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The FAIR JournalThe FAIR Journal is published monthly. It contains information about new apologetic information at the FAIR Web site. If you would like to sign up to receive the FAIR Journal automatically, click here. To return to the index of past FAIR Journal issues, click here.
THE FAIR JOURNAL May 2004
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The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research
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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
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* MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT. Our annual FAIR conference just over
two months away. Check out the list of speakers and be sure to
get your reservations made!
* NEW ON THE WEBSITE: The Tanners on the Hereafter: A Case Study in
"Studied Ignorance." Barry Bickmore examines one chapter of the
Tanners' magnum opus, "Mormonism--Shadow or Reality," and finds
that a grossly flawed methodology and approach has produced only
a caricature of Latter-day Saint beliefs.
* NEW ON THE WEBSITE: Michael Ash has written a new FAIR brochure
"Is the Bible Complete?" to respond to concerns about the LDS
acceptance of extra-Biblical scripture.
* NEW ON THE WEBSITE: ASK THE APOLOGIST. Ben McGuire responds to a
query about the Kinderhook plates and Joseph Smith's supposed
translation.
* ARTICLE REVIEW: Kevin Barney reviews Jeffrey R. Chadwick's
article "Has the Seal of Mulek Been Found?" that appeared in the
most recent FARMS Journal of Book of Mormon Studies.
* FAIR ONLINE BOOKSTORE. The FAIR bookstore has some Father's Day
specials for you. In addition, this month FAIR is offering
special discounts on CDs, Windows Media Videos, and DVDs of prior
years' FAIR Conference Proceedings.
* 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.
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MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
We have finalized our speakers list for the FAIR conference scheduled
on August 5th and 6th. The list of speakers is so extraordinary and
exceptional that missing this year's FAIR conference would almost
qualify as a sin. I hope to see you there. Don't forget to get the
books you buy at the conference signed by the authors.
Our two newest additions to the speakers list are international
recording artist Alex Boye, and author-extraordinaire Matthew Brown.
These are the speakers (starting with our two newest):
1) As a recording artist, Alex Boye has sold over 500,000 copies of
his hit singles in over fifteen European countries. His voice has also
supported such megastars as the Backstreet Boys, N'SYNCH, Mary J.
Blige, Chrissy Hind, and George Michael, to name a few. He has
performed at the Hale Center Theatre as Jim in the much talked about
production "Big River", and has also played the role of Frederick
Douglass in "The Civil War." Among Alex's notable accomplishments, he
says the highlight of his career thus far has been placing a copy of
the Book of Mormon with Prince Charles at one of his concerts. Alex
also enjoys his time as a motivational speaker, and doing firesides
and musical devotionals across the Wasatch Front and nationwide.
2) Matthew Brown is the author I recently recommended for his book
Plates of Gold. I just read the book for the second time and recommend
it highly. Brother Brown received his B.A. in history from Brigham
Young University. He is the author of several books including Symbols
in Stone: Symbolism on the Early Temples of the Restoration (with Paul
Thomas Smith), The Gate of Heaven: Insights on the Doctrines and
Symbols of the Temple, All Things Restored: Confirming the
Authenticity of LDS Beliefs, The Plan of Salvation: Doctrinal Notes
and Commentary, Plates of Gold: The Book of Mormon Comes Forth, and
the forthcoming Joseph Smith: The Man, The Mission, The Message. He
has also published articles in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies
(on ancient ritual aprons) and the FARMS Review (on the restoration of
temple worship). His contributions to the FAIR Web site include an
illustrated paper on inverted five-pointed stars, comments on the
Spaulding-Rigdon theory, and various observations connected with the
One Nation under Gods project.
Our other excellent speakers include:
3) Dr. Richard Lloyd Anderson is considered the expert on the Book of
Mormon Witnesses.
4) Dr. Davis Bitton served for ten years as assistant Church historian
and has co-authored books with Leonard J. Arrington as well as writing
several of his own.
5) Dr. Daniel Peterson is the author of many books and articles as
well as being associate executive director of the BYU Institute for
the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts. Ask any
previous FAIR conference attendee if you could miss his talk and you
will get a unanimous chorus of "no way."
6) Dr. Dean Byrd has a long list of credentials and has done
professional research in gender/sexual disorders. You should seriously
read his credentials.
7) John Tvedtnes is the associate director of research for the BYU
Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts
and has been an excellent speaker every year for FAIR.
