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Zina and Joseph, In Very Deed

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A few years ago I presented a paper at the 2006 FAIR Conference entitled Zina and Her Men concerning the tangled (and much misunderstood) marital relationships of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young. In preparing for the limited presentation time available in the conference format, I was not able to present much of the information that I had gathered relative to Zina and her relations with Joseph.

When considering the relationship of Zina and Joseph, it is natural in today’s voyeuristic society to ask a blunt question: Was Joseph Smith sexually active with Zina as one of his plural wives?
[Read more…] about Zina and Joseph, In Very Deed

Merry Christmas!

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Even though the Saviour was almost certainly NOT born on 25 December [See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas], I would like to wish all of FAIRBlog’s readers a very merry Christmas.

Why should I do that, you might ask? Let’s look at the the word itself: The word, “Christmas” derives from the words “Christ” and “Mass”–in essence, it is a mass (what we would call a “Sacrament Meeting” celebrating the Lord, Jesus Christ.

While we should be celebrating Him EVERY day, Christmas–TODAY–is a good day to start! 😉

Have a joyous one–and may God richly bless you as you treat Him as Lord in the coming year!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Bowman on Ordination

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It is a thrill to behold Rob Bowman go to work reconstructing leadership structures in New Testament times. This topic has gotten much attention in academic literature, but not many have drawn out the implications for a Church that prides itself as being a restorations of primitive Christianity. Bowman’s posts so far have argued that contemporary Mormon practice deviates from what he finds in early Christianity: 1) Ordination to a priesthood office wasn’t always done by the laying on of hands by one holding the authority to do so and 2) The office of apostle in the sense of being a spokesman for the Lord was not meant to continue as such. Such deviations, he contends, make it impossible for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make unique truth claims about exclusively having priesthood authority. [Read more…] about Bowman on Ordination

Not Guilty

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Joseph Smith was subjected to five legal proceedings in New York, being accused of such things as being a religious impostor, con-artist, or treasure seeking fraud. Of these, four of the outcomes are not in dispute with Joseph triumphing against his conspiring enemies.

1826 South Bainbridge, Chenango, NY Joseph is accused of being a disorderly person or vagrant pretending “to discover where lost goods may be found” while in the employ of Josiah Stowell. I will discuss the outcome of this hearing below. [Read more…] about Not Guilty

“Lies, [Expletive Deleted] Lies, and Statistics”

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I recently perfunctorily read a new study written by three Stanford University professors, titled “Reassessing authorship of the Book of Mormon using delta and nearest shrunken centroid classification,” and published in the latest issue of the journal, Literary and Linguistic Computing.   While I admit to being disturbed by the article, it is not for the reason they would like it to be.  I teach statistics at America’s largest privately-owned university, and, frankly, I see so many problems, I’m not sure where to begin.

To start, they were not exhaustive in alleged authors. In this regard, the “study” is not unlike choosing five National Football League (NFL) teams at random (and two Canadian Football League (CFL) teams as a “control”), and stating that the one with the best won-lost percentage won the Super Bowl. Choosing the best of an woefully incomplete list tells the reader nothing about “Who really wrote the Book of Mormon”–the Stanford authors’ clucking agreement with the authors of the book by that name notwithstanding–just as not checking out ALL NFL teams says nothing about the winner of the Super Bowl.

For one thing, Joseph Smith’s writings were missing from this study. I can imagine that even many anti-Mormons would be upset at crowning Solomon Spaulding’s Manuscript Story as the true Book of Mormon, if it were demonstrated that Joseph Smith’s letters or journal was a better match!

Moreover, the authors alleged by Latter-day Saints are VERY conspicuous by their absence. While I admit that there are no other samples of Mormon’s or Alma’s or Nephi’s writing than what is found in the Book of Mormon, the Book does extensively quote Jesus Christ–and not just the rerun of the Sermon on the Mount!

Why is the New Testament missing from this study? Surely, if Solomon Spaulding were the author of III Nephi 9-12; 15-21; 23; 26-30, rather than the Saviour, wouldn’t testing His words in the New Testament put the final nail in the coffin burying Mormonism? However,whether or not Jesus’ New Testament statements are a match with His alleged words in the Book of Mormon, these authors have made sure that the reader would never know it. What are they afraid of–that the Gospels would be a match?

It gets worse. As I read the results, not one of the works studied had more similarities with the Book of Mormon than dissimilarities. Their choice of Spaulding’s manuscript as the true source of the Book of Mormon, then, is like taking the last place team in each division of the NFL and congratulating the best of them for winning the Super Bowl. Just as every last place team is disqualified from the playoffs, let alone winning the Super Bowl, a manuscript with more dissimilarities than likenesses to the the Book of Mormon should also be disqualified from consideration.

