MormonTalk

Starting at a very young age, the Mormon church instills its members with the notion that sex is "carnal", evil, and filthy. Rather than a natural, normal, healthy phase of human development, sexual exploration and expression - especially outside of marriage - is taught as something to restrain and divorce from one's behavior. From a "level of sin" perspective, only murder and denying the Holy Ghost rank higher. We explore some of the church's teachings in this episode, and how the leaders use guilt and shame around sexuality as control mechanisms. In the best cases this leaves many members guilt-ridden, and in the worst cases it causes irreparable damage and dysfunction. At least the church's founder, Joseph Smith Jr., was an example of sexual morality and fidelity, right?

If there's one thing Joseph enjoyed doing, it was twisting scriptures! Whether it was expressing the epitome of humility by retroactively adding himself to past prophesies, or just creating scriptures from nothingness, good ol' Addendum Boy couldn't seem to help himself. His three-year project to replace some of the "plain and precious things" that had been lost from the Bible has become one of the most well-known examples of that pastime. Join us as we chat a little bit about the background and outcomes of the "Joseph Smith Translation" of the Bible.

One of the things the leaders of the LDS church and its members are very proud of proclaiming is that - unlike the rest of the world - their religion teaches not to "idolize" anything or anyone other than God himself (and perhaps his son, Jesus Christ). Besides the blatant visual or physical evidences to the contrary (such as the golden statues of Moroni on the tops of multi-million dollar temples), is there a deeper, more elusive doctrine or culture that may contradict the claim? Does the church "plant trees of idols" in the hearts and minds of the membership?

The LDS church requires its members to extend significant trust to its leaders. "The Brethren" at the top are sustained as "prophets, seers, and revelators" who literally speak for God. Local leaders, while not looked upon as prophets, are still trusted as being led by the "spirit", having highly sensitive judgment (aka, "discernment"), and being a safe, trustworthy resource to their flock. Members are encouraged to embrace confirmation bias, and to hold their trust in the leadership and doctrine above any personal concerns or questions they may have about the church's truth claims. Unfortunately, history has shown us that much of the trust the members have placed in the church, its doctrines, and its leaders has been misplaced. In the best case, this misplaced trust creates disappointment. In the worst case, it irreparably harms families, breaks hearts, and destroys dreams.

When the church was very young, Joe and Ollie called 12 apostles, hearkening back to the good ol' days of Jesus and his traveling band. Ollie told the 12 that they had the obligation to see the face of God, one reason of which was to be able to testify to the members of the church and to the world at large that they had "seen his face". Since then, the concept has been watered down to the idea of simply "witnessing of his name". What does that even mean? And do the current apostles still claim to have seen Jesus, or has that been eliminated from the expectations of their office altogether? Let's dig a little deeper, and have fun while we're at it (as usual).