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The LDS Church and the Race Issue: A Study in Misplaced Apologetics

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Armand Mauss
Armand Lind Mauss is an American Sociologist specializing in the Sociology of Religion

[This talk is from the 2003 FairMormon Conference]

Forget everything I have said, or what…Brigham Young…or whomsoever has said…that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world.1

This statement by Elder McConkie in August of 1978 is an apt characterization of the doctrine and apologetic commentary so pervasive in the Church prior to the revelation on the priesthood earlier that year. That is, it was based on limited understanding. Yet, it is not clear how wide an application Elder McConkie intended for his references to “limited understanding;” for ironically, the doctrinal folklore that many of us thought had been discredited, or at least made moot, through the 1978 revelation continued to appear in Elder McConkie’s own books written well after 1978, and continues to be taught by well-meaning teachers and leaders in the Church to this very day.2 The tragic irony is that the dubious doctrines in question are no longer even relevant, since they were contrived to “explain” a Church policy that was abandoned a quarter century ago.

Indeed, it was apparent to many of us even four decades ago that certain scriptural passages used to explain the denial of priesthood to black members could not legitimately be so interpreted without an a priori narrative.3 Such a narrative was gradually constructed by the searching and inventive minds of early LDS apologists. With allusions to the books of Genesis, Moses, and Abraham, the scenario went something like this : In the pre-existence, certain of the spirits were set aside, in God’s wisdom, to come to Earth through a lineage that was cursed and marked, first by Cain’s fratricide and obeisance to Satan, and then again later by Ham’s lËse majestÈ against his father Noah. We aren’t exactly sure why this lineage was set apart in the pre-existence, but it was probably for reasons that do not reflect well on the premortal valiancy of the partakers of that lineage. Since the beginning, the holy priesthood has been withheld from all who have had any trace of that lineage, and so it shall be until all the rest of Adam’s descendants have received the priesthood, or, for all practical purposes, throughout the mortal existence of humankind. [Read more…] about The LDS Church and the Race Issue: A Study in Misplaced Apologetics

A Look Back in LDS History for Black History Month

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Look Magazine Cover, October 22, 1963
Look Magazine Cover, October 22, 1963

I am looking a copy of Look Magazine dated October 22, 1963. It is our modern-day equivalent of social media, claims a circulation of “More than 7,400,000, and says it is “America’s Family Magazine.

As I look through its 155 pages, it is filled with advertisements for automobiles, tobacco, alcohol, books, and life insurance. It has articles on Catholic Schools, pollution, the mafia, Georgia Tech football, and more.

The ads and articles seem to be focused on people. Indeed, one of the things that makes the magazine attractive are the photographs of people.

But, what you don’t see anywhere in the magazine is a single picture of an African American. Not one black person anywhere. Not in an Ad, and not in an article. I turned to the article on Georgia Tech football. Certainly, a football team from a state that is over 30% African-American should have someone black on the team.  I closely examined each picture of the team, and of the opposing team from Duke University, and nope. There was nothing. From the pictures, it appears to be all-white. [Read more…] about A Look Back in LDS History for Black History Month

“The Laborers Are Few” (The Church in the DR Congo: A Personal Perspective, Part 11)

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Antoine Gadan, 1854-1934: Les Moissonneurs, 1910

In a presentation at the 2018 FairMormon Conference,[1]I shared stories of some of the faithful Saints in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa). In this new series of presentations, I would like to speak from a more personal perspective, reflecting on the meaning of that experience for Kathleen and me, and pondering some of the dynamics of numerical and spiritual growth of the Church in that country.

The series is organized into eleven parts:

  1. Prologue: What brought us to Africa?
  2. Snapshot of the Church in the DR Congo
  3. The missionaries
  4. What attracts people to the Church?
  5. Building from centers of strength 1 — Kisangani
  6. Building from centers of strength 2 — Wagenya
  7. Taking the Gospel to the “ends of the earth”
  8. The temple 1: “Turning the hearts of the children”
  9. The temple 2: “Holiness to the Lord”
  10. The temple 3: A light to the world
  11. “The labourers are few”

Jesus said: “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2). In this eleventh and final episode in this series, I describe how fittingly this verse applies in the DR Congo. Despite the continued steady growth of the Church and the recent addition of a fourth mission in the country, there is only one full-time missionary couple serving in all of the DR Congo.

