Today I sit down with Seth Payne.  A religion and Mormon Studies scholar.  We discuss why people leave the LDS faith and what ways we could better support them

Seth was one of the presenters at the 2013 FairMormon Conference and his paper he presented is included below

http://www.sethpayne.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2013/08/Pastoral-Apologetics-FAIR-FINAL.pdf

http://www.sethpayne.com/ex-mormon-narratives/

http://www.sethpayne.com/new-mormon-history/

The post 062: Seth Payne appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Unity vs Diversity

resources

President Faust – http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1995/04/heirs-to-the-kingdom-of-god

Elder Oaks – http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=669

Elder Causse – http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/ye-are-no-more-strangers?lang=eng

President Uchtdorf – http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/four-titles?lang=eng

Elder Carmack – http://www.lds.org/ensign/1991/03/unity-in-diversity

The post 061: Unity vs Diversity appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

My interview with Blair Hodges.  He works in Public Affairs with the Neal A Maxwell institute.   We discuss the changes at the Maxwell institute, the general status of faith struggles in the Church, along with his working alongside Richard Bushman and Terryl Givens.  We discuss faith and how we each are different in how we implement faith in our lives.

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/

http://www.maxwellinstituteblog.org/

The post 060: Blair Hodges: Maxwell Institute appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

We sit down with LDS author Susan Swann author of the book “Coming Home: A Mormon’s Return to Faith” Description of her book: Susan’s story of her painful journey away from her Mormon faith and her road back home delivers a message of hope and encouragement that will help others also struggling to find their way. The lovely scenes of family relationships that were so instrumental in her return, her engaging personal touches, and interesting allusions to scriptures, literature, movies, and music all contribute to capturing the reader’s interest in Susan’s story. Even though readers will quickly understand where her story is headed, they will be engrossed by the suspense she creates and the anticipation of seeing her spiritual journey come to its rewarding conclusion. Susan’s book is a captivating story well told.

Her Book –

Her Website – www.returntofaith.org Article on her Book – http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865559363/Book-shares-struggles-joys-of-returning-to-LDS-Church.html?pg=all

The post 059: Susan Swann: Coming Home appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Critics cite The Church as intentionally creating a simple sanitized view of the Translation of the Book of Mormon.  But what really happened?  Here is my personal take on the Translation process and what I think is a very good shot at the real storyline.  Did the Church intentionally hide information?  What are we to make of Joseph’s “Treasure Digging”?  We discuss this and much much more.

Resources

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/transcripts/?id=13

http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/the-spectacles-the-stone-the-hat-and-the-book-a-twenty-first-century-believers-view-of-the-book-of-mormon-translation/

http://en.fairmormon.org/Book_of_Mormon/Translation/Method  < —— witness accounts

The post 058: Seer Stones and Treasure Digging appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Last week we discussed my faith transition model.  This week I share with you my personal journey working through those three phases.  This is based on a paper I was asked to contribute to Terryl and Fiona Givens and hope that in understanding the three phases and the real life application in my personal faith journey, you might have added strength and support in your trials of faith.  Thanks for listening.

The post 057: My Journey Through These Phases appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Faith is not constant and the transitions of faith are very natural.  Today we talk about how faith develops.  We try to create a model that is helpful to those who are in a faith struggle but desire a reconciliation to faith.  We split faith development into 3 phases to simplify it and discuss at length what each of those phases entail and how to reflect on them in a way that allows faith to triumph over doubt.

The post 056: Transitional Phases of Faith appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Nick Galieti steps in this week to guest host this episode of MormonDiscussion.  He has put together a masterful gospel discussion on the Atonement using James R. Rasband’s talk “Faith to Forgive Grievous Harms: Accepting the Atonement as Restitution”

The complete talk can be found here

The post 055: Nick Galieti: James Rasband and the Atonement of Christ appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Terryl Givens, professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond, where he holds the James A. Bostwick Chair in English.  He is the author of several books including “By The Hand of Mormon” and has a book approaching publishing called “The Crucible of Doubt”.  Terryl has been part of a series of firesides given to helps doubters address their framework and talks to us today about Faith and Doubt and how we might better navigate these issues.

The post 054: Terryl Givens: Crucible of Doubt appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

A fireside I did on God’s Grace and my view of the Doctrine of Christ.  There is a powerpoint associated with this episode that is available for sale on the products page which is great for Firesides.

Premium subscribers get the powerpoint for free, email me for that – [email protected]

Brad Wilcox – His Grace is Suffcient

The post 053: Grace Fireside: His Grace is Suffcient appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.