8) Dr. Roger Keller, professor of Church History and Doctrine at
Brigham Young University, Dr. Keller has a Masters of Divinity from
Princeton Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in biblical studies and
20th century Christian Theology from Duke University. He was ordained
to the Presbyterian ministry in 1971 and was called to be the Senior
Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Mesa, Arizona in 1982. He
is uniquely qualified to speak to us about the apostasy, the topic of
this year's talk.
9) Brant Gardner has done graduate work in Mesoamerican Ethnohistory
at the State University of New York and has published in this area. He
will be speaking on the historicity of the Book of Mormon. Brant is
one of the few people who can talk about Aztecs, Olmecs, Mayans, or
even Jaguar mythology and relate it to the Book of Mormon. He is
fascinating to listen to.
10) Dr. David Paulsen has been published widely on the philosophy of
religion in both international and national venues, including The
International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion, Analysis, The
Harvard Theological Review, Faith and Philosophy, and the Journal of
Speculative Philosophy. For those of you who are philosophy fans or
who have questions about the LDS view on the nature of God, this is
the man to see.
11) Dr. Andrea Radke comes highly recommended by her peers and her
students. I called several people at BYU to ask who would be best
suited to speak on the issues related to women's issues in the LDS
church and her name was one of the first recommended. I asked one
person where she had heard Dr. Radke speak; she stated that she had
taken a class from Dr. Radke and found she could not miss class for
fear she would miss another interesting day.
12) Dr. Margaret Young has written several books including the
Standing on the Promises trilogy, which she co-authored with Darius
Gray, president of the Church's "Genesis Group." She was a favorite
speaker last year and will be great again.
13) Kevin Barney and Mike Ash did the much appreciated basics of
apologetics presentation last year. This year they will be doing a
special session on understanding the Book of Abraham.
This conference will truly be the place to be in August.
To see more information about this year's speakers, go to
http://www.fairlds.org/conf04b.html
We will be having a fund raising auction at the conference again this
year, so if you have any old books you would like to donate, please
don't forget to bring them.
We have moved the conference to a new location just off the 90th South
freeway exit in Sandy Utah.
For a complete description of the conference go to this link:
http://www.fairlds.org/conf04a.html
For those who are traveling to our FAIR conference, we have negotiated
a special room rate at the Hampton Inn in Sandy, Utah. The rate is
good for August 4, 5 and 6. The rooms are $69, which includes a deluxe
complimentary breakfast, complimentary high-speed wireless Internet,
free local calls, in-room hair dryers, a new exercise room and a free
shuttle to and from the conference.
To make reservations, you can call the Sandy Hotel directly at
801-571-0800 or you can call 800-HAMPTON, or you can sign up at
www.hamptoninn.com and use the group/convention code: FAI
------------------------------
The Tanners on the Hereafter: A Case Study in "Studied Ignorance"
by Barry R. Bickmore
Anyone who has been exposed to anti-Mormon literature has almost
certainly come up against the work of Jerald and Sandra Tanner, either
in its original form or in the countless books that rely (often
unattributed) on the Tanners' publications. The best known and most
often referenced of the Tanner publications is "Mormonism--Shadow or
Reality" (MSR). This is an enormous compilation of material of "over
six hundred large-format pages of closely packed text that would
easily fill one to two thousand pages in any standard book format." In
his article, Bickmore focuses on a single chapter of MSR, chapter 14,
"The Hereafter."
Bickmore begins by noting that the Tanners' work has long been
criticized as containing only citations supporting their argument and
leaving out evidence that would weaken or contradict their
conclusions. This includes selective editing by the Tanners, where
they have intentionally edited out phrases, sentences, and paragraphs
that weaken or contradict the interpretation they want the reader to
accept.
In "The Hereafter," the Tanners contend that the Book of Mormon
statements relating to heaven, hell, and judgement display a
nineteenth-century anti-Universalist mindset, and that Joseph Smith's
own theology mutated over time to become a complete reversal of the
Book of Mormon theology. Bickmore argues that the Tanners have
mischaracterized the theology of the Book of Mormon as well as that of
Joseph Smith. Both are more complex than presented by the Tanners and
the two are easily harmonized.
Bickmore contends that the Tanners' own fundamentalist approach to
scripture and prophetic statements, their selective use and editing of
evidence, and their long-held hostility to LDS beliefs and practices
are the causes of any supposed contradictions between the Book of
Mormon and later LDS theology. This chapter of MSR is an intentionally
unfair and biased summary of LDS beliefs, and the arguments presented
are unbalanced, unsupported, and untrue.
