S1 E2 Our Desire for Certainty: Faith, Doubt, and the Mormon Experience

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Episode 2 of Truth explores humanity's universal desire for certainty, particularly within the context of Mormon faith. Hosts Meg Jensen and Paul Carter examine how the emphasis on "knowing" rather than "believing" shapes Mormon culture and individual faith journeys. Through personal stories and academic insights, they investigate the balance between conviction and doubt, the role of evidence versus spiritual experiences, and how people navigate faith crises.

Sources

• Chat GPT: How Can we Know Historical Facts?
• Wikipedia: Epistemology
• Essay: Bound to Happen - Explanation Bias in Historical Analysis
• Essay: "A Reflection on Joseph Smith’s Restorationist Vision of Truth" by Ryan Ward Published in Dialogue Vol. 55 #2
• Essay: "Faith, Reason, Knowledge, and Truth" by Richard Williams. Source: BYU Devotional, Feb 1, 2000.
• Essay: Observation, Reason, Faith, and Revelation
• Essay: Follow the Footnotes_Gospel Topics Essays_LDS Discussions

AI Prompt
Examine truth's role in faith crises: explore conflicts between faith and facts in Mormonism (First Vision accounts, Book of Mormon historicity, plural marraige Smith). Analyze how discovering contradictory evidence affects belief. Address explanation bias, fear of truth, and cost of ignoring evidence. Discuss objective vs subjective truth, evaluation frameworks, and maintaining integrity while preserving faith. Introduce concept that different truths need different verification methods.

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1. Truth | 2. Beginnings | 3. First Vision | 4. Priesthood | 5. The Gold Plates | 6. The BoM | 7. The BoA | 8. Polygamy | 9. Changes | 10. Challenges | ...