some members of the Church of Jesus Christ. It claims that God gives revelations, visits, and special priesthood ordinations to individuals outside of church leadership, and that faithful church members should follow and obey those individuals, and believe the truth of their purported visions and revelations, either along with or instead of actual church leaders. It often criticizes church leaders for being uninspired, or else claims one must read between the lines of leaders’ statements because most church members are too uninspired or unrighteous to receive greater light and deeper understanding. At the time, some of the major proponents of this ideology were Julie Rowe and Denver Snuffer.

Since then, this spiritually elitist ideology has become far more widespread than a few “remnant” groups. Our culture’s obsession with “authenticity” and personalized truth, along with confusion about scriptural principles of revelation, have made a lot of us susceptible to very harmful ideas that undermine our faith and ability to truly commune with God. [Read more…] about Evaluating Claims that Contradict the Prophets