Temples: articles and tips | FAIR

Temples: articles and tips | FAIR

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Temples: articles and tips | FAIR episodes

  • Come, Follow Me with FAIR – 2 Kings 16–25 – Jennifer Roach Lees
    Start Here
    Question

    Why did King Josiah remove objects from the temple?

    Short Answer

    King Josiah removed temple objects because many had become closely associated with pagan worship and Assyrian religious practices. Rather than rejecting the temple itself, he sought to restore covenant worship by removing symbols that no longer pointed people toward God. According to this episode, these reforms represented spiritual cleansing and covenant renewal rather than political power or religious innovation.

    Key Takeaways
    • King Josiah inherited Judah during a period of political, economic, and spiritual collapse.

    • The rediscovery of the Book of the Law sparked a national covenant renewal rather than the creation of a new religion.

    • Many temple objects Josiah removed had become symbols of idolatry under Assyrian influence.

    • Jeremiah praised Josiah for defending the poor, seeking justice, and remaining faithful to God’s covenant.

    • Josiah’s death at Megiddo marked the end of Judah’s last righteous king before the Babylonian captivity.

    Continue reading

    The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – 2 Kings 16–25 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

    24 min
  • Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 35–40; Leviticus 1; 4; 16; 19 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson
    Still Holding On To Guilt?

    by Autumn Dickson

    This week we’re learning about the sacrifices and rituals of the Israelites in the wilderness. They had a temple that would go with them as they travelled, and there was immense symbolism all throughout this temple. Much of this symbolism was meant to draw the attention of the Israelites towards the atonement of Jesus Christ. It was called a sacrifice, but it was actually a blessing.

    One of the detailed rituals that we get to read about occurs on Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement. The central ritual on this day involved two identical male goats, both had to be perfectly healthy. Here are some of the details of that ritual.

    Leviticus 16:7-8

    7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

    8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

    So the priest would cast lots to see which goat would take which role. The first goat would be killed, and its blood would be collected in a basin. The high priest would take that blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle it upward once and downward seven times. The fat would be burned, and the rest of the goat would be taken outside the camp and burned.

    This symbolized the payment of Israel’s sins.

    The second goat was the scapegoat. The high priest would lay both hands on the goat and confess all of the intentional and unintentional sins of Israel upon the head of the goat. Essentially, the priest was symbolically transferring the guilt to the goat. A designated man would lead the goat into the remote wilderness and release it.

    This symbolized the guilt being removed from the Israelites.

    I love that they are separate processes. There are so many layers of symbolism, but one of the layers is something I talk about often:

    Christ already paid for the sins; what do we do with this knowledge?

    Think about the power of that second goat when it was taken as it was meant to be taken. Imagine being an Israelite and watching these rituals take place. You watch the ritual with the understanding that the Son of God would be sacrificed to pay for your sins, and then you watch another ritual in which your guilt runs off into the wilderness.

    I think one of the issues that we have in modern times is believing that the atonement of Jesus Christ occurred but holding on to our own sins anyway. It would be like having an understanding that the Son of God was sacrificed, watching the scapegoat be taken away, and still going home to reflect and beat yourself up over your own sins. The sacrifice of the first goat doesn’t matter if you refuse to let go of the second goat. The fact that the second goat is now out in the wilderness didn’t matter. You have to internalize both parts to receive joy.

    The atonement of Jesus Christ was incredible in and of itself. The act of love was immense and singular. Everything hinged on this sacrifice performed by Christ. But Christ didn’t perform the sacrifice just to perform the sacrifice. The atonement of Jesus Christ enabled the Father to remain perfect with His promises, but it was meant for even more than that incredible purpose. It was meant to make us joyful. The atonement of Jesus Christ remains an independent fact of reality, but what we do with that knowledge determines whether it fills the fullness of its purpose in our lives.

