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Come, Follow Me Old Testament Resources

Prophets

Come, Follow Me Week 15 – Exodus 14–17

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“Even as Moses Did”: The Use of the Exodus Narrative in Mosiah 11-18

by Sara Riley

(This is from a presentation given at the 2018 FAIR Conference)

In this presentation I hope to answer the following questions:

  1. How is the Exodus narrative used in Mosiah, both structurally and thematically?
    And by that I mean, how is the structure of the book of Exodus similar to these chapters in Mosiah, and how are the Exodus themes used in the Book of Mosiah?
  2. Were these Exodus motifs and allusions intentional?
    And while we cannot necessarily as a reader be 100% positive concerning the intent and purposes of the author or authors of the Book of Mosiah, I hope to establish that these allusions may plausibly have been intentional.
  3. And if it is intentional, why would they use the Exodus narrative for this particular account?

[Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 15 – Exodus 14–17

“Was that a revelation?” General Conference and Agents of the Divine

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for FAIR Newsletter 7 2022

by Steve Densley

Over time, I have come to look forward to General Conference more and more. It seems that now, more than ever, we need the wisdom and guidance that comes from those who have been set apart by God to instruct us.

Of course, I do not always hear what I want to hear. I am often challenged by the words of our leaders and can feel that I will need to stretch, sometimes with some pain, to accomplish what is expected. So I understand when I hear people wonder aloud, “Was that a revelation?” as if to say, “Do I really need to do that?” Or, “Is that really true?” [Read more…] about “Was that a revelation?” General Conference and Agents of the Divine

Come Listen to a Prophet’s Voice

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by Robert Hill

Every six months, dating back to 1840, Latter-day Saints gather as a worldwide congregation to worship, sing and learn at the feet of leaders we consider living prophets. It’s a wonderful time full of the Spirit of God. But recently, I can’t help feeling I miss the way General Conference used to be. I don’t mean the recent changes in whether we get a male priesthood session or the socially-distanced broadcasts necessitated by the pandemic. I mean the feeling of sitting down for it. It wasn’t so very long ago that I looked forward with unalloyed eagerness to gathering with family and food for a joyful weekend of spiritual edification. [Read more…] about Come Listen to a Prophet’s Voice

FAIR Conference Podcast #79 – Derek Sainsbury, “We mean to elect him”: Electioneer Experiences during Joseph Smith’s 1844 presidential campaign

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

Derek Sainsbury, “We mean to elect him”: Electioneer Experiences during Joseph Smith’s 1844 presidential campaign

Derek’s book, Storming the Nation: The Unknown Contributions of Joseph Smith’s Political Missionaries, is available from the FAIR Bookstore.

Derek R. Sainsbury has worked for 26 years in the Seminaries and Institutes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Currently, he is an instructor in the Church History and Doctrine department at Brigham Young University. He holds a PhD in American History from the University of Utah. He is the author of “Storming the Nation: The Unknown Contributions of Joseph Smith’s Political Missionaries,” the award-nominated first book-length treatment of Joseph Smith’s presidential campaign. He has also authored other academic articles and conference papers. He volunteers for Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants Central. He resides in Bountiful, Utah with his wife Meredith and their three sons and three dogs.

Come, Follow Me Week 13 – Exodus 1-6

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A Burning Bush and a Pillar of Light: God Remembers His Children

by Ugo A. Perego

Many years ago, when I was a young student at Brigham Young University, I had the unique opportunity to register for and attend the Summer Semester at the BYU Jerusalem Center. To this day, it has been one of the best and most intriguing experiences in my life and I still dream about being able to go back there some future day. Besides the incredible instructors that were able to open my eyes and my heart to the world of the Old and New Testaments and an atmosphere of learning that has been hard to match elsewhere, one of the highlights of being in the Holy Land to study the Bible were the many trips we were able to make to the various places mentioned in the scriptures. It was as if time and space disappeared, and I was catapulted right in to the pages of the biblical accounts. One such trip was at Mount Sinai. When we arrived, we were told that we were going to sleep only a couple of hours and then we were to climb the mountain so that we would be on the top of it shortly before sunrise. It was a spectacular sight and truly a sacred moment as I pondered the meaning of that place in the history of humankind. However, that was just half of the Sinai experience. From there, we walked down the other side of the mountain to the Monastery of Saint Catherine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site sacred to Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike. In the court of the monastery, a small plant had a sign with “The Burning Bush” written in reminiscence of Moses’ calling to prophethood somewhere not far from where I was standing. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 13 – Exodus 1-6

FAIR Conference Podcast #78 – Kirk Magleby, “Unforgettable Hugh Nibley”

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

Kirk Magleby, Unforgettable Hugh Nibley

Hugh Nibley Observed is available from the FAIR Bookstore.

