I started this blog about a year ago. Since then, I've listened to many Mormonstories podcasts. I haven't posted my comments on most of them because they are so repetitive.
Here's John Dehlin's basic formula.
1. John presents his pejorative interpretation of Church history and doctrine as fact and creates a straw man argument that the Church and its members/leaders ought to be held to a standard of perfection because of its truth claims. People and organizations always fall short of their aspirations; that's why they are aspirations. The higher the aspirations, the larger the gap between reality and expectations. The larger John can make the gap, the more compelling his content can be, and the more money he can make.
2. John finds, or is contacted by, disgruntled Latter-day Saints, former Latter-day Saints, or observers outside the Church (as well as people in similar situations with other faith groups) who confirm his biases.
3. The screened guests relate their stories, explaining why they are disgruntled, hurt, damaged, disenchanted, or otherwise unhappy about their experiences (the gap between reality and expectations).
4. If they don't already blame the Church or its members/leaders, John prompts them to do so, often with leading questions.
5. Throughout the interviews, John feigns astonishment at the disparity between his straw man portrayal of the Church (expectations) and reality.
6. Finally, John solicits donations for more of the same, assuring donors that he would be making far more money if he were doing something else, but he feels his calling to help people in "faith crisis" is more important than mere money.
Ironically, the gap between (i) John's professed aspirations--helping people to make fully informed decisions in an environment of mutual respect and tolerance--and (ii) the reality of what Mormonstories has become, has grown dramatically since he began Mormonstories.
Hopefully John will narrow that gap and become more tolerant and inclusive in the future.
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Mormonstories provides a useful service for people to vent, form a community of like-minded people, and confirm their respective biases. That's all fine. People can believe and do whatever they want.
Latter-day Saints are a community of like-minded people who seek to establish Zion in the real world. We think many people, regardless of religious faith or unbelief, also seek such a society. People have sought a utopia for generations. But human institutions have fallen way short because of self-interest.
We believe God restored the gospel, established an organization, and continues to inspire members and leaders to accomplish the long-sought objective of establishing Zion. We recognize that this process requires self-sacrifice, hard work, and devotion to one another as well as to God, despite our imperfections. Thus, we understand that many people are uninterested in participating. We expect opposition. All we can do is explain our beliefs and our objectives, invite others to help out, and ask others to not mischaracterize or misrepresent them.
What we're observing in modern society was expressed long ago in D&C 1.
They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall.
(Doctrine and Covenants 1:16)
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