    If Yom Kippur had only included the first goat, the Israelites could have learned about Christ and His atonement. They could have rejoiced that He paid for their sins, and they could have garnered hope from this sacrifice. But I love that it included the second goat, the scapegoat, because it highlights our need to utilize the atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives.

    It’s not enough that He performed it; we have to bring that knowledge into our bones so that it changes us in a way that we are joyful. We have to send our guilt away from us. We have to put the weight down. It’s a conscious, voluntary choice.

    I think many of us hope the guilt will simply be taken away from us, or at least that’s what I used to think. I believed that if I was truly forgiven, I just wouldn’t feel guilty anymore. The Lord would remove it for me. Interestingly enough, that’s not how it usually works. The Lord is too wise to vanish our guilt away from us.

    The process of repentance wouldn’t be nearly as effective in this way. If the Lord simply took away the guilt because it was paid for, we would learn nothing and we certainly wouldn’t attach that redemption to the Son of God. We would just wake up in the morning and not feel guilty anymore. We might not even register the fact that the guilt was gone or we could unconsciously start to believe, “I can do what I want, and I don’t feel bad about it. Maybe it’s not even bad.” There were many times that I wanted the Lord to take the guilt away. I didn’t want to carry it with me and I asked the Lord to take it away, but He was wise enough to wait for me to trust Him enough to set it down on my own.

    He waited for me to consciously say, “Christ promised that He took care of this. He promised that He’s strong enough to save me. I’m going to voluntarily step onto that trust and send my guilt away.” This is the most powerful way to repent. It pushes us to recognize the source of our renewed cleanliness as well as the fact that what we did was wrong. Having consequences (including guilt) magically dissipate is unhealthy for our desire to do better.

    So the Lord paid for it, and then He waits for us to learn to trust Him so that we send the guilt away of our own accord.

    That’s not to say Christ isn’t present for every step of this process. He paid for the sins, and He didn’t abandon me when I asked Him to take the guilt away. He just helped in a different way than making the guilt dissipate. The Israelites didn’t have to individually lead their own scapegoat into the wilderness. There was still a representative who did that for them. The key here is that it needed to mean something to them. They had to trust that their representative would take care of it, and it would truly be gone.

    I’m grateful for a Savior who paid for my sins. I’m grateful that He was patient as I learned to trust Him rather than removing the very difficulties that helped me recognize my reality and love Him for it. I’m grateful that I’ve learned to set my sins and mistakes and embarrassments down; the Savior truly is mighty to save. That knowledge gives me hope in every situation I remember Him in.

     

     

    Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

    The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 35–40; Leviticus 1; 4; 16; 19 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

    11 min
  • Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Easter – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson
    A Passover Question For You

    by Autumn Dickson

    For my last post this week, we talked about some specifics of Passover in order to better reflect on our free status because of Christ. I really love the Passover. My sister does a Passover meal for Easter each year, and there are so many beautiful traditions associated with it that can teach us about Christ if we choose to explore the symbolism. So I want to talk about a different aspect of Passover.

    In Exodus, the Lord teaches His people to keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread (Passover) in Canaan.

    Exodus 13:8 ¶ And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.

    The Israelites were commanded to teach their children about their deliverance. Some of the traditions that formed as a part of this commandment are wonderful.

    As the Jews do their Passover meal, they begin with strange ways that are different than any other day. This is meant to provoke curiosity in children. As they move through a couple of these strange steps, there is a ritual called Ma Nishtana. For this ritual, the youngest child would say:

    “Why is this night different from all other nights?”

    On all other nights we eat leavened and unleavened; tonight only unleavened.

    On all other nights we eat all vegetables; tonight bitter herbs.

    On all other nights we don’t dip even once; tonight twice.

    On all other nights we eat sitting or reclining; tonight we all recline.

    This would begin the story telling of how the Israelites were freed from Egypt.

    Like with the Israelites on Passover, we, as Latter-day Saints, do things in a peculiar way. We live differently because of what we believe. And when our children (or anyone, for that matter) ask why, how do we answer them?

