This podcast episode examines the Christmas story as it traditionally gets told--but what do the scriptures actually say and not say about the birth of Christ and all the pieces of this familiar story? How do the Matthew and Luke accounts differ--even irreconcilably? What motives are behind the Gospel writers’ decisions to shape the stories the way they do? What about the Jesus’s place of birth and the reason the family was in Bethlehem (if they were)? Was there a great tax and registration? What about "no room at the inn," the manger, the star, the magi, the story of Herod killing all male infants under two years old? How did Christmas come to be held on December 25th? In this episode, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Kristine Haglund, Jared Anderson, and Zina Petersen explore all these questions plus lead a fascinating tour into other parts of the Christmas story. Why are only five women mentioned in the Gospels’ presentations of Jesus’s lineage--and why are the ones listed all women with "questionable" sexual pasts? What are the Twelve Days of Christmas? What is the "Immaculate Conception" and how does it affect theology about Mary and ideas about the Eucharist and other religious devotions? How has pagan history and ideas folded into the history of "Christmas" (not Jesus’s birth but the celebration of it)? The panel discusses solstices and equinoxes, meshing of calendaring systems, the link between carnivals and holy days, shepherds’ presents to the Christ child, a longstanding tradition of "ghost story" tie-ins with Christmas that Charles Dickens resurrected. Why was there a period of time in which Christmas was illegal? And much more! Perhaps most important, however, is how and why the panelists and others, knowing all that they know about what likely is and is not factual about traditional accounts, still celebrate Christmas, joyfully sing carols alongside those for whom the stories are less complicated, and experience this season as spiritually enriching?

Most religions, cultures, and philosophies contain stories or theories about human evil and its origins. Some, including Mormonism, place a major portion of the blame for moral evil on a fallen angel, Lucifer, and his followers, who after being ousted from heaven become devils whose only desire is to thwart God’s plans and make loathsome humans as miserable as possible. What many Latter-day Saints don’t realize is how much their version of the war in heaven and the role of Lucifer, who becomes known as Satan, differs from that of wider Christianity, Islam, and the hints of the story found in the Bible. What are these other stories? What are the major differences between the narratives? How much has the story or emphases changed within Mormonism since its earlier periods? Does Mormon theology contain starting points and theological angles for viewing the Satan story powerfully as mythos rather than literal history? Has a shift already begun in how most Latter-day Saints view the sources of temptation they face in their own lives? What principles within Mormon theology might an LDS person draw on to create room for also honoring insights about the nature of evil and human propensities toward sin from eastern religions or certain psychological schools? In this episode, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon, along with panelists Boyd Petersen, Charles Randall Paul, and Chelsea Shields Strayer explore all these questions, plus engage in a fascinating peek at how evil is seen in some non-Western cultures, including West Africa (where Chelsea has been doing anthropological fieldwork for the past decade) and its ideas of that very real powers that work in witchcraft, spirit possession, cursing, and other "occult" practices? Does Mormonism have theological explanations for these forces and the various ways they are manifest? Do West African Mormons still hold on to some of these ideas even after their conversion?

Latter-day Saints who experience a faith crisis are thrust into unfamiliar and difficult territory, and are forced to face many issues, including the decision to remain actively engaged with Mormonism, to step away for a while in an effort to regain one’s bearings and perhaps live into new perspectives or find fresh ways to engage it, or to sever ties altogether. At the heart of many of these difficult decisions is a strong desire on the part of the person in crisis to live a life of integrity, to act in harmony with their ideals, highest values, and understandings of what is and isn’t true. In this Mormon Matters episode, host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Joanna Brooks, Brian Johnston, and Jeff Green dive deep into queries along the lines of "How do I live with integrity when I no longer believe the truth claims the way I used to, or when my experiences at church no longer uplift me or even cause me great pain, or when the majority of church members hold such radically different views from me?" In the discussion, the panelists all take great care to honor the many differences in experiences, temperaments, life circumstances, and understandings about the nature of truth (and especially Mormon truth claims) that can lead different people, all with equal integrity, to choose different paths. If there is a bias, it is toward the importance of really taking one’s time before making these decisions or enacting one’s decisions in ways that might burn bridges or cause irrevocable harm to relationships.

In August, Mormon Matters hosted an important and fascinating discussion about messages Mormon women hear about their divine roles as mothers. What messages to Mormon men hear? Are they equally challenged to consider fatherhood their most important role, or do priesthood duties and responsibilities take first priority? Have messages about men's roles evolved over the past several decades? In what ways does Mormonism support the institutions of power and attitudes about gender difference and roles of patriarchal societies? Why isn’t there as robust a discussion within Mormonism geared toward teasing apart cultural constructs from gospel truths as we see in many other Christian traditions that are opening clergy roles for women? Are Mormon men still urged to be "patriarchs" in their homes, and to "preside" over their families? Is there any way to be a patriarch and still have a marriage based on true equality? Can patriarchy ever be "benevolent"? In this episode, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Scott Heffernan, Stephen Carter, and Adam Jacobsen discuss these and many other questions. What it’s like to be Mormon men in this day and times of major transitions? You’ll have to listen in. We also hope you’ll then chime in below!

Mormonism teaches the importance of being obedient to God and God’s will while at the same time emphasizing the bedrock fact of our individual agency. The gospel ideal is that we fully and knowingly submit our will to that of God, and in this way be obedient while still acting entirely out of our own agency. Of course, life is much messier than this, and the ideal hides from us a bit. How can we truly know God’s will and when we’re hearing God’s voice and not our own? Because of difficulties like this, one of the most common ways that messages about obedience and agency become complicated comes in the form of exhortations to listen to LDS prophets, apostles, and other leaders who are more practiced in discerning the will of God, and to then "obey" their counsel. Before long, the ideal of our growing into our own trust in our own relationship with God fades into the background, and obeying leaders, following gospel programs, performing particular actions move to the forefront. The ideal is always there, but sometimes the message that we are to be growing in confidence in our own relationship with God becomes harder to pick out amid the noise. In this episode, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, Chelsea Fife, and Michael Fife discuss these tensions, their possible origins, and the reasons for the ascendance of "obedience to leaders" rhetoric and a focus on performing activities that yield more easily measurable results. They also explore the call to deeper discipleship and the understandings and pathways that help keep the ideal of free agents freely submitting to the divine will based upon their own relationship with God. The primary questions underlying the discussion are: What is spiritual maturity? How can we work toward it and come to live joyfully in a church culture that doesn’t always encourage us to grow too far beyond "I Am a Child of God"? How do we become "adults" of God? How do we remember always that the true call is not to remain children but to mature to the point where we are ready to become brides of Christ, full partners with God, partakers of the eternal life?