Mormon Discussion Podcast

Today we hit on Boundaries.  Healthy boundaries and more specifically unhealthy boundaries.  We use the example of a Bishop’s interview with a youth.  We directly talk about the distorted boundaries in this interaction but we also speak about how distorted boundaries travel with us through life and set up a relaxed and blind trust in later situations when we should be on guard.  Does Mormonism as a culture break down healthy boundaries to the point that as adults we have lost the ability to know what safe boundaries are and to even know where these boundaries should be and why they should be? We talk about the abuse rates in Utah and end asking if there is something in Mormonism that is unhealthy?  And if there is can we be vulnerable enough to deal with it? The post 274: Safe and Unsafe Boundaries in Mormonism appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Today We cover the general topic of ascertaining God’s will both from our perspective and all the way to the top of how leaders have done it.  We use the specific issue of theology surrounding valiancy in the Pre-mortal life to make the point.  The question is simply this.  If Church leaders have taught theology and even labeled some as doctrine believing that they had attained some deeper knowledge from God …. and that members of their day held and sustained those teachings as true……  only to have later leaders disavow those teachings and teach contrary to them….  and for todays members to know today’s leaders are right and have worked out the theological kinks, then what chance do any of us have in attaining and real understanding of what God is trying to reveal to the extent that in any given moment we know for sure we have it right?   Today we show that what leaders taught in the past on valiance in the Pre-mortal life was not only offensive, and shameful, and hurtful but it runs counter to what the Church teaches on some of those issues today…. and perhaps there could be room to see us doing the same damaging behavior today in over reaching …. just on other things. Thanks to Jonathon Streeter for his Blog Post on this subject of which with his permission I borrow heavily from! Resource: http://thoughtsonthingsandstuff.com/mormon-handicaps/   The post 273: Valiancy in the Pre-mortal Life and False Doctrine appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Today The Walker Family join in a round-table discussion over LGBT issues and their personal journeys in this arena.   Today you get to take some time to “walk a mile in their shoes” and see how this incredible family dealt with growth, change, and understanding.  They are vulnerable.  They are honest.  And they lay their lives on the table for you and I to gain insight and perspective not only into their faith transition but also into our own. The post Walk a Mile In Our Shoes: 002: LGBTQA Plus appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

We reached out to the listeners a few months back and asked the listeners if they could ask me (Bill Reel) anything, what would it be.  This is part 2 of a series titled “Ask Me Anything”.  Chris Bloxham is the host today and I am the one fielding the questions.  Please check out part two which is also hosted by Chris as well as part three which will have a surprise guest host.  Also please feel free to continue to send in your questions and thoughts regarding the podcast or me personally.  I love the feedback and I love the questions.  This podcast is about you the listener and what all of us in this space need to in order to hold this space faithfully.  Thank you and may the Lord warm your shoulders. – Bill Reel The post 272B: Bill Reel: Ask Me Anything Pt 2 appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

