NOM

I listened/watched Mormon Stories episodes 1412 and 1413 about a bishop who loses his testimony and has an emotional/sexual relationship with a lady he is helping with her own faith crisis...
I found this story disturbing on several levels.
1) this bishop was obviously burnt out and more should be done by the church to help with this.
2) He divorces his wife and marries the lady he was helping with her faith crisis.
3) I see this new couple a complete dumpster fire.

Did others see this episode and what were your thoughts?

I'm in process of listening to these (x1.5 speed of course.)

I'm having some of the same thoughts as you Biz-E.

I'm also trying to decide if it's the MORmON part of my brain that is causing these thoughts.

Train-wreck? (Both my brain, and this podcast?)

Can you elaborate on item 3?

Why would you say they are a dumpster fire?

I'm about half way through. I tend to agree with both of you guys. I kind of feel a bit sick listening to it.

However, despite my discomfort I have to give credit to John Dehlin for sharing this story. He tends to focus mainly on super overachieving, over committed uber-mormons that go through faith transitions, I believe as a way of saying "hey look, even super mormons who've done nothing wrong and who have no character flaws can have a faith transition". Has anyone else noticed this? To be fair, i think he has done this to waive a flag to people still in the church that it's not just sin or laziness that cause people to leave. But it's nice to hear some variety.

DW just finished these as well, and came to almost this exact same conclusion. I told her I may listen and she said don't bother.

slavereeno wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 4:23 pm DW just finished these as well, and came to almost this exact same conclusion. I told her I may listen and she said don't bother.

I spot listened to the 2nd episode and came away with different feelings. I could see how a guy like him was church broke and eventually burnt out. His marriage was probably built on the back of their testimony in church. It was probably a loveless/sexless marriage that wouldn’t survive a faith crisis.

It just happens to be that his faith crisis overlapped with hers and they had an emotional connection built on their awakening that the church isn’t what it claims to be.

The void left by their testimonies was filled by their new found knowledge. They became close and their hearts and minds fell in love.

The difference is they decided not to pretend anymore and changed their life around that decision.

2bizE wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 1:39 pm 2) He divorces his wife and marries the lady he was helping with her faith crisis.

Haven't watched, likely won't...

Probably not the best story to have out there for a believing spouse to see. There's already the tendency to believe that the spouse experiencing a faith crisis will lie, cheat, steal, become a pirate, etc. It sounds like that kind of story would only fuel those sorts of fears.

Gotta poke some fluff back in here and say: All the crying bothered me. Maybe that's why I see the scenario turning out like 2020?

Not that there's anything "wrong" with all the emotion. I come from a long line of professional criers who constantly turn on the water works when they feel emotion, and think that a ghost is telling them "stuff" is True™. Definitely a lot of that version of True™ in that podcast.

I felt like the the Shakespear's were open and honest about their mistakes. They even admitted to lying, which is is very hard to do, even for prophets and apostles. One could argue that they made some bad decisions. I hope things go well for them. Matt's semi-GA-like voice annoyed me more than the crying. But consider how he grew up. He probably got it from Church talks. I'm reminded of an old saying: "No matter who you think you married, you will turn out to be wrong.

Haven't seen this most recent episode and doesn't really spark my interest. I don't think this would be the one that curious TBMs will want to listen to. I sure loved the Patrick Mason fireside episode. That's the type that might bait TBMs.

deacon blues wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:17 pm I felt like the the Shakespear's were open and honest about their mistakes. They even admitted to lying, which is is very hard to do, even for prophets and apostles. One could argue that they made some bad decisions. I hope things go well for them. Matt's semi-GA-like voice annoyed me more than the crying. But consider how he grew up. He probably got it from Church talks. I'm reminded of an old saying: "No matter who you think you married, you will turn out to be wrong.

I agree the Shakespeare’s were very open and vulnerable and honest. I did like that part.
I was disappointed in the church first. The SP coerced him into being bishop at a time when he was not ready. He was working long hours with his new business. This pressure to place the church first needs to be fixed. It seemed the deterioration of his marriage was due to the extra commitments to the church causing him to neglect his wife.
It really felt like he was led into this emotional affair with the new woman (future wife). It felt like she had an agenda to tear him from his wife. That was the part I felt most disturbing. The bishop and new wife seemed too different to have a long term future...they just didn’t seem compatible which felt creepy to me.

I remember seeing a play with this same plot in the Lab Theatre at Pioneer Memorial back in the late 70s. I'm guessing this real-life scenario has happened before with LDS bishops and other married women.