And Yet, We Believe

We’re taught that the gospel brings joy. So what do we do when we’re doing all the things and the joy isn’t there? In this episode, we sit with the quiet equation a lot of us absorbed — if I were really living the gospel, I’d be happy, so if I’m not, I must be doing it wrong — and ask what it costs us. We talk about joy and sorrow as companions rather than enemies, the costumes we wear to church, and what it might mean to walk toward joy without faking it.

Most of us were taught to keep the commandments. Not all of us were taught a true why we should keep them.
In this episode, we explore the difference between obedience -doing what's asked- and discipleship, which is the slower, harder work of actually becoming someone different. We look honestly at what fear-based obedience costs us and what it might mean to move from compliance toward genuine transformation.
This isn't a critique of obedience, it's an invitation to let it grow into something more.

In the year 2000, President Hinckley taught that one set of earrings was enough. Lessons got built around it. Girls took out their second pair. And then it quietly stopped being talked about. Nobody announced the teaching was retired. It just went silent.
The Church usually doesn’t say "this is no longer binding." Which means it’s up to every member to decide what still counts—and often we don't agree with each other. In this episode, we look at what's left when the institution goes quiet on a question. The honest answer involves more personal responsibility than most of us were taught to expect.

Mother's Day at church is beautiful for some women, and really hard for others. This week we're having the honest conversation that doesn't always make it to the pulpit. We talk about the women who dread this Sunday, why LDS culture's love for motherhood can unintentionally leave people out, and what it would actually look like to honor every woman in the room.
This one is for the women who have sat in sacrament meeting on Mother's Day and felt invisible, whatever the reason may be. We see you.

The Family Proclamation is thirty years old, and the questions surrounding it have only gotten louder: Is it scripture? Is it policy? Is it a relic of the 1990s culture wars? We take an honest look at where this document came from, what it actually is, and—most importantly—what to do with the parts that don't feed us.

If you could add your own Beatitude to the list, what would it be? Watch/listen to the end to hear ours!
We've heard the Beatitudes hundreds of times. In Sunday School, in sacrament meeting, and more. And yet, if we're really honest with ourselves, how many of us are actually striving to live them?
When Jesus spoke these words, He was inviting us to live a deeper, more transformational gospel.
In this week's episode, we discuss the idea that the Beatitudes are Jesus' version of the Ten Commandments. What would it look like if we put the Beatitudes up in classrooms instead of the Ten Commandments?

What if the thing you were warned away from is exactly what your faith needs? Many of us absorbed the idea that the fullness of the gospel means we don't need anything from anybody else — but Joseph Smith said the exact opposite. In this episode, we talk about the voices outside the Church that have shaped us most, and why gathering truth from everywhere turns out to be one of the most Latter-day Saint things you can do.

Most of us grew up reading the scriptures one way. We read them as history, as fact, as events that had to have literally happened to matter. But what if that's only half the picture?
In this episode, we sit down and explore what it looks like to read scripture literally, symbolically and everything in between. We talk about what the different approaches have to offer and what we might miss if we use only one.
We're not trying to throw out the scriptures, we're just asking if there is more in them than we have been taught to look for.

Why does General Conference feel inspiring to some and painful, alienating, or complicated to others? In this episode, we explore how communication theory and Brian McLaren’s stages of faith help explain why “general” counsel is always received specifically—through our histories, identities, wounds, hopes, and questions. We also make space for faithful, selective ways of engaging Conference, and ask what it might look like to listen for Jesus without judging those who hear it differently.
We mentioned the General Conference Project in this episode... you can find them here: https://www.instagram.com/thegeneralconferenceproject/

Sometimes the things we believe are shaping us for good are actually keeping us stuck.
Not because we're insincere, but because some forms of "goodness" are rooted more in fear than in love.
In this episode, we dig into the Buddhist concept of near and far enemies and how they show up in our lives. This conversation is an invitation, not to judge yourself or others, but to see more clearly and to live your values more authentically.