The Latter Day Lens

Send us Fan Mail General Conference predictions: New Temples Speakers Other big announcements   Election Predictions: Who will win the VP debate? Will there be another Presidential Debate? Future unforeseen events? (Assassination attempts, Skeletons in the closet, Indictments/convictions?) Who will win N.C ., PA , GA ? I chose those states because they have the highest probability of mattering the...

Send us Fan Mail Summary In this episode of the RM Podcast, hosts Matt, Shawn, and Sam engage in a lively discussion covering a range of topics from political dynamics within the Democratic Party to the importance of sports in American culture. They delve into the implications of recent events, including the case of Kirk Gibson and the moral obligations of sports teams like BYU. The conversation a...

Send us Fan Mail Mailbag:  One listener writes, “hey so interesting discussion about raffles in the church. I suspect the church’s policy has nothing to do with the morality of raffles and more to do with their legal non Profit status." Here is what the church says in the handbook . Here is what the church says about games of chance . President Hinckley had strong language about games of chan...

Send us Fan Mail Shawn is up first this week. The Ancient Tradition is a podcast hosted by Dr. Jack Logan who is a professor who has researched religious traditions throughout the world. In her study she found reputable scholars that kept pointing out similarities in all these traditions all over the world that indicate there was one original ritual system.  She references reputable academic schol...

Send us Fan Mail Mailbag:  BYU Football AD, Tom Holmoe must be listening to our podcast .  He answered that BYU has both a responsibility to uphold the honor code AND to win! The Thought Provoker: Sam is up first this week. Much has been made about my comments last week re Imagine Dragons, including several commenting that Imagine Dragons is one of the worst bands overall.  What makes for a great...

Send us Fan Mail Mailbag: One listener writes, “ I have heard a professor talking about his 13 points he uses to accurately predict presidential elections, is this dime Store political science, the real thing or something in between?” The Thought Provoker: Matt is up first this week. Many people are complaining that Twitter has become more divisive and less fact-based than before Musk purchased it...

Send us Fan Mail The Thought Provoker: Sam is up first this week. Trump recently stated that t ariffs are a tax on a foreign country . What do you think about tariffs?  Next up, Shawn.  Before Joe Biden endorsed Kamala Harris, Aaron Sorkin wrote an op-ed in the New York Times saying Democrats should nominate Mitt Romney: "Nominating Mr. Romney would be putting our money where our mouth is: a...

Send us Fan Mail Here’s the rundown for tonight. A listener from Texas texted” I usually dread election cycles but I’m really looking forward to it this time around with Sean, Sam, and Matt. I love your open minded example of listening to different ideas and perspectives. As a mom to 5 young adults all over the political spectrum, I feel like you are modeling a good pattern for how to navigate div...

Send us Fan Mail The Thought Provoker: Matt is up first this week. Some first-generation Gen Z Americans are giving up on the American Dream. Rather than a land of promise, they said, they see skyrocketing costs of living and health care, as well as loads of student debt and a chaotic political system. And just one generation in, some first-generation Americans said they’re moving out of the U.S....

Send us Fan Mail Mailbag:  There is a new way to reach out to the show. Have you heard of fan mail? Each episode at the top of the show notes there is a link to send us a text message. Reach out and let us know what you think. The Thought Provoker: Sam is up first this week. The party decides .   Next up, Shawn.  Watching all of our political leaders over the past few weeks has caused me to reflec...

Send us Fan Mail Trump Assignation Attempt. Members of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints should not condone violence The Thought Provoker: Matt is up first this week. Sam likes to tell me that I should support Donald Trump for president despite all of his shortcomings because he is the only person that can save our economy. Well, the Wall Street Journal has an article out this week t...

Send us Fan Mail The Thought Provoker: Matt is up first this week. One of the founders of WordPerfect, Bruce Bastian, died this week. The New York Times obituary described many facets of his life that are worthy of discussion. His company played a large role in making Utah what it is today. When he started WordPerfect, no tech company was headquartered in Utah, they showed the world the potential...

