Mormon Discussion Podcast

Elder Bruce R. McConkie gave one of his most famous talks in history in 1980 named “The Seven Deadly Heresies.” RFM and Bill Reel break down this talk, exposing not only what Elder McConkie says, but why he says it; together with the things Elder McConkie doesn’t say at all! This one you won’t want to miss! Support Mormonism LIVE! and its hosts Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon as take the deep dives into Mormonism and its history! https://donorbox.org/mormonism-live The post Heresy Hunters On Planet Provo! appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Tonight on Mormonism Live, we examine a recurring pattern in Joseph Smith’s prophetic career: when he encountered something mysterious, incomplete, inaccessible, or simply unknown, he rarely seemed content to say, “I don’t know.” Instead, he supplied an answer—and often an extraordinarily detailed one. A skeleton becomes Zelph, complete with a name, identity, history, and ancient associations. Egyptian papyri become the writings of Abraham. Egyptian figures become Abraham, Pharaoh, Shulem, Olimlah, gods, and cosmic teachings. The Kinderhook Plates produce an ancient genealogy. A stone becomes a seer stone capable of revealing hidden knowledge. Native Americans become Lamanites. Landscapes become Cumorah, Zion, the Garden of Eden, Adam-ondi-Ahman, and the “plains of the Nephites.” And the pattern extends beyond objects and geography. Where scripture appears incomplete, Joseph supplies the JST, Book of Moses, Enoch material, and D&C 7’s hidden parchment. Where ancient language is unknowable, he supplies the “Pure Language” of Adam. Where the universe remained largely mysterious, Joseph supplies an elaborate Abrahamic cosmology involving Kolob and an entire hierarchy of named heavenly bodies. But this raises a more important question than whether any single claim sounds strange: How reliable was Joseph Smith’s method of knowing? We separate these claims into those that eventually became independently testable, those where some physical evidence exists but Joseph’s specific identification remains difficult to test, and those constructed around realities essentially beyond external verification. And a troubling pattern emerges: where later evidence allows us to check Joseph’s extraordinary claims, serious problems repeatedly appear. So what should we make of the claims that remain safely beyond our ability to test? This episode explores the possibility that Joseph Smith’s greatest prophetic advantage may have been the unknown—because the less anyone around him could verify, the more room he had to “know.” Joseph Smith Always Had an Answer: The Pattern Behind His Claims The post How Did Joseph Smith Know All This? appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

What happens when a religious system spends a lifetime teaching you to trust authority, obey, forgive, sacrifice, endure, distrust your own doubts, and fear the consequences of leaving? In this episode of Mormon Discussion, Teresa Hobbs leads Bill Reel and special guest Wendi Wilcock Jensen through a difficult question: Can LDS teachings and institutional structures unintentionally condition members with some of the same psychological habits that make coercive control and abusive relationships harder to recognize, resist, disclose, and escape? We trace these patterns across the Mormon lifespan—from Primary lessons about obedience and following the prophet, to teenage worthiness interviews and sexual shame; missionary obedience and surveillance; BYU’s institutional controls; temple marriage, gender hierarchy, forgiveness and divorce stigma; and finally the enormous social, familial and spiritual costs that can accompany dissent or leaving the Church. We also examine how these dynamics have affected women, LGBTQ and transgender members, racial and ethnic minorities, and others whose personal judgment or identity has sometimes collided with institutional authority. The argument is not that every Mormon experiences abuse or that every LDS teaching was deliberately designed to facilitate it. The question is what happens cumulatively when obedience, authority deference, confession, shame, hierarchy, self-sacrifice, institutional dependency and high exit costs become deeply embedded in a person’s understanding of righteousness. Because the disturbing possibility is this: the qualities someone has been taught make them faithful may sometimes be the very qualities an abusive person can exploit. Wendi Wilcock Jensen Wendi Jensen is an author, speaker, and identity reconstruction coach who helps people rebuild a relationship with themselves after high-demand religion, toxic relationships, and other systems that taught them to distrust their own inner knowing. Her work bridges emotional healing, nervous-system awareness, and embodied self-reconnection, helping people move beyond simply understanding what happened to them and begin creating a life rooted in autonomy, authenticity, and self-trust by reconnecting with the body. She is also the author of The Healing Questions Guide- relevant questions to ask the mind to activate healing in the body. To reach Wendi – [email protected] Teresa Hobbs Teresa Hobbs is a Certified Trauma Recovery Coach, Pain Reprocessing Therapy practitioner, and Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) provider and founder of Monarch Integrative Coaching. Her work integrates nervous-system regulation, Polyvagal Theory, attachment theory, mindfulness, somatic practices and mind-body approaches. She also works with people rebuilding self-trust and identity following high-demand religion. Coaching and Chronic Fatigue support https://www.monarchintegrativecoaching.com/ This conversation ultimately asks something larger than whether Mormonism explicitly condemns abuse. What does a lifetime of religious conditioning teach a person to do when authority conflicts with intuition, obedience conflicts with boundaries, forgiveness conflicts with accountability, and “enduring to the end” conflicts with getting yourself to safety? #MormonDiscussion #Mormonism #LDS #ExMormon #ReligiousTrauma #SpiritualAbuse #CoerciveControl #DomesticAbuse #ReligiousDeconstruction #Trauma #HighDemandReligion #MormonChurch The post Trust, Obey, Endure: How Mormon Conditioning Makes Abuse Harder to Recognize appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

