Apologies if this is all common knowledge amongst y'all

I heard that when the essays were published they were behind a church firewall. Unsearchable. Only for the elite who were having doubts.

I guess my question is. Is this right? What is the history of the essays

Well, it's been over 24 hours, so now I don't feel bad about being the first responder because it's possible that even a bad response is better than no response (although you'd think someone with as many divorces as me would know better...).

Here's the Official Church Position (right now...):

"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 ChurchofJesusChrist.org, where the material can more easily be accessed and studied by Church members and other interested parties."

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/essays?lang=eng



Based on available online documentation, there is no reason to believe that any of the material now found in the Gospel Topic Essays were ever 'hidden' from view on mormon.org, which is my preferred name for the church's website.

Here's the intro to the report that was prepared for and delivered to Elder Updorp in 2013 on the topic of Faith Crisis:

"From October 2011 until August 2013, an unpaid team of scholars, strategists, and other volunteers conducted research, synthesized findings, and developed a number of strategic recommendations aimed at helping LDS leaders better understand and more compassionately minister to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a faith crisis, meaning members experiencing severe emotional turmoil resulting from discovering Church history facts that do not align with the traditional narrative of the Church. This faith crisis project was self-initiated and completed pro bono, meaning the work was conducted without compensation.

"The following pages of this PDF contain a copy of the LDS Personal Faith Crisis report delivered to senior Church leaders in the early summer of 2013. A supplemental report entitled “Faith Crisis Chronicles” was also delivered to senior leaders a few weeks later in August 2013.

"A more detailed description of the project’s impetus, estimated outcomes, and a listing of individual collaborators is included at the end of the document."

https://faenrandir.github.io/a_careful_examination/documents/faith_crisis_study/Faith_Crisis_R28e.pdf

Followed by:

      P R O J E C T     O B J E C T I V E

The research team’s objective is to present data on LDS
personal Faith Crisis that assists Church leaders in:

1) Better understanding Faith Crisis catalysts and processes.

2) Determining the best course of action for retaining those members currently in crisis, repairing damaged families, and mitigating the negative implications of those who are leaving or have already left.

3) Considering how to best prevent Faith Crisis from negatively affecting current and future generations.


      F A I T H   C R I S I S   D E F I N E D

Faith Crisis is defined as a state of intense emotional and spiritual distress resulting from the discovery of Church history facts that do not align with the traditional LDS narrative. This distress results in members losing faith in some or all foundational truth claims of the LDS Church and in the Church itself.



These unpaid volunteers did the very, very best they could to make a silk purse...out of a sow's ear.  

Upon the publication of these essays on the church website, the murmurings ceased, the storm ended, and the sun came out!!  The church has once again become the fastest growing church in the world and is on course to hit the one billion faithful members mark in either Fumbulary or Drumrollary of 2030, right before the 200th anniversary of the potato reforestation and restoration!

Let us now all give the Hosanna shout!!

"Hosanna!" ←Nelson    "Hosanna! ←Eyering    Yomamma! ←Oaks

It's not a faith crisis. It's a reason crisis.

Apparently EOD goes pro bono as well--- sans editor of any sort. Lucky us.

Still, reading between the lines three points are fer sure true:

1. The rug the church was hiding it's uglies under was large enough to carpet the entire state of Utah as well as California and Nevada.

2. Google lifted said rug up and like Pandora's box, nothing was ever going to be swept under again. uh-oh

3. The church leader's did have an ace up their sleeve however by way of gullible followers desperate to keep their reservations for the Celestial Kingdom in tact. Therefore in releasing the disturbing information themselves the Mormon leaders were able to say they "had looked into the situation" which insinuates it's okay. "We've known about it all along." "Nothing to worry your empty heads about". Members could be assured one more time that faith was more important than fact. And faith (trusting church leaders no matter what) was what would give them the keys to their mansions in the sky where they could lean out the window and thumb their noses at those idiots who thought that truth and decency mattered. Idiots.

Not behind a paywall that I recall. But their addresses changed from time to time and with certain unflattering edits. They made them hard to find, often unsearchable. And for a time you had to use an LDS account such as from the LDS tools app (or whatever its name was) to access them.

Thanks for all your responses.

Maybe it was something of the like @doggbloggernli was getting at.

Maybe it was just because I don't trust this church no way, no how, and reckon they hide everything.

But Thanks

Will write the same stuff now that I did when they came out.

Not ONE GA has the balls to put his signature on them.

They came out with information that, if you had said much of it the week before - would have found you in an excommunication trial for apostacy.
-----------------

That was then and it is still reality.

The fact that many members can't/could not find them was not an accident. The fact that some members still believe they are not really put out by MoronicPriesthood,inc but are the product of Apostates and Satan is real. Many of us know members who will not read them at all or, once shown them will start and then quit because they are "anti mormon lies".

As the man says, you can lead a horse to water - you can't make him drink.

I was taught that the ONLY source I could trust to have the truth about the church was the official church sources, the website, the app, et al. That was why I knew immediately that I had been lied to and manipulated my whole life. Because I found that information on the official church website. That stamp "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" and little Christ logo was the only thing I needed.

I can't imagine what that would say about my religion, the cognitive dissonance it would take to deal with the thought, "Apostates have put false information on the church official website to try to lead me astray from the one true church." That's a trip.

To the best of my recollection, the essays were never behind a firewall. They were rather buried and difficult to find, however. As I recall, they were written in response to damaging material about church history that was starting to go into wide circulation. The essays were written, and subsequently concealed, so that the church could claim transparency.