I discuss President Russell M. Nelson for all members to engage with greater vigor in the gathering of Israel. Though the gathering of Israel can be done in many ways, depending on the inspiration and personal situation of each member, he has emphasized that a key part of fulfilling the blessing of Abraham is the sending of “missionaries [to] take the gospel across the globe,” “infus[ing] the lives of all” with “the light of the gospel and the love of the Lord.” (https://www.lds.org/church/news/president-nelson-invites-record-crowd-in-arizona-to-help-gather-israel?lang=eng [accessed 12 February 2019]).

We will review the Lord’s vision of missionary work in section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The wholehearted nature of the service we are called to render is exemplified in the figure of the laborer, who is required to thrust in his sickle “with his might,” that he may bring “salvation to his soul” (D&C 4:4). Embarking in the service of God requires a firm resolve to leave one’s familiar labors and companions to take up a new work for which one is never fully prepared, and at a destination which is never adequately known or described in advance

We close with a testimony of Jean Claude Mabaya, former Area Seventy and newly called mission president in the DR Congo.

[1]The video version of the entire FairMormon presentation is available on the FairMormon YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJl9FvLKmjw. The seven segments of this presentation, in an edited and somewhat expanded form, are available for reading at Meridian Magazine(www.ldsmag.com) and the website of The Interpreter Foundation(https://interpreterfoundation.org). For more articles and videos by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, see www.templethemes.org.

FairMormon Conference Podcast #23 – Richard Lloyd Anderson, “Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses”

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Podcast: Download (57.4MB)

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This podcast series features past FairMormon Conference presentations. This episode is a presentation from 2004. If you would like to watch the presentations from our most recent conference, you can still purchase video streaming.

Richard Lloyd Anderson, Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses

Transcript available here.

Richard Lloyd Anderson (1926-2018) was a Professor Emeritus of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, and senior research fellow at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History at Brigham Young University. More information about him can be found in this tribute. His book, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses, is available at a discount from the FairMormon Bookstore.

Audio and Video Copyright © 2004 The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. Any reproduction or transcription of this material without prior express written permission is prohibited.

Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone’s Experience with the Scriptures and the Savior

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Cross-posted from Truth Will Prevail

Cobbled together by Dennis B. Horne

            Note: In his earlier years, in some talks given in the 1970s, as a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone referenced a marvelous spiritual experience he received. The below contains both published text and newly transcribed wording that was withheld for whatever reason (perhaps felt to be too sacred then), from the published version, that gives further insight into the experience. Links are provided so readers can listen to both of the talks at their convenience:

            Let me tell you the greatest experience I believe I have had in all my readings of the scriptures—and I am sharing something that is very tender with me. I remember the night that I read 3 Nephi the 17th chapter [3 Ne. 17]. That is when I discovered the Lord Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, my Savior, my personal Savior; and I believe that is where I finally found the description of the Savior as I thought him to be.

            He had been with the Nephite people all the day long, you will recall, and finally said: [Read more…] about Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone’s Experience with the Scriptures and the Savior

Church Developments and Their Timescales

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I was recently thinking about some of the significant programmatic changes that have happened in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the last few years. People have evaluated them in various ways and labeled them a success or failure, but popular opinion often swings on short-term thinking. For example, when, in October 2012, President Monson announced changes in the age limits for full-time missions, some made the coupled assumptions that this would either result in a proportional increase in convert baptisms or it should be considered a failure. It did not lead to a large increase in convert baptisms and some considered it only on that basis; however, this hasty act of labeling ignores a foundational bad assumption as well as a host of secondary effects that potentially act on a much longer time scale and are interesting in their own right.

The problem started with faulty assumptions. The first of these is that those who convert are in some sense “caused” by missionaries rather than merely facilitated. It is rooted at least partly in the experiences of a past era in which people in the United States and other sociopolitically similar areas could be reached by door-to-door salesmen and, correspondingly, that an increase in the number of people engaged in these activities would result in a proportionate gain in initial interest, teaching, baptisms and so forth. This assumption of course ignores years of entreaties that finding is the duty of the members of the Church while teaching is the responsibility of the full-time missionaries and that we should cease praying only that the missionaries find the honest in heart but rather that we should instead pray to be able to open our own mouths to share the gospel and invite others to come unto Christ. The reality is then that the model upon which the assumption (that more missionaries would lead to proportionately more convert baptisms) was based was largely invalid and the members of the Church should realize that missionary finding only ever constitutes a modest portion of the the success of the Church’s missionary efforts. The reality is members letting their light shine, setting examples of good works in the world and sharing the gospel in their individual circumstances, combined with a certain number who find the Church of Jesus Christ through their own individual searching are together a far more stable and effective source of interest.

