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The FAIR Journal

The 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.

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======================================================================
THE FAIR JOURNAL                                         December 2007
----------------------------------------------------------------------
       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 notes how often LDS 
    theology has been recently discussed in the press.

  * FAIR IN THE NEWS. Some recent news articles in which FAIR has
    been cited.

  * YOU CAN HELP FAIR. It's the end of the year, and you can help
    FAIR achieve its goals.

  * RESOURCES ON THE WEB. The Church has put a series of short video 
    clips on YouTube dealing with a number of topics.

  * RESOURCES ON THE WEB. Orson Scott Card compares the LDS view of 
    God with the biblical view.

  * 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.

  * FAIR LDS BOOKSTORE. Check out the great selections in the FAIR 
    Bookstore.

  * 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.


------------------------------
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

The political campaign here in the US has certainly thrust our beliefs 
front and center into the public limelight. A quote from the Boston 
Globe on this says

    "Everyone knows why there is a national debate going on about 
    Mormons right now," the church says in a statement. "But over the 
    past several months, we have seen an endless parade of 'experts'-- 
    from academics to pollsters to evangelical Christians and even 
    journalists--commenting on, describing, explaining and expounding 
    our faith. Too often, the Church itself is left out of that 
    conversation altogether. We'd like to join it."

To join this conversation, the Church has sent out Apostles to meet 
with various editorial boards.

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s260 

Recently Elder Ballard has encouraged people to get involved in getting
the message out by becoming involved in the "new media."

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s261

In a press release dated December 15 on the Church Website it says,

    Two hundred graduating students at Brigham Young University-Hawaii
    were urged today to use the Internet - including blogs and other
    forms of "new media" - to contribute to a national conversation
    about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

    Elder M. Russell Ballard, an apostle in the Church, told the
    mostly Mormon student body that conversations about the Church
    would take place whether or not Church members decided to
    participate in them.

    "We cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our 
    critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches," he said.

    "While some conversations have audiences in the thousands or even 
    millions, most are much, much smaller. But all conversations have 
    an impact on those who participate in them. Perceptions of the 
    Church are established one conversation at a time."

    Church leaders have publicly expressed concern that while much of
    the recent extensive news reporting on the Church has been
    balanced and accurate, some has been trivial, distorted or without
    context.

    Elder Ballard said there were too many conversations going on
    about the Church for Church representatives to respond to each
    individually, and that Church leaders "can't answer every
    question, satisfy every inquiry and respond to every inaccuracy
    that exists."

    He said students should consider sharing their views on blogs,
    responding to online news reports and using the "new media" in
    other ways.

    But he cautioned against arguing with others about their beliefs. 
    "There is no need to become defensive or belligerent," he said.

We hope that FAIR can become a resource for you in this effort. You 
can find a number of resources at www.fairlds.org. Click on the
"Topical Guide" link. You can also find resources at the FAIR wiki:

    www.fairmormon.org

The FAIR wiki provides many short answers to questions that come up.

Additionally, FAIR has put together two more resources. One is a 
response to 50 Anti-Mormon Questions at

    http://en.fairmormon.org/50_Answers

A second resource is designed to help Journalists. This resource is 
still under construction, so suggestions are welcome.

    http://www.mormonfaq.org

Please use FAIR to help in your blogging and other Internet activities 
and let us know if there are areas where we need to provide additional 
resources.

--Scott Gordon
  President


------------------------------
FAIR IN THE NEWS

FAIR has been a resource in several news articles that have come out 
recently.

New York Times: "Huckabee Is Not Alone in Ignorance on Mormonism" 
(December 14, 2007)

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s262

The Los Angeles Times: "A look at Mormon theology and practice" 
(December 16, 2007)

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s263

The National Post: "A reader writes in defence of mormonism ..." 
(December 11, 2007)

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s264

The Los Angeles Times: "Mormon theology is striking in its 
differences" (December 7, 2007)

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s265

The Los Angeles Times blogs: "Other opinions on Romney's faith talk 
tomorrow" (December 5, 2007)

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s266

The Alan Colmes Radio Show. This was the second appearance on this 
nationwide show for FAIR's president, Scott Gordon.

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s267

Additionally, FAIR has started a new partnership with Meridian 
Magazine, where we are providing a number of short articles to the 
readers.

    www.meridianmagazine.com


------------------------------
YOU CAN HELP FAIR

It is the end of the year and now is your last chance to make a tax
deductible (if you are in the US) donation to FAIR. We would like to
do more Internet advertising, but are limited by our volunteers' time
and by our meager financial resources. We have two books and two DVDs
we would like to publish and distribute, but we anticipate a cost of 
about $40,000 to do those tasks effectively.

That means we can't achieve our goals without your help. With that in
mind, FAIR has three requests:

1) Please make a donation of any size to FAIR. You can either go to 
   the donation page at the bookstore

       http://store.fairlds.org/bi071.html

   or you can mail it to

       FAIR
       PO Box 491677
       Redding, CA 96049

2) If you are able, consider making a donation that will cover the 
   entire cost of our publishing or at least a substantial part of it.

3) If you would like to specifically help with the publication of our 
   book "Shaken Faith Syndrome" -- an excellent book by Mike Ash that
   will help many people who struggle with Church issues -- make a
   $100 donation and when the book is printed, Mike will send you an 
   autographed copy.

       http://store.fairlds.org/prod/pDon0100.html

Regardless of how you choose to help, please realize that we
appreciate your support. It is only through the good graces of our
volunteers and benefactors that we are able to do our work.

