Scott Gordon

@joshnaa2gez They do a wonderful version in Denver Colorado as well.

And thank you to Bethel University for hosting us despite the denominational differences 🙏 Wonderful to set differences aside and unite in our love of Jesus Christ.

I just went to see The Lamb of God by Rob Gardner performed by the Minnesota Saints Chorale and Orchestra. Have you guys seen this? A breathtakingly beautiful musical portrayal of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, as seen through the eyes of his disciples. This music should be cherished by the entire Christian world. It is a masterpiece and there is nothing particularly “Mormon” about it. But because it was written by a Latter-day Saint, most of the Christian world misses out. My Christian friends, please go see it if you ever get the chance. There is nothing in there that is not from the biblical story. I promise it will strengthen your faith in Jesus. youtube.com/playlist?list=…

@JonBRutledge @JasminRappleye @themormonr Joseph Smith was 21 years old when he got the plates. About the same age as many of our Military guys. Check with them if they are ever asked to run with that much weight. (Hint: - it happens all the time.)

@JasminRappleye @themormonr So Joseph smith was running away from robbers with the equivalent of a 60 lb dumbell? Sounds super real!!

If you’ve ever thought the gold plates were impossible, you NEED to check out this new online tool that gives both believer and critics a major reality check. Shout out to @themormonr

@JasminRappleye @themormonr I really like this talk from Josh Coates on the matter. tinyurl.com/2s4haf5w

Come, Follow Me with FAIR Ft. Jennifer Roach Lees | Genesis 42–50 Find the full video here: youtu.be/uiRjwGwAz0w

@prockwellbg @Parley_Preaches This was my main complaint with the book under the banner of Heaven. The book implies that fundamentalist groups were the responsibility of the LDS church and the LDS should do something about them. Anything bad the fundamentalist groups did were because of the LDS doctrines.

@Parley_Preaches Yeah, most of them simply don’t recognize how utterly different we are from other Mormon offshoots, *especially* fundamentalist ones

