When questioned about the place of historical evidence vs. personal witness when it comes to belief, Wakefield's colleague, Ron Huggins, pointed to the LDS missionary program. Missionaries who ask people to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet are seeking to create a spiritual feeling in those they teach, he said, and then using that desire to align with the feeling as a truth claim.

In contrast, the Christian tradition doesn't rely on getting people to state that they "know something is true" when they merely want to believe it is, he said. "In getting people to say they have something they don't or experience something they haven't, in my view, that leads to self-deception, disappointment and frustration."

Conversely, one of the difficulties of the Christian tradition is "that you can become very much a part of the tradition without ever actually knowing God."

Millet said he is often questioned by Christians who accuse Latter-day Saints of discounting historic evidence and engaging in a "feelings only" approach to discovering truth. An exclusive focus on either evidence alone or feelings alone is dangerous, he said. Truth is found with elements of both.

Those who say the only basis for belief is the Bible, without relying on a personal experience of it through thought, feeling and prayer, place their entire faith on "rationalistic explanations for everything. How can you appreciate the Bible if you can't think, feel or pray about it?

"I believe the resurrection of Jesus Christ literally took place. But I don't have an ounce of physical evidence other than the holy scriptures."

The conference continues through 5 p.m. today in the school's faculty seminar room, LC 243.

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com