    Because the answer should always connect back to Christ and His deliverance. Whenever we can connect it back to Christ, we should.

    Why do we keep the Word of Wisdom? Because it keeps our bodies healthy and strong and better able to hear Christ.

    Why do we go to the temple? To try and feel Christ more closely and to receive power from Him.

    Why do we go to church every single week? Why do we keep the Sabbath Day Holy? Why are we so careful about our entertainment? Why do we keep the Law of Chastity? Why do we do Family Home Evening and Come Follow Me? Why are we making our lives harder and different?

    These are peculiar traditions that were meant to put our lives in order so that we can better feel Christ and serve Him. It is always about Christ because in Christ, we find joy and peace.

    When we try to do the gospel without Christ, it’s merely an extra burden. When we utilize the gospel to draw closer to Christ, that’s when it’s life-changing.

    Whenever I start to feel like the gospel or church is a burden, I have learned that the problem is forgetting Christ. Let’s talk about it with a direct example.

    I try to go to the temple once a month. I used to be so intense about it because I’m often intense about everything. I never missed a month, which is awesome except for the fact that it didn’t bring me closer to Christ. It just gave me a little rush of dopamine to cross it off my list and a weird sense of pride and martyrdom. Because I’m often intense about things like this, it can get really easy for me to overwhelm myself and reach the point where I want to give up entirely.

    Everything changes when I switch my perspective to see tools and layers of bringing Christ into my life. This makes two great changes in my life.

    The first is that I can utilize wisdom to know what to prioritize and to let go when things don’t come together. For example, I travelled a ton last month, and it was really difficult to go to the temple. We were gone for a little over half the month, and I have limited windows in which I can run over and participate in the temple. I had lined everything up one afternoon to go while my babies slept and my other kids were in school and Conner was downstairs working. I planned it all without the knowledge that Conner wasn’t actually going to be home to be with the babies while they napped.

    What normally would have been an absolutely unreasonable irritation gave way to peace. I couldn’t go to the temple to find Christ, but that didn’t mean I needed to banish Him from my heart in anger. The temple is a tool and if something prevents me from picking up that tool, I have a myriad of tools at my disposal to draw myself closer to Him.

    The second way that it has changed my life is probably even more important. The things that used to overwhelm me are now the things that relax me.

    The temple used to be a rushed thing that took up some of my time. Now I see it for the worthwhile activity that it is. I calm my heart and utilize it rather than completing it. I can go to church with 5-8 kids (depending on whether my kids bring their friends) and I can simply be grateful for the opportunity to be there and show my devotion to Christ. I can be grateful for the opportunity for my children to also practice drawing closer to Christ even if it’s a rather imperfect effort. When I keep the Word of Wisdom, it’s because I want to nourish my body so that it stands ready to hear and serve Christ. When I keep the Law of Chastity, I am removing unnecessary drama and heartache that are distracting from Christ.

    The gospel and commandments and church all become exactly what they were meant to become when we tie it back to Christ. In Christ, we find our ultimate joy and peace and hope. He lightens everything He touches. His yoke and burden are light because the yoke and “burden” are the very things that tie us to Him.

    I am grateful for Christ in my life. He truly has changed my life. I look at my life and find all sorts of reasons to rejoice and hope for better days. I have also learned how to be grateful for the yoke and burden He gives me because I see it for what it is.

     

    Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

    The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Easter – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

    11 min
  • Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Moses 1; Abraham 3 – Jennifer Roach Lees

    Jennifer and guest Sarah Allen discuss the books of Moses and Abraham.