I'm a Latter-day Saint (mormon) I was invited to join a college aged evangelical Christian apologetics group for breakfast, Bible study, and guest speakers. Here is my experience... (Featuring former FLDS Sister-wives+my conversion to Christianity?!?! 😉) First, I want to say a few things... I am very impressed with the caliber of youth being discipled and sent out by @RatioChristi. They are truly kind souls who are genuine believers in the ways of Christ. This group (comprised of students from NCU and Lipscomb University students) spent their spring break in Utah, spreading the Gospel. Beyond that, I could tell that they had truly internalized the teachings of Christ. My conversations with them were never less than respectful and loving, and I could tell that they genuinely cared about me, as well as all the Latter-day Saints they came across. After my first interaction with them, they invited me to join them on a morning hike. I was excited to have some more time to have theological discussions with them. Unfortunately, they underestimated the length of the hike and overestimated their free time. After a change of plans, they invited me to join them for breakfast instead. Gratefully, I showed up to their place in Orem on Friday morning. All they had, they shared with me. They offered me a spot on the couch, and asked questions about my life, my mission, how I met my girlfriend, how I'm planning on proposing, etc. I was hoping to talk more theology with them, but I'm grateful for the chance I had to just chill with them. I could also tell how genuine they were. They weren't trying to lull me into a false sense of security. They truly cared. Before we could get into any theological discussion, the pastor in charge of the group stepped into the room, and invited us to all gather around for Bible study. The focus of the study was Galatians 6. I took notes on my phone. Here are the highlights: -Faith in Christ is necessary and sufficient for confidence in our identity in Christ, which allows us to be bold and humble. It removes comparison because we no longer feel the need to find worth in our performance. -Reliance on performance can only lead two ways: pride or despair. -Self degradation is not the same as humility. Self degradation stems from envy. -"We often hear mormons talk about God opening doors, and the importance of following those promptings..." If we view "open doors" as indicators of God's will, we may be tempted to abandon our path when things get more difficult. The early Apostles didn't live by open doors. They didn't abandon their path when the doors closed. Closed doors can be God's will, and can be opportunities for us to grow through trials. -Correction is only possible in a relationship that is first founded upon love. -We should be frequently asking those we care about "What do I need to improve in my life" -If you wouldn't take advice from somebody, don't take criticism from them either. -Grace is the entrance point of Christianity, but we should not let go when we enter the gate. We need to rely on grace for the entirety of the journey. We never outgrow the need for grace. BIBLE STUDY REVIEW: Very impressive discussion. I loved hearing differing perspectives. There were certainly points that were made which I believe Latter-day Saints should certainly learn from (myself included). Although the LDS Church was mentioned a couple times, it was a lot less frequent than I expected, and it certainly could have been more offensive than it was. They had their criticisms, but they did not resort to oft-repeated anti-mormon tropes. Overall: 9/10 GUEST SPEAKERS: MY UNCOMFY EXPERIENCE As the Bible study was wrapping up, someone leaned to me and whispered: "We have some guest speakers coming. They used to be polygamous sister-wives and they converted to Evangelical Christianity. Do you want to stay?" Of course, I said yes. Partially out of fear, but mainly because I had work soon, I tactically grabbed some more food and sat down closer to the exit, ready for a quick escape if needed. At 10:40, the former sister-wives kicked off our next session. Because of the nature of their stories, I am going to skim over parts of it. These two women also shared a lot of similar aspects in their stories, so I will condense where I feel it is necessary. Disclaimer: What you read is a second-hand recollection of a first hand reminiscent account from someone now severely disaffected from the religion. Certainly, the extent of their abuses cannot be overstated. That said, I would refrain from using these stories as authoritative on the doctrines of these churches. I have seen the extent of the average ex-LDS's understanding of LDS doctrine, so I recommend we keep that in mind as we look at these stories. The first woman, from what I can tell, grew up as a member of the Montana "Apostolic United Brethren" fundamentalist group. The second woman was in a smaller, more independent group. While both of these women experienced extensive abuse, from fathers, spouses, sister-wives, etc., Woman 1 experienced significantly more physical violence. Despite the community being described as largely fear based, the abuse got to a point that she and her mother reported the husband's violence to church authorities. The authorities, she said, covered it up, despite agreeing that he deserved to be in jail. At this point, she decided she was without help, especially from men. At this time, she grew distant from God. Common between the two women's stories was the emphasis on performance. They both described a feeling of never being worthy of love. They both felt neglect from their fathers, as well as from God, and a need to prove themselves worthy of love. This desire for love ultimately drew them both into many difficult situations. The manipulative and conditional love caused them to repeatedly return to abuse, and even return to polygamy after leaving it all behind them. They both described another common theme: a convoluted idea of sources of truth. They were both raised with the belief that the Bible was not trustworthy or good for anything. They also both recall holding the following beliefs: -Blood atonement for adultery. They would threaten to hunt you down and kill you for abandoning your husband. Woman 2 was even told who was assigned to hunt her down if she ever left. -Adam-God doctrine. Woman 2 described a heavy emphasis on the journal of discourses in her independent group. She was raised to believe that God was Adam. -Heavy emphasis on apocalyptic preparation. They were told, "you don't need to go to school, the world is going to end soon anyways." They both described this teaching as a fear-based tactic to keep people in line and to de-emphasize learning about the world. -They both had the idea that polygamy is required for Salvation in the Celestial Kingdom. -They both described practically worshipping Joseph Smith Continuing their stories, they both emphasized the many times they felt God leading them to freedom. They also mentioned a few times when they felt evil spirits drawing them back into captivity. I (obviously) found it slightly distasteful for them to specify the "evil spirits" that flowed out of the Book of Mormon. I also disliked the negative ways in which they talked about Joseph Smith. Beyond these criticisms, I have the following: Criticisms: First of all, it felt largely unnecessary, out of place, and unhelpful. I will talk more about this later. They had a problem of conflating their former religions with Latter-day Saint theology. They referred to FLDS and LDS all simply as "mormons." This was solidified in the storytelling when one of them was baptized into the LDS Church (referring to it as the mormon church) for a short stint. This was frustrating to me because they treated Latter-day Saints as if we shared Fundamentalist culture and doctrine. The conflation of different sects deeply disappointed me. When I looked around the room, I saw 25 young adults, deeply invested in this story and disturbed by the abuse of Polygamous sects, as well as by the manipulative doctrines and cultures they have. When the women proceeded to phrase their stories in a way that desecrated Latter-day Saint doctrine and culture, it broke my heart. I knew that all of these young adults, deeply invested, would now continue the rest of their lives believing that Latter-day Saints are abusive, manipulative, and believe doctrines of devils. Being the only Latter-day Saint there, I felt a shift in the room. I wish I could have stayed longer to set the record straight, but part of me was very happy to leave that uncomfortable environment and drive to work in silence. The comfortable, loving, caring environment that I once enjoyed felt impossible now. I don't want to assign intention behind the way the LDS Church was treated, but I do want to point out this flaw so good-faith discussion can be more possible in the future. More on this later. Now, there are several things they did right. What I appreciated, and what we can learn from: I first want to say I appreciate the absolute vulnerability of these two women, and their willingness to share their story, and how God never abandoned them. Their lack of shame shows a healing only made possible through Christ. They both described a very similar experience when they first attended a protestant church: people asked to pray for them. They felt overwhelming love when they saw that complete strangers were willing to pray for them. As Latter-day Saints, I think we need to do a better job at this. We should ask our neighbors, friends, and even strangers—especially strangers—can I pray for you? Even as I walked out early, one of the brothers walked me out the door. Before I left, he asked "Can I pray for you? What do you need prayers for?" This was very uplifting for me. Lastly, they emphasized that there is no fear in love. (Shoutout to my boy Moroni for saying it first) GUEST SPEAKER REVIEW: 5/10 I appreciate their willingness to talk. They had powerful conversion stories and powerful testimonies. They shared deep insights to the character and love of God. That said, the way they represented "mormons" made it clear that they felt the same way about LDS as they did about FLDS. It felt as if they were preaching against the LDS Church using their stories from FLDS churches. It felt very detrimental to any future of good-faith discussion between these Evangelical young adults and Latter-day Saints. I want to make an imaginary example to drive my point home: The setting: LDS Missionary Zone conference Mission President: "Thank you Elders and Sisters. We will now be hearing from 2 guest speakers. The first is a former Jehovah's Witness, and the second is a former Heaven's Gate member. They will be telling you all about how they escaped the cult of Mainstream Christianity..." I hope you recognize how this is destructive to productive inter-faith discussion. Conflating mainstream belief systems with fringe religions is harmful, especially when the fringe religion is abusive and manipulative. OVERALL EXPERIENCE: 7/10 The discussion was fun, and the Bible study was awesome. I'm also super grateful for the breakfast they were willing to share with me. Unfortunately, the guest speakers spoke for 2.5 uncomfortable hours (before I left), and tainted the entire experience for me. Hopefully @RatioChristi sees this and recognizes how they might be able to improve. I know the meeting wasn't intended for me in the first place, but teaching young adults to have these sort of negative and incorrect views of the LDS Church is going to be harmful for their evangelizing as well. Overall, they were great, fun people, and I hope I get to meet them again. This time, however, I will not be staying for the guest speaker. @RatioChristi feel free to DM me if you have any problems with what I posted, and also if you want to send more of your people my way. I'm on BYU, so I'd love to see them if they come back!