Send us Fan Mail The Thought Provoker: Shawn is up first this week. Annuit coeptus is a motto written on the great seal of the United States. It means God, or Providence prospered our undertaking. The idea is that God put leaders in place to establish a new order and form a specific constitution and create a country of certain laws and not men. Does God still prosper our undertaking? If not, when...

Send us Fan Mail Mailbag:  One listener writes, “I question your definition of liberal and conservative although I loved the discussion. You said conservatives mistrust government and liberals mistrust individuals. I would say that conservatives mistrust government and liberals mistrust businesses. What is it called if you think business and government are equally capable of oppression? Economic p...

Send us Fan Mail Mailbag:  One listener writes, “You'll probably get several of these, but here are a few facts to clear up about two of the country's newest felons.1.The lies Hunter Biden told on his two gun license applications were that he does not use drugs. He was also convicted of possessing a gun while addicted to or using illegal drugs. 2. Where Trump is concerned, in New York, f...

Send us Fan Mail The Thought Provoker: Matt is up first this week. There is nothing members of our church value more than free will. Yet, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey warned this week that social media algorithms are robbing individuals of their free will. Specifically he said, “This is going to sound a little bit crazy, but I think the free speech debate is a complete distraction right now. I thin...

Send us Fan Mail Mailbag:  Carly’s recording The Thought Provoker: Shawn is up first this week. An anonymous expert recently participated in a debate discussing Meta-Marxism and capitalism. They discussed how the theory of meta Marxism primarily looks at all relationships through the lens of power and power imbalance while capitalism looks at relationships through the lens of self-interested and t...

Send us Fan Mail Mailbag : One listener writes, “Like a lot of Republicans, Sam is pretty tone deaf when he talks about risk. On average, rich people have taken much less risk in their lives than the rest of us. Trump is a great example. Trump was a millionaire by age 8. Through all of Trump’s adventures and misadventures he was never in danger even of living the life of an average dentist or inve...

Send us Fan Mail Mailbag:  One listener writes, “Ok. You cannot allow Sam to continue to reference “that one company in Seattle whose CEO decided to pay everyone $70,000 and his company imploded.” The company is called Gravity Payments. The late Rush Limbaugh predicted its downfall in 2014. It’s 20 years old now, still going strong and paying an $80,000 minimum salary. This might be a good opportu...

Send us Fan Mail New listeners, this episode replays some of the discussions that get brought up later on. Also, NBA YoungBoy was arrested in Cache Valley Utah recently and is back in jail. Shawn doesn't like to talk about it, listen to this episode to find out why.

Send us Fan Mail The Thought Provoker: Shawn is up first this week. Eight regional daily newspapers sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement yesterday, the latest in an industrywide reckoning with the rise of content-dependent artificial intelligence. News publishers like The New York Times have sued OpenAI for using their journalism to train its models, arguing repackaging original jo...

Send us Fan Mail Apologies to Shawn's fans. He had technical issues that caused him to drop from the podcast. Sorry you all missed his great comments on the big question. The Thought Provoker: Sam is up first this week. Why don't people recognize the booming economy right now?  Next up, Matt.  Two exciting trials are going on right now. One trial features Chad Daybell trying to avoid the...

Send us Fan Mail The Thought Provoker: Matt is up first this week. Two big stories this week related to free speech. In the first , the University of Southern California canceled a graduation speech by a valedictorian who is Muslim and has social media posts that support Palestinians. They say that it is a question of safety. In the second, Google has terminated 28 employees after a series of prot...

Send us Fan Mail Links for the discussion about the changes in temple recommend interview questions. Handbook 38.5.5 was updated in August 2023 to include this statement about the garment. Wearing and Caring for the Garment Members who receive the endowment make a covenant to wear the temple garment throughout their lives. The temple garment is a reminder of covenants made in the temple and, when...

Send us Fan Mail General Conference Recap Matt's Second Coming Prediction What is Mormonism?