Defending Mormonism

On August 3rd and 4th I attended my first FAIR Conference. It was a great experience and I wanted to share a few of my thoughts. What is FAIR? It is an acronym that stands for the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research. FAIR is an organization that addresses the charges leveled at the doctrines, practices, and leaders of the Church with documented responses. This is done primarily through their websites FAIR and FAIRwiki.

The conference was held at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy, Utah. Fifteen speakers gave presentations on a variety of topics such as the Book of Abraham, Opposition to Mormonism in Finland, the Legal Trials of Joseph Smith, DNA and the Book of Mormon, and the Witnesses [to the Book of Mormon] and What They Experienced. It was a fascinating two days that provided further insight into the restored gospel. It was also great to associate with people who have freely volunteered much of their time and talent to defending the Church.

Prior to the beginning of the conference I visited briefly with Scott Gordon, president of FAIR. He indicated to me that FAIR's primary audience are members of the Church who have serious questions about the gospel. Many of these questions are the result of the incredible amount of anti-Mormon literature now available on the Internet. FAIR answers these questions with scholarly responses. Brother Gordon indicated that FAIR has been able to help many brothers and sisters who have been disturbed by these anti-Mormon claims.

Brother Gordon indicated that the other target audience is investigators. A few days ago, the missionaries taught the first discussion to one of my daughter's friends. The missionaries advised her that there would be those that would challenge her study of the gospel. As I drove the missionaries home, I asked them if they get a lot of anti-LDS challenges from people. They said it happens all the time. Though testimonies are not gained from scholarly evidence, honest answers about challenges to the gospel can assist an investigator in keeping an open heart and mind.

If you have not taken the opportunity to visit the FAIR website, I recommend that you spend at least an hour and become acquainted with the wide variety of articles that address numerous aspects of the Book of Mormon, the Restoration, and the Church. It can be a great tool when challenges are raised.