In this special episode of the Articles of Faith Podcast, Steve Densley (executive Vice-President of FairMormon and host Nick Galieti, review some of the presentations from General Conference – October 2014. These focus on quotes and talks that had apologetic value, or addressed some of the critical questions that some have faced surrounding the LDS Church, its culture, teachings, and practices.

If you have a talk or a quote from this General Conference that had a particular apologetic value, please leave that in the comments section of the blog entry for this podcast at blog.fairmormon.org

The post Articles of Faith 17: General Conference October 2014 – Apologetic Highlights appeared first on FAIR.

Jacob’s temple sermon (Jacob 1–3)

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. This week’s lesson includes information that goes with the first 3 chapters of the Come, Follow Me reading scheduled for this week. Next week’s post will cover Jacob 4-7.)

Class Notes

Additional Reading

• John Hilton III explores how Nephi1, King Benjamin, and Moroni2 used Jacob’s words in “Jacob’s Textual Legacy,” Journal of the Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture 22, no. 2 (2013): 52–65.
• Chauncey C. Riddle, “Pride and Riches,” in The Book of Mormon: Jacob through Words of Mormon, To Learn with Joy, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University, 1990), 221–34.
• Critics of the restored gospel have claimed that Jacob2’s teachings on plural marriage in Jacob 2 conflict with Joseph Smith’s teachings in D&C 132. Both texts, however, explain the circumstances under which plural marriage is allowed and not allowed. See “Why does Doctrine and Covenants 132 speak favorably about some Old Testament practitioners of plural marriage, while Jacob 2 is negative?,” FAIR.

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 – Jacob 1–4 – Mike Parker appeared first on FAIR.

by Zachary Wright

Introduction

Someone I know, who is a very vocal LGBTQ+ advocate, once got into an argument with me about concepts behind gender. I did everything I could to understand where they were coming from, seeing as this is a complex topic with differing perspectives. However, they were trying to convince me (among other things) that gender is a social construct. Having studied the issue, I pushed against their ideas, arguing that gender is more complicated than that and it certainly isn’t a mere social construct. However, despite my best efforts, my research and perspectives fell on deaf ears. Instead, my friend seemed to cling to the ideas of the people she agreed with. I’ll be sure to go over LGBTQ+ perspectives another day. However, my purpose in telling this story is to show an example of what researchers and psychologists call cognitive bias, which we’ll discuss today.

A few episodes ago, I explained logical fallacies – errors during logical reasoning – that can lead to incorrect conclusions. Today, we’ll be talking about the equivalent of that, but in regards to psychological bias that we sometimes employ. Cognitive biases are “errors in thinking that affect people’s decision-making in virtually every situation” (1). Unlike logical fallacies, cognitive biases are negative brain processes (usually coming from intuition) that can affect our thoughts and lead us to wrong conclusions. In other words, logical fallacies relate to arguments in the way that cognitive biases relate to intuitive brain processes. Critical thinkers must recognize cognitive biases in their thinking in order to more objectively analyze the data they interact with and make more informed decisions. Today, we’ll be going over where cognitive biases come from, explore some examples of cognitive biases, and then explore some principles that can help us avoid them. Let’s take a look.

Heuristics: The Brain’s “Easy Way Out”

Before we explore examples of cognitive biases, we must first understand where they come from. Most documented cognitive biases come from “mental shortcuts” in our minds. Psychologists call these shortcuts “heuristics.” One group of researchers described heuristics in the following way:

A heuristic is a mental shortcut that allows an individual to make a decision, pass judgment, or solve a problem quickly and with minimal mental effort. While heuristics can reduce the burden of decision-making and free up limited cognitive resources, they can also be costly when they lead individuals to miss critical information or act on unjust biases. (2)

Heuristics help us make decisions and arrive at conclusions easily and quickly. Heuristics take information that seems familiar and draws a connection to something we’ve observed in the past. These shortcuts often lead to good results... except when they don’t.

How heuristics can sometimes be misleading can be shown in some basic examples. For instance, consider this video below:

If you’re like me, you initially see a series of dots moving around in a circle. However, that’s not REALLY what’s going on. It’s a series of points lighting up and growing dimmer in a specific pattern. Our brains provide the illusion that it’s a circular-moving line of dots. This example is one of many optical illusions that employ heuristics (3). Another example of a heuristic is the “inattentional blindness” phenomenon. Here’s another video example of a cognitive bias stemming from a heuristic (4).

