Opening Questions:
- Who here has LDS friends or acquaintances?
- Who here has discussed their faith with an LDS member?
- Who has had a discussion with LDS missionaries?
- Have you heard of the CES Letter?
- Have you heard of the Gospel Topics Essays?
What is the importance of the CES Letter and Gospel Topics Essays?
https://www.ldsdiscussions.com/blog-faith-crisis-report
Looking at the 2013 Report: “LDS Personal Faith Crisis” (Oct 30, 2018)
“…the takeaway here is that the scholars of the church are acknowledging that the narrative taught by the church does not match the historical data, which is something that is never admitted in public. In fact, the issues that the church highlights in this report are often called “anti-Mormon” lies, but we are learning here that even the church knows that these problems are real.
you can see that the top reasons for leaving were ceasing to believe the doctrine/theology, studying church history and losing belief, losing faith in Joseph Smith, and losing faith in the Book of Mormon.
…but the top reasons people leave are the Book of Abraham and Polygamy/Polyandry. Close behind are blacks and the priesthood,DNA and the Book of Mormon, Masonic ties to the temple ceremony, and the multiple First Vision Accounts. There are other issues which we have discussed on our website such as anachronisms in the Book of Mormon, church positions on science, changes to the temple ceremony, blood atonement, Adam-God theory, and more. You can read about most of those issues on our Summary of Church Issues page if you’re interested.”
From “Reasons Why Latter-day Saints Leave Their Church” (mrm.org/leave-their-church, published May 25, 2021):
“From 2013-15, the LDS Church published thirteen essays on controversial topics such as Joseph Smith’s polygamous/polyandrous ways, the Book of Abraham as a spiritual (not literal) translation, and the method used by Smith to translate the Book of Mormon (with a magical seer stone). For many, these Gospel Topics Essays included information they did not previously know, even though the facts had been readily available from sources such as mrm.org. Some felt betrayed because they were not taught the truth in their local congregations before 2013. This has certainly led to further distrust in church leaders.”
mrm.org
BOA asserts that two of the primary sources for the information above are the CES Letter and Gospel Topics Essays.
What is the CES Letter and Who is Jeremy Runnells?
From the CES Letter website:
“Born and raised in Southern California, Jeremy is a seventh generation Mormon of Pioneer heritage who reached every Mormon youth milestone. An Eagle Scout, Returned Missionary, BYU alumnus, Jeremy was married in the San Diego Temple with expectations and plans of living Mormonism for the rest of his life.
In February 2012, Jeremy experienced an awakening to the LDS Church’s truth crisis, which subsequently led to a faith transition that summer. In the spring of 2013, Jeremy was approached and asked by a CES Director to share his questions and concerns about the LDS Church’s origins, history, and current practices. In response, Jeremy wrote what later became publicly known as the CES Letter (originally titled Letter to a CES Director).
The CES Director responded that he read the “very well written” letter and that he would provide Jeremy with a response. No response ever came.”
The CES Letter website:
CES Letter topic list:
Title Page
Preface
Dedication
Introduction
Book of Mormon
1769 KJV Errors
17th Century Italics
Mistranslations
DNA
Anachronisms
Archaeology
Geography
View of the Hebrews
The Late War
The First Book of Napoleon
Early Godhead
Book of Mormon Translation
First Vision
Four Different Accounts
Contradictions
Late Appearance
Other Problems
Book of Abraham
Papyrus Found
Common Pagan Funerary Text
Facsimile Summary
Cosmology
King James Version Text
Anachronisms
Light from Kolob
The Philosophy of a Future State
Elder Holland BBC Interview
Polygamy | Polyandry
Prophets
Adam-God
Blood Atonement
Polygamy
Blacks Ban
Mark Hofmann
Kinderhook Plates & Translator Claims
Kinderhook Plates
Book of Abraham
Testimony & Spiritual Witness
Same Claims
Outsider Test for Faith
Unreliable Method
Book of Mormon Copyright Revelation
Discrepancy
Paul H. Dunn
Apostle Counsels
How Reliable is the Spirit?