In short, this game is rigged, and such a misuse of scholarship offends me as a teacher of statistics, as a Latter-day Saint, as a Christian, and as a fair-minded person.  The fact that this pseudo-scholarship is in reality a poorly-reasoned anti-Mormon bromide makes it worse.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Investing a Chip in Peleg

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During my time as an undergraduate geology student at Brigham Young University (B.S. 1984), the “days of Peleg” (Gen. 10:25) came up more than once.  I fondly recall Professors Morris Peterson, Ken Hamblin, Lehi Hintze and others chatting with us students around campfires during geology field trips.  I recall them making the point that there were better interpretations than the highly creative interpretation that it was the continents which were divided during the days of Peleg.  These professors were the ones that first introduced me to the plainer understanding that “divided” was more likely intended to communicate a political reality that has continued uninterrupted to this day — that boundary lines or borders between tribes were established.  They reinforced the fact that there is little biblical and no physical evidence to go out on a geological limb to claim that Gen. 10:25 refers to a catastrophic episode of continental drift.

[Read more…] about Investing a Chip in Peleg

Does the Church Control Members?

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One of the perennial debates that springs is how much control the Church exercises over its members. Ever since the early days of the Church, critics have charged that the Church exercises an inordinate amount of control over its members in their daily lives. Even today we hear resurgent claims that “when the prophet has spoken, the thinking is done” (which sentiment has been roundly denounced by—of all things—a prophet over 60 years ago) and the concept that Mormons are somehow brainwashed. (This last charge is particularly prevalent among those who need, for whatever reason, to classify Mormonism as a cult.)
[Read more…] about Does the Church Control Members?

FAIR Puts Together Prop 8 Information Page

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The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) launched a new webpage about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and California Proposition 8. The passage of California Proposition 8 during the November 2008 election has generated a number of criticisms of the LDS Church regarding a variety of issues including the separation of church and state, accusations of bigotry, and the rights of a non-profit organization to participate in the democratic process. This page documents the events leading up to and resulting from the effort to pass California Proposition 8 as they relate to Latter-day Saints. Your comments on the webpage are welcome.

Post Prop 8 election blues

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It is interesting to see the reaction against Mormons now that the election is over. There are protests at the Temples, a chapel in Orangevale was vandalized, and a boycott on Utah has been called.

During the election, there was even an anti-Mormon commercial that shows Mormon Missionaries invading a home and pawing through women’s underwear to find a marriage certificate to tear up.

Some have commented that the ex-Mormon community has used the cover of the election to strike some blows against the Church.

On the positive side, Church Leaders in other faiths have come out in our defense.

I thought one of the more interesting ant-Mormon rants came from actress-comedian Rosanne Barr.

[Read more…] about Post Prop 8 election blues

The FAIR Journal — October 2008

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======================================================================
THE FAIR JOURNAL                                          October 2008
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       The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research
----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Apologetics: The branch of theology that is concerned with
   defending or proving the truth of Christian doctrines. (The
   American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
   Edition, 2000.)

INSIDE THE JOURNAL
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 * MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT. Scott Gordon comments on Califonia's 
   Proposition 8, which deals with the issue of same sex marriage.

 * FAIR FUNDRAISING. If you would like to help FAIR in its work to 
   provide "well-documented answers to criticisms of LDS (Mormon) 
   doctrine, belief and practice," we encourage you to contribute 
   through the FAIR web site.

 * NEW ON THE WEBSITE: FAIR has added responses to additional 
   sections of the "DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography" DVD.

 * NEW ON THE WEBSITE: "Mormon's Editorial Method and Meta-Message."
   Brant Gardner's 2008 FAIR Conference presentation is now available 
   on the FAIR website.

 * RESOURCES ON THE WEB: "A letter to a friend: Joseph Smith 
   polygamy." J. Stapley blogged on helping people understand 
   difficult historical issues.

 * ASK THE APOLOGIST. Got a question you are dying to ask? Here's
   how.

 * FAIR TOPICAL GUIDE. The Topical Guide on the FAIR Web site is one
   of the most popular resources offered. Learn what is available and
   help us expand our references.

 * FAIR WIKI. The FAIR Wiki is an excellent resource for someone
   looking for a summary of an issue and for pointers to more
   detailed information. Links to many new and changed articles are
   included in this issue.

 * FAIR YOUTUBE VIDEOS. FAIR has had a presence on youtube.com for 
   several months and new video clips are added frequently.

 * FAIR LDS BOOKSTORE. Check out the FAIR Bookstore's monthly 
   specials.

 * ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS. Interested in writing for FAIR? Learn how you
   can have your apologetics work published.

 * PUBLISHING NOTES. Learn how you can become more involved in FAIR
   and how you can reuse the material we publish.

 * FAIR JOURNAL ARCHIVES. All of the FAIR Journal issues since
   October 2001 are on the FAIR web site.
 [Read more...] about The FAIR Journal — October 2008