     

    Sarah Allen is a Senior Researcher with FAIR, a former member of Scripture Central’s research team, and the 2022 recipient of the John Taylor: Defender of the Faith Award. An avid reader, she loves studying the Gospel and the history of the restored Church. After watching some of her friends lose their testimonies, she became interested in helping others through their faith crises. That’s when she began sharing what she’d learned through her studies. She is a co-moderator the LDS subreddit on Reddit and the author of a multi-part series rebutting the CES Letter. She is also the co-host of FAIR’s “Me, My Shelf, & I” podcast. She’s grateful to those at FAIR who have given her the opportunity to share her testimony with a wider audience.

    Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah.

    The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Moses 1; Abraham 3 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

    22 min
  • Come, Follow Me with FAIR – The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson
    If God is so Powerful, Why Didn’t He Just Stop Their Enemies?

    by Autumn Dickson

    I want to share something from the Official Declaration 1, the declaration that ended the practice of polygamy in the latter-days. This post isn’t specifically about polygamy, but the principle I want to teach is being taught through the polygamy example.

    The Lord has told me to ask the Latter-day Saints a question, and He also told me that if they would listen to what I said to them and answer the question put to them, by the Spirit and power of God, they would all answer alike, and they would all believe alike with regard to this matter.

    He then proceeds to ask the people what would be better: to comply with the law of the land and cease the practice of polygamy or continue to practice polygamy and lose the priesthood organization and temples and be forced to stop polygamy anyway?

    I’ve heard people express the idea that the church supposedly believes in revelation but fold the second they receive outside pressure. I’ve heard it conveyed that it was so convenient for the Lord to stop the practice of polygamy when things got too difficult for the people to live it. Even as a teenager, I believed in the church but remember thinking, “Isn’t there a third option? Can’t the Lord enable them to continue practicing polygamy without losing all of the men and the temples?”

    Though polygamy is unique in many ways, there is not really any new argument against God. These specific questions boil down to a question that is as old as religion, “If your God is truly so powerful, why doesn’t He enable you?”

    The answer to that specific question varies because the circumstances of mankind vary, but I’ll do my best to teach the overarching principles by referring to this specific example of polygamy.

    According to President Woodruff, the Saints were facing some pretty dire circumstances. He had a vision of everything that the Saints would lose if they continued the practice of polygamy. To put it shortly, they would lose everything that mattered. I don’t think Satan was worried about stopping polygamy as he was about utilizing polygamy to stop the work in general. If the Saints continued on, this would surely stop the work. They would lose temples and the men; if they lost these, apostasy would reign and Satan would have won (especially since the Lord has promised that we will not fall into a Great Apostasy again).

    When we face dire circumstances, the Lord can react in a number of ways and He makes wise decisions based on what will bring about His purposes.

    The Lord’s potential reaction #1:

    Sometimes He asks us to continue on through difficulty and lose everything. I think of Abinadi. Abinadi was asked to continue preaching despite the fact that it put his life in danger. Abinadi died. Sometimes the Lord asks for the ultimate sacrifice. He could have asked the Saints to make the ultimate sacrifice, but He didn’t.

    The Lord’s potential reaction #2:

    The Lord can tell His people to keep going and then remove the difficulty. There are a million examples of this, the most obvious being Moses parting the Red Sea.

    When it came to polygamy, the Lord could have responded in this way. He could have “parted the sea” and removed the difficulty. The Lord could have enabled His Saints to continue practicing polygamy. He could have wiped out the entire earth other than the Saints if that’s what it took, but He didn’t.

    The Lord’s potential reaction #3:

    Sometimes the Lord tells us to stop. I think of Alma and his people. They were threatened with death if they prayed, and so they only prayed in their hearts. The Lord could have commanded them to keep praying, but it wasn’t their time and so He didn’t. Technically they kept praying, but there are other instances. For example, there was Zion’s camp. An “army” of members left Kirtland to go win back Missouri for the Saints, but the Lord told them to turn around after they got there. I did a whole video on why the Lord might have chosen after this manner. There was also the time when the Lord excused His people from building the temple in Zion for a time.