------------------------------

FAIR is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, so if you are in the United 
States, your donation is tax deductible. Without your donations, FAIR 
would cease to exist. Thank you for your support.

    http://store.fairlds.org/bi071.html

You can also contact FAIR via the U.S. Postal Service using the 
following address. (NOTE: This is a new mailing address for FAIR.)

    FAIR
    P.O. Box 491677
    Redding, CA 96049-1677


------------------------------
RESOURCES ON THE WEB: CHURCH VIDEO CLIPS ON YOUTUBE

As more people rely on video for their information, the Church has 
responded by putting short video clips on YouTube. Here are a few that 
are available.

Do Mormons Worship Jesus Christ in Their Church Services?

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=iUs407sadoY&feature=user

How are Mormon Beliefs Similar to Other Christians?

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=PNTPHK3ydIE&feature=user

Is There Scientific Proof Authenticating the Book of Mormon?

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=3AQTr9oB8lw&feature=user

Are Mormons Christian?

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=9TpA_wt-ul0&feature=user

Why Do People Say Mormonism is a Cult?

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=EValAeeZuFE&feature=user

There are many more clips. You can find them by searching for 
LDSPublicAffairs using the YouTube search feature.


------------------------------
RESOURCES ON THE WEB: ORSON SCOTT CARD ESSAY ON LDS THEOLOGY

Writer Orson Scott Card considers the LDS concept of God and argues
that LDS theology is very much in line with the biblical description 
of God.

Read the article:
    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s268 


------------------------------
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 Web site as a FAIR paper or brochure. If you have a 
question, you may submit it through the FAIR web site.

    http://www.fairlds.org/contact.php

Questions sent to FAIR will be shared with members of FAIR, so it is 
not uncommon to receive several responses that approach the issue from 
different angles.


------------------------------
FAIR TOPICAL GUIDE

The Topical Guide is one of the most important LDS apologetic 
resources available. If you aren't familiar with this part of FAIR's 
Web site, check it out at

    http://www.fairlds.org/apol


------------------------------
FAIR WIKI

The FAIR wiki project was started in 2006 to provide a more flexible 
and searchable resource for Latter-day Saints and allow others to get 
answers to Gospel questions. The wiki is, by design, always a "work in 
progress," with many editors at FAIR contributing to articles on a 
daily basis. You can access the FAIR wiki at:

    http://www.fairmormon.org

This month the FAIR wiki focuses attention on issue of Jesus and 
Satan being brothers.

Latter-day Saints believe that all angels and men are children of God, 
and thus they believe there is a sense in which Jesus, Satan, angels, 
demons, and all mankind are all brothers and sisters. Over the last 
few decades, critics of the Church have increasingly used this belief 
to create shocking headlines in anti-Mormon publications.

Anti-Mormons hope that readers will see the sentence "Mormons believe 
Jesus and Satan are brothers" and jump to a false conclusion about how 
LDS Christians view Jesus. By divorcing the sentence from the context 
of LDS doctrine, by omitting any reference to the huge gulf that 
Mormons believe exists between Jesus Christ and Satan, and by ignoring 
the ways in which LDS believe that Satan is outside the family of God 
and thus in certain ways is not a brother of Christ, critics falsely 
present LDS beliefs hoping that people will reject the restored 
Gospel out of hand without further investigation.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a brief 
statement on this issue.

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s273

The FAIR Wiki has a section dealing with this topic.

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s269 

FAIR has a downloadable brochure on this topic (in PDF).

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s270

This paper and other resources are available in the FAIR Topical 
Guide.

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s271

A humorous look at this topic was recently published on the 
Townhall.com. In her article "He's Not Satan, He's My Brother," 
Kathleen Parker sets up a political debate between Republican 
candidates and moderated by Saturday Night Live's Church Lady.

    http://www.fairlds.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?s272 


------------------------------
FAIR LDS BOOKSTORE

The FAIR Bookstore has a huge selection of books, CDs, and DVDs that 
deal not only with apologetics but with a great range of topics, 
including Church history, scripture studies, archaeology, theology, 
comparitive religion, philosophy and many more.

Be sure to check out our specials each month and save money while 
building your personal library.

    http://store.fairlds.org

--FAIR Bookstore Volunteers


------------------------------
ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS

We welcome article submissions for the FAIR Journal and Web site. 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,
by going to

     http://www.fairlds.org/contact.php

An appropriate article would be one that affirms the truthfulness of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

While LDS apologetics involves refuting critics of the Church, its
doctrines, and its leaders, articles don't necessarily have to deal
with anti-Mormonism. FAIR will consider articles that deal with new
evidence of the Book of Mormon, scriptural passages that involve a
unique LDS interpretation, a viewpoint or quote from the early
Christian Fathers or other historical figures, an inspiring missionary
story, Church history, a view on a current event related to the
Church, or a piece from an 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 Web site (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 interested in apologetics and would like to participate
actively 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 by going to

     http://www.fairlds.org/contact.php

We have a fairly liberal policy of using our material as long as you
contact us first to gain permission, clearly identify that your source
was FAIR, and add a link to the FAIR Web site (www.fairlds.org).


--------------------------------
FAIR JOURNAL ARCHIVES

For past issues of the FAIR Journal, go to

     http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/journal

--------------------------------
Copyright (c) 2007 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.

 

 

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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