Siblings in Zion

The siblings conclude reading the Mormonism 101 article published by the LDS church which presents a series of 'frequently asked questions' and answers that leave a lot to be desired when it comes to honesty and candor.   Topics covered include: garments, polygamy, race relations, the location of the garden of eden, baptism for the dead, missionaries, and the word of wisdom … --- Mormonism 101 Art...

An FAQ article was published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints nearly a decade ago in an effort to help educate the news media and the curious public about their particular brand of Christianity.   This recently became the source of some hubbub around the unique Mormon teaching that faithful members may become gods of their own planets, and the church's apparent denial of it … kin...

After Armando's interview (in the previous episode), Dan left the microphones on as they kept talking into the evening … The nature of God, the possibility of alien visitation, virtual reality and simulations, evolution, gullibility, purpose, what makes other lifeforms special to humans or Gods & more in this bonus episode. This conversation was brought to you by in part by Tito's™ --- Website: si...

In this episode, the siblings invite one of Brother Dan's oldest friends to talk about being a former Pentecostal Christian and Youth Pastor.   Armando Santoyo discusses his connection to Dan over the last 20+ years, the faith he used to have, how he was converted to the Foursquare Church and groomed to be a leader, the challenges it presented to his friendship with Dan, the blessings and hardship...

The siblings convene for a mid-season check-in and catch-up! They review the recent episode featuring their faithful Mormon sister and what they took away from it. Dan shares points of interest from his current reading of ' American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith ' and Lisa shares hers of ' A Short History of Nearly Everything ' as well as the existential terror of ' The Handmaid's Tale'...

For the first time, Dan & Lisa are joined by the other sibling of the family - Lacey! Lacey is still an active, believing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while Dan & Lisa are very much Ex-Mormons. They discuss their experiences growing up in the faith, how their relationships have changed and improved as they have evolved and become more honest with each other, how Lacey...

In this special episode, the siblings ask each other a series of questions about their lives, their Mormon upbringing, and their self-reflection that they don't already know the answers to. From 'Who is your favorite comedian' to 'Have you ever contemplated suicide?' - there's introspection, revelation, and laughs! A video version with a slightly different selection of questions along with visual...

In this bonus episode - after the discussion of 'A New Earth' and its concepts Lisa has some questions about attention, perception, emotional responses, acceptance, and making 'right' choices. --- Website: siblingsinzion.com Instagram: instagram.com/siblingsinzion YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@siblingsinzion     Theme Music: 'The Falls' by Umbrellaman - http://umbrellamanband.com

The siblings discuss their reading of 'A New Earth' by Eckhart Tolle - author of 'The Power of Now', spiritual 'teacher', proponent of mindfulness, and friend of Oprah ... They share the passages and ideas that made them say 'Hmm!' as well as those that made them say 'Hmmm ...' They also talk about the industry of spirituality and self-help, and navigating this sort of literature with healthy skep...

The siblings discuss common misconceptions and misattributions of atheism, especially from theists. Primarily they discuss the exemplary debate between renowned atheist Christopher Hitchens and christian apologist William Lane Craig, as well as the chapter entitled 'Are Atheists Evil?' in the short book 'Letter to a Christian Nation' by Sam Harris. They also present their own positions toward athe...

In this third season premiere episode, the siblings discuss the recent documentaries on NXIVM: 'The Vow' and 'Seduced', the crimes of convicted leader Keith Raniere, and the parallels they draw with their experience inside and out of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - especially Lisa's 18 months on a mission for the church and how she relates to the power dynamics as a woman wit...

In the second season finale: the siblings discuss passages and themes from the book 'The Universal Christ' by Richard Rohr. They compare this larger, more inclusive, more inviting and unifying view of the Christ with the one they grew up with, and those that seem to permeate the modern Christian population. 'If the overly personal (even sentimental) Jesus has shown itself to have severe limitation...

