Radio Free Mormon

The Mormonism Live crew takes a much needed break for June 21st being joined by upcoming “Mormon” comedian Ben Brown known as “The Fresh King Benjamin”. Ben’s humor deeply connects to his own journey in and deconstruction of fundamentalist Mormonism and the episode is sure to be an enjoyable entertaining evening. Ben’s Stand Up: https://youtu.be/XBx5g6FOEaM… Read More »Mormonism Live: 133: The Fresh King Benjamin ( @thefreshkingbenjamin )

Radio Free Mormon’s Rules for Teaching Sunday School! I have taught hundreds of Sunday school lessons over my time in Mormonism. By the time I was 32-years old, I had some decidedly unorthodox rules for teaching in Church. I recently discovered a paper I wrote more than 30-years ago setting forth those unorthodox rules. Here… Read More »RFM: 285: On Teaching Mormon Sunday School

Dan Vogel sits down with RFM & Bill not only to talk about his new book “Charisma under Pressure: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1831–1839” but to also flesh out some of the incredible ideas in his recent YouTube video “Joseph Smith, the Necromancer”. RESOURCES: Twilit Grotto — Esoteric Archives – esotericarchives.com/ Old Bountiful Museum –… Read More »Mormon Magic Parchments: Mormonism LIVE: 132

One of the key components in the controversy over whether Joseph Smith or Brigham Young instituted plural marriage is the dating of Section 132. Some proponents of the idea Brigham Young started plural marriage in the Church argue Section 132 was written by Brigham Young or someone at his direction AFTER Joseph Smith died, but… Read More »RFM: 284: The Mormon Polygamy Controversy!

There is a raging debate within Mormon circles where those folks who are determined to maintain belief in the Prophet Joseph Smith but who abhor polygamy and the Church as ran by Brigham Young and after have found ways to dismiss the standard evidence that Mormonism’s founder was a polygamist. They interpret the evidence as… Read More »The Evidence that Joseph Smith was a Polygamist: ML: 131

On Saturday, April 22, 2023, Church Historian Elder Kyle McKay sat down with an inactive former seminary teacher named Joe for a candid discussion about Church History. Things got very interesting very quickly! This is the recording of that meeting! RESOURCES:Joe’s Document “In Defense of Doubt” – https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/In-Defense-of-Doubt-Final.pdfElder McKay’s Letter back to him – https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/Elder-McKays-Letter.pdf

A former seminary teacher got the opportunity to present lots of his questions to the Church Historian recently. Wait till you hear what happened! RESOURCES: Transcript – http://radiofreemormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ELDER-BALLARD-BLOWS-UP-THE-CHURCH-TRANSCRIPT.pdfEpisode – https://radiofreemormon.org/2017/11/radio-free-mormon-021-elder-ballard-blows-church/ https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/prophets-and-fallibility/https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/the-mormon-truth-crisis/https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/the-mormon-paradox/ Joe’s Document “In Defense of Doubt” – https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/In-Defense-of-Doubt-Final.pdfElder McKay’s Letter back to him – https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/Elder-McKays-Letter.pdf

On the May 17, 2023 episode of Mormonism Live, a listener named Justin called into the show.  Justin identified himself as a believing Mormon.  I took the opportunity to ask Justin a series of questions about his beliefs regarding what a prophet could do that would be so bad that Justin would no longer consider… Read More »RFM: 282: Why is RFM Such an SOB?

In this video we delve into the history behind how the LDS Church came to have its name and how its official name has changed from its inception to today. And along the way we learn about the use and meaning of the word Mormon as well as how the Church went from “Latter Day… Read More »Mormonism Live: 129: How The Mormon Church Got Its Name

At the zenith of my Mormon apologetics back in 1990, I engaged in a public debate with a Church of Christ minister from Austin, Texas. This is the story of that debate.

