Glass Box Podcast

EXMO LEX WahOOOOO!!! We finally find a proper excuse to invite Exmo Lex onto the show to discuss ExMormon tiktok and social media. She shares a bit of her story and experiences online while discussing the future of Mormon-related social media. After that we chat about a whole bunch of media in aggregate for Media of Great Price segment. We wrap the show with some happy news about innovation in the space of battery-density and how it bodes well for slowing climate change.   Happy News:  https://thedriven.io/2023/04/21/worlds-largest-battery-maker-announces-major-breakthrough-in-battery-density/   Mormon, Magic and Psychedelic Symposium in SLC 5/20/2023!!! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/symposium-on-the-psychedelic-history-of-mormonism-tickets-622985204517?aff=ebdssbdestsearch   Other Appearances:    Mormons on Mushrooms: https://www.mormonsonmushrooms.com/podcast/episode/7dc1c6bf/roughly-stoned-bryce-blankenagel-part-1-naked-mormonism-the-glass-box   Check out Joseph Smith vs Joseph’s Myth, whe

Yes, it’s that time of year again. We discuss General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in granular detail. Every single talk, every slur, every logical fallacy, all contained herewith. Enjoy! If you can, that is.   Other Appearances:    Mormons on Mushrooms: https://www.mormonsonmushrooms.com/podcast/episode/7dc1c6bf/roughly-stoned-bryce-blankenagel-part-1-naked-mormonism-the-glass-box   Check out Joseph Smith vs Joseph’s Myth, where Aron and Bryce discuss the Joseph Smith story: https://youtu.be/oD2Xhg6F-Js   Come see us on Aron Ra’s YouTube channel! He’s doing a series titled Reading Joseph’s Myth BoM. This link is for the playlist:   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJ4dsU0oGMKfJKvEMeRn5ebpAggkoVHf    Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glassboxpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlassBoxPod  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glassboxpodcast/  Merch st

With a new year under the control of Revision Rusty M. Nailz we have a new Temple Endowment for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! What’s new? What’s not new?! Why did they make the changes?!?! We dive deep into the new endowment with comparisons from older versions to see what’s slipped through the cracks about the new Mormon ritual. After that we review a movie with another secret combination as its center, Angels and Demons, based on the Dan Brown novel. Then we wrap with happy news about the Bible possibly being banned in Utah public schools.   Happy news: https://www.standard.net/news/education/2023/mar/24/davis-county-critic-seeks-bible-ban-in-swipe-at-utah-school-library-policy/ https://www.davis.k12.ut.us/academics/library/library   Other Appearances:    Check out Joseph Smith vs Joseph’s Myth, where Aron and Bryce discuss the Joseph Smith story: https://youtu.be/oD2Xhg6F-Js   Come see us on Aron Ra’s YouTube channel! He’s doing a series titled Reading Joseph’s Myth BoM. T

Next on the block is the “Emotion” component of Steven Hassan’s BITE model of cult mind control. This launches us into the next installment of Saints: The Standard of Truth, covering the visionary era of the early Mormon movement and the move from New York to Ohio. Sidney Rigdon and Parley P. Pratt are introduced, as are the Partridge family, including 7 and 11 year-old Emily and Eliza. The book casually introduces the subject of polygamy, presumably to smooth over the subject in the coming chapters when the practice becomes more controversial and widespread. We end the segment discussing Ezra Booth and his expose letters after he was excommunicated from the church for speaking out against Joseph Smith. The episode ends with some good news from Minnesota about transgender health care!   Show Notes:    6 Highly Effective Tactics Cult leaders Use to Build a Raving Audience:    https://bettermarketing.pub/6-highly-effective-tactics-cult-leaders-use-to-build-a-raving-audience-ff3111c4bbf3  Steven Hassan

This is kind of an unusual episode. Shannon’s still in recovery so Bryce is making a solo run for better or worse (definitely the latter). We run through the stories of some early African-American members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their stories are remarkable, their struggles real, their histories vague but inspiring. We try to place their stories within the larger context of slavery in Utah and what life might have been like at the time. Thank you to Century of Black Mormons project at the University of Utah for creating a wonderful resource with biographies of these historical figures. After that, we go through the 2000 movie, Remember the Titans (mighty, mighty, ti-tans!) and discuss how this football movie isn’t really a football movie at all, but a movie about racism. Then we wrap with happy news about the recent SEC filing which charged the Mormon church with hiding assets and unfair investment practices.   Show Notes:  Century of Black Mormons https://exhibits.lib.utah