RFM and Bill Reel are joined by Dr. Thomas Murphy to discuss what the presence of Native American myths, individuals, and stories in the Book of Mormon means. Are these evidence the Book of Mormon is true? Or do they give us an insight into some of the creative grist Joseph was using to compile his narrative of ancient American inhabitants? World-renowned expert in the field Dr. Murphy helps us find the answers! Please Consider Donating to Support Our Work! https://donorbox.org/mormonism-live The post Native American Legends in BOM! appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

In June 1834, while marching with Zion’s Camp through Illinois, Joseph Smith and his followers came across an ancient Native American burial mound. Members of the group dug into the mound and uncovered a human skeleton—with what appeared to be an arrowhead among its ribs. According to multiple members of Zion’s Camp, Joseph Smith then received a vision revealing the identity of the dead man. His name was Zelph. He was described as a “white Lamanite,” a warrior and “man of God” who had fought under a great prophet named Onandagus. Wilford Woodruff recorded that Onandagus was known across a territory extending from “the hill Cumorah” to the Rocky Mountains and that Joseph received this information “in a vision.” But the story gets considerably more interesting when we dig deeper. In this episode of Mormonism Live, we examine the earliest surviving Zelph accounts from Wilford Woodruff, Reuben McBride, Levi Hancock, Heber C. Kimball, and others. What did these witnesses independently agree Joseph said? Which details appeared later? And how did the story change as it was edited into the official history of the Church? We also explore Joseph Smith’s own remarkable letter written during Zion’s Camp describing the group as wandering across the “plains of the Nephites,” examine the possible connections between Zelph, Cumorah, the Land of Desolation, and Book of Mormon geography, and look at what modern archaeology has discovered about the mound where the skeleton was reportedly found. Was Zelph simply an unusual nineteenth-century frontier story? Or did Joseph Smith make a specific prophetic claim about an actual ancient person—one that potentially tells us where Joseph believed Book of Mormon peoples lived? Zelph the White Lamanite: Digging Up Bones This is where archaeology, Mormon history, Book of Mormon geography, and Joseph Smith’s prophetic claims collide. The post Mormonism’s Zelph – The White Lamanite appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Why do intelligent, sincere women remain loyal to systems that often ask them to suppress their own intuition? In this episode, Bill Reel is joined by three thoughtful women- Jana Spangler, Julie De Azevedo, and Teresa Hobbs; for an in-depth conversation about the psychology of high-demand religion—not to criticize individuals, but to better understand the powerful social and psychological forces that shape belief, obedience, and identity. Together, they explore five well-established psychological concepts that help explain why leaving Mormonism can be so difficult: Pluralistic Ignorance Preference Falsification Cognitive Dissonance Identity Fusion Learned Helplessness Rather than remaining theoretical, these ideas are brought to life through personal stories, lived experience, and honest reflection. The discussion examines how mechanisms such as secrecy, surveillance, ritualization, conformity incentives, embodied obedience, fear of relational loss, and gendered hierarchy can gradually influence behavior and make resistance increasingly costly. This conversation also asks difficult but important questions: • Why do so many members believe they are alone in their doubts? • Why do people sometimes publicly defend beliefs they privately question? • How can an institution become intertwined with a person’s identity? • Why can leaving feel like losing your family, purpose, and even yourself? • And perhaps most importantly, what helps someone learn to trust themselves again? Whether you’re a faithful member seeking to better understand loved ones, someone navigating faith deconstruction, or simply interested in the psychology of belief and social influence, this episode offers insight into why intelligent, sincere people can remain committed to high-demand systems—and what healing can look like afterward. Please share your own experiences in the comments. Which of these psychological processes resonated most with your journey? #Mormonism #LDS #ExMormon #FaithTransition #ReligiousTrauma #Psychology #HighDemandReligion #CultPsychology #Deconstruction #MentalHealth #WomenInMormonism #MormonDiscussion #BillReel The post How Mormonism Breaks Down Women’s Resistance appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Jodi Hildebrandt is not just the story of one deeply harmful therapist. She is a warning sign about what can happen when mental health care stops being guided by professional ethics, evidence-based treatment, and client well-being—and instead becomes filtered through rigid Mormon beliefs about sin, obedience, sexuality, shame, and worthiness. In this episode, Bill Reel examines the broader problem of Mormon health professionals who practice through a religious lens rather than a clinical one. The issue is not that a therapist happens to be Mormon. The issue is when Mormon ideology overrides sound therapeutic care—when a counselor’s loyalty to Church culture, moral judgment, patriarchy, sexual repression, or “saving the family” becomes more important than the emotional safety and autonomy of the client sitting in front of them. Using Jodi Hildebrandt as a case study, this episode explores how spiritual abuse can be repackaged as therapy, how vulnerable clients can be manipulated under the language of healing, and why Mormon-informed therapy can sometimes function less like treatment and more like ecclesiastical control with a license on the wall. This episode also includes two interviews: one with a former client of Jodi Hildebrandt, and another involving a different therapist whose Mormon worldview appears to have caused serious harm in a very different way. If you’ve ever wondered where the line is between faith-informed counseling and outright therapeutic abuse, this conversation is for you. If anyone needs extra support as they work through their faith deconstruction, Bill Reel is a certified Somatic Informed Trauma Coach and you can look into his work at https://awakenandthrive.org/ #MormonDiscussion #JodiHildebrandt #LDS #ExMormon #Therapy #MentalHealth #ReligiousTrauma #SpiritualAbuse #Mormonism The post Jodi Hildebrandt Wasn’t an Anomaly: The Danger of Mormon Therapists appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