In both instances, our brains are either making connections based on information that isn’t present or ignoring information that is present. The accepted psychological theory states these intuitive (and I use that term very deliberately in light of my previous article) heuristics came from evolutionary processes and natural selection (5). In other words, we’ve inherited instincts from our ancestors that protected us, enhancing our chances of survival. This detail will be important later.

It almost goes without saying that this power of heuristics is nothing short of incredible, and one thing that I do want to stress here is that pattern recognition isn’t a bad thing. I’ll be discussing how drawing inappropriate patterns can lead us to jump to conclusions, but not all heuristically-based decisions are bad ones. One pair of researchers noted that “for many decisions, the assumptions of rational models are not met, and it is an empirical (after the fact) rather than an a priori (before the fact) issue how well cognitive heuristics function in an uncertain world” (6, parentheses added). In other words, we often don’t know how well our heuristically-based decisions worked until after the fact. However, they sometimes have unintended consequences that can cause problems in our thinking, as we’...

Mixing Doubt with Anger

by Autumn Dickson

One of the topics given as a suggestion in the Come Follow Me manual for this week is to study Satan’s tactics. This has actually already been a topic on my mind for a while. There is one tactic in particular that I’ve come to recognize over the past few months, and so I feel like the Lord has prepared me to learn about this before He even gave me the verse. Here it is.

2 Nephi 28:20 For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.

As I have read this verse in the past, I always pictured two specific ways of Satan raging in the hearts of men. One, I always pictured Satan tempting people to get angry with each other, and two, I pictured him tempting people to hate the church. Both are totally valid examples. However, as I read it this time, I was reminded of this observation that the Lord has been helping me ponder lately.

Namely, I’ve been pondering the observation that Satan likes to mix our doubts with anger. Doubts happen. Even Joseph Smith taught that in order to reach salvation, we have to be able to “contemplate the darkest abyss.” Faith is non-existent without its opposite: doubt. We can’t have faith in something unless there is reason to doubt it, and I believe Satan has a major victory when he can mix our doubts with anger and frustration.

The toxic combination of anger and doubt

One of my children is going through a bit of a phase recently. There have been quite a few stressors in our family life with frequent moves, a new baby, and dad going out of town frequently for work. She also recently started school every day, and all of this has thrown her a bit of a curve ball. She is a daughter after my own heart and loves routine and so all of this upheaval is an obstacle for her. There have been a couple of days in a row where she has absolutely lost her mind at me, screaming, crying, throwing, hitting, slamming doors, all of it.

There have been two sentiments that she has expressed to me in her anger. Namely, she has expressed that she believes I hate her or that I’m not treating her like she’s part of the family.

It’s extremely easy for me to see that my disciplining her has everything to do with how much I love her and how badly I want her to be part of a functional and healthy family, but to her, these are very real feelings. She doesn’t always understand my decisions, she doesn’t always see my perspective, and so she draws a conclusion that I must not love her.

Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to explain my love and reasoning to her when she’s angry. I’ve tried. When she’s throwing a fit and I’m trying to hold her and explain to her why I’m choosing to make certain decisions in her life, sometimes she simply can’t hear me above the big feelings.

Later on, after she’s had time to calm down, the conversation goes far more smoothly. She is able to see the big picture, to see that I have a responsibility to teach her even if consequences make her sad sometimes.

This is not a perfect similitude of the principle I’m trying to teach, but it can teach the principle that we can apply to broader circumstances. Let me give a better example.

I love the gospel, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t had my personal struggles with different aspects related to the church. It’s especially difficult when those struggles are highlighted on social media or by a friend who has left the church. There have been times when I have felt very dark inside. I know there is a temptation to believe that the only way to escape that darkness is to leave, to stand up against a perceived (and possibly very real) injustice. I know the temptation to get angry and demand better in comparison to sitting in the darkness and allowing yourself to feel hurt, invalidated, and unimportant.

Interestingly enough, Satan is on both ends of that spectrum. He is the one in the dark, whispering that you’re nothing. Heavenly Father would never have you sit in the darkness believing that you’re lesser, and as soon as He starts to build you and help you believe that you matter, Satan is right there. Satan is whispering that you should be angry and demand better, that you should have never been made to feel the darkness in the first place.