CULTS! Well, one specifically. We start this episode with a brief rundown of Steven Hassan’s BITE model of cult mind control. We hone in on the element of “Information” control within the larger BITE model to discuss how important controlling information is to the longevity of any cult. That leads us into our longer segment where we finally begin our review of Saints: The Standard of Truth, the new authoritative history book of early Mormonism published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Part 1 discusses the early history of the Joseph Smith family, the supernatural visitations, the acquisition of the Gold Plates, and the authorship process of the Book of Mormon. Does this book cross the threshold of being New Mormon History, or is it simply a more sophisticated treatment of the same Old Mormon History? Yes, this segment is long, but mining mountains for minute morsels is a tedious task. We wrap with some happy news about repurposing defunct oil wells for green energy.   Show Notes:   

Who even is Lavina Fielding Anderson?! In this classic deep dive we examine the life of Lavina Fielding Anderson and her contributions to the Mormon academic field. Her story serves as a case study of how far individuals can pressure the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the inside before the institution’s immune system responds. She’s a powerhouse of a scholar, a pioneer in feminist Mormon studies, and an advocate for those who’ve survived ecclesiastical abuse. The Mormon Alliance was the organization Lavina formed with Janice Allred to collect and publish survivor’s stories and advocate on their behalf. Both suffered gruelling and abusive disciplinary processes for their advocacy attempting to reform Mormon practices and policies. History repeats itself and the timeline of Protect LDS Children and Sam Young was telegraphed by the experiences of Anderson, Allred, and the Mormon Alliance. We finish the episode with a review of Erin Brockovich and a happy environmental news item from Liverpool. 

It’s finally time for our long-awaited deep dive into New Mormon History. Put simply, NMH was a movement within the history department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to confront controversial history and turn away from the apologetic and polemical Old Mormon History. The leading figure, Leonard Arrington, was the right person for the job. But, he didn’t have the business chops to fight forces much larger than him in the form of Mark E. Petersen, Ezra Taft Benson, and Boyd K. Packer. The main segment is long as we chronicle the rise, fall, and resurrection of the New Mormon History movement and how the Joseph Smith Papers Project, as well as Saints: The Standard of Truth, are both the results of this movement pushing the church for academic legitimacy. In retrospect, Arrington is vindicated as an intellectual fighting for intellectual integrity while Packer spins in his grave. Then we discuss Finding Forrester as another example of the never-ending fight for academic honesty. We wrap with h

Education is a battleground for the hearts and minds of the future. The Church Education System of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded in 1980, but the history of education in Mormonism is far more complex. We do a deep dive into how the CES started and the sordid pasts of the various educational institutions attached to the Church at some point. There’s also a tangential deep dive into seminary and the legal sphere of “released time” classes carving out exemptions where religion can be taught in public schools. Then we discuss the modern battlefield of public education by reviewing the 2012 documentary, The Revisionaries, focused on public school text books and the fight at the Texas Board of Education. We round out with a quick overview of the best news of our lifetime, recommendations by the Jan 6th Committee to criminally indict the former POTUS for the violent insurrection at the federal capitol building in January 2021.   CES history links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_E

Guess what! This is the end of our deep dive into The Millennial Messiah, by Bruce R McConkie! It’s party time!  We go over the last 4 chapters and then discuss our conclusion. Then, we will watch the 2010 movie Legion, with a mormon lens because it works WAY too well with that. Then we’ll finish off the episode with some good news about a BYU protest!   MOGP: Legion (2010) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038686/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3  FInd where it’s streaming: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/legion    Happy News:  https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/12/stanford-marching-band-mocks-byu-gay-wedding-skit-football-game/   Other Appearances:    LIVE SHOW! Mon, Dec 26, 2022 — We will talk about media. All things media — books, movies, music, etc.    Come see us on Aron Ra’s YouTube channel! He’s doing a series titled Reading Joseph’s Myth BoM. This link is for the playlist:   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJ4dsU0oGMKfJKvEMeRn5ebpAggkoVHf    Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com