Explore the past with the “Day in Church History” feature at wilfordwoodruffpapers.org. Read journal entries from Church leaders like Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and Wilford Woodruff and see what they recorded on this very day in history!

@DoBetter_ @twm_report The job of a church is to bring people to Jesus Christ. A church is not a foundation designed to give money to others. This is like complaining that Doctors Without Borders doesn't give enough money to the Red Cross.

The LDS church is touting a 9% increase in charitable giving in 2025 (up to $1.58B). I applaud the increase, but it is not near enough. It's not very impressive when @twm_report estimates that their investment fund increased by ~12% (up ~$25B to ~$231B). It gets worse... 🧵

The Role of Women in Defending the Church 2025 FAIR Conference Panel with the Women of Ward Radio, moderated by Jennifer Roach Lees Full video: youtu.be/1D5aS_YruYI @WardRadioShow

In his October 2025 General Conference address, “Humble Souls at Altars Kneel,” Jeremy R. Jaggi teaches that sacred altars, whether the sacrament table, temple altars, or the quiet places of personal prayer, represent moments when we bind ourselves to Jesus Christ through covenant devotion. fairlatterdaysaints.org/blog/2026/03/0…

Come, Follow Me with FAIR Ft. Jennifer Roach Lees | Genesis 37–41 Full video here: youtu.be/CllhB3P_HA8

Atheism ALSO Has a Presupposed Worldview Full Video: youtube.com/watch?v=xBSvqp…

@LDSFarmer @Camila_Rocha And here I thought I said something nice and you wouldn't poke at me this time.😁

The Book of Mormon does not pass the most basic scholarly scrutiny. The only reason the book has outlived its time is that people believe in it. But only within the enclave, outside, no one takes it seriously. No respected historians, theologians, or scholars of the ancient world treat it as credible history.

@jamesballif 😅😅😅😁

@ScottAlanGordon Thanks 😊 You got me off of 666 followers!! But who is counting 🤔

@LDSFarmer @Camila_Rocha I agree with you that he isn't a translator in the sense we usually think of.

This is why we need to shift the dishonest Joseph-as-translator-of-ancient-text narrative, to the Joseph-as-visionary-revelator. It is better that Joseph made it all up in his head—his head filled with visions of God and revelations of Angels—than for us to reduce the Prophet to a “magical translator of golden plates.”

Come, Follow Me Q&A with FAIR, Week 10 Can modern temple practices of receiving a new name be justified as connected to the story of Jacob receiving a new name, and is there evidence that the practice actually originates from Jacob's experience? fairlatterdaysaints.org/scripture-stud…

This Week at FAIR (3/2 - 3/8)

@mrmdotorg Here is a talk he gave. fairlatterdaysaints.org/conference_hom…

🤔 "Joseph Smith was literally reading off an already composed English-language text." – Royal Skousen web.archive.org/web/2021012201…

From a rootstech speaker Rachel Trotter, quoting her teen daughter, "When I do family history work here, I am a team with my grandpa who is teaching them there."

@FiredUpCoug Nice seeing you at Rootstech. You have some cool games.

I've already refilled that table twice now.

First time selling my new games in person today at RootsTech. Where I started, and where I'm at now.