By Eric Johnson

To see all of the reviews and podcasts MRM has done on the Gospel Topics Essays, click here.

In an attempt to deal with several vital historical issues propagated by the LDS Church throughout the years, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints produced a series of 13 essays between 2013-2015. On January 18, 2012, Seventy Marlin Jensen spoke at Utah State University and, when he was asked why people were leaving the LDS Church in “droves,” he responded,

The fifteen men really do know, and they really care. And they realize that maybe since Kirtland, we never have had a period of, I’ll call it apostasy, like we’re having right now; largely over these issues. We do have another initiative that we have called, “Answers to Gospel Questions”. We are trying to figure out exactly what channels to deliver it in and exactly what format to put it in. But we want to have a place where people can go. We have hired someone that’s in charge of search engine optimization. We realize that people get their information basically from Google. They don’t come to LDS.org. If they get there, it’s through Google. So, we are trying to create an offering that will address these issues and be available for the public at large and to the church leaders, because many of them don’t have answers either. It can be very disappointing to church members. And, for people who are losing their faith, or who have lost it, we hope to regain to the church.

All of the articles were unsigned and had no attribution. In an article found under “Gospel Topics Essays” originally written on November 20, 2013 by Camille West titled “New Gospel Topics Page Encourages Personal and Family Study,” West explained:

Recognizing that today so much information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be obtained from questionable and often inaccurate sources, officials of the Church began in 2013 to publish straightforward, in-depth essays on a number of topics. The purpose of these essays, which have been approved by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has been to gather accurate information from many different sources and publications and place it in the Gospel Topics section of LDS.org, where the material can more easily be accessed and studied by Church members and other interested parties.

If you click on “Gospel Topics Essays,” you will see just 11 of the 13 essays. Three of the essays were fit into one, although all three essays are still on the church’s website–though they are not easy to find and are no longer included on the essays’ menu. To see what the one essay says compared to what was originally written, click here. (COMING SOON!)

Click here to visit the catalog of MRM’s responses (both written and podcast) to the Gospel Topics Essays.

Here is a list of the current Gospel Topics essays to links directing you to the LDS website for each:

• 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, Temple, and Women

• Mother in Heaven

• Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints

• Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

• Race and the Priesthood

• Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham

To see all of the reviews and podcasts MRM has done on the Gospel Topics Essays, click here.