Glass Box Podcast

Today we take a look at the man who is inarguably THE best apologist of the mormon church. Yes, we are talking about Hugh Nibley.   Show Notes :   Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life by Boyd Peterson  Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith by Martha Beck  Hugh Nibley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Nibley   Hugh Nibley Biography: https://interpreterfoundation.org/bibliograph...

Newest Apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Patrick Kearon, joins replaces M. Russel Ballard in the highest leadership body of the Mormon hierarchy. Who is he, from where does he come (professionally and otherwise), and what does his calling mean for the future of the wealthiest religion in the world? We do an apostolic profile with what publicly-available information...

WAHOO! It's that time of year again. Time for our last episode of the year because we've finished off everything for the year and we want to have some fun. And that fun is BOOKS, of course! Well, this time books, movies, TV shows, and video games. We each brought three for you. Shannon brought three books to movie adaptations and Bryce brought three games to movie/TV series adaptations. We had som...

That's right! We're done!! But we have to get through the final 3 chapters before rounding it out and providing our conclusions. The new authoritative history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is mostly what we expected; New Mormon History is dead and Saints: The Standard of Truth telegraphs an era of academic retrenchment. These chapters cover the assassination of Hyrum and Josep...

We're in tunnel-vision mode until we finish this propagandistic pile of rubbish. Today is the penultimate episode of our long-form review of Saints. It begins in the spring of 1842 with John C. Bennett's violent departure from Nauvoo and ends with the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor. Lots of things happen in this 2-year period and the book ignores most of them so let's dive in. We do finish th...

AT LONG LAST! We're joined by Jen from ExMo Candle Co. to talk all about her experience and what led her to processing and healing from the Mormon cult through blasphemous candles! She tells of her story with the church, attending a Mormon university, depression and self-destruction caused by shame through bishop's interviews and "repentance", and how she navigated her way out of the Church of Jes...

It's that time of year! SpooOOOoooOOOookey stories! First we talk about a hotbed of paranormal interdimensional activity in the heart of Mormon country; Skinwalker Ranch! After that we deep dive into the sci-fi classic Frankenstein. We wrap with a quick reminder to get out and vote along with catching up on listener mail!   Show Notes :  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Burns https://en.wikiped...

Our review of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for October 2023 Sunday sessions.   Yes, our review of GenCon was longer than the actual GenCon. Thank you to all the wonderful folks who made this project happen! The last nearly 2 hours is patreon extras for you all you fantastic financial supporters of the show.   Show Notes:   Links: Brad : https://twitter.com/...

Our review of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for October 2023 Saturday sessions.   Yes, our review of GenCon was longer than the actual GenCon.   Show Notes:   Links: Brad : https://twitter.com/ComfytheGhost V (Friend from Serbia) : @NoChillAuntie Aurora : aurorarosea.com  Alexis : https://www.youtube.com/@UtahSustainGardening   Julie's Twitter - @juliebr83 T...

It's the listener show! Today we bring on a group of cohosts to attempt the impossible task of filling Shannon's shoes while she continues to recover. Tanner presents a segment on the Kinderhook plates, drawing larger implications for how it disproves other Mormon scripture "translation" claims. Then Will takes us on a journey through reconciling his relationship with his mom through LARPing (Live...

Runnin solo today! While Shannon continues to recover we're going to take the opportunity to do a segment that sent Shan to hospital in the first place! That's right, we're back in Saints: The Standard of Truth, the new, authorized history of Joseph Smith and his early religious movement. That's it. That's all we're doing this episode! We talk missionaries in Europe, political machinations, Presid...

We have a bit of an unconventional episode this time around. We invite Aron Ra onto the show to discuss a recent debate between Bryce and Kyle Adams, an apologist for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We play a few clips, have a few laughs, and chat about the sport of debate in general. This episode is a rare exception because we know it isn't everybody's favorite thing; we'll be ge...

Continuing our media episodes, this time we're taking aim at Mormon movies! Specific Mormon movies though! Movies made by Mormons for the purpose of gaining converts. These are just a small handful of the movies that missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints show in the homes of investigators in order to teach certain aspects of doctrine or articles of Mormon faith. After th...