Real vs. Not Real
Priesthood Restoration
Before 1832
David Whitmer
Backdating
Absence in Book of Commandments
Retrofitted
Ordained by Lyman Wight
Witnesses
Magical Worldview
Witnesses
Second Sight
No Document of Actual Signatures
Conclusion
Temples & Freemasonry
7 Weeks After
True Masonry
Same Masonic Version
Zero Links to Solomon's Temple
Temple Changes
Secret Tokens & Signs
Separate Families?
Science
Death Before the Fall
Multiple Hominid Species
Neanderthal DNA Present in Adam's Descendants
Discredited Claims
Other
Church’s Dishonesty, Censorship, and Whitewashing Over Its History
CENSORSHIP
Church Finances
Names of the Church
Anti-Intellectualism
Conclusion
EpilogueBOA: Selected Highlights from the CES Letter:
Introduction:
“In February of 2012, I was reading the news online when I came across the following news article: Mormonism Besieged by the Modern Age . In the article was information about a Q&A meeting at Utah State University that LDS Church Historian and General Authority, Elder Marlin K. Jensen, gave in late 2011. He was asked his thoughts regarding the effects of Google on membership and people who are “leaving in droves” over Church history.
Elder Marlin K. Jensen’s response:
Maybe since Kirtland, we’ve never had a period of – I’ll call it apostasy, like we’re having now; largely over these issues…
This truly shocked me. I didn’t understand what was going on or why people would leave “over history.” I started doing research and reading books like LDS historian and scholar Richard Bushman’s Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling and many others to try to better understand what was happening.”
BOA: Why include the CES Letter in this section on Mormonism/LDS items?
This information is “nothing new” it’s been around for decades even centuries, that said, it has become popular and is in multiple accessible formats. Numerous LDS members have read these letters and have been influenced by them, as such, it is important for evangelists to know this material.
What are others saying about the CES Letter:
C.E.S. Letter Highlights – 44 second summary:
CES Letter topic analysis:
The CES letter highlights: Mormonism Refuted Time:
25:49
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaw20OmgO4I&t
CES Letter additional references:
View of the Hebrews:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_of_the_Hebrews
“View of the Hebrews is an 1823 book[1] written by Ethan Smith, a Congregationalist minister in Vermont, who argued that Native Americans were descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, a relatively common view during the early nineteenth century. Numerous commentators on Mormon history, from LDS Church general authority B. H. Roberts to Fawn M. Brodie, biographer of Joseph Smith, have noted similarities in the content of View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon, which was first published in 1830, seven years after Ethan Smith’s book. “
https://archive.org/details/ViewOfTheHebrews1823EthanSmith
https://archive.org/details/viewofhebrewsort00smit/page/n7/mode/2up
View of the Hebrews : or, the Tribes of Israel in America
By Smith, Ethan, 1762-1849
Publication date 1825
Topics Lost tribes of Israel, Indians — Origin
https://rsc.byu.edu/book/view-hebrews
Time 1:04:42
The Genesis of the CES Letter – Jeremy Runnells Pt. 1 – Mormon Stories Ep. 480
Mormon Stories Podcast: 11 years ago
In part 1 of a 3 part series, Jeremy Runnells discusses his childhood, his love of the Church and why he wrote “Letter to a CES Director.”
Time 1:12:05
CES Letter Discussed in Detail – Jeremy Runnells Pt. 2 – Mormon Stories 481|
Mormon Stories Podcast: 11 years ago
In part 2 of a 3 part series, Jeremy talks with John in detail about the CES Letter and outlines many of the points from the letter including Joseph Smith’s polygamy and the Book of Mormon translation.
Time: 43:21
Reactions to CES Letter – Jeremy Runnells Pt. 3 – Mormon Stories 482 11 years ago #
In part 3 of a 3 part series, Jeremy Runnells talks about how the CES Letter was received and discusses the future of the Church.
