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FAIR Blog feed subscription change

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We Moved Our Blog Feed to Follow.it

You may have noticed that we’ve recently moved our blog feed from Feedburner to Follow.it. Feedburner was a free service from Google that we used for many years, but they’ve been winding it down and finally quit sending out e-mails for us. (Follow.it is not a free service, but is very reasonably priced for our needs.)

We’ve now imported all of our Feedburner subscribers into Follow.it. If you were previously subscribed to our Feedburner feed, you should now be automatically subscribed to our Follow.it feed. [Read more…] about FAIR Blog feed subscription change

FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 1 Day!

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General Conference starts tomorrow! 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 negative social media posts, etc.

Download FAIR’s General Conference workbook here!

We are going to end our countdown the same way we started, with a video from Jennifer Roach, this time about listening for your own revelation during General Conference:

 

Jennifer Roach earned a Master of Divinity from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, and a Master of Counseling from Argosy University. Before her conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints she was an ordained minister in the Anglican church. Her own experience of sexual abuse from a pastor during her teen years led her to care deeply about issues of abuse in faith communities. She is the host of the podcast Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions.

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!

FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 3 Days!

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General Conference is coming up in 3 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.

General Conference Notes Worksheet

by Nathan Richardson

This worksheet is for taking notes on during general conference. It combines boxes for writing in, as well as check boxes for quickly giving yourself assignments to do after conference, such as talks you want to re-read, or talks you want to copy quotes from. It’s a great resource for adults or teens. [Read more…] about FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 3 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 – 4 Days!

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General Conference is coming up in 4 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.

General Conference:  Answers and Questions

by Edwin E. Gantt

As a Professor of Psychology at Brigham Young University, every day I am blessed with the privilege of interacting with and instructing some of the best young minds the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has to offer. It truly is a pleasure – and a very heavy responsibility – to be entrusted with teaching the youth of Zion. Although my students come from a stunning variety of backgrounds, ethnicities, family situations, races, and cultures – don’t ever let anyone tell you the BYU student body is some homogenous blob – among those things they do happen to share in common is a desire for answers. Indeed, most of my students have chosen psychology as their major area of study is because they assume that the discipline of psychology holds answers to their questions. After spending most of my adult life in the discipline I am not nearly as confident as they are that this is the case, but that is a story for another time. Regardless, it is one of the great joys of my life to be able to time each day with such vibrant, eager, and faithful young people who are so motivated to seek out answers and strive for greater, deeper understanding of themselves, the world, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [Read more…] about FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 4 Days!

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!

Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 14; Mark 6; John 5–6

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Podcast: Download (30.4MB)

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Evangelical Questions: “Paid Ministry?”

by Jennifer Roach, MDiv, LMHC

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 paid ministry. 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. 

Today’s verse comes from Mark 6:7-9:

And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.

And there is so much in that verse alone to talk about, but I want to focus on a question that comes up a lot between Latter-day Saints and Evangelicals: Is it right to pay clergy or isn’t it? [Read more…] about Come, Follow Me with FAIR: Faithful Answers to New Testament Questions – Matthew 14; Mark 6; John 5–6

Cornerstone: A FAIR Temple Preparation Podcast – Episode 1: The Plan of Salvation with Scott Woodward

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Podcast: Download (64.2MB)

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Attending the temple for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. It can seem like a very unfamiliar experience for many, especially because we rarely hear details about what happens there. Understanding the doctrine and purpose underlying the temple will help you be ready and excited to enter the House of the Lord.

The purpose of this podcast is to do just that. We will cover topics such as the Endowment, temple sealings, covenants, ordinances, sacred temple clothing ,and common misconceptions about the temple.

Whether you are preparing for a mission, your own temple sealing, or just desire to receive your own endowment we hope that this podcast will deepen your understanding of the doctrine surrounding the temple.

In this episode, Jacob Crapo talks with Scott Woodward about how the temple and “Plan of Salvation” relate to each other. They discuss what the temple teaches about God’s plan for humanity and how the temple ordinances and covenants play a key role in that plan. Scott teaches religion classes at BYU-Idaho, is a managing director at Scripture Central, and host of the Church History Matters podcast.

 

Jacob Crapo was born and now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. He served his mission in Upstate New York and was an ordinance worker in the Las Vegas Temple. One of Jacob’s dreams is to help build a temple. He is an electrician by trade but his real passion is helping others access the powers of heaven.

FAIR’s Countdown to Conference – 6 Days!

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General Conference is coming up in 6 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.

General Conference for Kids

by Lynn Wilson

The art of motivating children to glean something out of General Conference requires preparation too. I teach them a song to help memorize the twelve apostles by name. I put up pictures so they can identify them more easily when they are speaking. The more I teach them about our leaders, the closer they feel toward them. Sometimes before Conference we talk about themes that might come up in talks. Twelve themes are taped to a cupcake tin. Then during conference I fill each cup with a healthy snack which they get to eat when they identify a theme. This helps the kids (and parents) listen. The Church’s website for General Conference “Bingo,” fill in the blank, word puzzles, and other handouts have been a great help for young ones.

By the time my kids are eight, I encourage them to join in listening to the Saturday sessions too. I have notebooks and pencils for each child. The younger ones draw pictures of what they hear while the older ones take notes. I find dressing them in Sunday clothes helps them to appreciate the sacredness of the experience even if we are staying home. We talk about the Conference talks afterwards at well—during meals, family home evening, and before bedtime prayers. As difficult as it is, the more I sincerely love the messages, the more my children’s interest is piqued.

 

Lynne Hilton Wilson earned her Ph.D. in Theology and American Religious History from Marquette University.  Her doctoral dissertation compared Joseph Smith’s understanding of the Spirit with his contemporaries. Her master’s degree focused on New Testament studies. She attended BYU as an undergraduate and studied nursing and music. She returned to BYU has as an adjunct professor of Religion, and to teach at Education Week. She is presents regularly at the Mormon History Association, Society of Biblical Literature, and the like. She has served in the Church Education System for the past 35 years.  Currently she teaches Institute.  Previous Publications include: Christ’s Emancipation of New Testament Women, Nativity Narratives, Learning the Language of the Lord: A Guidebook to Personal Revelation, To Witness Easter, and articles in BYU Studies, the Interpreter, Religious Educator, and the BYU Religious Studies Center. She is co-founder of BookofMormonCentral.org. She and her husband, Elder Dow R. Wilson live in Palo Alto, California. They have seven children (all with red hair), and eight grandchildren (blond, ginger, and brown).