82 repeated references
If the author of The CES Letter is seeking truth, then presenting his evidence in an emotionless format in order to eliminate bias and allow a free evaluation by readers would be most effective. However, for reasons known only to him, loaded language, sarcasm, repetitions, and incomplete representations of the evidences are repeatedly employed.
- On multiple pages, the author refers back to previous issues supposing, perhaps, that repetition will somehow improve the validity the accusations previously discussed.
|
Concern |
Primary pages | Repeated references on pages | Brief Assessment |
| Rock in a hat | 20–21 | 23, 44, 71, 76,78, 80, 81 |
Inaccurate artistic expression is evidence of inaccurate artistic expression and not much more. |
| 31–36 | 63, 71, 73, 76, 78, 80, 81 | Joseph Smith did not practice sexual polyandry or ever allow a woman to have two genuine husbands. | |
| Kinderhook Plates | 43–44 | 35, 63, 81 |
Joseph did not “translate” the plates, he compared a single character in the Egyptian lexicon to one character on a Kinderhook plate. |
| 22–23 | 19, 35, 45, 49, 71, 76, 81 | There are ambiguities, but no contradictions, in the accounts. | |
| Book of Abraham | 24–30 | 35, 44, 68, 71, 76, 80, 81 |
Joseph never claimed to translate the Book of Abraham (and the facsimiles) as an Egyptologist would. Their criticisms do not apply. |
| 39 | 71, 72, 81 | It was a policy that was removed. | |
| Priesthood Restoration | 49 | 35, 71, 81 |
Contradictory evidence for the precise chronology is available but all sources agree it occurred. |
- Rhetoric does not constitute truth no matter how much emotion and repetition are employed.
- Strong opinion regarding a topic does not mean that those expressing that strong opinion actually understand the topic. Opinion is not knowledge.
Additional Resources:
Some Reflections On That Letter To a CES Director by Daniel Peterson
A FairMormon Analysis of: Letter to a CES Director
Jeremy Runnells – the New Expert on Joseph Smith’s Polygamy? by Brian Hales
FAIR Issues 4: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 4, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 5: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 5, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 6: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 6, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 7: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 7, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 8: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 8, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 9: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 9, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 10: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 10, Michael R. Ash
4th Watch 4: The Kingdom of the Cults – “Shock Terms.”, Ned Scarisbrick
4th Watch 10: Mormonism Investigated UK, Bobby Gilpin
Articles of Faith 5: Kevin Christensen on Inevitable Consequences of the Different Investigative Approaches of Jeremy Runells and Jeff Lindsay, Kevin Christensen
Articles of Faith 8: LDS Church Disciplinary Councils, Barbie Berg / Alan Wyatt
Articles of Faith 17: General Conference October 2014 – Apologetic Highlights, Steve Densley
Best of Fair 1: Apologetics 101, Wayne Arnett
Best of Fair 2: Humble Apologetics, Daniel C. Peterson
Best of Fair 3: Online Apologetics, Scott Gordon
Best of Fair 10: On Being An Apologist: Imperatives, Predicaments, Perils, and Blessings., Robert White
FAIR Conversations, Episode 1: Gregory L. Smith, Gregory L. Smith
FAIR Conversations, Episode 2: Terryl L. Givens, Terry L. Givens
FAIR Issues 1: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 1, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 2: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 2, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 3: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 3, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 12: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 12, Michael R. Ash
Fair Issues 13: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 13, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 14: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 14, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 15: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 15, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 16: Challenging Issues and Keeping the Faith Pt 16, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 18: Can imperfect scriptures lead to God?, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 24: The cure for an intellectual apostasy, Michael R. Ash