    Sometimes the Lord does tell us we can stop. People love to act like this is because our God isn’t real or that He isn’t powerful. The answer is neither.

    Sometimes the Lord tells us to stop because He is wise.

    Despite the fact that the Lord could ask His Saints to sacrifice everything and despite the fact that the Lord could have removed the obstacles they were facing, He chose not to. I emphasize the point that we do not always know why the Lord makes specific choices unless He tells us directly, but let’s think for a bit about why the Lord would have made this decision.

    Despite the fact that the Lord reigns over all and despite the fact that He is tremendously powerful, sometimes He chooses to act in a certain way with mankind because of His purposes. The “limitations” are not true limitations; they are self-imposed limitations that enable Him to push His purposes along.

    His purpose is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man and because of His chosen purpose, He often works within the constraints of mankind so He doesn’t ruin His own plan. Let’s look at this principle in the context of polygamy.

    The Lord’s potential reaction #1:

    The Lord could have asked them to continue on in difficulty and sacrifice. They would have lost the temples and priesthood organization that kept His restored church on the earth. That doesn’t really fit His purposes so He’s not going to choose this option.

    The Lord’s potential reaction #2:

    The Lord could have asked them to continue on and then removed the difficulty for them. This answers the question that I’ve heard posed more than once in my life. Believe it or not, this would have also frustrated His purposes. He COULD have destroyed everyone except the Saints, but that doesn’t contribute to His purposes. He COULD have sent down miracles to stop the rest of America from being able to infiltrate Utah and take the temples and arrest the men, but it would have taken some large-scale miracles in order to keep the work moving forward.

    In the history of the world, the Lord has performed some incredible large-scale miracles. We read about these miracles, and we rejoice in them.

    However, the Lord does not often choose to work after this manner. He just doesn’t. Why? Because faith is an essential ingredient in His plan. I have studied the purpose of faith over and over and over. You can’t bring about the Plan of Redemption if you wipe out the principle of faith, and large-scale miracles run the risk of doing just that.

    The Lord could perform large-scale miracle after large-scale miracle and fix everything, but He doesn’t. Why? Because removing faith from the mortal experience has far dire consequences than anything we could potentially face on earth.

    So the Lord COULD have chosen potential reaction #1 or #2, but He didn’t because they don’t contribute to His purposes.

    The Lord’s potential reaction #3:

    He stops it.

    And honestly, this makes sense. Temple work and the priesthood organization were more important. Faith was more important.

    I believe that polygamy was a policy laid down by God. I do. I also believe that polygamy doesn’t make logistical sense on a grand scale so it was the wisest choice the Lord could have made.

    There are a million arguments made against the church. One of them is the idea of, “If your God is so powerful, why doesn’t He enable you to xyz?”

    I testify that God is real and powerful, and I testify that He is in this work. I also testify that God is wise and because He is wise, He has self-imposed limitations in order to bring about His purposes. He could easily interfere with evil on a daily basis, but He knows the cost would be too high. I testify that the Lord is wise enough to make the decisions necessary to bring about our eternal life.

     

    Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

    The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

    11 min
  • Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Doctrine and Covenants 137–138 – Mike Parker
    Joseph Smith’s Vision of the Celestial Kingdom; Joseph F. Smith’s Vision of the Spirit World (D&C 137–138)

    by Mike Parker

    (Mike Parker is a long-time FAIR member who has graciously allowed us to use materials he originally prepared for the Hurricane Utah Adult Religion Class. The scripture passages covered in his lessons don’t conform exactly to the Come, Follow Me reading schedule, so they will be shared here where they fit best.)

    Class Notes

    Additional Reading and Videos

    • Joseph Smith, Journal, 21 January 1836 (pp. 136–37); recorded by Warren Parrish. Read the original entry in Joseph’s journal that was canonized in 1976 and became Doctrine and Covenants Section 137 in 1981.