Just as the title states! After two motherlode history episodes, we're doing an all media episode! Shannon walks us through the history of feminist literature from the earliest surviving scraps of parchment to a recent 2022 best-seller about women turning into dragons! Join us to learn about everything in between! After that we discuss a dam removal project that's showing great promise as an envir...

The conclusion of the Missouri-Mormon war of 1838! Two events which are incredibly infamous in Mormon history, the Haun's Mill Massacre, and the Liberty Jail stint, feature throughout this episode. But we discuss the context that led to the circumstances and the criminal proceedings that resulted from the war once Joseph Smith and the Mormons had surrendered. While certain figures are vilified for...

This episode is basically a standalone Saints episode! Why? You may ask. Because the book covers a massive and controversial time of early Mormonism, when Joseph Smith incited a civil war and lost. We compare the Saints book to the documents of the time and see how it shakes out with the following issues: excommunications of Oliver Cowdery, David and John Whitmer, and William W. Phelps, land dispu...

Happy PRIDE month, y'all! The main segment for today breaks down the history of the Children's Primary Program and its first president, Louie "Ma" Felt and her lifelong partner, May Anderson. Then we discuss a sex scandal in the form of a gay witch hunt in the 1890s spearheaded by Rudger Clawson. The case is far more complicated than first blush would indicate and it serves as a case study for how...

Another installment of cult mind control and Saints: The Standard of Truth! We start with discussing Thought control in Hassan's BITE model of undue influence. That springs us into the period of 1836-1838 of early Mormon history from the church's new "history" book. The Kirtland Safety Society, the uprising of Warren Parrish, a heist in Salem, Fanny Alger, so many controversies it's hard to keep t...

The Plan of Salvation, Plan of Happiness, MORMON HEAVEN! We take a look at the doctrine and teachings compared to the text of Doctrine & Covenants 76. This revelation was given in the early years of Joseph Smith's religious movement and the theology evolved significantly over time. Rusty's heaven looks a bit different. After that we chat about Noah, a unique take on the Biblical flood story. We wr...

Behavior control from Steven Hassan's BITE model of cult mind control. We discuss how Mormonism controls our behavior today and historically. That leads us into our next installment of Saints: The Standard of Truth review. The book covers 1832-1836 from the tarring and feathering of Joseph Smith to the Kirtland Temple Dedication ceremony. Then we wrap with some happy news about organizations fight...

EXMO LEX WahOOOOO!!! We finally find a proper excuse to invite Exmo Lex onto the show to discuss ExMormon tiktok and social media. She shares a bit of her story and experiences online while discussing the future of Mormon-related social media. After that we chat about a whole bunch of media in aggregate for Media of Great Price segment. We wrap the show with some happy news about innovation in the...

Yes, it's that time of year again. We discuss General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in granular detail. Every single talk, every slur, every logical fallacy, all contained herewith. Enjoy! If you can, that is.   Other Appearances :    Mormons on Mushrooms: https://www.mormonsonmushrooms.com/podcast/episode/7dc1c6bf/roughly-stoned-bryce-blankenagel-part-1-naked-mormo...

With a new year under the control of Revision Rusty M. Nailz we have a new Temple Endowment for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! What's new? What's not new?! Why did they make the changes?!?! We dive deep into the new endowment with comparisons from older versions to see what's slipped through the cracks about the new Mormon ritual. After that we review a movie with another secret...

Next on the block is the "Emotion" component of Steven Hassan's BITE model of cult mind control. This launches us into the next installment of Saints: The Standard of Truth, covering the visionary era of the early Mormon movement and the move from New York to Ohio. Sidney Rigdon and Parley P. Pratt are introduced, as are the Partridge family, including 7 and 11 year-old Emily and Eliza. The book c...

This is kind of an unusual episode. Shannon's still in recovery so Bryce is making a solo run for better or worse (definitely the latter). We run through the stories of some early African-American members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their stories are remarkable, their struggles real, their histories vague but inspiring. We try to place their stories within the larger contex...