Posted on 08/01/2013 6:55:36 AM PDT by Colofornian
The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR) is bringing its annual FAIR Mormon Conference to Provo on Thursday and Friday.
The organization, whose mission is to discuss and defend criticisms against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, used to hold its annual conference in Sandy, but chose the Utah Valley Convention Center this year because of a growing audience. FAIR has seen increased interest recently, both within the church and from outsiders, as the Internet increases access to -- and questions about -- the entirety of church history.
Daniel Peterson, an Arabic professor at Brigham Young University and a noted Mormon apologist, said this increased access has caused church members to stumble upon anti-Mormon material more than ever would otherwise. These increasingly frequent run-ins, he said, are changing church members' attitudes toward criticisms of its history and doctrine.
"It's going to force us to up our game, not only in apologetics, but in the church generally, to make sure that members understand things better than they have in the past," Peterson said.
This cultural shift within the church, and perhaps the necessity for such a shift, was highlighted in a New York Times front-page story from July 21. The article, titled "Some Mormons Search the Web and Find Doubt," profiled Swedish Mormon Hans Mattsson, an emeritus Area Authority who has gone public about his doubts, and his criticism of how prominent church leaders deal with such criticisms.
"I felt like I had an earthquake under my feet," Mattsson shared in the article. "Everything I'd been taught, everything I'd been proud to preach about and witness about just crumbled under my feet. It was such a terrible psychological and nearly physical disturbance."
Discussing this article, FAIR president Scott Gordon said Mattsson's case represents a fundamental problem in what Mormons often expect from Sunday services and church leadership.
"They think that Sunday school is a history class, and it's not," Gordon explained.
"Sunday school is a place where the church uses stories and history to teach gospel principles. So you can sit through 20 or 30 years of Sunday school and never hear all of church history, because that's not the point of it."
This responsibility for this education, he said, rests not on church leaders, but on the members themselves. The purpose of FAIR and its conferences is to provide this education in a believing, faithful and unafraid spirit, he said.
"We're not here to stir the pot; we're here to try to heal wounds in a safe environment," he said. "People come to us to try to find out what the true scoop is."
In line with this aim, this year's FAIR conference will focus on the topic of doubt itself. Michael R. Ash is the author of "Shaken Faith Syndrome," a book that explores controversial Mormon topics and how members struggle to reconcile those topics with their faith. Ash will discuss this subject at this year's FAIR conference.
Ash said attending the FAIR conference should be a must for members wishing to better understand the church in all its complexities. Having participated in a handful of past FAIR conferences, Ash said the gatherings have helped him appreciate the great things the church has accomplished -- and ultimately, the truthfulness of the its teachings -- even with the weaknesses and shortcomings of its members.
"It's a matter of having answers, so that we can see that there is not a silver bullet, there's not a nail in the coffin, that proves the church is false," he said.
In my lifetime, I have invited many to pray with me, and give thanks to God.
You are not the first to recoil at the prospect.
Nor are you the first to include my fellow Baptists in your dismissive zealotry.
I will pray without you then, and give thanks for the power of God's influence.
I will pray that it finds, and blesses you.
P.S. Welcome to FreeRepublic
“I will pray without you then, and give thanks for the power of God’s influence.
I will pray that it finds, and blesses you.”
What confused rubbish is this? Talk all you like, but you have nothing whatever to do with Christianity. So go and pray to your idol for me, and see if perhaps he will be able to save you from the judgment of Jesus Christ.
I agree. I think we should put EVERYBODY in that bowl.
Ok I normally don’t feed your trolling efforts but I gotta ask. You’re an all paths Baptist? Never heard of such especially given Baptist are among the more stable of believers doctrine wise and are among the best at resisting the liberalizing effects of the modernization efforts of 21st century American “Christianity”...
Won’t even touch a baptist defending Mormonism....
Fortunately we don’t look to you for “thinking”...
Just sayin’...
The more people outside the church learned about Mormonism, the harder it became to be Mormon. When people were ignorant, you could make the church seem mainstream by skipping over all the weird stuff.
My relationship with God is a personal one, and does not require the authentication of sinners.
This very morning He told me I'm doing good work here.
He reminded me to not be heartbroken by those who recoil or cringe at the prospect of prayer and giving thanks. That it is His sadness to bear, and not mine.
I prayed for you both, and my prayers have been heard.
“This very morning He told me I’m doing good work here.”
Teaching men that there is more than one way to heaven? How is that even logical? The voices in your head are not from God.
Argumentum ad hominem. Always illustrative.
Thank you for the clarity.
“Argumentum ad hominem. Always illustrative.
Thank you for the clarity.”
Does the Apostle speak a mere ad hominem against your absurdities?
Gal 1:6-9 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: (7) Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. (8) But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (9) As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
I’m going to have to stick with the Gospel given to us by the Apostles over yours.
Seeing as I doubt many here “recoil” from prayer and thanks and we are all sinners including you, what exactly is your point...
And I doubt God would find defending those who defile his name and attack his believers to be “good work”...
Perhaps it is time to return to the company of your fellow Baptist for some instruction and guidance, you’ve gone a tick off the rails...
There used to be an old Southern Baptist term for this, but it escapes me, however it had something to do with being “touched in the head” in a spiritual sense...
Contemporarily, my Mormon brothers and sisters in Christ can attest that Christians remain a subject of ridicule.
Even if your ridicule of Christians is successful(it will not be), know this. Even if your success left me standing alone, I would still stand with God.
Your attempts to ridicule and weaken my Christian faith will fail, and are a sin.
The Arch Angel St Peter wanted me to ask:
At what age did your hubris first convince you that you were the authenticator and gate keeper to heaven?
(you crack him up)
I understand that for 'The Rev' Al Sharpton, it was at the age of eight.
(he cracks up Pete too...he is looking forward to meeting you all)
“Contemporarily, my Mormon brothers and sisters in Christ can attest that Christians remain a subject of ridicule.”
So you believe that Jesus Christ is the product of sexual relations between “Elohim” and one of his goddess wives in the pre-existence, and that Christ did not die for our sins on the cross, but rather wept for him in the garden; and that there is no hell, but rather all are inevitably brought forward into a version of heaven, with the highest heaven being reserved for those who were the most righteous and obedience of the Mormons, also granting them the ability to become polygamous gods of their own planets?
So you believe this, or endorse it, and yet ignore the Apostle who says that anyone who preaches a different Gospel is accursed?
Rant all you like with these ridiculous assertions. Your doctrine has nothing whatever to do with what is taught by Christ and the Apostles.
Obviously you're no longer Baptist.... As an aside for others, the Holy Spirit does speak to Christians, however he never contradicts The Word. If a spirit does that its not the Holy one....
Oh well either way....
I also suspect he is trolling, but some people really are this deluded.
It never pays to keep St Pete waiting. He really does have a quick wit, but there is a dark side to him.
An invitation to pray....DECLINED
An invitation to give thanks to God....DECLINED
An invitation to answer Pete's question....DECLINED
Christian? It is not for laotzu to say.
At what age did your hubris first convince you that you were the authenticator of who is a Christian, who is a Baptist, and the gate keeper to heaven?
Your attempts to weaken my faith are prototypical leftist secularism, they will fail, and are a sin.
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