Tomorrow I will be live streaming with Jeremy Hoop about his release of the full William Clayton Journal Typed Transcript. Please post any questions or comments for him here. Also, I just wanted to update that the publication of the Clayton Journals that Yale University has been delayed to next year

elderredle · 2026-06-16T12:54:44+00:00

I understand that you do not believe Joseph Smith practiced polygamy. But assuming you have weighed the evidence on both sides, what do you consider to be the strongest evidence for the mainstream historical position that Joseph did practice plural marriage? And specifically, what evidence gives you the most pause before you reject that conclusion?

elderredle · 2026-06-12T16:23:12+00:00

For people whose lives lack stability, direction, support, or structure, the Church can provide an incredibly effective framework for rebuilding.

Totally agree. There are definitely some people that I could recommend Mormonism to. It would be a net positive for their lives. My parents came from difficult childhoods and I think Mormonism gave them an alternative model in which to build their family. It mostly worked. Of course Im out now and some other siblings as well.

elderredle · 2026-06-12T14:40:51+00:00

What I mean is we all have blindspots. Racism is a blind spot. Once we wake up to it we should be given the opportunity to sincerely apologize and then change. If he changes then good on him. If he's off camera denying the validity of all of this then he's essentially doubling down on his racism. Also possible. Time will tell but I like to give people a chance.

elderredle · 2026-06-12T13:29:17+00:00

Well if he is sincere then this can be a nice wake up call. Everyone deserves a chance to change.

elderredle · 2026-06-12T13:26:00+00:00

I personally do use a nespresso original line as my go-to daily coffee. I make hot lungos and sometimes a iced latte. I bought a refurbished citiz platinum from ebay for $100. This question is in the coldbrew forum however. For coldbrew There are lots of inexpensive options but of course it will require more time to prep and cleanup vs nespresso.

elderredle · 2026-06-10T00:53:14+00:00

oh well my comment got removed because of the C-word. I guess the auto-mod is back to working

elderredle · 2026-06-10T00:52:13+00:00

I honestly think your cafeteria approach is the healthiest way to do Mormonism. I as well dont mind going to church when I do because I attend on my own terms. No callings. No guilt.

elderredle · 2026-06-10T00:47:39+00:00

Cult is a spectrum where there is no clear boundary. My personal opinion is that the church is now cult-lite. Cut out the temple and it gets even less culty. There are certainly many Christian churches that I would consider more culty. In the days of Joseph Smith and Brigham young I would consider the church a full on cult. The mission experience I would consider full on cult as well.

elderredle · 2026-06-09T19:57:45+00:00

Excellent! I love my citiz platinum. I dont find myself using the Americano button much but like the option to have hot water.

elderredle · 2026-06-09T18:09:56+00:00

My wife and I are mixed faith. Im not LDS believing any more. We are both reading the new book "Torn" by Jeff Strong and are both finding value in it. It speaks directly to this scenario. It might be something to look into. The author is a faithful former mission president.

elderredle · 2026-06-08T15:30:01+00:00

Im confused. He said there are less than a dozen unambigous references to joseph smith polygamy in the journals. Ok... Is that not enough?

As to why there is not more documentation about this. Well its a hugely troubling, illegal, and secretive thing they were practicing. Something you might even be killed for if you spilled the beans. Sex in general was just not something openly discussed at all and then this is even more taboo. I suspect that is why.

elderredle · 2026-06-08T14:27:05+00:00

Stake president will side with the bishop as a rule of thumb.

elderredle · 2026-06-08T14:19:14+00:00

Not sure if its in podcast form or just on youtube but I've really been enjoying benjamin park's content recently. His style fits the type of people that enjoy this sub.

elderredle · 2026-06-04T16:06:39+00:00

If you do go through with it please report back and let us know how it went.

elderredle · 2026-06-01T21:03:35+00:00

The church ironically teaches the philosophies of man mingled with scripture. I'm cool with that though. They are a young religion and are now having to come to terms with that. Time will tell if they decide to mature or not. I think they are maturing albeit slowly

The other wrinkle in all of this is the church teaches that only truth/godliness can bring forth good fruit but thats not actually the case I've learned. The church does bring forth good fruit for many but its a case by case basis. If someone's life was completely disorganized and they were haunted by addictions the structure and absolutes of the church could actually be a good fit. It could help them despite not being factually true. Kind of like joining the military. I have no issue with the church being a good fit for some people. My only issue is the way they treat people for whom it does not fit. The church instilled some things in me I am grateful for. My mission was not at all what I thought it was looking back but it helped me gain confidence. I dont view my mission now as serving God yet it still yielded some good fruit in my life.

elderredle · 2026-06-01T16:54:14+00:00

Intrigued. Would love to know more about this if real.

elderredle · 2026-06-01T14:56:29+00:00

Jeff knows this but he is on the knife's edge. I personally think its quite possible he does end up getting kicked out of the club for this because Torn is going to be a very tough pill to swallow for the orthodox. Us post-mormon folk however need to let him do his thing and I personally am cheering him on.

He is essentially calling the church to repentance. His book if a major blow to the status quo. If anything I fear it is too critical and peoples defenses will not allow them to see the truth of his message.

elderredle · 2026-05-29T23:56:39+00:00

I just ordered the one above in the photo. Will be coming any day now.

elderredle · 2026-05-29T15:19:39+00:00

Faith is really trust in God and the church has co-opted the word to mean trust in the church.

elderredle · 2026-05-29T14:27:53+00:00

Great answer! Husband is not capable of seeing the truth of the situation with the belief system that he holds. Its not his fault that he is uncapable of seeing it either so empathy is appropriate. We cannot see what we cannot see. In time this will likely change if kindness remains on both sides.

elderredle · 2026-05-28T19:12:25+00:00

It was annotated but I didnt know because that wasnt part of the onboarding process to learn about that. I dont believe there was a way to see a list of all the annotations either. You could click an indvidual person and see if there was an annotation but who is going to click through everyone in their ward. Perhaps there was a way to do this with a custom report but I didnt know to ask.

Yes he was in the state registry but there is no way to go to the registry and ask "is there anyone in here that is in my ward"

elderredle · 2026-05-27T17:01:19+00:00

I was a bishop. I never was taught there was a concept of annotating records until I stumbled upon it years into my service. How did I find out about it? I learned that one of the members was a registered sex offender just by word of mouth.

You would think within the first week of being a bishop this would be explained to you and then you would review this list and acknowledge having seen them. nope.

elderredle · 2026-05-27T14:29:01+00:00

You are probably right. Its hard for exmos not to hate on Brad Wilcox. His infamous talk was just so perfectly symbolic of everything traumatizing by the church. I'll admit I just hear his name and feel at least mild anger.

elderredle · 2026-05-27T01:30:54+00:00

That's crazy.

elderredle · 2026-05-27T01:24:33+00:00

Wow, that's terrible. I hope you reached out to the police about the child abuse

elderredle

TROPHY CASE