A Shock to the Faithful: A Change in Belief

Live from Salt Lake City, this is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology. where we do all we can to worship God in spirit and Truth. And I’m your host Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion..

Show 12 Lyndsay Hansen Park – Part II March 26th, 2019. This past week those who have left Mormonism (especially for biblical Christianity) have been shocked by the announcement from Lee Baker and his wife, former Mormons who became outspoken promoters of Christianity, that they deny Jesus as the Messiah and are now following Noahidic Judaism and wait in anticipation for the real Messiah to show up.

I contacted Lee and invited him to come on the show but got nothing back. In lieu of an interview, I am going to address this matter point by point in three weeks here on HOTM – and put the blame where most – not all – but most of it belongs – on American Evangelicalism and what it has become.

Next week we will be interviewing John Hijacek, the self-proclaimed most unusual Mormon on the face of the earth (he’s an LDS Historial, Archivist, and collector), then the following week brother Dave Donaldson who runs an amazing prison ministry. But tonight we come back to part two with our fascinating and articulate guest, Lyndsay Hansen Park.

Exploring New Beginnings

Welcome back, Lyndsay. I’ve had a number of compliments on our discussion last week, especially about your manner of speaking openly and honestly about things a lot of people don’t frequently hear. I personally know three women who related directly to your talk on eating disorders and gained great strength from your insights.

Last week we walked through your history and some of the things that help create the person who sits with us today. We left off with you stopping short on your describing some of the specific things you are doing today and what you have learned and experienced as a result of them including your Podcast, activism, and directorship of Sunstone Magazine. I would love for you to pick up there and take us through these important aspects of your life today for the next 30 or 45 minutes. After that, I would like to engage with you in some peaceful friendly back and forth on things I do not understand. Lyndsay has graciously agreed to give us up to two hours tonight. Sound good? So, take it away?

Reflections on Post-Mormon Journeys

Fantastic. Wonderful stuff. At this point, I would like to speak openly with you. All of us who have been LDS understand what it means to have been inculcated and devoted to the religion called Mormonism. And those who exit the faith tend to depart on one of several roads – some of them are combined:

• The road to personal ruination.
• Godly humanism (faith in God manifested and focused on service to Man)
• Godless humanism (atheism and the sold-out focus and promotion of human beings and their causes)
• And then occasionally, embracing other organized religious approaches.
• Finally, Some, like myself, reject all religious authority and go straight to God – I have chosen to do it by and through my faith in who I believe was His only Human Son, Jesus Christ.

I am personally very angry at two institutions in the face of all of this. First, I am angry at the LDS church over the fallout experienced by people who leave the church because the results of the fallout are directly related to what they did to us in teaching us:

• That Mormonism is the only true church on the face of the earth.
• That all other Christian demons are an offense to God
• And that the Bible has been corrupted, that a priesthood was restored through a man in the 1830s, and all the rest.

Realizing this stuff is not true leaves the human heart scorched and rarely does faith ever grow there again.

The other institution I am angry with is American Evangelicalism for offering my Ex-LDS brothers and sisters a basket of bullshit, including:

• More memberships to their club
• More requests for money
• More demanded laws
• And more illogical and unbiblical stances regarding hell, God, creation, soteriology, eschatologyStudy of “last things”—TGNN teaches all biblical eschatology was fulfilled in 70 A.D. More, and the like.

Examining the Relationship with Mormonism

My question for you, having said all of this, is why, why do you, why would you, continue to associate with anything “Mormon” when it has CLEARLY taken the emancipation Jesus brought to all – slaves, free, bond, women, men – back under the control of men and their man-made ways?

The second thing I want to ask you about is a term that came up several times in our first hour together – that word is SHAME. Can we talk about shame for a minute? “Shame.”

The Value of Shame

We shame people who disagree with our points of view, do we not? Isn’t there a value to shame in our world today? With children? And if we are children of God doesn’t shame have a place before him. If we should feed our fleshly inclinations, without shame, why would I be shamed when I want to have several wives?

Perspective on Pride

From my Theistic perspective, and the fact that from this perspective God loves humble, broken and contrite people, not proud looks, not haughtiness, not relishing in the depravities our flesh is capable of, and because I believe that God wants what is best for us as his Creations, then I seem pride as harmful to our world – and never good, never beneficial.

Petition of Faith

The last thing I want to bring up – actually petition you with – will take about a three minute pitch from me to you, as we were brother and sister in the same faith and remain brother and sister in the realm of humanity. Can I make a pitch to you?

Biblical Worldview has been replaced by a Spirit World View – and the fruit of that Spirit is love.