FAIR Issues 27: Mormons not Christian? That’s a fallacy of equivocation, Daniel C. Peterson
FAIR Issues 39: Countering subversive attacks, Michael R. Ash
FairMormon Frameworks 5: Mike Ash & Shaken Faith, Michael R. Ash
FairMormon Frameworks 10: Terryl Givens Crucible of Doubt, Terryl Givens
FairMormon Frameworks 12: Seth Payne Support in the Faith, Seth Payne
FairMormon Frameworks 15: Jim McConkie on Preserving and Nurturing Faith, Jim McConkie
Faith and Reason 1: Introduction, Michael R. Ash
Keeping the Faith 1: Letter to a Doubter, Terryl Givens
Keeping the Faith 2a: Michael Ash and Shaken Faith Syndrome, pt 1, Michael R. Ash
Keeping the Faith 2b: Michael Ash and Shaken Faith Syndrome, pt 2, Michael R. Ash
Keeping the Faith 3a: Cody Anderson–Cultivating the seeds of faith, pt 1, Cody Anderson
Keeping the Faith 3b: Cody Anderson–Cultivating the seeds of faith, pt 2, Cody Anderson
Keeping the Faith 4: Mike Parker–Navigating difficult doctrinal, historical or political issues, Mike Parker
Keeping the Faith 7a: The Reel Story, Bill Reel
Keeping the Faith 7b: The Reel Story, Bill Reel
Keeping the Faith 8a: Matt Francom, Matt Francom
Keeping the Faith 8b: Matt Francom, Matt Francom
Keeping The Faith 9: John Montgomery, John Montgomery
Keeping the Faith 13: Pressing forward with faith, Bill Reel
Mormon FAIR-Cast 60: Mormon Voices, John Lynch
Mormon FAIR-Cast 73: Purpose, history and offerings of FAIR, Michael R. Ash
Mormon FAIR-Cast 96: FAIR on the Radio Pt 1, John Lynch & Stephen Smoot
Mormon FAIR-Cast 96: FAIR on the Radio Pt 2, John Lynch & Stephen Smoot
Mormon FAIR-Cast 100: Dan Peterson on “apologetics”, Daniel C. Peterson
Mormon FAIR-Cast 101: Dan Peterson takes questions, Daniel C. Peterson
Mormon FAIR-Cast 119: Defending the King and His Kingdom, Louis C. Midgley
Mormon FAIR-Cast 133: Apologetics Organizations, Martin Tanner
Mormon FAIR-Cast 135: Shaken Faith Syndrome, 2nd ed., Michael R. Ash
Mormon FAIR-Cast 143: Responding to Anti-Mormons, Martin Tanner
Mormon FAIR-Cast 144: Mormon Book Review–Shaken Faith Syndrome, Michael R. Ash
Mormon FAIR-Cast 156: Defenders Beget Defenders, Steve Densley, Jr.
Mormon FAIR-Cast 160a: Don Bradley and Dan Peterson Taking Questions, Don Bradley & Dr. Daniel Peterson
Mormon FAIR-Cast 160b: Don Bradley and Dan Peterson Taking Questions, Don Bradley & Dr. Daniel Peterson
Mormon FAIR-Cast 163: Anti-Mormon Methodology, Martin Tanner
Mormon FAIR-Cast 170: The Interpreter Foundation and FairMormon, Michael R. Ash
Mormon FAIR-Cast 179: FairMormon Support Board, Ned Scarisbrick, Bill Reel, John Westover, John Lynch
Mormon FAIR-Cast 202: Barry R. Bickmore, “Restoring the Ancient Church”, Barry Bickmore
Mormon FAIR-Cast 204: What is a Christian?, Martin Tanner
Mormon FAIR-Cast 243: Barry R. Bickmore, “Restoring the Ancient Church”, Barry Bickmore
Mormon FAIR-Cast Book Review: The Crucible of Doubt: Reflections on the Quest For Faith by Terryl and Fiona Givens, Dr. Terryl & Fiona Givins
RiseUp Podcast: Overcoming Struggles and Doubts, Jimmy Carpenter
RiseUp Podcast: Defend Your Beliefs Game Show, Nick Galieti
RiseUp Podcast: What I Learned In My First Year With FairMormon, Nick Galieti
Fireside at St George Tabernacle by Mike Parker
The Obligation to Do Apologetics — Daniel C Peterson
October 2014 General Conference – Through an Apologetic Lens
Consequences of the Different Investigative Approaches of Jeremy Runells and Jeff Lindsay
Mormon Fair-Cast 170: The Interpreter Foundation and FairMormon
Mormon FAIR-Cast 163: Anti-Mormon Methodology
Mormon FAIR-Cast 160b: Don Bradley and Dan Peterson Taking Questions
Mormon FAIR-Cast 160a: Don Bradley and Dan Peterson Taking Questions
Mormon FAIR-Cast 156: Defenders Beget Defenders
Mormon FAIR-Cast 73: Purpose, history and offerings of FAIR
Mormon FAIR-Cast 60: Mormon Voices
Keeping The Faith 9: John Montgomery
Keeping the Faith 8b — Matt Francom
Keeping the Faith 8a : Matt Francom
Keeping the Faith 7b: The Reel Story
Keeping the Faith 7a: The Reel Story
Why are some Affected by anti Mormon arguments while others are not? Fair Mormon Podcast
Cognitive Dissonance and the LDS Church — Fair Mormon Podcast
What is an anti-Mormon? Fair Mormon Podcast
Where did Fair Mormon and FARMS come From? — Fair Mormon Podcast
Who Should be an Apologist? — Fair Mormon Podcast
Why People Leave the LDS Church — Fair Mormon Podcast
Crucible of Doubt — Terryl Givens — Fair Mormon Podcast
LDS Apologetics–Interview with Kevin Christensen– Fair Mormon Podcast
The Kingdom of the Cults — “Shock Terms.”– Fair Mormon Podcast