What even is the Law of Consecration?! Well it’s a covenant that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints make during the temple endowment ceremony, but what actually is it? We go through a deep dive of the Law of Consecration, discuss a bit of its history, and pontificate about it’s impact and possible future use in Mormon culture today. After that we review Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper, a wonderful dystopian fantasy novel with some hard-hitting social commentary we interpret through a Mormon lens. We round out the episode by congratulating LeVar Burton receiving long-deserved recognition. Patrons: we debrief/deconstruct the recent debate between Bryce and a certain litigious individual. Show Notes:   All Things are the Lord’s: The Law of Consecration in the Doctrine and Covenants by Steven Harper https://rsc.byu.edu/doctrine-covenants-revelations-context/all-things-are-lords-law-consecration-doctrine-covenants List of codenames in D&C https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis

Our long-awaited deep-dive deconstruction of Adam-God Doctrine, or theory, depending on who you ask. What is it? Who taught it? Why is it controversial? How is it treated by the corporate Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today? ‘As we are, god once was, as god is we may someday become’ is a tried-and-true Mormon doctrine and the Adam-Eve-Gods Doctrine fits perfectly within this logical loop. As the title of the doctrine alludes to, Heavenly Father took the form of Adam with one of his wives, Heavenly Mother Eve, to create and populate the earth, after which he went to Adam-ondi-Ahman, in Missouri, where he ascended back to godhood to continue his charge from Elohim to create worlds without end. Then we dive into the nearly-final segment of Bruce R. McConkie’s Millennial Messiah. McCranky loves the idea of fire burning the sinners and his charged language justifies the physical suffering and burning of anybody who isn’t Mormon or living its dictates. Further, when Jesus returns to reign in the mille

History comes to life! Today we interview Mark Elwood, the creator of the graphic novel series The Glass Looker. These novels seek to illustrate Joseph Smith’s magic and treasure digging in beautiful and colorful relief. The book just dropped so grab yourself a copy! After that we continue talking fictionalized history with the movie Ford v Ferrari and we wrap the show with some happy news about republicans losing a book ban fight.   Show Notes:    The Glass Looker https://theglasslooker.com/   MOGP: Ford v Ferrari: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1950186/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0    Happy News: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/11/republican-book-banning-attempt-defeated-community-stands-lgbtq-people/  Other Appearances:    Come see us on Aron Ra’s YouTube channel! He’s doing a series titled Reading Joseph’s Myth BoM. This link is for the playlist:   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJ4dsU0oGMKfJKvEMeRn5ebpAggkoVHf  Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook

It’s time for the next installment of The Millennial Messiah by Bruce R. McConkie! Before that, we talk about Zion. What was it, what did/does it mean to various faith traditions, and what’s the Mormon slant of Zion? McCranky spends this entire episode discussing how incredibly awesome the future Mormon theocracy, Zion, the New Jerusalem, built upon the American continent, is going to be! We wrap up with some happy news from Salt Lake City attempting to mitigate homelessness in Zion.   Show Notes:  Repository of LDS Zion resources  https://www.margiesmessages.com/zionnew.html   Bruce R. McConkie Come: Let Israel Build Zion https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1977/04/come-let-israel-build-zion?lang=eng   Spencer W. Kimball Becoming the Pure in Heart https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1978/04/becoming-the-pure-in-heart?lang=eng   Harold B. Lee Strengthen the Stakes of Zion https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1973/04/strengthen-the-st

It’s that time again! Every 6 months we review every talk given over the pulpit in General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This Mormon Con sees the best and brightest in Mormon hierarchy speaking in 10-30 minute segments, accompanied by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. In total, we review all 10 hours of talks “to see what slipped through the cracks”!   Other Appearances:    We both appeared on Jimmy Snow first ever Exmormon General Conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULXZyjyI1EQ    Bryce was on The Scathing Atheist 503: Dead End Job Edition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtJqethHMMo     Come see us on Aron Ra’s YouTube channel! He’s doing a series titled Reading Joseph’s Myth BoM. This link is for the playlist:   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJ4dsU0oGMKfJKvEMeRn5ebpAggkoVHf    Email: glassboxpodcast@gmail.com  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GlassBoxPod  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glassboxpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlassBoxPod

What does Joseph Smith’s book say about Joseph Smith’s church? We take a look into the Book of Mormon to see what it has to say about the modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The BoM has a lot to say about organized, wealthy religion so how does a religion based on it accumulate so much wealth into its organization? After that we discuss the SMBC book Religion; Ruining Everything since 4004 B.C. and discuss a recent speech by Biden about abortion health care.   MOGP:    Religion: Ruining Everything Since 4004 B.C. A collection of religious themed comics by, Zach Weinersmith. (SMBC): https://hivemill.com/products/religion-ruining-everything    The Holy Bible: Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness: https://hivemill.com/collections/smbc/products/pocket-bible    Happy News: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/23/biden-promises-to-codify-roe-if-two-more-democrats-are-elected-to-the-senate.html   Come see us on Aron Ra’s YouTube channel! He’s doing a series titled Reading Joseph’s Myth BoM. Bryce showe

Girl’s Camp! We talk about the history of how it came to be, the experiences of many folks who attended, and discuss the evolution of the program since its inception. What happens there? Who gets (has) to attend? Why don’t young women get to do the same kind of stuff Scouts do? Tune in and all answers shall be revealed! After that we review the most recent Tarzan movie and wrap the show with a new paper proposed as forthcoming EU legislation to reduce slave labor.   Show links:    History of LDS Youth Programs: https://juvenileinstructor.org/history-of-lds-youth-programs/    Changes made in 1993: https://www.thechurchnews.com/1993/2/20/23258666/new-young-women-camp-manual-written-for-today     Young Women of Zion: An Organizational History: https://rsc.byu.edu/firm-foundation/young-women-zion-organizational-history    Young Women Organization Timeline: https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/training/library/young-women-organization/young-women-organization-timeline    A Century and Counting: How Girl’s C

What a fun grouping of topics! We do a relatively long deep-dive into the history of how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has dealt with organic evolution and how the stance has changed over time. Of course, the Book of Mormon is predicated on eugenics, as is the history of Utah, so we also include this more controversial subject as it is related. Then we dive into Bruce R. McConkie’s Millennial Messiah where he continues to harp on his favorite topic, the end times. Turns out the book title is very revealing of the subject matter. We wrap the episode with a new press release from the White House about government-funded research.   Show links:  Improvement Era article (Official publication on organic evolution) https://archive.org/details/improvementera28011unse/page/1088/mode/2up Organic Evolution (current Church official) https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/organic-evolution?lang=eng&fbclid=IwAR2JSViKt8X5b58lHFTGwP223jzjn9pm5Vi9Y1j2kz94QC8bjCHNrhuPpMk Pew Research i

Numerology 101! What is it? How many is it? Why is it? We do a quick deep-dive into the esoteric field of numerology and how it influenced Joseph Smith and early Mormonism. We even find out our own numbers just for the fun of it! After that we talk about The Number 23 starring Jim Carrey in a very non-Jim Carrey role, witnessing him driven to madness by, you guessed it, the number 23. We round out with a brief signal boost of the recent sex abuse scandal with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Which sex abuse scandal specifically? Any of them because they never end.   Show links:    Number Symbolism https://www.britannica.com/topic/number-symbolism Pythagorean numerology https://www.dcode.fr/pythagorean-numerology Kabbalah numerology http://numerology.center/kabbalah_numerology.php Chaldean numerology https://numerologytoolbox.com/numerology/chaldean-numerology/  The Philosophy of Numbers by L. Dow. Balliett https://archive.org/details/philosophyofnum00ball/page/126/mode/2up   Happy News:   

We’ve discussed Mormon endtimes on numerous episodes, but this time we will also discuss some results. Mormonism breeds dangerous men; men who believe the end of the world is coming. Bruce R. McConkie loved the idea of the endtimes. He wrote about it so much that we decided to cover what Mormon Doctrine says are the signs of the endtimes. Then, because we know you just can’t get enough of McCrankie, Shannon will give the 5th segment of Millennial Messiah which, surprise surprise, is all about the death and destruction that is going to happen in the second coming. Then we actually will end the episode leaving you with a feeling that the world isn’t completely on fire with some really cool news about green infrastructure. So fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night!  Show links:    Mormon Endtimes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Coming_in_Mormonism https://mormonbeliefs.org/mormon_beliefs/mormon-doctrine-salvation/do-mormons-believe-in-the-end-times/ https://bycommonconsent.com/2016/04/28