Whether or not we should have been constantly protected from darkness is a conversation for another day. For now, let’s consider why Satan would like us to feel angry when we have doubts or don’t understand. Let’s consider what can happen when we’re able to let go of the anger.

Letting go of the anger and frustration

It’s easy to say that we should let go of the anger that accompanies doubt. It’s much harder to actually accomplish the task, especially when those doubts make you wonder if you’re insignificant, lesser, or we...

The Lord Supports Me

by Autumn Dickson

Maybe this week’s message was meant for me. I definitely needed to hear it. I feel like every time I’ve sat down to write a message, I’ve been hitting my head against a wall. I had all these goals about getting ahead and being on top of things, and though I have attempted to completely set myself up for success, it feels as though I have found nothing but obstacles. Maybe, just maybe, that’s because I would need this message for this very week. I couldn’t get ahead because it wouldn’t have come at the right time.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s a message that you need too.

An unexpected turn of events

I’m pregnant again. At the time of writing this, I’m not very far along. By the time this message comes around, I will be near the middle of my pregnancy. I had a baby five months ago. No, we were not being irresponsible. It came about because of circumstances that were actually outside of our control.

I completely recognize that I am so blessed to be able to bear children. I know that there are women out there who would do anything to be in my position. I would not trade my problems for someone else’s.

But I have struggled with this news. My babies will be thirteen months apart. I already feel like I’m going from sunup to sundown with no time to pull my head above water. Add in the nausea and depression, and I’m basically a basket case. Every single time I sit down at my computer to try and share something about Christ, I feel like I’m swimming through mists of darkness. I feel like I’m trying to cut through a nebulous darkness to try and receive something to put on paper. And by the time I’ve been able to start writing and working through my process, I’m so drained.

I don’t do well when I’m pregnant. I’m not the mom or wife I want to be. Trying to share messages about Christ when I’m agitated, angry, or despairing feels like trying to climb a sheer cliff face.

It is in this state of mind that I read this verse:

Mosiah 2:30 For even at this time, my whole frame doth tremble exceedingly while attempting to speak unto you; but the Lord God doth support me, and hath suffered me that I should speak unto you, and hath commanded me that I should declare unto you this day, that my son Mosiah is a king and a ruler over you.

I am not here to declare my child as your king and ruler, but I do feel a kinship with King Benjamin in his other sentiments. I have a message to share, and I’m exhausted. Beyond the emotional toll, my body is worn down. I know that I’m not the only one who has felt too weak to accomplish the tasks at hand, to wonder if God has asked too much this time, to wonder if I don’t have what it takes to choose faith for another day.

So this message from King Benjamin is for us. The Lord God will support us, and He will help us accomplish what He sent us here to do. He has taught me how we’re going to get through this together by reminding me of a couple of principles that I easily and often forget. Maybe I can share them with you, and maybe you’ll have a better memory than me.

A day at a time

The first principle is that we’re going to take it a day at a time. There are appropriate times to plan and make ambitious goals and prepare for future crises. And then there are times when you reach crises, and it becomes appropriate to ration. The Lord can help you know what stage you’re at, but as for me and my house, we’re rationing for the next year.

Each day, I’m going to wake up, I’m going to devote whatever time I can to accomplish the work He’s given me (both motherhood and blogging), and then I’m just going to wake up and repeat it the next day. I’m going to push aside my fears that are whispering that there is too much work, that I need to sacrifice more, that I’ll never accomplish it. I’m going to trust that He will give me what I need to accomplish what He wants done.

And I’ll fail at that. Heaven knows half of my mental effort these days is solely focused on trying to trust Him and forget about tomorrow. However, in the quiet moments when the wind stops and the darkness dissipates just a little, I know that He will magnify what I can give. It may be measly, but it’s not my work anyway. It’s His, and He asked me to do it which means that He’s going to help me do it. I make a pretty poor partner, but He chose me so that’s on Him.

He will carry us

There are three little phrases I want to pull out of the verse we read earlier. The Lord commanded King Benjamin to speak to the people. King Benjamin’s frame was literally shaking while he was trying to do this. But the Lord was also supporting him through the process, suffering him to fulfill the work he had been given.

The Lord could have asked someone else. King Benjamin could have gotten up a...