Saints Unscripted

We are elated to sit down with Loren Marks and hear his thoughts on the impact of a home-centered gospel. Loren has been studying the impact of faith on family for decades. In this episode, he discusses the content of his book, Home-Centered Gospel Learning and Living.

Today we are joined by one of our favorite scholars, Gerrit Dirkmaat! Gerrit recently co-authored a book called “Let's Talk About the Translation of the Book of Mormon.” In the book, Gerrit shares his research on how the Book of Mormon was translated, including the common misconceptions and little-known facts.

Today on Saints Unscripted we do a fun activity that is familiar to most members of the LDS Church (otherwise known as the Mormon Church). Today we try and relate as many random things to the gospel as we can! Do you know that person who stands up at every Fast and Testimony meeting to share how their weekend adventures made them think about the gospel in some abstract way? Well today we are them!!

Julie and Aaron Bujnowski joined us on Saints Unscripted to share their most recent project and one that has already impacted many people. During the pandemic of 2020, Julie and Aaron began writing down their experiences and feelings pertaining to the Latter-day Saint temple. They were eventually prompted to share their written thoughts with the world through a published book. In their book, they share their many temple insights and how each of us can gain more perspective and love as we study about the temple.

In this episode we are joined by the brilliant and kind Lauren Cassidy! Lauren moved to Utah from New York just a few years ago after she converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (otherwise known as the Mormon Church). Lauren joins us to share her conversion story. Lauren grew up knowing about God and did her best to live a good life. However, she wasn't praying to God and wasn't quite sure where religion would fit into her life. During her sophomore year in college, Lauren found a Bible in her dorm and decided to read as much of. the scriptures as she could. She began searching for a community of believers where she could engage with the scriptures with likeminded people. Lauren shares her experience searching for a religion and coming across the Church of Jesus Christ.

Johnny Harris, YouTuber and independent journalist, recently made a video titled "The REAL Story of the Mormon Church." But what do active Mormons (correctly known as Latter-day Saints) think about his video? Does the video portray the real story of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or are there incorrect portrayals of the history of the Mormon Church? Was Joseph Smith a fraud? Are the origins of the Book of Mormon a complete hoax? In this episode, David Snell watches the video by ex-Mormon Johnny Harris and responses as a faithful Latter-day Saint.

Everyone who has served a mission has a crazy story about their mission. Well, we recently came across an article that claimed to have some of the craziest mission stories ever! We wanted to put the stories to the test to see if they really were as crazy as they claimed to be. We’d love to know what you think about these mission stories :) Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are accustomed to seeing 19 and 20 year old men and women leave to different parts of the world to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. During one’s mission, many beautiful and challenging experiences occur— some having to do with theology, some being totally secular. In this episode, we share hilarious stories on the more secular side of the spectrum. Check out Third Hour for more stories like these!

Levi shares his story of growing up with lots of exposure to religion. He realized in high school that based on his life trajectory, he wouldn’t make it past 21 years of age. He decided it was time to look into religion because he became concerned about the afterlife. One night, Levi asked God to send religion to him. The next morning he heard a knock on the door. He began talking with the Jehovah Witnesses for 6 months but became frustrated. Due to some unfortunate experiences, Levi decided to quit his search of religion. His mom, however, had different plans. Watch the video to hear how Levi’s life dramatically changed!

Have you seen the latest photo of Joseph Smith?! If so, you probably have a lot of questions (as did we!). We brought Curtis Weber to the show to talk about his extensive research on the subject and his research is fascinating! Thanks so much for joining us, Curtis!

Today we are joined by Tyler Gordon, one of the kindest people we have had on the show. We chatted with Tyler before this episode about his experiences and the spirit he brought with him was powerful and humble. We are so grateful for his vulnerability in sharing his story! Tyler grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served a mission faithfully and “checked the boxes.” Upon his return home, he was quickly exposed to anti-Mormon content and quickly lost his faith as he dove deeper and deeper into the claims made against his faith. He decided to remove his records and distance himself from the church. Tyler then saw the missionaries outside and asked them for their help in carrying his groceries. He never would have expected what would come next!