Unwavering Faith

The hearing of Jeremy Runnells On this day, I finally watched the  excommunication hearing video of  Jeremy Runnells; and I feel for every person in the room where it happened. My first takeaway thoughts were that it appears that the leadership are fearful of the CES letter that Jeremy wrote, and understood its potential to unravel the Mormon doctrine. At this time, I had not read the CES letter but I had heard about the problems it raised. When I later read it, it was clear why it has given many people much to think about and consider, and why the church considers it to be anti-Mormon material. As the video continued,  in what appears to be a hasty and cold move of holding a “court of love” for his apostasy, Jeremy refutes the claims and says that he has only sought answers to questions that were outlined in the letter , and that if it was wrong, to be told where so he can correct it. The room fell silent for a moment; no one answered, but instead continued to say, “You...

  I was really enjoying the LDS Discussion episodes and how they built on each other. This one I listened to on this day spoke of a few things including how many stories in the Bible are  based on the epic of Gilgamesh, which is an ancient text that predates the Adam and Eve story.  Scholars think the Adam and Eve story was written in 8th century BCE when The Epic of Gilgamesh was believed to have been written around 1800 BCE.  This blew my mind to hear that the Adam and Eve story very well may have been an adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. So, how does that account for the literal story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Mormon? Adam and Eve in Mormonism The story of Adam and Eve is always taught whenever the beginning of the Bible is discussed, as found in Genesis; when the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi chapter 2 is discussed; or in the opening chapters of the Book of Abraham or Book of Moses. In the Book of Mormon , the story of Adam and Eve is expounded upon to includ...

I continued to listen to a variety of content that ranges anyway from more Mormon Stories episodes to a satire podcast called “The Podcast on the Left” and a range of comedy skits that I would have been ashamed to have admitted to listening to. But all of them contained observable and tangible points of view that continued to shape my new views.  I then had this thought; another mental progression checkin: I’ve now come to terms that the church is an organisation that strives to give meaning, purpose and direction for its members.  But I do not believe that the leaders are inspired of God, and I no longer believe the church to be gods restored church on the earth.  It’s but another church with a mission for the world. I feel a shift deep within me that has widened my view of the world. It is much larger!   This new milestone in my views is huge, and I'll tell you why. As I have mentioned before, those that are brought up in the church are taught from a young age cert...

I told another close friend There was another close friend to me that I had yet to disclose my new decision to. I rang her, and after some small talk about how we had been, I told her the news: my wife and I had decided to step away from the church and I wanted you to hear it from me first. She responded as she typically does, "Yeah I figured it was something like that." She then dropped a one-liner that stuck with me:  "That's what happens when you stop going to church." I had to brush that line aside even though it hurt to hear my decision reduced to a single action. Why would such a line hurt ? When I was a TBM (true believing Mormon), I would hear about the importance of going to church every Sunday, and the importance of living the gospel everyday. Various analogies would be told to help members understand why it is important to stay. "It's like using your arm; if you bend it and lift with it, and use it, it will stay strong. But when I put it in a...

The classic phrase uttered by almost everyone at some point in their Mormon journey, and one of the most subjective concepts taught, yet relied upon as one of the best tools to navigate truth. On this day, I listened to a Mormon Stories episode 1563 where a girl named Faith Erickson spoke out about redefining sexuality and body autonomy. The episode runs for 2 and a half hours, and so I will only speak to the notes I took at the time, but the whole episode is worth a listen. From the episode, there were two main points that struck me as being very real when you belong to the church; the doctrine of your own voice and the voice of the Spirit is very confusing, and your sexuality is something the church tries to own. Is it the Spirit, or just me? From the age of Primary, I was taught that the still small voice  was how god spoke to us, unless you were a prophet, which meant he actually spoke to you. Like Moses and the burning bush, or Smith and the First vision. This voice was called...

Listening to the Mormon Stories podcast became a regular activity I pursued during my work hours. I spent much of this time hearing the perspectives of others and reflected on my own journey quite deeply. One such guest came onto the podcast who went by the pseudonym  Mike  from a website called LDS Discussions where an extensive website pieced together a systematic timeline of historical events of the early days of the church. The website is a great resource to refer back to after listening to the actual podcasts, at least for me it was. A list of the episodes can be found here . The seer stone the church believes Smith used. The series first starts with information regarding Joseph and activities that he got up to, including something I never knew about him: treasure digging as a legit way to earn money . Yes. The prophet who was to usher in the gospel and the true church dug for treasure using a variety of folk magic techniques, including the use of a seer stone which he f...