Read the article: http://www.fairlds.org/Anti-Mormons/Tanners_on_the_Hereafter.html
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Is the Bible Complete
by Michael R. Ash
FAIR has made available a collection of short brochures to answer
specific issues often raised by critics of the Church. Ash's new
brochure, "Is the Bible Complete?" responds to the concern over the
LDS use of extra-Biblcal scriptures. In his response, Ash deals with
Biblical passages that are often used to attack the LDS position, as
well as giving several examples of early Christian era and Reformation
era Christians who did not accept the modern fundamentalist belief in
inerrant and closed canon.
Read the article:
http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Brochures/Is_the_Bible_Complete.pdf
See all FAIR brochures:
http://fairlds.org/apol/ai201.html
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ASK THE APOLOGIST
FAIR invites the public to submit questions relating to LDS beliefs,
practices, and history. Some questions are asked sincerely by members
and investigators, others are clearly hostile questions challenging
the veracity of the Church and its teachings. Many of these responses
may end up on the website as a FAIR paper or brochure. If you have a
question, simply mail it to our Questions address.
A recent question was sent in to FAIR asking for explanations of a
number of issues surrounding the supposed translation of the
Kinderhook plates by Joseph Smith. The questioner asks why the Times
and Seasons would "focus so much on the plates" and why Joseph Smith
would discuss their origin and contents if the plates were fraudulent.
Ben McGuire responded by pointing out that at the time in question,
Joseph Smith was no longer editor of the Times and Seasons, and that
with the woodcuts and affidavits included in the article, the length
was not extraordinary. McGuire also notes that since the source for
the supposed translation of the plates is also rife with errors about
the finding of the plates and that no translation has ever been
discovered, any comments from that source about a translation by the
Prophet Joseph are also highly suspect.
Read the article: http://www.fairlds.org/Misc/How_Do_We_Explain_Early_Comments_about_the_Kinderhook_Plates.html
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Review of "Has the Seal of Mulek Been Found?"
by Kevin Barney
I hope people have read the Jeffrey R. Chadwick article, "Has the Seal
of Mulek Been Found?" in the latest JBMS, 12/2 (2003). It is
excellent, and important for our work, I think.
As you may recall, in 1984, Robert F. Smith (who is not LDS but is
sympathetic and has done work for FARMS in the past) made a
fascinating, and I think highly cogent, argument that the person
identified as "Malchiah the son of Hammelech" in Jeremiah 38:6 was
Mulek of Book of Mormon fame.
In the book of Jeremiah in the King James Version (KJV), the word
"Hammelech" that appears was transliterated as a name, that is, it was
left as a Hebrew word rather than translated. But it probably should
have been translated as "the king," as it has been done in a number of
more recent Bible translations. The element "ha-", together with the
doubling of the next letter, is the Hebrew definite article "the."
"Melek" is the Hebrew word for "king." And in the context of Jeremiah
38, "the king" is clearly Zedekiah.
Further, the name Malchiah is a KJV transliteration for Malkiyahu,
which would mean "Yahweh is my king." This is a typical theophoric
name of the 7th century B.C. ("Theophoric" or "god-bearing" means that
the name of God is a part of the name.) Since the vast majority of
names of this period bore the -yahu element, it was not unusual for
there to be shortened, or hypocristic, forms of these names as well.
Smith points to a similar theophoric/hypocristic pair of names in
Jeremiah. Jeremiah's scribe was Baruch, whose full name was Berekyahu,
or "Berechiah" as it occurs ten times within the KJV (e.g., 2 Chron
28:12). Thus, "Mulek" would be a reasonable hypocristic form for
Malkiyahu, since when you remove the theophoric element, the second
syllable would lengthen and changes would take place in the vowels as
well (as can be seen in the Baruch example).
This idea has been around for a long time and is a point well taken, I
think. What the Chadwick article adds is that a seal belonging to this
Malkiyahu has been discovered. The article shows pictures, along with
a transcription. The seal says "lemalkiyahu ben ha-melek," which means
"Belonging to Malkiyahu, son of the king."
The article addresses these key questions:
Q: Is the seal a forgery?
A: There is no evidence to suggest that it is.
Q: Should "son of the king" be taken in a literal, biological sense,
or could it be a title for an officer or functionary of the royal
court?