Kirk Alder Magleby is the Executive Director of Book of Mormon Central. Kirk was born in Salzburg, Austria, and raised in Utah and Arizona. He served a mission for the Church in Peru. Kirk has a degree in economics from BYU and has spent his life in entrepreneurial as well as religious and humanitarian pursuits. Kirk is currently the Executive Director of Book of Mormon Central. He and his wife, Shannon, have 4 children and 10 grandchildren.

Come, Follow Me Week 11 – Genesis 37–41

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“The Lord Was with Joseph”: A Scriptural Case Study in Why the Lord Allows Bad Things to Happen to Good People

by Matthew L. Bowen

Bad things happen to good people, of course. What’s more, sometimes terrible things happen to the best people even when they are striving with the utmost diligence to do what is right. The entire book of Job is “the paradigmatic literary case of the innocent sufferer, afflicted by the Deity through no fault of his own, and forever kept in the dark concerning the actual cause of his misery.”[1] Nobody ever suffered more for doing so much good for so many than Jesus Christ himself, who never once committed sin.[2] Like Job, Joseph in Egypt represents an antetype or foreshadowing of the Savior with respect to unmerited suffering. As with Jesus and his atoning sacrifice, what happens to Joseph ultimately sets up the divine means of saving the house of Israel alive. This short study will explore the typology of Joseph as the life-saving sufferer (as opposed to a hapless victim of suffering) and the far-reaching impact of the divine deliverance accomplished through him. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 11 – Genesis 37–41

Come, Follow Me Week 10 – Genesis 28–33

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Becoming Israel: Learning How to Prevail with God Through Covenants

By Steve Densley

The stories we find in Genesis 28-33 are rich with covenant imagery, from Isaac’s blessing that Jacob would receive the promises of the Abrahamic covenant in the first verses of chapter 28, to Jacob’s building of an altar in the last verse of chapter 33. In between, we find the dramatic stories of Jacob’s vision of the ladder to heaven and Jacob’s wrestle with God, both episodes that remind us of the temple. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 10 – Genesis 28–33

Answers to a Few Questions for Black History Month

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for FAIR Newsletter – Black History Month Edition 4 2022

I am a white male. Well, I really have more of a ruddy complexion that looks red most of the time, but that still counts as “white.” I have found no one in my family history who owned slaves. One family line came from Scotland after the Civil war, and the other family line was simply too poor to be participating in anything like that. So why am I writing about black history? The Church is often criticized for having a “racist past” because of the priesthood ban, plus I think that we currently participate in a lot of unconscious racism and dismissive behavior that doesn’t help welcome our brothers and sisters into the Church.

So, let’s step away from the political rhetoric, tightly held positions, and defensiveness just for a moment. Let’s agree that black lives matter (of course they do – we aren’t talking about the political group), and we aren’t going to talk about Critical Race Theory (CRT) in this article. Let’s breathe deeply and step into this. [Read more…] about Answers to a Few Questions for Black History Month

Come, Follow Me Week 8 – Genesis 18–23

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Polygamy as an Abrahamic Sacrifice

by V.H. Cassler

(From a presentation originally titled “A Reconciliation of Polygamy,” given at the 2011 FAIR Conference; edited here for clarity and length)

Today we are going to talk about polygamy but probably in a different way than you have heard about it before. That is, we are going to talk about the doctrinal ins-and-outs of it rather than historical practices.

During the period of time when the restored Church was commanded by the Lord to practice polygamy, some practiced it without any discernible hardship and still others with great pain. Contemporary Church members may look back upon that period with acceptance, or indifference, or discomfort, and I would like to say at the outset that I don’t see that diversity of feelings is harmful that people differ in their reactions to polygamy I don’t think is the issue. Rather, since the new and everlasting covenant of marriage is at the heart of the work of eternal life and godhood; confusion about the nature and form of lawful marriage ordained by God is harmful. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 8 – Genesis 18–23