Conversation with John Dehlin

Welcome to our VERY SPECIAL GUEST, brother/Mister/Meistro/Doctor John Dehlin.

Thank you for joining us.

SHAWN (describe history between John and myself).

Before we hear from John I want to explain how I see our time together going. Firstly, in Part One I want to ask John to take some time and tell us his backstory. We are particularly interested in

Birth
Parents
Siblings
Religious environment of home
Personal religious insights/thoughts/worries/disconnects.

Go through grade school, junior high, high school, and any college before the LDS mission. Pay particular attention to your person relative to the LDS prescribed person of a young man. Finally, finish off our time together on the mission experience, returning home, marriage, family, occupation – then take us up to your very FIRST MORMON STORIES INTERVIEW. This will be part one.

I will interrupt you gently at times to make comments and ask for further explanation if that is okay. But this is the goal of our first hour together.

John Dehlin Interview – Part II

Welcome to part II of our time with John Dehlin, founder of Mormon Stories, PhD and co-originator of Open Stories Forum. Here in part II I would like you to spend some time on the beginning and the development of Mormon Stories, what you were going through PERSONALLY during your accumulating these stories (including your education, your family, your activity in the ward).

I would also like you to share, if you would, which stories reached you in your life and caused you to become, as it were, more aggressive in your approach to the LDS institution. In other words, detail for us how you have personally changed over the past decade plus, some highlights and some low points, and then we will wrap this segment up with a summary of where you are today –

As a man, father, human being, PHD, Mormon Stories producer, host, leader of suffering people . . . Alright.

Leadership for Ex-LDS People

Okay, Part III

A number of months ago I said on this show that in the state of Utah there are in reality three leaders for people coming out of Mormonism. There are a lot of other people offering them prepared packages of religious traditions – but in my estimation there are three real leaders offering them something that ex LDS people are able to receive and live with.

The first I named was Denver Snuffer – who has refused twice to come on this show – but we have had some people who embrace his leadership. I personally think Snuffer has some really good things to offer LDS or exLDS people but I also think that his system will wind up disappointing people when the reality of it shines forth. I wont discuss those realities without him present.

The second person I named was you, John, as a leader of LDS men and women and the third I humbly named was myself – because this ministry does NOT regurgitate religious traditions – we take a view that we can not only support through a contextual analysis of scripture, but we allow all people to believe as they are lead and leave it at that.

With regard to you and your leadership, John, I would like to spend this last hour discussing this specifically. Tell us, in your own words, what you represent when it comes to spiritual leadership?

QUESTIONS FOR JOHN HERE:

FINAL 15 MINUTES:

We do a show to college students where the Bi-line is:

“If you think you know Christianity, you are probably wrong.” I would say this point blank to you and to the vast majority of your audience. And I want five minutes to explain where most err in their understanding (which is the result of religious traditions that have accumulated over the years).

WHY THEIR VIEW IS PROBABLY WRONG