We reached out to the listeners a few months back and asked the listeners if they could ask me (Bill Reel) anything, what would it be.  Today is part 1 of a series titled “Ask Me Anything”.  Chris Bloxham is the host today and I am the one fielding the questions.  Please check out part two which is also hosted by Chris as well as part three which will have a surprise guest host.  Also please feel free to continue to send in your questions and thoughts regarding the podcast or me personally.  I love the feedback and I love the questions.  This podcast is about you the listener and what all of us in this space need to in order to hold this space faithfully.  Thank you and may the Lord warm your shoulders. – Bill Reel The post 272A: Bill Reel: Ask Me Anything Pt 1 appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Today we tackle lesson 24 out of the current D&C and Church History manual.  We tackle how blatant and demonstrably inaccurate this lesson is.   We hit on a tribes need to diminish and marginalize those who distance themselves from the tribe.  The need to diminish the substance of their reasons whittling them down to petty and weak.   We also hit on the idea of blaming symptoms as if they are the cause when they are not.  Today is about shining a light on the unethical tribal mechanisms we use to keep those in the tribe safe but at the expense of bearing false witness against those who have stepped away.  If we are a “True Church” then we must be open to correcting such behaviors.   https://www.google.com/amp/s/bycommonconsent.com/2009/07/01/the-milk-strippings-story-thomas-b-marsh-and-brigham-young/amp/ http://juvenileinstructor.org/thomas-b-marshs-reconciliation-with-george-w-harris/ http://www.mormonmatters.org/2010/04/15/symonds-ryder-and-a-crisis-of-faith/ http://www.churchistrue.com/blog/why-are-people-leaving-the-mormon-church/ https://mormondiscussions.org/mdpodcast/2017/03/post-alternative-voices-issues-ideas-lead-people-away/ http://www.whymormonsleave.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2014/02/Why-Mormons-Leave-Comprehensive-List-February-2014.pdf The post 271: Be Not Deceived – An Oversimplification appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Gina Colvin, the host of “A Thoughtful Faith” podcast  and Bill Reel , host of “Mormon Discussion Podcast” get together for a chat about what it takes to still be engaged in the LDS Church when so many of their friends have left.   They discuss the development of their young testimonies but reflect on how difficult it has become in recent years to love the church with the same enthusiasm they once had.  They consider how the LDS Church could be better for those who crave a deeper and a kinder experience at church.  They also consider their futures as Mormons. The post 270: Still on the Pews: A Heart to Heart: Gina Colvin and Bill Reel appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Today Chris and Clay join me again for a round-table discussion about the eleven witnesses to the Book of Mormon.  We talk at length about our assumptions that the Three Witnesses has a spiritual event, that the Eight Witnesses had a physical event, whether their experience was consistent, and how the Institutional Church may have expressed certainty about the boundaries and constructs of their experience when in the end all these assumptions may in fact be problematic and paradoxical.   RESOURCES:   Websites http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/witnesses.html http://signaturebooks.com/book-of-mormon-witnesses-revisited/ http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/BOM-Witn.html http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1385&context=jbms http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865644606/15-witnesses-to-the-Book-of-Mormon.html http://www.mormonthink.com/vogelwitnesses.htm http://www.scottwoodward.org/Talks/html/z-Scholarly%20Articles/AndersonRL_BookOfMormonWitnesses.html http://mit.irr.org/facts-on-book-of-mormon-witnesses-part-2 https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/who-are-the-few-who-were-permitted-to-see-the-plates https://journeyoffaithfilms.com/about-the-book-of-mormon/joseph-smith-the-three-witnesses/three-and-eight-witnesses http://www.truthiseternal.com/bomw.html https://www.mormoninterpreter.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2016/06/peterson-v20-2016-pp247-260-PDF.pdf http://lifeafter.org/book-of-mormon-witnesses/http://www.moroni10.com/witnesses/golden_plates.html   Books Marvin Hill’s book on Joseph Smith Dan Vogel’s Early documents Vol I Richard Anderson on the Witnesses Grant Palmer’s book on Mormon Origins Joseph Smith Papers   The post 269: The Book of Mormon Witnesses appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Today you get to meet the Walker’s.  A Family in the midst of their own faith journey willing to open up and share their experience.  Today is their first episode.  Today your offered an opportunity to “walk a mile in their shoes”.   They are vulnerable.  They are honest.  And they lay their lives on the table for you and I to gain insight and perspective not only into their faith transition but also into our own.  I introduce to you…. My friends…. The Walkers. The post Walk a Mile In Our Shoes: 001: Meet The Walker’s appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

****Episode Warning**** : This episode discusses in a raw way  the trauma and abuse in Mormonism.  For those who feel triggered by such a conversation please avoid or at least avoid listening to this alone.  This episode should be listened with others who honor and validate your faith journey.  People whom you can press pause and have healthy conversation around our communal trauma.  This episode also contains explicit language.  Please do not listen around children or if you are sensitive to such display of raw emotion which is at the surface today.  I try to pride myself on generally clean language but today my emotion is at a breaking point.  I sense that those who have been through this pain will fully understand why it had to be stated this way.  For those who haven’t…. I apologize upfront. It has culminated.  The pain is raw.  The trauma is noticeable in me and in this community.  It has to stop.  We can’t keep telling the stories of others and preventing them from telling their own story.  Mormonism is culpable but at every turn it tells those who have experienced the trauma that it is you and me who somehow did something or didn’t do something to get here.  To avoid accountability is abusive and only magnifies the trauma.  To tell those you have hurt that they can not voice their story and instead you will tell it for them and tell it incorrectly is abusive.  It must stop.  Today it stops.  Today…… it ……. ends! The post 268: The Spiritual Trauma of Mormonism appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.