The siblings read the first of Ezra Booth's letters, which were written following his short but notable membership in the LDS church in 1831. He was convinced of Joseph's prophetship after he witnessed what he considered a miraculous healing. However, after his expectations of further miraculous events and prophecies were unfulfilled, he quickly saw through the delusion he was under and sought to...

The siblings check in to share what they are grateful for, some very nice messages sent in by listeners, thoughts on the election, the NXIVM cult documentary series 'The Vow', fear of strangers, and the progress Lisa has made in her existential crisis by decreasing anger, increasing acceptance, and 'choosing new prophets'. --- Website: siblingsinzion.com Instagram: instagram.com/siblingsinzion You...

The siblings discuss their reading of 'The Denial of Death' by Ernest Becker; how it contradicts their old Mormon understanding of an eternal self and how it informs the realistic understanding of the immediate, natural, fearful, fascinating, transient life in a human body. 'This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciatin...

The siblings finally return ... with no agenda but to catch up. What have they been doing instead of making new episodes? Answers include: watching the entire series of 'Lost', reading books like The Denial of Death, Mormonism Unvailed, and The Universal Christ (future episode material) ... experiencing multiple existential crises, dealing with family members learning of the show and completely bu...

The siblings discuss some of Sister Lisa's favorite passages of ' 21 Lessons for the 21st Century ' by Yuval Noah Harari, author of ' Sapiens ' and ' Homo Deus '.   Subjects covered include: Technology evolution and data privacy, the pursuit of happiness, globalization, immigration, ethics before the Bible, monotheism, racism, and intellectual honesty.   'I gather together the different threads an...

They say the gospel is so simple that a child can understand it. Let us see how well Sister Lisa, former missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, having ingested marijuana drugs into her brains, can explain the timeline of events once Jesus returns and the real party begins: Resurrection!!   After attempting to lay out the trajectory of our promised life after this life from...

With all this scariness in our current earthly existence, death might be on the brain a little more lately. But don't worry, you will live again! Also, you already lived before!   In this episode, the siblings intend to speak on the concept of resurrection and the Mormon teachings about it but end up being sidetracked into first talking about the unique take on what happened before we were born (P...

Heavenly Father, are you really there? The siblings discuss the act of praying, the mechanics of a Mormon prayer, and interpreting results as God's answer or the outcome of probability. They also discuss their experiences with prayer as believers, confronting the call to pray as non-believers, the seemingly nonsensical act of praying at all when God already knows all that will happen from beginnin...

To kick off season 2, Brother Dan and Sister Lisa discuss the experience of 'feeling the spirit', and how it is not exclusive to any religion or faith-based reward system.    Often referred to as The Holy Spirit in Christianity, Mormons like to call the third personage in the Godhead 'The Holy Ghost'. What's his story? How can he be everywhere we want him to be? If you don't feel his presence, wha...

In this bonus episode, the siblings are reunited after Sister Lisa returns early from China (news of the coronavirus broke right after this was recorded). Over some traditional Chinese Baijiu, they talk about her experience in China and Hong Kong, her reasons for returning early, being triggered by The Handmaid's Tale , reading The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr, and what's ahead for season 2 of...

Early in production of this season, we recorded a special addendum to shout-out some other Ex-Mo creators that have been influential in our journeys but, forgot to include it! Today we thank them, and you. Check out the various links below. Talk to you next year! --- Heart of the Matter: https://bit.ly/3EkTgoi Mormon Stories: https://www.youtube.com/mormonstories Zelph on the Shelf: https://www.yo...

In this first season finale, the siblings further examine the Word of Wisdom - a health code of sorts which was presented to the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1833. Since then, parts of the WoW have been further elaborated and treated more or less as commandments (alcohol, tobacco, hot drinks), while others seem to be overlooked or ignored (meat used sparingly, barl...

The siblings conclude their overview of the Mormon temple ceremonies with discussions on the 'prayer circle', 'sealings', and 'conversing through the veil' with 'signs and tokens' (secret handshakes). They watch and react to some of the videos of these ceremonies on YouTube and Lisa relates her own personal experiences of her many times participating in these very cult-like scenarios. They also di...