FAIR

Faithful Study Resources for Come, Follow Me

Prophets

Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 12: The Early Church – The Word of Wisdom [A]

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One of the things about the online Latter-day Saint community that has always surprised me is just how often people try to argue the Word of Wisdom. As someone who was born in the covenant and raised mostly in Utah with a lot of friends who shared my beliefs, I’ve never felt the desire to drink alcohol, coffee, or tea, or to do drugs. I have my fair share of other temptations, but breaking the Word of Wisdom has never been one of them. Because of that, it’s hard for me to understand the very large focus on this topic that so many people have.

We don’t abstain from coffee, tea, or alcohol because those things are inherently sinful on their own. The Savior drank wine, after all. In fact, He was even accused of being a “winebibber,” or a drunkard. Obviously, this was an exaggerated accusation by people looking for ways to discredit His teachings, but He did still occasionally partake of wine. [Read more…] about Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 12: The Early Church – The Word of Wisdom [A]

Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 11: The Early Church – The Kinderhook Plates

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This past weekend, we were blessed to hear from the prophets and some of our other church leaders during General Conference, and Sunday is Easter. The messages to focus on our Savior, avoid contention, and increase our ability to receive personal revelation, including from our patriarchal blessings, hit me especially hard this year. The very nature of this series, and of the previous one I did, means that I am wallowing in contention and things that cause the Spirit to flee. Though the tone of this letter is less overtly hostile than that of the CES Letter, the intent and the manipulations behind the words are identical. Because I’m surrounding myself with this kind of thing, sometimes it does diminish my capacity for personal revelation. It also means that sometimes, I don’t react with as much compassion and empathy as I’d like to.

This kind of material stirs up ill feelings in me toward the authors and that has a tendency to spread to other situations. There was a notable example just this past week. I went through a difficult experience that left me very upset and stressed out. With my emotions heightened, I didn’t react with as much understanding and grace as I probably should have. Because I learned of it shortly after working on last week’s post, that fed into how I was feeling and made it worse than it otherwise would have been. Conference was the balm of Gilead that I needed. [Read more…] about Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 11: The Early Church – The Kinderhook Plates

FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 2 Days!

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General Conference is now just 2 days away! It will be held April 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!

Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 10: The Early Church – The Witnesses [C]

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Before we get started, I need to make a quick correction on last week’s post. I misread something and gave you guys some inaccurate information. Regarding a John Whitmer interview that was published after his death, I said that his brother David disputed the interview. David Whitmer actually disputed the contents of his own interview given that same year to the same person. Sorry for the mix-up!

However, John’s interview does still conflict with every other account given on how the Eight Witnesses saw the plates. Therefore, it should still be taken with a grain of salt—particularly since David claimed his interviewer reported things he never actually said. We’ll be discussing this disputed interview shortly.

The two topics at the end of this Witnesses section have nothing at all to do with one another. To be honest, I don’t even know why Faulk placed either of them under the “Witnesses” subtopic. So, my apologies if this post comes across as disjointed. I’m not sure yet how to transition from one topic to the next, so we’ll just run with it and see what happens.

The first topic on the agenda today is what happened to the plates after the translation was complete: [Read more…] about Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 10: The Early Church – The Witnesses [C]

FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 5 Days!

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General Conference is coming up in 5 days! It will be held April 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.

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

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 FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 5 Days!

Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 7: The Early Church – The Translation [C]

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Most of us are familiar with Joseph Smith’s well-documented stay in Liberty Jail, and the later criminal charges at Carthage that led to his murder. Many of us also know about the different lawsuits for debt collection, particularly concerning the Kirtland Safety Society. Church history geeks will be familiar with two back-to-back sham trials in 1830 while Joseph was still in New York, in which his enemies scoured the countryside for anyone willing to testify against him with any ridiculous story they could invent. After he was acquitted at the first trial, he was immediately handcuffed and re-arrested for the second trial. It lasted well into the early hours of the morning before he was acquitted a second time. [Read more…] about Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 7: The Early Church – The Translation [C]

Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 6: The Early Church – The Translation [B]

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Two topics that are often misunderstood in Latter-day Saint circles are those of folklore and what is sometimes termed “folk magic.” When we hear those words, as a people we tend to think of something negative or spiritually dangerous. We might think of examples such as Ouija boards or tarot cards. But the actual definitions are a lot more benign than that.

Folklore, for instance, is simply pieces of knowledge or stories that are passed down from one person to the next over the generations. Santa Claus; the Tooth Fairy; the Easter Bunny; vampires and werewolves; George Washington and the cherry tree; the seagulls eating the crickets in the Salt Lake Valley; the family stories you tell over and over again about how your brother microwaved a fork and fried the appliance or how your sister used to eat a single bite out of the center of a piece of bologna and discard the rest; or perhaps the oft-told story of how your friend once bit into an apple and found half a worm; these are all examples of folklore. [Read more…] about Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 6: The Early Church – The Translation [B]

For the Strength of Youth: A Higher and Holier Way

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By David W. Smith

In the October 2022 general conference, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf announced an updated version of the youth standards guidebook For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices. Elder Uchtdorf explained that the booklet “has been updated and refreshed to better cope with the challenges and temptations of our day.”

With the purpose of pointing youth to Christ, this new version is focused on “teach[ing] you eternal truths of His restored gospel” and “how to make righteous choices based on those eternal truths. . . . It focuses on values, principles, and doctrine instead of every specific behavior.” [1]

Have the Standards Been Relaxed? [Read more…] about For the Strength of Youth: A Higher and Holier Way

Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 6–7

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Evangelical Questions: Why Do You Need Prophets Anyway?

by Jennifer Roach, MDiv, LMHC

Matthew 7:15-20 Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Welcome back to Come Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful answers to New Testament questions. My name is Jennifer Roach and today we’re going to talk about prophets. As you know we’re going through the Come Follow Me readings and addressing common questions that Evangelicals ask about our faith as we go along. Our purpose here is not to fuel debate but to help you understand where your Evangelical friends and family are coming from so that you can have better conversations with them, and perhaps even be able to offer them a bit of our faith in a way they can understand. 

A common question from Evangelicals is why do we think we need prophets?  Aren’t they easily identified as false prophets? And to be honest, when I was investigating the church this was the hardest issue for me to grapple with. The idea of having prophets made literally no sense to me.  These days I can see it how other Latter-day Saints see it – it’s a blessing and a gift – but back then I felt suspicious. So why is it so hard for Evangelicals to understand the need for modern prophets?  I think there’s two reasons and we’ll talk about both of them. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 6–7

Come, Follow Me Week 52 – Christmas

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Christmas Message, Christmas Prophets, Christmas Joy

by David W. Smith

Jerusalem, 600 BC

The year is approximately 600 BC. The place is Jerusalem. It has been about 20 years since a major religious reform has changed how people worshiped. The prophet Jeremiah has been warning the people of Jerusalem that they need to repent or else watch as their city is destroyed and they are taken into captivity. Many other prophets echo his message. Now, after preaching for over 20 years, he is in prison. [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me Week 52 – Christmas