Dr. Shades wrote:Hi MormonStories,
Welcome to the board! May I make a request?
Your blog/podcasts/website has garnered a lot of attention and controversy over the months. Unfortunately, a lot of us aren't that familiar with you, your site, and what you do. By extension, we're not familiar with the controversy that surrounds you and why you've attracted it.
Will you be kind enough to give us members of MormonDiscussions.com a primer on what you're all about? A sort of "mormonstories 101?"
Thanks in advance!
Hey Shades,
Here's a quick summary....
--Born in church. Mission in Guatemala. Married in temple. 4 kids.
--My mission was numbers-obsessed, and Zonies/APs would sometimes even play soccer w/ kids, and then take them back to church to "cool off" by getting them baptized. We had over 700 baptisms per month as a mission, and something like 10% activity rates. Just like the baseball baptism thing of the early 1960s in England.
http://mormonstories.org/baseballbaptisms.html
--While working for Microsoft, I was called to be a seminary teacher, and began studying LDS history in depth, and my testimony fell to pieces.
--After reading lots of Lowell Bennion, Eugene England, and others, I was able to piece my testimony back together again, but I learned how much pain there is in Mormon culture, not just over history, but over other cultural things as well.
--I started Mormon Stories podcast as a way to allow folks within Mormonism to tell their stories--with the ultimate hope to reduce pain, and increase knowledge within the church.
I've been controversial for 2 reasons...
--I interview everyone...which means apologists, but it also means liberals and even an ex-Mormon, and I interview them about sometimes controversial issues (polygamy, Masonry, etc.).
--Over the years, my own testimony has changed, such that it would no longer be considered orthodox. I have a heterodox belief system, which means that I do not share the Joseph Fielding Smith/Bruce R. McConkie approach to Mormonism (in theology). In practice, I'm pretty much like other active LDS folk. I'm active in church, hold 2 callings, temple worthy, etc.
Still, on the podcast, I'm trying more and more to avoid the "true/false" question altogether, and just to allow people to tell their stories, with an attempt to be as fair and balanced as I can be.
Anyway, I hope this helps! Thanks for asking.
You can check us out at:
http://www.mormonstories.org
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