Saints Unscripted

Have you ever heard of Pioneer Day, an official holiday in Utah? Many Utahans celebrate the day that Mormon pioneers arrived in Utah before Utah was settled. Many pioneers died on the trek across the plains, though many miracles took place on their journey to Utah. In this episode, we take a quiz to test our knowledge about the Mormon pioneers!

Elizabeth joins us today to share her remarkable story of faith, conversion, excommunication, and regaining her faith. If you watch any Saints Unscripted episode, this is the one to watch!! Elizabeth powerfully shares how she grew up in unfavorable circumstances but remained strong in the faith. Unfortunately, poor relationships and temptations grew and grew until she found herself about to lose h...

We recently had the privilege of hearing Kahlen's story of faith and forgiveness. Today we share his story with you and know you'll find strength from his words! Kahlen grew up in Utah as a non-member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (otherwise known as the Mormon Church). He joined the church with help from his friend but quickly left after joining. He joined the Marines...

We love seeing your comments on our YouTube videos, Instagram stories, Facebook posts, and TikTok account! Some of you are kind, some of you are savage, and some of you might just be here to troll -- but we love you for being here and hope we bring some happiness to your day! In this episode, we read some of your comments and respond completely unscripted!

We are elated to hear from Kerry Muhlestein on our channel today! Kerry is an incredible scholar with a great sense of humor. We had a blast hearing from him about the controversial Book of Abraham. Here are some things Kerry addresses in this video: What are some of the most common/ most problematic assumptions that Latter-day Saints and/or non-Latter-day Saints are making (or have made, historic...

Have you ever felt the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit? Have you ever wondered what feeling the spirit might feel like? Can I feel the Holy Ghost if I'm not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ (otherwise known as the Mormon Church)? In this episode, we talk about what it's like to feel the Holy Ghost, how the gift of the Holy Ghost differs from the Holy Ghost, and we read responses from o...

We are elated to have our good friend Stephen Smoot back on Saints Unscripted! Stephen Smoot is one of our favorite scholars (and will soon be yours as well :)). In this episode, we ask Stephen about the authenticity of the Book of Abraham, where to start when trying to understand the facsimiles in the Book of Abraham, and what Stephen has learned from his in-depth study of the Book of Abraham. St...

We are stoked to have a conversation with David Boice on the show today! David is the host of 52 Churches in 52 Weeks and today he tells us his story of faith and adventure. David talks about having a falling out with his church and decided to distance himself from churches to focus primarily on spirituality. However, he had a prompting to attend 52 churches in 52 weeks. David says that through hi...

Michelle's story is one of our favorite stories. Michelle had a great interest in spirituality and religion. She moved to Idaho to learn more about religion and quickly ran into lots of information about Mormons (known as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Fast forward a little while and Michelle found herself on an airplane sitting next to a cowboy named Merlin. The...

Have you ever had questions about LDS priesthood blessings? How does someone with priesthood authority give a blessing? How does a priesthood holder know what to say when giving a blessing? Spencer joins us today to share some powerful findings about priesthood blessings. Spencer conducted over 100 interviews with men who have given priesthood blessings with the purpose of learning more about how...

*originally posted on YouTube near Father's Day* We LOVE the good dads in our lives! We are grateful for Father’s Day each year which gives us extra reason to celebrate the father figures in our lives. In this episode, we celebrate dads by sharing our favorite “dad jokes.” Each host shares a joke to the other host in hopes of generating a good ol’ Father’s Day belly laugh. Are the dad jokes go...

We are incredibly grateful for the knowledge and insight of Heath Odgen on our show today as he discusses the importace of embracing science as faithful members of the LDS Church (otherwise kwown as the Mormon Church). Heath discusses his interest in evolution and how he reconciles evolution and the theory of Adam and Eve. The theory of evolution doesn't have to contradict believe in the story...

