Message from FAIR president Scott Gordon

[_Kishkumen]

And that she frankly has no intention of stopping, but still expects you to be loyal because you are bound by your marital vows.

You forgot that her infidelity is your fault.

Yup!

[_The Erotic Apologist]

FAIR does a good job in answering the critics and in defending the faith...blah...blah...blah...

You didn't even bother to read any of the replies that preceded yours.

[_Bob Loblaw]

Has anyone actually met someone who was really struggling with the problematic issues and went to FAIR, where their concerns were resolved and they regained full faith?

I haven't.

[_Willy Law]

Has anyone actually met someone who was really struggling with the problematic issues and went to FAIR, where their concerns were resolved and they regained full faith?

I haven't.

Of the people I have spoken with they all have had the same experience my wife and I had.
You find FAIR (we did not know it existed before that day) and you are not hoping for an explanation or an answer, you are looking for them to show that these issues are false, made up and not accurate. Instead you are instantly hit smack in the face with the fact that these issues are real and have been white washed by the church.
As for the answers, see my post about polygamy earlier in the thread. Their answers are nothing more than comic relief.

[_The Erotic Apologist]

There's a saying in the military that goes something like this: If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly.

I think this saying explains much of FAIR's mindset regarding the poor and unsatisfactory nature of the answers they offer to troubling questions. Their answers suck, but they're all they have. I can't imagine that people like Scott Gordon are unaware of this.

[_madeleine]

In case any doubters had issues with polygamy, here was FAIR's explanation. Can't understand why doubters don't find comfort from FAIR.

Possible benefits of plural marriage

Main articles: Polygamy because of lustful motives?, Reasons for plural marriage that have scant evidence, and Possible benefits of plural marriage

Any such list as this is tentative. But, it reminds us plural marriage may have accomplished more than we sometimes appreciate. Some benefits which have been suggested include:
1. It was to try (prove) His people. Polygamy stood as an Abrahamic test for the saints. The willingness to obey a commandment that was inherently distasteful to the vast majority of the members of the Church allowed members to draw close to the Lord.
2. It was to "raise up" righteous seed. Specifically it allowed a relatively few righteous men to become very prolific in a time when the West was very wild and there were many unrighteous men. Children were raised in more households with a strong gospel commitment.
3. It served to "set apart" his people as a peculiar people to the world. This social isolation that gave the church space to solidify itself into an identity independent of the many denominations from which the membership was derived. Sociologists have discovered that in order for a religion to successfully grow it has to be demanding and it has to experience a moderate amount of tension with its host society. The RLDS Church rejected plural marriage, and perhaps not coincidentally are now small in number and virtually indistinguishable from Protestants.
4. Polygamy was part of the "restoration of all things," and a way for Mormons to feel connected with prophets like Abraham and Jacob. 19th century Mormons gained a greater appreciation for covenants that these forefathers made with God.
5. Numerous family ties that were created, building a network of associations that strengthened the Church.
6. Arguably polygamy affected higher natural growth rates. Ironically plural wives had fewer children than their monogamous Mormon counterparts. [2]
7. Polygamy created a system where a higher percentage of women and men got married compared to the national average at the time. [3]
8. Plural marriages increased competition in the marriage market, so the "spiritual slackers" and lower quality men had to work to improve their standing to compete. They had to clean up, try to get good jobs and treat the women with respect. It gave the women more options as to whom to marry.
9.Out on the frontier in 19th century life expectancy was low and women were not as economically independent as they are today. Therefore there were many widows (and orphans coming of age) that needed to be taken care of. Some women who joined the Church abroad immigrated without their husbands, leaving them without male financial support. Furthermore, Brigham Young instituted the most liberal divorce policy in the country so women (but not men!) could get out of unhappy marriages. Kathryn Daynes estimated that 30% of plural marriages came from married-before women. [4]
10. Church Historian Elder Jensen observed how Mormon polygamy enabled women more freedom to earn college degrees and join national women's rights organizations at the time. [5]
11. Polygamy helped integrate foreign immigrants into Mormon society. With the marriage market operating so efficiently, women were highly sought after, and so Utah men had to sometimes marry outside their preferred cultural boundaries. This provided a great way to redistribute the wealth to the immigrants families coming. [6]
12. Plural marriages provided a social support network while the husbands were off on missions.

Yes, nothing about this screams "we're making up excuses".

#1 on the list is particularly creepy.

[_Rollo Tomasi]

Every one of these things is addressed on our Website. I am fairly certain that there is an article that covers each and every topic, and has been for some time.

Yes, Scott, many issues are discussed at FAIR, but none of the essays convincingly answers the tough issues. In fact, further research often shows a FAIR essay to be misleading at best. I've never been convinced by anything written by FAIR, and that is why so many ignore Scott's blessed website. FAIR does NOT engage in objective, reasoned analysis, but more often than not engages in spin to dodge troubling facts in LDS history. And even most TBM's see this.

[_sock puppet]

Has anyone actually met someone who was really struggling with the problematic issues and went to FAIR, where their concerns were resolved and they regained full faith?

I haven't.

Of the people I have spoken with they all have had the same experience my wife and I had.
You find FAIR (we did not know it existed before that day) and you are not hoping for an explanation or an answer, you are looking for them to show that these issues are false, made up and not accurate. Instead you are instantly hit smack in the face with the fact that these issues are real and have been white washed by the church.
As for the answers, see my post about polygamy earlier in the thread. Their answers are nothing more than comic relief.

So true.

The Brethren are reluctantly, particularly as Maxwell becomes more of a fading memory, coming to grips with the fact that the LDS history doesn't square with the LDS truth claims. "Let it alone" implored BKP in April 2012.

The OMIDs and FAIR can't let it alone. They keep trying to force the square peg of LDS truth claims into the round hole of history. Each time they do, it draws further attention to the fact that the square corners are incongruent with the history.

Seems that the sacking that the OMIDs got last year from MI was a lesson lost on Gordon and Co. The Brethren would like less attention to the problems of LDS history, not the repeated attention that FAIR gives them.

[_Rambo]

Has anyone actually met someone who was really struggling with the problematic issues and went to FAIR, where their concerns were resolved and they regained full faith?

I haven't.

My Dad sent me to FAIR when I was questioning. My Dad is a smart guy but I don't know how he could take their answers seriously... I'm thinking he didn't dive into the topics much.

[_Bob Loblaw]

My Dad sent me to FAIR when I was questioning. My Dad is a smart guy but I don't know how he could take their answers seriously... I'm thinking he didn't dive into the topics much.

A lot of people seem to go over there and skim a little, and then they assume the answers are there. Gordon is right that they discuss the issues over there, but they don't resolve them at all.