—///—
What are the Gospel Topics Essays?:
https://mrm.org/gospel-topic-essay
Definition from MRM:
Gospel Topic Essay (Defined)
July 18, 2015 Eric Johnson
Gospel Topics Essays. A series of essays posted on the official lds.org website that mainly deals with controversial issues. While the essays are meant to come clean on topics such as race and the priesthood and polygamy, complete objective information and analysis is not typical. The essays began to be posted one-by-one beginning in late 2013 and through 2014.
Gospel Topics Essays Website:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/essays?lang=eng
Gospel Topics Essays – List of Topics:
Are “Mormons” Christian?
Becoming Like God
Book of Mormon and DNA Studies
Book of Mormon Translation
First Vision Accounts
Joseph Smith’s Teachings about Priesthood, Temples, and Women
Mother in Heaven
Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints
Plural Marriage
Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo
Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah
Race and the Priesthood
Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham
Plural Marriage Excerpt:
“Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo
…Joseph told associates that an angel appeared to him three times between 1834 and 1842 and commanded him to proceed with plural marriage when he hesitated to move forward. During the third and final appearance, the angel came with a drawn sword, threatening Joseph with destruction unless he went forward and obeyed the commandment fully.
Fragmentary evidence suggests that Joseph Smith acted on the angel’s first command by marrying a plural wife, Fanny Alger, in Kirtland, Ohio, in the mid-1830s. Several Latter-day Saints who had lived in Kirtland reported decades later that Joseph Smith had married Alger, who lived and worked in the Smith household, after he had obtained her consent and that of her parents. Little is known about this marriage, and nothing is known about the conversations between Joseph and Emma regarding Alger. After the marriage with Alger ended in separation, Joseph seems to have set the subject of plural marriage aside until after the Church moved to Nauvoo, Illinois.
Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage
During the era in which plural marriage was practiced, Latter-day Saints distinguished between sealings for time and eternity and sealings for eternity only. Sealings for time and eternity included commitments and relationships during this life, generally including the possibility of sexual relations. Eternity-only sealings indicated relationships in the next life alone.
Evidence indicates that Joseph Smith participated in both types of sealings. The exact number of women to whom he was sealed in his lifetime is unknown because the evidence is fragmentary. Some of the women who were sealed to Joseph Smith later testified that their marriages were for time and eternity, while others indicated that their relationships were for eternity alone.
Most of those sealed to Joseph Smith were between 20 and 40 years of age at the time of their sealing to him. The oldest, Fanny Young, was 56 years old. The youngest was Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Joseph’s close friends Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball, who was sealed to Joseph several months before her 15th birthday. Marriage at such an age, inappropriate by today’s standards, was legal in that era, and some women married in their mid-teens. Helen Mar Kimball spoke of her sealing to Joseph as being “for eternity alone,” suggesting that the relationship did not involve sexual relations. After Joseph’s death, Helen remarried and became an articulate defender of him and of plural marriage.
Following his marriage to Louisa Beaman and before he married other single women, Joseph Smith was sealed to a number of women who were already married. Neither these women nor Joseph explained much about these sealings, though several women said they were for eternity alone. Other women left no records, making it unknown whether their sealings were for time and eternity or were for eternity alone.”
Why the Gospel Topics Essays video short by Sandra Tanner?:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_u87LCREAgYBOA Questions:
- What is the evangelistic and apologetic significance of the CES Letter and Gospel Topics Essays?
- What is the primary thing you learned from this information?
- If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, what is your reaction to this information, and are you willing to pray that you will react as God would have you react to what in this information is true?
- Sadly Jeremy Runnells, as last I heard, does not express any faith in the Jesus of the Bible. Many LDS leave aside any faith at all, once their faith in the LDS church is shattered. My observation is that after they placed their trust in a false faith system and a false Jesus; it is understandably hard for them to establish trust in what I believe is the true Jesus and the Bible. If you had a conversation with an LDS member who has left their faith, how would you respectfully guide them towards faith in the Jesus of the Bible?