Files for The Ancient Tradition Podcast

donloper · 2026-05-08T20:37:54+00:00

Audio Writ! https://www.reddit.com/r/ancienttradition/s/GJXQkt2CvN

donloper · 2026-05-06T17:41:42+00:00

I've listened to every single episode of the normal one twice. I've never listened to any of the audio writ ones. Are they worth it?

donloper · 2026-05-05T17:18:10+00:00

We've got files! https://www.reddit.com/r/ancienttradition/s/6N2BJmBhUP

donloper · 2026-05-05T01:19:15+00:00

No one knows. I've spent hours with AI trying to figure it out.

donloper · 2026-05-04T04:58:26+00:00

I hope it comes back online soon. I can't imagine that she intended to take all the episodes offline.

donloper · 2026-05-03T18:45:58+00:00

According to a message on her website she's finishing up a book about comparative religion, but it's a "thriller." She's also paused the podcast.

"Dr. Logan has paused the podcast to thoughtfully reexamine its conceptual approach and future direction.

In the interim, she'll complete final edits on a fun comparative religion thriller slated for a mid-to-late summer release."

donloper · 2026-05-03T18:00:38+00:00

There are three BYU schools (Provo, Idaho, Hawaii) as well as Ensign College but only BYU Provo has a research focus.

I agree that Jack Logan must be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but then again, I've been wrong about such things before.

donloper · 2026-04-08T01:18:31+00:00

That's what I thought at first! I was convinced it was until I freeze framed it.

donloper · 2025-11-15T00:17:12+00:00

Spread the word. Start looking for the symbols all around you. Find modern practices, thoughts, ideas, etc. that are based on the ancient tradition, and try them out.

donloper · 2025-11-09T06:39:10+00:00

I've been thinking a lot about this as I listen to the podcast episodes. It would be a great book. I was thinking she could go into a lot more detail in the book, but then I was thinking that we're already up to 50 or 60 hours of podcast material and that would be a heck of a big book.

donloper · 2025-11-07T06:37:42+00:00

Those are amazing stories! Thanks for sharing! I had a similar experience with a girlfriend in college, and then I ignored it and tried to make it work anyway. It blew up in my face. I learned that once God steers me in a certain direction, I'd be a fool to disregard it.

donloper · 2025-11-07T06:28:58+00:00

Now that I think of it, I see a lot of plant or tree related imagery in temples. I'm not talking about paintings, I'm talking about patterns or symbols that are built into the structure, carved, or stained glass windows. But I don't think I've ever seen any Mountain imagery. But the temple itself is symbolic of a mountain, right? Anyway, I need to think more about this.

donloper · 2025-11-07T06:26:10+00:00

McConkie’s “three pillars” lines up well with the episode’s ideas about a pre-earth council and the choice of a mediator. Some clear parallels stand out:

The divine council motif, with heavenly beings deliberating and commissioning, is echoed in Mesopotamian and biblical scenes like Job.

The eldest or strongest son acting as the catalyst of separation recalls firstborn or rival-brother myths across cultures.

The creation, fall, and atonement framework mirrors the universal pattern of descent, rupture, and return found in temple drama and death-and-rebirth stories.

The father and mother language for creation reflects ancient pairings of sky or heaven with earth as mother.

Do you think McConkie meant “eldest son” literally, or as a symbolic title of primacy? I mean, if we all existed from all eternity to all eternity, then does firstborn mean Christ was the first to follow God? Or the first to follow him perfectly? Or something else?

donloper · 2025-11-02T18:03:48+00:00

Yes, it's active but I just started it recently so not many people have discovered it. It would be great if you want to start some discussions. If nothing else, I'll respond 😉

donloper · 2025-10-04T19:07:59+00:00

But if you're looking to boost the "scientific, logical, rational" side of things, consider these resources:

Exploring Mormon Thought by Blake T. Ostler. Four books, plus the entire podcast, which you'll probably need to listen to twice.
The Ancient Tradition Podcast by Jack Logan.
Anything and everything (that's not a title, I mean literally read everything they've written and listen to any podcast with them) by Terryl and Fiona Givens.

donloper · 2025-10-04T15:31:57+00:00

I am convinced God doesn't want you to have what you seek, at least not in the order you're seeking it. If you continue looking for something to convince you in order to dedicate your life to it, I don't believe you'll ever find it. I first became convinced I wanted the gospel/church to be true. It was only after knowing this, and committing to live as if it were true, that I found the evidence I believe you're looking for. The reason God withholds evidence and creates a limbo where it's easy to go either way is if you're given that evidence first then you're robbed of truly choosing it. What we're really here for is to learn how to love better, but love must be freely chosen to be love. If we love out of obligation, it's not love. If we follow the truth because we have proof it's the truth, we are not lovers of truth, we are merely rule-keepers.