For many decades, there has been speculation that Joseph Smith (first prophet of the LDS Church) did not practice polygamy. The speculation has ebbed and flowed over the years, though the conspiracy has picked up steam more recently. LDS scholar and friend of Saints Unscripted, Brian Hales, agreed to address the controversy on today’s episode. Brian addresses accounts of polygamy, how different ty...

Derek and Denise Galanis join us on Saints Unscripted to talk about Derek's conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Derek grew up in a family of crime. Prison and crime were natural parts of his formative years. Derek was convicted in 2001 and then again in 2016 for fraud. Derek talks about reconnecting with Denise, someone he had known earlier in his life, while he was in prison. He and Den...

Emma Wood is a remarkable new convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! We had the great opportunity of hearing her conversion story. Growing up in Arizona, she knew about members of the LDS Church (otherwise known as the Mormon Church) but didn't have much interest in joining. She decided to go to school in Utah where she began learning more about the Church. She went throug...

Ross Richey joins us today to talk about one of the most interesting topics we’ve heard from a guest on Saints Unscripted. He starts with a discussion about ChatGPT and AI. What does that have to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Well, Ross focuses on intelligence, something frequently talked about in our scriptures and in our church. David and Sabrina have a moment of expressing their fears abo...

*This was released on YouTube around Mother's Day* Today the hosts had NO IDEA what the outline of the episode would be… truly unscripted. They knew the theme would be Mother’s Day but nothing more. We surprised them by having them call a mother figure (in this case, they each chose their mom) and expressing their appreciation for a lesson they were taught by that mother. Kaitlyn talks about h...

Talmage served mission for the Church of Jesus Christ (otherwise known as the Mormon Church). Upon his return, Talmage faced a lot of challenges including addiction and pornography issues. He felt worthless and purposeless. However, his family was never going to give up on him, no matter how low he felt. With their faith, he began a long healing process which led him to start an incredible podcast...

Filming this episode with Terryl Givens was both humbling and remarkable. Terryl Givens is a leading LDS academic who has written some of our favorite books on many religious topics. Today, Terryl talks about his book, Let’s Talk About Faith and Intellect. Prior to filming this episode, we noted our favorite quotes from his book and asked him to expound on the quotes mentioned. He addresses many t...

On today’s episode, Liz shares her story of growing up in a polygamist family. She and her family moved into a neighborhood of non-polygamists and were quickly judged for their beliefs. But one of the families in the neighborhood truly embraced Liz and her family despite differing beliefs. Liz and her siblings would attend church with this kind-hearted family and Liz eventually wanted to be baptiz...

Brooklyn was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ (otherwise known as the Mormon Church). She has fond memories of her childhood, though recognizes how many things could have been experienced more positively. Today she shares how she eventually learned some difficult church history and had poor experiences with church leaders, She felt the need to separate herself from the church which would come...

Dave Dollahite, a good friend of Saints Unscripted, joins us today to talk about his most recent scholarly project, the American Families of Faith Project. David, along with his colleague Loren Marks, have conducted extensive research in the field of families of faith. Their research includes the study of many different families of different religions. Today on Saints Unscripted, Dave specifically...

Ben recently joined us to talk about the nature of revelation in the church and has retuned to share some additional gems with us!! Today Ben joins us to talk about implicit context in scriptures. Ben, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ (otherwise known as the LDS Church) and a historian, shares his thoughts about the importance of understanding content in order to understand context. He discu...

Charles knew he had the very best conversion story so he reached out to share with our Saints Unscripted family!! Charles didn't grow up in the church and was actually cautioned from joining the church when he announced his decision to move to Utah. He wasn't planning on joining any religion but quickly began learning more about the gospel and finding friendship in the church. He felt humb...

Ben talks about starting with assumptions. He says, “The positions we take follow from the assumptions we make.” Often when we tweak our assumptions first, we’re able to address difficult information with greater understanding. He talks about how we interpret “what scripture says” based on many assumptions, a few of which we would do well to remove or reevaluate. Ben illustrates examples from the...