by Steven Danderson on May 26th, 2010
In the early 20th century, noted Evangelist Billy Sunday proclaimed, “I know there is a devil for two reasons; first, the Bible declares it; and second I have done business with him.” While some people might have doubts about Sunday’s commitment to God, I do not; I can–truthfully–make a similar statement.
It isn’t always easy to tell which is which. While God is mostly known as that “still small voice” [I Kings 19:12] Who loves us, and Satan is a railing accuser, sometimes it is Satan who speaks softly–to lure us to sin, and the phrase “wrath of God” is prevalent in Scripture. If you wish to be REALLY unhappy, try incurring the wrath of both God and Satan! 
It is an economic truism that everybody responds to incentives, and, if we believe the Book of Mormon [II Nephi 2:16], both God and Satan realize this–and act accordingly. God, of course, offers freedom and eternal life, while Satan, the counterfeiter [II Corinthians 11:13-15], offers a perverted form of freedom and pleasure.
Sometimes, though, good people can find themselves unwitting tools of Satan. This is especially true in government. Government desires–with justification–to protect people from various bad things that this fallen world subjects them to, but finds that their actions elicits behavior that makes the maladies government want to spare people more likely. For example, government wishes to make the lot of the single mother more bearable, so it provides monetary assistance to those single mothers that it doesn’t provide to others, then welfare officials wonder why more women become even more promiscuous, skipping even the marrying part–so there’s no husband to abandon the family. Indeed, often the women–and children–have no idea who the father is. Economists call this phenomenon a “moral hazard.”
This phenomenon also happens in religious contexts. Various “ministers to the cults,” never bothering to find out what we really believe, wonder why their targets get angry at them. Here’s a hint: whenever you say that we believe things that we do not; whenever you imply that we are liars or idiots by telling us that we aren’t accurately conveying our beliefs, rather than loving us, as you profess, you hate us–with a passion. I get tired of being told, whenever I deny “swearing death oaths to Lucifer” or that I believe that Adam had sex with Mary to produce Jesus, that I don’t know what I believe–or that I don’t want to know the truth. I cannot conceive of a more effective dialogue-stopper than this insisting that Latter-day Saints are intellectually or morally bad.
Not even Latter-day Saints are immune from this trap of communicating hate instead of love. Too often we forget D&C 121:41-44 when dealing with fellow saints. How often have we chastised people for wearing inappropriate clothes to Church–without bothering to find out if they’re the best they have? How many of us accuse Latter-day Saints of apostasy when they forward questions their non-LDS loved ones ask–heedless of the fact that we cannot easily disown family members–even when they aren’t the best for us–and recklessly ignoring the fact that anti-Mormon acquaintances routinely predict such lashings out? How often have we accused people of being anti-Mormons when they ask difficult questions?
Here’s a hint for us: If a nonmember asks, “I heard you believe X. Is that true?” and accepts that we speak the truth about it, then the odds are that he or she is NOT an anti-Mormon.
May God help us distinguish those who hate us from those who don’t.
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
by bhodges on May 26th, 2010
Gregory L. Smith discusses apologetics, plural marriage, and maintaining faith in the face of difficult questions in this first episode of the new FAIR Podcast with host Blair Hodges. Latter-day Saints who struggle with difficult historical information about the Church will be interested in his reaction to difficult subjects including plural marriage.
Smith received a medical degree (after also studying physiology and English) at the University of Alberta. He completed his medical residency in Montréal, Québec before becoming an “old-style country doctor” in rural Alberta. His interests include internal medicine and psychiatry.
Previously, Smith has spoken to the Miller-Eccles study group on the topic of plural marriage. He’s also published several articles in the FARMS Review and edited countless FAIRwiki pages. His 2009 FAIR Conference presentation, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Plural Marriage* (*but were afraid to ask),” can be read here.
Questions about this episode and ideas for future episodes can be emailed to podcast@fairlds.org.
Download:
To download, right click this link and select “Save link as.” The episode is also now available on iTunes.
Runtime:
38:45
Support FAIR:
FAIR relies on contributions from readers and listeners. To help support FAIR, make a donation today.
Podcast: Download (35.5MB)
Posted in LDS History, News from FAIR, Polygamy, Women | 10 Comments »
by Trevor Holyoak on May 11th, 2010
This week’s lesson is on the scriptures. As you can imagine, there are numerous articles available from FAIR that relate to this chapter. In most cases, rather than providing links to individual articles, I will simply make reference within each part to relevant pages from the FAIR Topical Guide on our main web site, as well as the Topical Guide on our wiki site. This week I will also take the opportunity to highlight presentations from past FAIR conferences that go along with each topic. (And if you enjoy reading the conference presentations, you are invited to join us this year on August 5 and 6.)
