Mormon Stories Podcast

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/cGm7kpKh9KI We continue Liz’s journey as she goes to BYU and gets baptized. Liz explains her interactions with church and BYU culture, and the effect of “worthiness” interviews w/LDS leadership once she is an official member.  At BYU Liz struggles to fit in with white culture and begins struggling with symptoms of mental illness along with outbursts of creativity. Th...

Liz Lambson is a Korean/African American artist, musician, and writer, and - along with her spouse Sam - is a parent to five boys residing in Salt Lake City. Liz performs as a string bassist with the Ballet West Orchestra as well as the children’s singer-songwriter Lizzy Luna , the creator of the music-and-movement program Yoga Storytime & Songs. Liz performed for and toured with the Mormon Tabern...

Noah Rasheta joins John and Rebecca Bibliotheca to discuss basic concepts of Buddhism which has helped many deconstructing and healing from toxic teachings. Book: No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners by Noah Rasheta of Secular Buddhism Join the Mormon Stories Book Club Facebook Group Here! Mormon Stories Thanks Our Generous Donors! Help us continue to deliver quality content by becoming a donor toda...

Please join us for a panel discussion regarding a recent two-day LDS multi-Stake training in Canada focused on understanding LGBTQ members, led by faithful gay Mormon podcasters Charlie Bird and Ben Schilaty (hosts of "Questions From the Closet" podcast). Some questions that will be addressed by the panel include: What aspects of this training are groundbreaking and should be celebrated? How do ef...

Why don’t more people leave the Church in the face of overwhelming evidence that it isn’t what it claims to be? In this episode we will discuss how the Normalcy Bias can help explain this behavior. Episode Show Notes Mormon Expressions is made possible by generous donors! Help us continue to deliver quality content by becoming a donor today: Donate to support John/Carah for Mormon Expressions John...

In this episode we recap all the different areas where Joseph Smith claims to have translated an ancient source and we analyze his work and compare it against modern scholars and experts in the field to see how he did. Co-host: Nemo the Mormon LDS Discussion Essay: Overview of Joseph Smith's Translations Episode Show Notes _________________________ LDS Discussions is made possible by generous dono...

John is in the hot seat again as Shelise Sola of @CultstoConsciousness does the interviewing around the topic of what and how John Dehlin would change the Mormon (LDS) Church if he were prophet. John expertly synthesizes and explains in easy-to-understand chunks the largest problems facing the Mormon Church today and ways it harms its most ardent believers and their families from past racism, curr...

Mormon Stories has experienced an amazing amount of growth for which we are thankful to our viewers, guests, staff, donors, and collaborators! John shares about the growth of the channel and answers viewer questions. How was 2022? What helped the channel’s growth? What were the stand-out episodes?  And what have we got planned for 2023? Join us to find out! Episodes and Source Show Notes Mormon St...

Did Joseph Smith have another shot at translating ancient scripture, or is it just rumor? Mike, Nemo and John take a look at the Kinderhook Plates. What were they? Did Joseph Smith try to translate them, and what was the result? As usual, we dive into the apologetics around multiple scenarios and why they are each attractive to differing views. Co-host: Nemo the Mormon LDS Discussion Essay on the...

Co-host: Nemo the Mormon Stephen Bullivant holds professorial positions at St Mary's University, London, and the University of Notre Dame, Sydney. He has doctorates in theology (Oxford, 2009) and sociology (Warwick, 2019). His studies of contemporary nonreligiosity have received wide international coverage, including from the BBC, New York Times, Economist, Financial Times, and Der Spiegel. The Un...

Fans of Mormon stories will be familiar with Channel Achenbach, who has been a guest on LDS Discussions' Race & Mormon Scripture Part 1 and Part 2 , Gender Discrimination in the Mormon Church with John Larsen and Mormon Leader Ahmad Corbitt Condemns Activism Towards the LDS Church or they may know her from her tiktok channel, @Bettenoir4 . This is a 3-part series of Channel’s story. We’re back for...

Fans of Mormon stories will be familiar with Channel Achenbach, who has been a guest on LDS Discussions' Race & Mormon Scripture Part 1 , Gender Discrimination in the Mormon Church with John Larsen and Mormon Leader Ahmad Corbitt Condemns Activism Towards the LDS Church or they may know her from her tiktok channel, @Bettenoir4 . This will be a 3-part series of Channel’s story. Channel is continuin...