Scott Gordon Tenersi stretti alla fede
pt 1 Naturalistic Terms: Some Reflections on a Motto and Type of Historical Explanation
pt 2 Naturalistic Terms: Some Reflections on a Motto and Type of Historical Explanation
pt 3 Naturalistic Terms: Some Reflections on a Motto and Type of Historical Explanation
pt 4 Naturalistic Terms: Some Reflections on a Motto and Type of Historical Explanation
pt 5 Naturalistic Terms: Some Reflections on a Motto and Type of Historical Explanation
Pt. 1 Daniel C. Peterson and James White debate
Pt. 2 Daniel C. Peterson/William Hamblin and James White debate
Pt. 3 Daniel C. Peterson/William Hamblin and James White debate
Pt. 4 Daniel C. Peterson/William Hamblin and James White debate
Pt. 5 Daniel C. Peterson/William Hamblin and James White debate
Pt. 6 Daniel C. Peterson/William Hamblin and James White debate
Pt. 7 Daniel C. Peterson/William Hamblin and James White debate
Pt. 8 Daniel C. Peterson/William Hamblin and James White debate
Pt. 9 Daniel C. Peterson/William Hamblin and James White debate
Pt. 10 Daniel C. Peterson/William Hamblin and James White debate
Pt. 11 Daniel C. Peterson/William Hamblin and James White debate
Pt. 12 Daniel C. Peterson/William Hamblin and James White debate
Pt. 1 Reflections on Secular Anti-Mormonism
Pt. 2 Reflections on Secular Anti-Mormonism
Pt. 3 Reflections on Secular Anti-Mormonism
Pt. 4 Reflections on Secular Anti-Mormonism
Pt. 5 Reflections on Secular Anti-Mormonism
Pt. 6 Reflections on Secular Anti-Mormonism
Seeing Our Blindness: our personal history and our understanding God, by Wendy Ulrich
pt 1, The Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship
pt 2 The Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship
pt 3 The Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship
pt 4 The Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship
pt 5 The Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship
pt 6 The Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship
The Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship
The Unchanging ways of Anti-Mormons
What I Learned from Hugh Nibley by Boyd Petersen
Alone: The Impact of Anti-Mormonism
Anti Church Material-Church Rep Refers People to Fair Mormon
Being Considerate When Speaking to Critics
Book Trailer ‘Day of Defense’ Red Flags 2
Defending the Faith by David Paulsen
Editing Hugh Nibley: From Manuscript to book, by Shirley RIcks
God and Mr. Hitchen’s by Daniel C. Peterson
Grace of Apologetics by Roger Keller
Greg Smith Il matrimonio plurimo
How to Answer Anti-Mormon Arguments
Introduction to FAIR by its members
Join us for the 2014 FAIR conference!!!
Marvin Perkins I neri nelle scritture
Matt Roper In Memoriam Matthew Brown
Mythmaking and The Mark Hoffman Case by Steve Mayfield & George Throckmorton
part 1, The Unchanging ways of anti-Mormonism
part 2, The Unchanging ways of anti-Mormonism
part 3, The Unchanging ways of anti-Mormonism
part 4, The Unchanging ways of anti-Mormonism
part 5, The Unchanging ways of anti-Mormonism
pt 1 Introduction, (full-length) rebuttal of an anti-Mormon
pt 14 the testimonies of the scholars
What I Learned from Hugh Nibley pt1
What I learned from Hugh Nibley pt 2
What I learned from Hugh Nibley pt 3
What I learned from Hugh Nibley pt 4
What I learned from Hugh Nibley pt 5
A Case Study in Deception: Jim Robertson of “Concerned Christians, Inc.” by Craig Ray
A Look At Barry Bickmore’s Book From a Non-LDS Perspective by David Waltz
An Imperfect History: A Review of “The Mysteries of Godliness” by Ben Spackman
An Early Anti-Mormon Prediction by Matthew Brown
Anti-Mormon protesters at the October 2002 LDS General Conference by Allen Wyatt
Anti-Mormon protesters at the April 2003 LDS General Conference by Allen Wyatt
Anti-Mormon protesters at the October 2003 LDS General Conference by Allen Wyatt
Anti-Mormon protesters at the April 2004 LDS General Conference by Allen Wyatt
Anti-Mormon protesters at the October 2004 LDS General Conference by Allen Wyatt
Anti-Mormon efforts at the 2004 Mesa Easter Pageant by Allen Wyatt
Anti-Mormon protesters at the October 2010 LDS General Conference by Allen Wyatt
Anti-Mormon protesters at the October 2011 LDS General Conference by Allen Wyatt
Anti-Mormon efforts at the 2003 Mesa Easter Pageant
Anti-Mormon Efforts at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Anti-Mormons at Temple Square by Greg Kearney
Apologetics 101 (2006 FAIR Conference) by Wayne Arnett
Apologetics by the Numbers by Daniel C. Peterson
Are Anti-Mormons Christians? by Russell McGregor
A Response to James White’s “Review” of ”How Wide The Divide?”