What did the Nauvoo Temple endowment look like in its earliest form? In this episode of Mormonism Live, Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon examine one of the earliest published firsthand accounts of the Nauvoo Temple ceremony: Catherine Lewis’s 1848 narrative. Written only a few years after the events it describes, Lewis’s account provides a remarkable window into the temple rituals, secrecy, and theological ideas circulating during the Nauvoo period. Together we’ll explore: The earliest known form of the Mormon endowment Washing and anointing ordinances New names, signs, tokens, and the veil The Garden of Eden drama and progression through the kingdoms How Lewis connects temple secrecy with plural marriage Heber C. Kimball’s role in her narrative The Law of Adoption and priesthood authority Early teachings surrounding Native Americans and “white and delightsome” How Lewis’s account compares with William Clayton, the Nauvoo Expositor, John C. Bennett, Martha Brotherton, and other contemporary sources We’ll also examine Catherine Lewis herself—what we know, what we don’t know, and how historians evaluate the credibility of an early eyewitness whose account repeatedly intersects with other Nauvoo-era evidence. Whether you’re interested in Mormon history, the development of temple worship, or the origins of plural marriage, this episode takes a careful, source-based approach to one of the most significant primary documents from the Nauvoo period. If you enjoy this work and would like to support Mormonism Live and the work of Mormon Discussion Inc., please consider making a tax-deductible donation: https://donorbox.org/mormonism-live Looking for one-on-one support as you navigate a faith transition, religious trauma, or life after a high-demand religion? Bill Reel’s trauma-informed coaching: https://www.awakenandthrive.coach If this episode was valuable, please: Subscribe to the channel Like the video Leave a comment with your thoughts Share it with someone interested in Mormon history #MormonismLive #MormonHistory #JosephSmith #NauvooTemple #TempleEndowment #PluralMarriage #Polygamy #HeberCKimball #WilliamClayton #RadioFreeMormon #BillReel #LDSHistory #ChurchHistory #MormonDiscussion #FaithTransition The post Mormon Endowment’s Earliest Historical Form ! appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

RFM and Bill Reel are joined by a special panel of Black Mormons and ex-Mormons in this important episode. What is it like experiencing Mormonism through the lens of race? Especially when that race paints you as a second class citizen? Are discriminatory practices and beliefs about Black people a thing of the past in… Read More »Black Mormons Speak Out! The post Black Mormons Speak Out! appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

We have shown in a prior podcast that the Book of Mormon answers all the important religious disputes of Joseph Smith’s day. In this episode we demonstrate that the Book of Mormon uses the language and expressions of other early 19th Century authors to do so! Using only publications from prior to 1830! The results… Read More »Obviously a 19th Century Production! The post Obviously a 19th Century Production! appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

What if the harm didn’t start with a crisis… but with what you were taught as a child? In this episode of Mormonism Live, we sit down with researcher and clinician Samuel Clemens, PhD, LCSW, to unpack his groundbreaking study on religious trauma among former Latter-day Saints—particularly those who identify as sexual minorities. This isn’t… Read More »The Hidden Cost of Mormon Belief: Conditioned From Childhood The post The Hidden Cost of Mormon Belief: Conditioned From Childhood appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.

Join Bill Reel and RFM as we cue up the most scintillating and awe-inspiring moments from the April 2026 General Conference! You are sure to have a good time! The post Apostles Say The Darndest Things! appeared first on Mormon Discussion by Bill Reel.