Fans of Mormon stories will be familiar with Channel Achenbach, who has been a guest on LDS Discussions' Race & Mormon Scripture Part 1 , Gender Discrimination in the Mormon Church with John Larsen and Mormon Leader Ahmad Corbitt Condemns Activism Towards the LDS Church or they may know her from her tiktok channel, @Bettenoir4 . This will be a 3-part series of Channel’s story. In Part 1 We get som...

We've had an incredible year at Mormon Stories Podcast, but hope to have an even better year in 2023. Please donate to support us if you value what we do, and want to see it continue to grow. You can donate here: https://donorbox.org/mormon-stories?default_interval=m

Mark Schultz was a 3-time NCAA champion, Olympic champion and 2-time World champion wrestler. He also joined the Mormon church in 1991 shortly after being hired as a BYU wrestling coach. Mark coached wrestling at BYU for around a decade. A few months ago, Mark started studying factual LDS church history - focusing specifically on Joseph Smith's polygamy revelation in D&C Section 132 - and lost his...

In Parts 1 and 2 of this series Mike, John, and Nemo explored the history and controversies over whether the Book of Abraham is a literal translation of Egyptian as claimed by Joseph Smith.   Now for Part 3 they are back to look at what the text of the Book of Abraham actually says, including many prime LDS doctrines. What have been the consequences of believing those doctrines? Does the Book of A...

Carol discusses ways that she has enabled herself mentally and spiritually to stay in the Church, despite periods of inactivity and varying levels of hope. Has she gone through a “faith crisis” as many know it? What did she keep and what has she thrown away? Why does she stay? How does Carol feel she makes a difference by staying in and also how and why has she been able to avoid excommunication,...

Carol Lynn Pearson is an amazing woman and still-active member of the Church who has done more advocacy for feminism and LGBTQ rights than any other member and for far longer through her songs, books, poetry, speaking engagements and other appearances (even Oprah)!   Carol Lynn Pearson is the example and embodiment of pure love. Anyone would do well to follow her example.    In today's episode, Ca...

Today we’re going through various apologetics and theories around the Book of Abraham to reconcile it being considered scripture along with what we know the literal interpretation of these things to be. What problems do these apologetics create in other areas for believers?  Do these theories hold water without a strong bias to believe in spite of all evidence? Do some apologists even admit it?  ...

The best way to consume Mormon history is through original source documents, but where do you find them? In this episode we will review a list of primary sources for early Mormon history that are accessible and affordable to the budding historian. John's List: An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith The Essential Joseph Smith Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text Book of...

Welcome back for part two! A trip to Europe gives Kelsey a chance beyond her mission to see more of the outside world and the goodness and happiness that others have found while clearly outside of Mormonism. The trip also gives her the chance to tune in to herself and trust her intuition. Not ready to give up on her religion just yet, Kelsey returns home after the trip and ends up working with LDS...

Kelsey Edwards has a unique upbringing as a child actor who was homeschooled by her Mormon parents. Driven by a desire to do what’s right and excel, Kelsey develops a perfectionism that goes beyond religious adherence into body image and leads to disordered eating. Kelsey is able to recover with help from her parents, only to be thrown into another family crisis as her father succumbs to an opiate...

Nearly since its founding, leaders of the LDS Church have excommunicated members for wrongdoing. In earlier times, such punishments might have lasted only weeks. Over the course of succeeding decades, this practice became more severe, constituting a wrenching removal from the community. Gaining readmittance often required intense penance and evidence of significant change stretching over a prolong...

Today we get to meet Special Guest Scott Dyer from Rameumptom Ruminations, a podcast centered on Mormon theology & interpretations of scripture through the lens of philosophy, literature and art under the Mormon Discussions Podcasts umbrella. John and Scott discuss Brian Harris, a recent guest on Rameumptom Ruminations who was an employee at church headquarters in the correlation department. Brian...

Starting Book of Abraham! Join us at noon today for the intro to the issues around the "translation" of this controversial piece of Mormon scripture. LDS Discussion Book of Abraham Essay Episode Show Notes _________________________ LDS Discussions is made possible by generous donors! Help us continue to deliver quality content by becoming a donor today: One-time or recurring donation through Donor...