As a reminder, “If you have been called to teach a quorum or class using [the Gospel Principles] book, do not substitute outside materials, however interesting they may be. Stay true to the scriptures and the words in the book. As appropriate, use personal experiences and articles from Church magazines to supplement the lessons.” (“Introduction,” Gospel Principles, (2009), pg. 3.) The resources provided here are not meant to replace or supplement the prescribed lesson material, but are for use in personal study and to help provide background knowledge for answering any issues that may arise in class.
The Scriptures Are Available to Us Today
Open canon vs. closed canon
Supposed contradictions in the scriptures
The Mistakes of Men: Can the Scriptures be Error-Free?
The Bible
The Corruption of Scripture in the Second Century
As Far as it is Translated Correctly: The Problem of Tampering with the Word of God in the Transmission and Translation of the New Testament
FAIR wiki
FAIR Topical Guide
The Book of Mormon
Joseph the Seer—or Why Did He Translate With a Rock in His Hat?
Science and the Book of Mormon
Mormon’s Editorial Method and Meta-Message
A Real People, Time, and Place: Contextualizing the Book of Mormon
A Social History of the Early Nephites
The Gadianton Robbers in Mormon’s Theological History: Their Structural Role and Plausible Identification
Changes in the Book of Mormon
Nephi’s Neighbors: Book of Mormon Peoples and Pre-Columbian Populations
The Children of Lehi: DNA and the Book of Mormon
DNA and the Book of Mormon
Monotheism, Messiah, and Mormon’s Book
The Case for Historicity: Discerning the Book of Mormon’s Production Culture
Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses
Debating the Foundations of Mormonism: The Book of Mormon and Archaeology
The Protean Joseph Smith
Arabia and the Book of Mormon
FAIR wiki
FAIR Topical Guide
The Doctrine and Covenants
I Don’t Have a Testimony of the History of the Church
Dispelling the Black Myth
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Plural Marriage* (*but were afraid to ask)
The Reliability of Mormon History Produced by the LDS Church
FAIR Topical Guide – Blacks and the Priesthood
FAIR wiki – Blacks and the Priesthood
FAIR wiki – Polygamy
FAIR Topical Guide – Polygamy
FAIR wiki – Doctrine and Covenants
FAIR Topical Guide – Doctrine and Covenants
The Pearl of Great Price
Revised or Unaltered? Joseph Smith’s Foundational Stories
Book of Abraham 201: Papyri, Revelation, and Modern Egyptology
The Larger Issue
The Message of the Joseph Smith Translation: A Walk in the Garden
Adam in Ancient Texts and the Restoration
FAIR wiki – First Vision
FAIR Topical Guide – First Vision
FAIR wiki – Pearl of Great Price
FAIR Topical Guide – Pearl of Great Price
Words of Our Living Prophets
Statements by Church leaders
Revelation after Joseph Smith
Journal of Discourses
FAIR Topical Guide
Studying the Scriptures
The Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship
The Fallacy of Fundamentalist Assumptions
“Uh oh!” to “Ah ha!” in Apologetics: 20/20 Foresight for a Faithful Future in Defending the Church
Spiritual Experiences as the Basis for Belief and Commitment
“Believest thou…?”: Faith, Cognitive Dissonance, and the Psychology of Religious Experience
What I Learned about Life, the Church, and the Cosmos from Hugh Nibley
Posted in Book of Mormon, Doctrine, FAIR Conference, LDS History, LDS Scriptures, Lesson Aids, Polygamy, Racial Issues | Comments Off
by Trevor Holyoak on May 5th, 2010
This week’s lesson is Chapter 9: Prophets of God. There are several different potential apologetic themes. As always, please note that by providing these resources we are not suggesting that they be included in any lessons taught. Rather, they are intended to be used as helps by the instructor or participating class members in case the issues do come up during class or personal study.
No more prophets after Christ?
The Nature of Prophets and Prophecy
Biblical Keys for Discerning True and False Prophets
Did Joseph Smith make false prophecies?
What is “Official” LDS Doctrine?
Statements by Church Leaders
When the Prophet Speaks, Is the Thinking Done?
Do Mormons blindly follow their leaders and simply do what they’re told?
Authoritarianism and Church Leaders
Posted in Doctrine, LDS History, Lesson Aids | Comments Off