This past week 60 Minutes the CBS TV Journalism Show covered the event of the Church having its finances exposed by whistleblower David Nielson. We take a look at what was said…. and what wasn’t in this weeks episode of Mormonism LIVE! “David Nielsen is a former investment manager for the Church of Jesus Christ… Read More »Gone In 60 Minutes: Mormonism Live: 128

The story of Joseph Smith and Henry Caswall (Caswell) and the Greek Psalter incident is a historical event that took place in 1842 in Nauvoo Ill.. During his visit to Nauvoo, Illinois, where the Mormon Church was headquartered at the time, Caswall met with Joseph Smith. Caswall showed The Prophet a ancient document which Caswall… Read More »The Greek Psalter Incident – Another Tale of Translation: Mormonism LIVE: 127

In a strange twist of fate, my old missionary companion, Kyle McKay, has become not only a General Authority, but also the Church Historian! Now Kyle gets the chance to have his old missionary companion do a dissection of the talk he gave at BYU-Idaho on April 25, 2023; a talk many consider to be… Read More »RFM: 280: Compelling Reasons to Doubt Mormonism!

RFM and Bill sit down with Jim Bennett to discuss his recent appearances on “Midnight Mormons” and take a look at all the rhetoric around violence in Mormonism including the musket talk by Elder Holland but with an updated and focused discussion around whether such a talk is fueling the very violent threats and rhetoric… Read More »Mormons & Muskets with Jim Bennett: Mormonism Live: 126

A new BOMBSHELL report lays out how the First Presidency not only actively engaged in defrauding the Federal Government in the SEC Scandal, but also how the First Presidency is still actively engaged in deceiving its own members by portraying themselves as innocent of any wrongdoing! You just can’t make this stuff up! I am… Read More »Radio Free Mormon: 279: Red-Handed! How the First Presidency Got Caught Breaking the Law!

When the Phrase “Ongoing Restoration” showed up around 2020 Critics paused as this seemed to be the Church saying something different as if the Church now wanted the restoration to be much earlier in its stage of development than had been intimated in the past. So Bill & RFM take long look over Mormonism’s history… Read More »Mormonism Live: 125: Gospel Fully Restored or Just The Beginning Of An Ongoing Restoration?

In this week’s edition, RFM and Bill sit down with Dan McClellan, former scripture translation supervisor for the LDS Church. Dan received his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in ancient Near Eastern studies, where he focused on Biblical Hebrew and minored in Classical Greek. He completed a master of studies in Jewish studies at… Read More »Biblical Scholarship with Dan McClellan: Mormonism LIVE: 124

In November of 2021, I flew to Salt Lake City to debate the Midnight Mormons. The entire debate lasted almost three hours! I have worked hard over two days breaking it down into a Highlights Reel that is just over an hour. I want to thank everybody who came to the debate and I think… Read More »Radio Free Mormon: 278: Mormonism Debate–Highlights Reel!

Mormonism has the power to disappoint in many ways, even after I thought I had left it far behind. One of the most significant disappointments for me is being betrayed by church leaders I trusted implicitly, only to find they were not telling me the truth. What happens when you find out your ability to… Read More »Radio Free Mormon: 277: Disappointing Mormonism

Years ago Jonathan Streeter wrote a blog post titled “Fix your faith crisis with this one weird trick!” that was deeply influential on Bill. So tonight we bring Streeter into the studio to discuss Wood Tools vs Steel Tools and tom recognize when wood tools are being used. RESOURCES: https://thoughtsonthingsandstuff.com/

In honor of the Easter Season, RFM examines evidence that Jesus actually did exist! This is one you won’t want to miss!

This General Conference had lots of interesting twists and turns that have now had time to ruminate in the minds of RFM and Bill Reel. And this weeks episode involves a dive into the Mormon phenomena known as the April 2023 General Conference of the LDS Church. RESOURCES OF TALKS DISCUSSED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYdM8WyYM – Elder Ahmad… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 122: GenCon CXCIII

This session contains what is sure to be the most controversial talk in this entire General Conference. The talk was given by Elder Ahmed Corbitt, and has produced the new Mormon Bumper Sticker Slogan, “CHOOSE THE CHURCH OVER YOUR CHILDREN!” I am so not making this up! Listen at your peril!

The Sunday Morning Session may well be the Church’s response to the SEC fiasco! Listen and find out why!

