FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Debunking FairMormon: Difference between revisions
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==Detailed responses by section are found in linked subarticles below== | ==Detailed responses by section are found in linked subarticles below== | ||
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{{SummaryItem | {{SummaryItem | ||
|link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Book of Mormon Concerns & Questions | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Book of Mormon Concerns & Questions | ||
|subject=Response to section "Book of Mormon Concerns & Questions" | |subject=Response to section "Book of Mormon Concerns & Questions" | ||
|summary=The author asks why italicized text and errors from the King James Bible are present in the Book of Mormon. He also briefly discusses anachronisms, archaeology, and a theory that the Book of Mormon place names actually originated in the area around New York. The "View of the Hebrews" theory of Book of Mormon authorship is discussed. | |summary=The author asks why italicized text and errors from the King James Bible are present in the Book of Mormon. He also briefly discusses anachronisms, archaeology, and a theory that the Book of Mormon place names actually originated in the area around New York. The "View of the Hebrews" theory of Book of Mormon authorship is discussed. | ||
|sublink1=Response to claim: "That the witnesses never reported Joseph looking at a 1769 KJV Bible during the translation process actually enhances the likelihood that the Book of Mormon is a fraud" | |||
|sublink2=Response to claim: "At worst, Joseph waited until the witnesses weren’t around to consult and copy from the 1769 KJV Bible" | |||
|sublink3=Response to claim: "FairMormon’s strawman that these towns/cities were discovered only through maps may not be...how Holley found some of the towns" | |||
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{{SummaryItem | {{SummaryItem | ||
|link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Book of Mormon Translation Concerns & Questions | |link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director/Book of Mormon Translation Concerns & Questions | ||
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|subject=Response to section "First Vision Concerns & Questions" | |subject=Response to section "First Vision Concerns & Questions" | ||
|summary=The author states, "Like the rock in the hat story, I did not know there were multiple First Vision accounts. I did not know its contradictions or that the Church members didn’t know about a First Vision until 22 years after it supposedly happened. I was unaware of these omissions in the mission field as I was never taught or trained in the Missionary Training Center to teach investigators these facts." | |summary=The author states, "Like the rock in the hat story, I did not know there were multiple First Vision accounts. I did not know its contradictions or that the Church members didn’t know about a First Vision until 22 years after it supposedly happened. I was unaware of these omissions in the mission field as I was never taught or trained in the Missionary Training Center to teach investigators these facts." | ||
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Revision as of 04:04, 15 March 2015
A FairMormon Analysis of "Debunking FairMormon - Letter to a CES Director"
A FAIR Analysis of: Letter to a CES Director A work by author: Jeremy Runnells
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Does FairMormon agree with a large percentage of the claims made in the Letter to the CES Director?
Jeremy Runnells has claimed that FairMormon has agreed with him on a large percentage of various claims he has made, even going so far as to claim agreement on items that FairMormon did not respond to. With regard to historical facts, Mr. Runnells's citations are sometimes incorrect and his interpretations, even of correctly cited historical facts, are unwarranted. In short, FairMormon disagrees entirely with the conclusions reached by Jeremy Runnells.
Jeremy Runnells has claimed that FairMormon has agreed with him on a large percentage of various claims he has made, even going so far as to claim agreement on items that FairMormon did not respond to. With regard to historical facts, Mr. Runnells's citations are sometimes incorrect and his interpretations, even of correctly cited historical facts, are unwarranted. In short, FairMormon disagrees entirely with the conclusions reached by Jeremy Runnells.
Overview
Approximately eight or nine months after we produced our original response to the Letter to a CES Director, the author produced an apologetic called Debunking FAIR's Debunking, later changed to Debunking FairMormon. [1] Much of the material is simply an incorporation of our original summary responses to the individual issues, and the author's reassertion of his original claims. Our original summary responses to most of these issues have now been incorporated into the text of the full wiki articles that are now transcluded into the CES Letter response. There are, however, some new claims that originated in direct response to FairMormon. In this page we will highlight only new individual items which were not covered in the original CES Letter response. For convenience, these responses to Debunking FairMormon are also included in the list of responses to the original, and various updates, of the CES Letter.
Detailed responses by section are found in linked subarticles below
Response to section "Book of Mormon Concerns & Questions"
Summary: The author asks why italicized text and errors from the King James Bible are present in the Book of Mormon. He also briefly discusses anachronisms, archaeology, and a theory that the Book of Mormon place names actually originated in the area around New York. The "View of the Hebrews" theory of Book of Mormon authorship is discussed.Response to section "Polygamy/Polyandry Concerns & Questions"
Summary: Regarding Joseph's practice of polygamy, the author states that "Joseph Smith’s pattern of behavior or modus operandi for a period of at least 10 years of his adult life was to keep secrets, be deceptive, and be dishonest – both privately and publicly."Response to section "Kinderhook Plates and Translator/Seer Claims Concerns & Questions"
Summary: The author claims that, "Joseph Smith made a scientific claim that he could translate ancient documents. This is a testable claim. Joseph failed the test with the Book of Abraham. He failed the test with the Kinderhook Plates."Response to section "Witnesses Concerns & Questions"
Summary: The author claims that, "If David Whitmer is a credible witness, why are we only using his testimony of the Book of Mormon while ignoring his other testimony claiming that God Himself spoke to Whitmer “by his own voice from the heavens” in June 1838 commanding Whitmer to apostatize from the Lord’s one and only true Church? FAIR must admit that Whitmer was less than credible on this occasion. Why couldn’t he have been less than credible when he testified of the Book of Mormon?"Notes
- ↑ It should be noted that there has never existed a FairMormon document claiming to "debunk" the CES Letter: This is a particularly odd claim when contrasted with the fact that the author claims that FairMormon has a high percentage of agreement with his letter. FairMormon always uses the words "A FairMormon Analysis" to describe our reviews of critical works. Critics, on the other hand, prefer to use the more provocative term "debunking".