CES Letter

My Search for Answers to my Mormon Doubts

by Jeremy Runnells

CES Letter is one Latter-day Saint’s honest quest to get official answers from the LDS Church on its troubling origins, history, and practices. Jeremy Runnells was offered an opportunity to discuss his own doubts with a director of the Church Educational System (CES) and was assured that his doubts could be resolved. After reading Jeremy’s letter, the director promised him a response.

He is still waiting. Well — we’re giving him one.

Every question Jeremy raises has an answer. Every claim is addressed here, point by point, drawing on the best available evidence from LDS scholarship, archaeology, biblical studies, and church history. This is not a dismissal of his questions — it is a direct, evidence-based response to each one. The questions are real. So are the answers.

The CES Letter raises real questions. They deserve real answers — not dismissal, not platitudes, and not silence. This site provides a point-by-point response to every claim in the CES Letter, drawing on the best available scholarship in LDS history, archaeology, biblical studies, and theology.

The standard here is simple: engage the strongest version of each argument. Cite primary sources. Follow the evidence wherever it leads. Do not pretend the questions are easier than they are — and do not pretend the answers don’t exist.

They do exist. This is where you find them.

The menu above mirrors the structure of the CES Letter itself. Each section of Jeremy’s letter has a corresponding response page here. Start anywhere — go to the specific claim that brought you to this site, or read straight through from the beginning.

Every page on this site follows the same format:

• The Claim — Jeremy’s argument, stated fairly and in full
• The Evidence — what the historical and scholarly record actually shows
• The Response — why the claim fails, or what the more complete picture looks like
• The Verdict — an honest assessment of where the evidence lands

Jeremy Runnells asked good questions. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has good answers. Both things are true.