General Conference has never been this much fun!!!

General Conference has never been this much fun!!!

Joseph Smith’s First Vision ushered in the restoration of the Gospel. It had Heavenly Father and His Son coming through the Heavens to visit the young boy in the spring of 1820. This vision leads to the founding of Mormonism. But what is not as well known is that in the late 1700’s and early… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 121: Joseph Smith’s First Vision in Context: A Comparative Analysis

RFM tries his hand at a one-man Mystery Science Theater 3000 take on the new Temple Endowment video now playing at an LDS Temple near you! Kibitzing on the backrow of an endowment session has never been this much fun!

Tonight RFM and Bill take a look at how both Top Church Leadership and local leaders extend pressure for dissenting voices to be silent. The episode will include individual stories along with the general instruction by top leaders to diminish dissenting voices and at times to altogether silence them. RESOURCES: Oaks “Its Wrong to Criticize… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 120: Silencing Dissent – Mormon Style

RFM has received the the video and audio from his second information request and report back regarding what was turned over by law enforcement. Once again we learn new details that both add clarity and complexity to this case. BONUS AUDIO: We inserted the cut up audio clips of all three witnesses that we had… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 119: Cordon Homicide – Epilogue

Many are going through great lengths to justify the massive hoards of wealth the Church has accumulated on the backs of its believers, even going as far as to use scripture. But do these scriptures REALLY justify the accumulation of wealth as the Church and its members would have you believe?

RFM reads Judge Coral Sanchez’s 13-page order denying Jenn Kamp’s Petition for an Anti-Stalking Order against John Dehlin.

Here is the half-hour presentation I gave at Thrive in St. George, Utah, on February 26, 2023! I had a fantastic time meeting friends old and new! Thanks to all the people involved in making Thrive a wonderful reality for so many of us!

In this week’s episode we discuss the recent news of the Temple Changes and just how far the original Endowment has been altered. And the Second half of the show will involve the recent legal settlement with the LDS Church and it’s Ensign Peak Advisors and culminating with RFM’s lightbulb moment sensing that the Landscape… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 117: Changes To The Temple & The Ethics of Ensign Peak Advisors

What if the liability of the LDS Church has changed this week by the very acts it admitted this week?  What a novel and deeply true idea.  Imagine the church losing a class action sort of legal action. It’s one of those rare moments to affect more than normal where an added segment of people… Read More »Radio Free Mormon: 268: RFM Has Lightbulb Moment About A New Lawsuit Idea

On June 27th 1844, Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, was martyred at Carthage Jail by a mob. Or at least that is how the generally accepted story goes. In the last 8 months, Justin Griffin (Director & Producer) and Steve Sorensen (Film Maker), have shared their research that maybe things are not what we have… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 116: Who Really Killed Joseph Smith?

RFM, John Dehlin, Nemo and Mike from LDS Discussions team up to discuss the age-old tradition of backdating prophecies, and how Joseph Smith appears to have made use of this same technique. Bottom Line–It’s easier to predict the future when it is actually in the past!

On this week’s episode we sit down with Brent Bokovoy, Writer and Director of the upcoming film “Ronald’s Little Factory”, and we discuss all the twists and turns in Mormon Cinema including your favorites, along with movies you have likely forgotten, as well as one’s you never heard of. We finish out the episode discussing… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 115: Mormon Cinema

Included here is the complaint OSF filedhttps://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/OSF-Complaint-filed-copy.pdf & Jenn Kamp’s Complaint Filedhttps://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/Jenn-Kamp-Lawsuit-Against-John-Dehlin-and-OSF-REDACTED-A.pdf

RFM and Bill review the recent set of Documents and other items sent by Florida Law Enforcement in RFM as part of a Freedom of Information Request.  It is best to watch this on YouTube where the documents can be observed. ***TRIGGER WARNING***This episode will contain details of an alleged Homicide of a child. Please… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 114: The Derek Cordon Homicide Investigation