    • Joseph F. Smith, “Status of Children in the Resurrection,” Improvement Era 21, no. 7 (May 1918): 567–74. In this address given in the Salt Lake Temple—given only eight months before his vision that is now section 138—President Smith taught about the status of the spirits of children who die and how they will be resurrected.

    • George S. Tate, “‘The Great World of the Spirits of the Dead’: Death, the Great War, and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic as Context for Doctrine and Covenants 138,” BYU Studies 46, no. 1 (2007): 4–40. Tate gives the historical background and context in which Joseph F. Smith received his vision of the redemption of the dead.

    • Mary Jane Woodger, “From Obscurity to Scripture: Joseph F. Smith’s Vision of the Redemption of the Dead,” in You Shall Have My Word: Exploring the Text of the Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Scott C. Esplin, Richard O. Cowan, and Rachel Cope (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University / Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012), 234–54.

       

      Mike Parker is a business and marketing analyst with over twenty years’ experience in the financial services and cellular telephone industries. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management Information Systems from Dixie State University (now Utah Tech University) of St George, Utah. He also has eight years’ experience in corporate training and currently teaches an adult religion class in southern Utah. Mike and his wife, Denise, have three children.

      The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Doctrine and Covenants 137–138 – Mike Parker appeared first on FAIR.

      31 min
    • Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Doctrine and Covenants 132 – Mike Parker
      Eternal marriage & plural marriage (D&C 132; Official Declaration 1)

      by Mike Parker

      (Mike Parker is a long-time FAIR member who has graciously allowed us to use materials he originally prepared for the Hurricane Utah Adult Religion Class. The scripture passages covered in his lessons don’t conform exactly to the Come, Follow Me reading schedule, so they will be shared here where they fit best.)

      Class Notes

      Additional Reading and Videos

      Gospel Topics Essays on plural marriage. These articles, published by the Church with the help of Latter-day Saint scholars, review the history and practice of plural marriage in nineteenth century:

      • “Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (an introductory essay).

      • “Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo” (on polygamy as revealed and practiced by Joseph Smith).

      • “Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah” (how polygamy was practiced in the Utah period).

      • “The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage” (how the practice was discontinued).

        Joseph Smith’s Polygamy is the website for Brian and Laura Hales’ book series on Joseph Smith and the establishment and practice of plural marriage in Nauvoo. The Hales are the most thorough and reliable scholars working on this subject. Works in the series include Brian’s three-volume scholarly examination of Joseph’s practice of plural marriage and Brian and Laura’s brief, one-volume book that summarizes his work for a lay audience.

        • Brian Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Volume 1: History (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013)

        • Brian Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Volume 2: History (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013)

        • Brian Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Volume 3: Theology (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013) 

        • Brian Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2015) 

          • Gregory L. Smith, “Polygamy, Prophets, and Prevarication: Frequently and Rarely Asked Questions about the Initiation, Practice, and Cessation of Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” FAIR (2005). Smith explores some of the difficult issues surrounding plural marriage, including Joseph Smith’s public denials that he was practicing it.

          • Brian Hales, “Controversies in Joseph Smith’s Polygamy.” Presentation given at the 2010 FAIR Conference.
            • Brittany Chapman Nash, “Let’s Talk About Polygamy.” Presentation given at the 2021 FAIR Conference.
              • Gordon Irving, “The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830–1900,” BYU Studies 14, no. 3 (Spring 1974): 291–314. Irving’s article reviews the early Mormon practice of being sealed as a son or daughter to a prominent Church leader, a practice President Wilford Woodruff did away with by revelation in 1894.

                 

                Mike Parker is a business and marketing analyst with over twenty years’ experience in the financial services and cellular telephone industries. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management Information Systems from Dixie State University (now Utah Tech University) of St George, Utah. He also has eight years’ experience in corporate training and currently teaches an adult religion class in southern Utah. Mike and his wife, Denise, have three children.

                The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Doctrine and Covenants 132 – Mike Parker appeared first on FAIR.

                54 min

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