A: The biblical evidence suggests the expression should be taken
literally.
Q: Which "king" was Malkiyahu the son of?
A: Zedekiah.
Chadwick does a good job with this. What is so significant is that
here we may have a material, physical artifact that may have once
belonged to a person named in the Book of Mormon. This stamp seal thus
is on a level of importance comparable to the NHM altars.
People are always asking for archaeological evidence of the Book of
Mormon. This is an important find for us to be able to include in that
mix.
Read the article (note: this will require a valid FARMS login name
and password):
http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=jbms&id=324&mp=
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FAIR ONLINE BOOKSTORE
Father's Day is almost here! Wondering what to get dad? Check out
this month's huge selection of specials to find the perfect gift.
Order by June 4th to assure delivery by June 20th.
http://store.fairlds.org
Just can't wait until this year's conference? Here's something to fill
those empty hours until August: this month's special on past FAIR
Conference Proceedings. We're looking to fulfill your insatiable
hunger for the best in apologetics by offering these fascinating CDs,
Windows Media Videos, and DVDs at volume discounts.
For each item after the first you order, you get an additional 5% off
all of the FAIR Conference Proceedings items in your order, up to a
total order of eight. Buy one at the usual price of $9.95, buy two and
get a 5% discount, buy three and get a 10% discount, etc. For orders
of nine and over the price is $5.95 each.
At this price, you might want to consider buying multiple copies of
Apologetics 101 to pass on to friends and families confronted by
investigators and critics. DNA, still a hot issue, is discussed by
Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum in The Children of Lehi: DNA and the Book of
Mormon. Other topics include the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Polygamy,
Racism, Book of Mormon Evidences and Apologetics over the years.
Check them all out at:
http://store.fairlds.org
Special shipping prices also apply: $0.95 for the first item and $0.25
for each additional item.
------------------------------
ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS
We welcome article submissions for the FAIR Journal and website. If
you would like to submit an article, please review the editing
guidelines at:
http://www.fairlds.org/EdStyle.pdf
Submit your article to the FAIR Journal Editor, Paul McNabb
(FAIR contact page). An appropriate article would be one that
affirms the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
While LDS apologetics (in the broadest sense) deals with refuting
critics of the Church, articles don't necessarily have to deal with
anti-Mormonism, but may deal with some new evidence of the Book of
Mormon, some interesting scripture interpretation, a viewpoint or
quote from the early Christian Fathers or other historical figures, an
interesting lesson idea, an inspiring missionary story, Church
history, or your view on a current event related to the Church or a
piece from a historical journal.
We may also accept articles from people who are not members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that may not necessarily
meet the guidelines of supporting the church if it is a topic of
general interest to people involved in apologetics.
A submission may range in length from several pages to a single
paragraph.
------------------------------
PUBLISHING NOTES
FAIR is not owned, controlled by or affiliated with the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All research and opinions provided
in the FAIR Journal and on the FAIR website (http://www.fairlds.org)
are the sole responsibility of FAIR, and should not be interpreted as
official statements of LDS doctrine, belief or practice.
If someone has forwarded this e-journal to you and you would like to
join, you should go to www.fairlds.org and click on the "Join &
Support FAIR" link.
If you are very interested in apologetics and would like to actively
participate in FAIR you should consider joining our apologetics e-mail
list. Visit www.fairlds.org and click on the "Join & Support FAIR"
link to join this list as well.
If you manage your own e-mail list, and wish to include some of these
thoughts or articles on your list, contact us through our Web site, at
this page: www.fairlds.org/contact.psp. We have a fairly liberal policy of using our
material as long as you contact us first to gain permission and
clearly identify that your source was FAIR and by adding a link to the
FAIR website (www.fairlds.org).
--------------------------------
FAIR JOURNAL ARCHIVES
For past issues of the FAIR Journal, go to
http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Journal
--------------------------------
Copyright (c) 2004 by The Foundation for Apologetic Information and
Research (FAIR). All rights reserved.
If you would like to sign up to receive the FAIR Journal automatically, click here. To return to the index of past FAIR Journal issues, click here.
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FAIR is not owned, controlled by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All research and opinions provided on this site are the sole responsibility of FAIR, and should not be interpreted as official statements of LDS doctrine, belief or practice. If you like what FAIR does and you agree with our mission, we invite you to support FAIR in any way you are able. You can make a donation, or visit our Membership page for additional support ideas. FAIR only succeeds through the efforts of our gracious volunteers.
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