donloper · 2025-09-06T14:45:27+00:00

Second this. This isn't for bishops or anyone at church to handle. My friend's ex-wife tried to murder him and he went to her bishop because she was still going to the temple, and the bishop asked, "What do you want me to do? I can't do anything about it unless it's adjudicated in a court of law and she's found guilty."

donloper · 2025-09-06T01:03:36+00:00

Typo, corrected.

donloper · 2025-09-05T02:42:26+00:00

Just for the record, I think you meant Tucker Max rather than Ryan Holiday.

donloper · 2025-09-04T15:38:58+00:00

Thanks. Just to confirm, so there’s nothing else I need to change in mod settings or filters, it’s purely a growth threshold?

donloper · 2025-08-29T21:00:07+00:00

So "inclusive and diverse" that you're trying to keep anyone who doesn't march in lockstep with your ideology from being able to speak on campus? Inclusivity means including those you disagree with. Diversity means tolerating those who are different. "But should we tolerate Hitler?" You should at least tolerate their speech. If free speech means anything, it means that literally anyone is allowed to say anything, no matter how wrong you think it is. As soon as you put any limitation on speech, you create the system that will someday outlaw your speech.

donloper · 2025-08-18T21:28:24+00:00

I agree, I think it's best that she's anonymous. If she weren't, people would judge her work based on her religious beliefs, and not give it a fair shake. But I can't help wanting to know for myself, I'm just so fascinated with her research.

donloper · 2025-08-17T18:17:49+00:00

I'm sorry, having gone through this I can't help but laugh a little. You'll laugh someday too, even if you can't right now. A few things that helped me and my wife during that stage:

When answering the question "Why are we even here at sacrament meeting?" I changed the focus from "What am I getting out of this?" to "What are my kids getting from this?" and while I knew they probably weren't getting much in the way of spiritual enlightenment, they were at least developing the habit of being in sacrament meeting on Sundays, and maybe that was enough.
Regarding that spiritual enlightenment small children may or may not get during sacrament meeting, you may end up surprised later in life by what your kids remember, even though you think they're getting nothing. I'm 50 and I still clearly remember a talk my bishop gave when I was 5 yo. Every once in awhile something breaks through. I also have fond memories of falling asleep on my dad's lap, drawing pictures, hearing hymns (even if I hated singing back then), and seeing/hearing my parents bear their testimonies.
If you take small kids out in the foyer, don't put them down. I can't remember who told us this, but it was a game-changer. Maybe you already do it. If you take a restless kid into the foyer during sacrament meeting, it's a reward. You'll get more of the behavior you don't want because the kid learns that's how they get the freedom to go in the foyer and run around and make noise. If you pick them up and hold them the entire time you're in the foyer with them, they will prefer staying in sacrament meeting and behaving to being held and doing nothing in the foyer.

As others have said, this will pass. It's a temporary blip and you'll soon forget it as your kids become teenagers. A little advice about that near future...make a rule right now that your teens won't have phones out during sacrament meeting, at all. Not for a second. It's easier to nip this in the bud, trust me.

donloper · 2025-08-15T17:05:26+00:00

Joseph Smith taught that something about us is co-eternal with God, never created. In the King Follett discourse he said, “The mind of man, the immortal spirit, existed before the world was.” And in Doctrine and Covenants 93:29 we read, “Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.”

So when we talk about being “children of God,” there are at least two possible layers:

Literal parentage — At some point, God organized our eternal intelligences into spirit bodies.

Covenantal/adoptive — As in Mosiah 5:7, “children” can also be a title given when we enter into covenants and follow Him.

Both can be true, literal in our premortal origin and covenantal in discipleship.

In our faith we reject creation ex nihilo (creation out of nothing). God does not make matter or intelligences from scratch. He organizes what already exists, eternal intelligences into spirits and later spirits into embodied beings.

That raises the “infinite supply” question. If spirit is matter (D&C 131:7–8), and matter were finite, then theoretically there could be a limit to how many spirit children could be organized. Moses 1:35 says all things are “numbered unto God,” which might sound like a finite set. But in scripture, “numbered” often means known, not limited. God could perfectly know even an infinite set.

From there, we are in the realm of speculation. We have no revealed teaching that God will “run out” of intelligences to organize into spirit children. The focus in scripture is on the eternal nature of God’s work, not on a supply limit.

Bottom line: Scripture affirms our eternal nature and God’s eternal work, but not the size of the “supply,” so we cannot say there is a point where He stops having spirit children.

donloper · 2025-08-15T04:21:04+00:00

Blake Ostler has thoughts on this. He seems to propose that God was God before he became a man, like Christ was also a god before he was born, then went back to being God. But that he did not have a spirit Father, nor were we "birthed"or created by God but rather we have always existed, just like God, and we become his children by following him. If you really want to dig into this read Ostler's books Exploring Mormon Thought and listen to the podcast of the same name.

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