RFM makes a number of important announcements and goes over a fistful of messages from listeners spanning the past two years!
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Radio Free Mormon: 174: Wednesday Update!
Radio Free Mormon
Broadcasting Behind Enemy Lines
Josephine certainly writes well. Josephine’s comments reminded me of two other songs Runaway Train by Soul Asylum and Losing my Religion by R.E.M. The words sure have a different meaning now than when I used to listen to them. Thank you Josephine for that well put together letter. Great podcast as usual. Thanks to all who contributed.
You’re very welcome. I’m glad I was able to put together something that people enjoyed!
Thanks again so much, Josephine!
I feel your letter was the centerpiece of the episode!
By the way, I have been getting messages about your letter, encouraging me to try to get you in contact with post-Mormon groups in your community.
They will be able to give you a lot of support you may not be getting from church members.
If you want to do that, and have difficulty locating one, you can PM me on Facebook and maybe we can locate one in your area.
Thanks again!
RFM
I’ll consider contacting you on Facebook. I de activated my account some years ago because I had no real use for it.
But maybe this is a good enough reason to do so.
Thank you RFM, for appreciating your listeners so much. I hope you will continue to do a podcast like this from time to time. It’s very enjoyable to listen to you voice these opinions and add your thoughts.
You have managed to make a very genuine and warmly human connection with us over what can be a cold medium….not to mention the ultra sensitive and triggering nature of the topic material…not easily done, as I’m sure you know.
You have an exceptional ability to create rapport and make it look easy……thank you for all your generosity over the past 9 weeks. I know it can’t continue at this rate, but I hope you will tackle the rest of the April conference next.
The emptier and more maniacally boring that conference is, the darker and funnier it is too, I find….if you have the right kind of sense of humor. And your musical send offs are always such a delight….so witty and hilarious!
Thanks so much, Angie!
Like I just mentioned, I was worried the different kind of format might not be well received.
So glad I plowed ahead with it, anyway!
Having great listeners makes the rapport a lot easier, I have to admit!
I really love the format of this episode… picking out some listener comments and responding to or making observations about. It felt to me that this episode built a community atmosphere. I suggest that it might be worth thinking about doing one of these every 2 or 3 months.
BTW, I’m fairly confident that virtually all Mormon biblical scholars would agree with the list of Dale Whitman’s assertions on the Sermon on the Mount found in the BoM. All of Dale’s assertions about the creation of the sermon on the mount mainstream scholarship. The rest of Dale’s list connecting the dots are simple logic, all of which is undeniable except for the willfully blind
Thank, VFanRJ!
It seems to have been a more popular format than I had at first supposed.
I was actually kind of nervous about doing this format because I was worried it might not go over well.
And yes, every one of Dale Whitman’s points was spot on with current Bible scholarship.
I really liked the point he made about comparing the transmission line of the Sermon on the Mount as it came to be in the KJV, versus the transmission line of how it would have come to be in the BOM, according to the BOM narrative itself.
That line of comparison completely destroys any credible attempt to account for the virtually identical language of three chapters of Matthew showing up in 3 Nephi, I think.
RFM,
I was surprised and heartened to hear you read my message about the church project digging into the causes and possible responses to the current exodus of young people out of Mormonism. I can assure you that the project was real, did happen, and I strongly suspect that many of the changes we have seen be announced, were at least endorsed by the data we provided. Some of the changes that we recommended that have not yet seen the light of day included softening of the Word of Wisdom restrictions by taking it out of the temple requirements and letting it speak for itself, “To be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint…”, and a more Christlike and inclusive approach to the LGBTQ issue.
While the LGBTQ controversies within the church are no-brainers, begging for reform, how they could be addressed while maintaining a consistent doctrinal foundation is beyond me and just about everyone I spoke to on the subject. Nearly everyone agrees that change is needed if they want to keep the youth from leaving, but no one had a meaningful suggestion as to what could actually work that wouldn’t cave in the foundations of LDS doctrine. This might be an interesting topic for a future podcast. I hear lots of complaining on the subject but not much in the way of workable policy that serves everyone’s interests. What was very interesting and somewhat surprising to me was the support for Word of Wisdom reform. Most striking was the feedback I got from a seminary/institute director from an extremely prominent LDS family, (cuz that matters in Utah) who told me that the WoW causes more young people to walk away from the church than anything else he sees. He told me that he sees tons of kids who break the WoW, and then let that become the wedge that keeps them from going to church. They end up telling themselves that what they eat or drink is no reflection on what kind of person they really are (quite correctly, IMHO) and that if a few beers is all it takes to be shunned by God and His church, maybe that’s not the church for them: Exit, stage left.
I know Bill has this on his list of predicted changes in the church, which tells me that it has been on the big white board in the sky, but I’m also guessing that this is a bridge too far for everyone over the age of 70 in the power seats. That’s too many years of self denial by the “brethren” to be just shoved aside by a bunch of whiny millennials, even if they are God’s chosen and elect generation and the literal future of His kingdom on the earth.