Starting at a very young age, the Mormon church instills its members with the notion that sex is "carnal", evil, and filthy. Rather than a natural, normal, healthy phase of human development, sexual exploration and expression - especially outside of marriage - is taught as something to restrain and divorce from one's behavior. From a "level of sin" perspective, only murder and denying the Holy Ghost rank higher. We explore some of the church's teachings in this episode, and how the leaders use guilt and shame around sexuality as control mechanisms. In the best cases this leaves many members guilt-ridden, and in the worst cases it causes irreparable damage and dysfunction. At least the church's founder, Joseph Smith Jr., was an example of sexual morality and fidelity, right?
This is our first TWO-PART EPISODE! Trust us, we don't plan on doing this very often. We chat in this one about the "pits"...
Moving on through our discussion of the "first principles and ordinances" of the Mormon faith brings us to the ordinance of baptism. Where did...
Have you ever had a conversation with someone about why you left the church, and they proceeded to tell you why you left? We...