Former Open Stories Foundation employee Jenn Kamp has gone public recently about the lawsuit she has filed against John Dehlin and the OSF. Now John Dehlin and OSF have filed a countersuit against Jenn Kamp. Included here is the complaint OSF filedhttps://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/OSF-Complaint-filed-copy.pdf & Jenn Kamp’s Complaint Filedhttps://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/Jenn-Kamp-Lawsuit-Against-John-Dehlin-and-OSF-REDACTED-A.pdf

The Salt Lake Tribune recently published a book review on the book “Ancient Christians: An Introduction for Latter-day Saints” published by the Maxwell Institute. Both the book and the Tribune article make note that what Latter-day Saints believed about early Christianity and the Great Apostasy may not only “overly simplistic, if not (a) completely false… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 113: What Ever Happened To The Great Apostasy?

A new apologetic technique has arisen in recent years of trying to prove the Book of Mormon true by proving all naturalistic theories false. RFM analyzes this methodology and shows it to be fundamentally flawed in a number of ways. Brian Hales, the current proponent of this apologetic, isn’t going to like this episode!

Recently Bill did a solo episode away from Mormonism LIVE walking members into the historical analysis of the initial Doctrine of tithing as 10% of one’s Surplus or Interest to help believers sense they had an option backed by historical documentation that allowed them to save themselves Thousands of Dollars a year while remaining faithful.… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 112: Tithing – What’s In A Word

Radio Free Mormon and his faithful sidekick, The Backyard Professor, complete their dismemberment of Elder Bednar’s recent two-part talk titled, “That Ye May Believe.” Nothing about Elder Bednar has ever been this much fun!

The running narrative within Mormonism is that Joseph Smith was an uneducated backwoods farm boy and that his lack of sophistication leaves the the Restoration as a miracle that no country bumpkin could have pulled off. But what happens when, with critical thinking skills, we take a look at the the Education he did have… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 111: Joseph Smith’s Secret Education – The Dartmouth Connection

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I wanted to revisit the letter he wrote April 16, 1963 while imprisoned in the city jail of Birmingham, Alabama, as a result of the nonviolent actions Dr. King spearheaded to bring national attention to the injustices of the segregationist South. Not only is this letter a… Read More »Radio Free Mormon: 263: Letter from Birmingham Jail

Bill & RFM take a look at the Life of Francis Gladden Bishop, another Latter-day Saint who claimed to be the rightful heir to Joseph Smith after the martyrdom as part of the Mormon Succession Crisis. RESOURCES:https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/license-for-gladden-bishop-14-april-1840-extract/1 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/145852385/francis-gladden-bishop https://atom3.lib.byu.edu/mormonbib/11107/. https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/chd/individual/francis-gladden-bishop-1809 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladden_Bishop, https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/subjects/francis-gladden-bishop https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/bc-jsp/content/jsp/images/1168/1168_ms155_3_05_001_med.jpg https://archive.org/details/addresstosonsdau01bish https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-c-1-2-november-1838-31-july-1842/215, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/bc-jsp/content/jsp/images/1168/1168_ms155_3_05_001_med.jpg https://smile.amazon.com/Ensign-Shepherd-Remembrance-Classic-Reprint/dp/1333273819/ref=sr_1_1?crid=VOHXKME6OJK6&keywords=%22francis+gladden+bishop%22&qid=1672953250&sprefix=francis+gladden+bishop+%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1 https://smile.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AFrancis+Gladden+Bishop&s=relevancerank&text=Francis+Gladden+Bishop&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1 https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-from-francis-gladden-bishop-26-september-1843/1 https://mormonpolygamydocuments.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/JS0428.pdf

RFM is joined once again by fellow attorney Kolby Reddish for the concluding installment of their investigation of how Mormonism fares when compared with the rules governing admissibility of evidence in a court of law. This is one you don’t want to miss!

Bill and RFM take a deep look at how sex and sexuality were presented within the LDS Church over the last 200 years. What was taboo and sin and to what degree did Leaders impose what could and could not go on the Bedroom. RAPE & VIRTUE A.) BOM teaching – Moroni 9:9 ORAL SEX… Read More »Mormonism LIVE: 109: The LDS “Mormon” Church’s Teachings on Sex