[Read more…] about Church Developments and Their Timescales

FairMormon Conference Podcast #22 – Daniel Peterson, “Apologetics: What, Why, and How”

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Podcast: Download (55.8MB)

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This podcast series features past FairMormon Conference presentations. This episode is a presentation from our 2018 conference. (If you would like to watch the video of this and the other presentations from the 2018 conference, you can still purchase video streaming.)

Daniel Peterson, Apologetics: What, Why, and How

Transcript available here.

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.

Audio Copyright © 2018 The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. Any reproduction or transcription of this material without prior express written permission is prohibited.

Responding to Abuse

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The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of peace and good will.  The healing of relationships is an important goal of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The General Authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ do not condone abuse of any type.  General Conference talks over the last several decades have made clear that abuse is not the Lord’s way and is never acceptable for members in good standing [a search for “abuse” in the General Conference section of lds.org produces many talks which address this concern].

Before 1995, training provided to local leadership was less formalized, leaving local leaders to determine how to deal with offenders and how to counsel victims. Since that time, the governing handbooks have clarified the strong position of the church that protection of victims is a primary priority for local leadership.

In 1995, a Handbook* was published concerning this issue. In one of the sections, the stance of the Church against abuse was given teeth by instructing that abusers should not be given callings or have a temple recommend until they have repented. [Read more…] about Responding to Abuse

Book Review: We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps

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Available at a discount at the FairMormon Bookstore

William Wines Phelps (usually known as W. W. Phelps) is probably most often thought of in conjunction with some of the most beloved hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Praise to the Man,” “The Spirit of God,” “Gently Raise the Sacred Strain,” and “If You Could Hie to Kolob” are just a few of the fifteen hymns that he wrote that appear in the current hymnal. But there was so much more to his life, and Bruce Van Orden, an emeritus professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University, has been researching it for decades. This research was recently given a boost by the Joseph Smith Papers Project, which gave greater access to materials that Phelps was involved with.

There is little known about Phelps’s early life, or where and how he was educated, but he grew into a very intelligent and articulate man. He joined the Church in 1831 at age 39, and his talents were immediately put to use. He served in church leadership councils, including the Council of Fifty (it was he that coined the term “theodemocracy”); he was a writer, poet, and printer, and actually did more ghostwriting for Joseph Smith than was previously realized. He was also very much a family man, as well as a close friend of Joseph (again, moreso than has previously been understood). This book concentrates on these facets of his life.

[Read more…] about Book Review: We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps

FairMormon Questions: First Presidency Statement on Temples

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FairMormon has a service where questions can be submitted and they are answered by volunteers. If you have a question, you can submit it at http://www.fairmormon.org/contact. We will occasionally publish answers here for questions that are commonly asked, or are on topics that are receiving a lot of attention.

QUESTION:

The First Presidency recently issued a statement on temples. In it, they said “Prophets have taught that there will be no end to such adjustments as directed by the Lord to His servants.” I am wondering what prophet prior to this statement said this?

ANSWER:

Here are some relevant quotes:

On 4 May 1842, after President Joseph Smith gave the first Nauvoo-era endowment to a small group of Latter-day Saints, he told apostle Brigham Young that “this is not arranged perfectly; however we have done the best we could under the circumstances in which we are placed. I wish you to take this matter in hand: organize and systematize all these ceremonies.” (https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/joseph-smith-and-doctrinal-restoration/7-joseph-smith-and-restitution-all-things)

Joseph Fielding Smith noted that the “work of salvation for the dead came to the Prophet [Joseph Smith] like every other doctrine — piecemeal. It was not revealed all at once.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, volume 2, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols., (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954–56), 168.)

[Read more…] about FairMormon Questions: First Presidency Statement on Temples