Ask the Apologist: Answering Shotgun Anti-Mormonism
Ask the Apologist: By Grace Alone?
Ask the Apologist: Families and Anti-Mormon Issues
As Things Stand at the Moment: Responding to Martha Beck’s Leaving the Saints by Boyd Petersen
A Survey of Clergy Opinion on Mormonism
Breaking Down Barriers with Wrecking Balls of Fallacy (2000 FAIR Conference) by Kevin C. Hill
Breaking The Rules: Critics of the LDS Faith by J. Cooper Johnson
Celsus and Modern Anti-Mormonism (PDF) by Aaron Christensen
Critics in Wonderland: Through the Liberal Looking Glass by Juliann Reynolds
Dealing with Difficult Issues by Scott Gordon
Defending Zion (PDF) (2003 FAIR Conference) by Roger Ekins
Did Brigham Young Say that He Would Kill an Adulterous Wife with a Javelin? by Mike Parker
Does Walter Martin Have A Valid Ph.D.?
Easier than Research, More Inflammatory than Truth (2000 FAIR Conference) by Daniel C. Peterson
Evasive Ignorance: Anti-Mormon Claims that B.H. Roberts Lost His Testimony by McKay V. Jones
George Q. Cannon and the Apostates (2005 FAIR Conference) by Davis Bitton
God and Mr. Hitchens (PDF) (2007 FAIR Conference) by Daniel C. Peterson
How About Tolerance For All? by Bob Lonsberry
How to Debunk a Fake News Story by Greg Kearney
Is Mormonism a Cult? (PDF) by Kim Siever
Jerald and Sandra Tanner’s Distorted View of Mormonism: A Response to Mormonism–Shadow or Reality
Leaving the Saints or Leaving Reality? by Scott Gordon
Loss and Sadness Among the Saints: A Review of Leaving the Saints by Allen Wyatt
Mormonism, Islam, and the Question of Other Religions (2011 FAIR Conference) by Daniel C. Peterson
Motivation, Behavior, and Dissension by Allen Wyatt
Neighborly Christian Love or Hate Speech? Anti-Mormon Protesters
Of ‘Mormon Studies’ and Apologetics (2012 FAIR Conference) by Dan Peterson
Random Reflections on the Passing Scene (2003 FAIR Conference) by Daniel C. Peterson
Reflections on Secular Anti-Mormonism (2005 FAIR Conference) by Daniel C. Peterson
Ross Baron Presentation by Ross Baron
Scholarship in Mormonism and Mormonism in Scholarship (2001 FAIR Conference) by John A. Tvedtnes
Spotting an Anti-Mormon Book by Davis Bitton
The Grace of Apologetics (2003 FAIR Conference) by Roger Keller
The Imaginary Scholar A review of Is Mormonism Christian? By Gordon H. Fraser by Terry DeGuire
The Impact of Mormon Critics on LDS Scholarship (2002 FAIR Conference) by Michael Ash
The Obligation to Do Apologetics (PDF) (2010 FAIR Conference) by Daniel C. Peterson
The Tanners on the Hereafter: A Case Study in “Studied Ignorance” by Barry Bickmore
The Truth About “The God Makers” by Gilbert Scharffs
They Lie in Wait to Deceive by Robert L. and Rosemary Brown
Toward a More Effective Apologetics (2013 FAIR Conference) by Daniel C. Peterson
Why Apologetics? (PDF) by Lance Starr
Why Mormonism Matters: Pastoral Apologetics and the LDS Doubter (2013 FAIR Conference) by Seth Payne
Why We Should Love the Street Preachers by Lance Starr
THE NEW MYTHMAKERS A Reply to the Film “The God Makers”