Good Thinking
5 Episodes
What is truth? What does it mean to really know something? And what are the best methods and tools to come to know a thing? In this series we explore the important role our brain and intellect play in truth seeking and the life of faith. Specifically, we want to explore what mental moves are made or what frameworks of thinking are used by intelligent, critically thinking Latter-day Saints whose faith is strengthened rather than damaged by diving deeply into our church’s history and doctrine.
Art Credit: Adapted from photo by Leonidas Drosis, CC BY-SA 4.0
Episodes
Episode 1
What Do You Know? And How Do You Know It?
What is truth? What does it mean to really know something? And what are the best methods and tools to come to know a thing? In this episode of Church History Matters, we begin our new series on Good Thinking, where we explore the important role our brain and intellect play in truth seeking and the life of faith. Specifically in this series, we want to explore what mental moves are made or what frameworks of thinking are used by intelligent, critically thinking Latter-day Saints whose …
55 Min
Episode 2
How Do We Become Doctrinally Confident?
Just before leaving home for college, 18-year-old Henry Eyring, the future world-renowned LDS scientist, was invited by his father, Edward Eyring, to sit down for some fatherly counsel. After sharing his firm conviction that Joseph Smith was a true prophet whom God used to restore his church, Edward said to his son, “Now, there are a lot of other matters which are much less clear to me, but in this church, you don’t have to believe anything that isn’t true.” Hmm. “In this church you don’t have to …
62 Min
Episode 3
Workshopping the Three Lenses
How can we confidently determine what is and what is not reliable doctrine so we can decide what to believe? This is what Casey and I discussed in our last episode, where we introduced what we called the three doctrinal lenses or criteria by which we can assess the doctrinal reliability of a truth claim. In this episode of Church History Matters we’re going to practice putting these three lenses to work by actually using them to measure and evaluate various theological …
51 Min
Episode 4
Learning to Think Like a Historian
How can we know what actually happened in the past? Whose stories are true? Piecing together accurate history can be tricky business. People in the past, like people today, were diverse. Some were honest; some were not. Some were straight-shooting truth tellers who gave honest, though subjective, accounts of what happened. Others emphasized or omitted specific details in ways that would serve their particular agenda. And others just lied. So how should we …
58 Min
Episode 5
Are Criticisms of the Book of Mormon Witnesses Defensible?
How can we confidently discern the difference between a reliable historical claim and one that’s not so reliable? This is what Casey and I discussed in our last episode, where we introduced five source critical questions we can all ask to carefully assess the reliability of a historical truth claim. In this episode of Church History Matters, we’re going to practice putting these five questions to work by actually using them to measure and evaluate various historical truth claims about …
69 Min
Episode 6
How Has Canonizing/De-Canonizing Happened in the Doctrine & Covenants?
Because of our location in time and good record keeping, we are privileged to have an up close and personal view of the production of modern scriptural canon, and as we get into it, it’s a bit of a rollercoaster. From its first publication in 1835 to its current version today, the Doctrine and Covenants has undergone major additions, deletions, rearrangements, and textual changes. In today’s episode of Church History Matters, we’ll take a ride through the history of …