1561: When a Mormon Missionary Reads the CES Letter - Kolby Sorensen
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.5 • 5.7K Ratings
🗓️ 14 March 2022
⏱️ 285 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Join hosts John Dehlin and Gerardo Sumano as they explore what happens when a Mormon missionary reads the CES Letter.
Kolby Sorensen was raised a devout Mormon in West Valley and West Jordan, Utah. In 2020, he was called to serve a mission as the COVID pandemic began, when missionaries were encouraged to use social media to proselytize.
Show Notes:
- Letter to a CES Director by Jeremy Runnells
- "Reflections on the CES Letter," Daniel Peterson, FAIRmormon Conference 2014
- "Belief after the CES Letter," Jim Bennett on Mormon Stories
- "A Faithful Reply to the CES Letter from a Former CES Employee," by Jim Bennett
- Jeremy Runnell's responses to "Debunkings of the CES Letter"
- "Missionaries returning home at their own insistence," Mission President's Handbook, Ch 4
- Kolby's posts on Ex-Mormon Reddit
- Kolby’s Instagram
- "Telling Your Loved Ones About Losing Your Faith," on Mormon Stories
- "Mormon Inoculation" on Mormon Stories
- "Personal Peace in Challenging Times," Quentin L. Cook, General Conference October 2021
- "Britvengers React: The Mormon British Rescue" on Mormon Stories
- "LDS Church addresses health of church president," by Ric Wayman, St. George News, May 3, 2015
- "Is the Mormon Church in Decline?" An Insider Report on Mormon Stories
- "No More Strangers," by Alexander B. Morrison, Ensign, September 2000
- "Strong Impressions of the Spirit," by D. Todd Christofferson, New Era, June 2013
- "Founder of the Book of Mormon Heartland Model," Rodney Meldrum on Mormon Stories
- Video by Shane Carpenter, an out gay LDS missionary
- "Jesus Christ is the Answer," Ronald A Rasband, Evening With a General Authority, February 8, 2019 [CW: May be triggering for those experiencing suicidal thoughts]
- "Daughter of Mormon General Authority Hartman Rector, Jr." Lila Tueller on Mormon Stories
- "Vogel and Metcalfe in Da House!" on Mormon Discussion
- Gerardo Sumano interview on Mormon Stories
- Kolby and Cami Reddish interview on Mormon Stories
- "From TBM to RFM: Radio Free Mormon Discusses His Transition from Mormon Apologist to Non-Believer," on Mormon Stories
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Mormon Stories podcast. I'm your host, |
| 0:05.4 | John DeLin. It is March 11th, 2022 and we are very, very excited for today's Mormon Stories |
| 0:14.2 | episode. Every once in a while, I would say at least every few months, probably once a month at |
| 0:20.3 | this point, an actively serving Mormon missionary either reaches out to me or, you know, someone close |
| 0:28.1 | to me or sometimes inexplicably kind of shows up on either the Mormon Stories podcast, Facebook |
| 0:34.8 | group or one of the pages or on Reddit, the X-Mormon Reddit and kind of just lets the X-Mormon post-mormon |
| 0:43.4 | world know that there's that there's at least one or several Mormon missionaries out there that |
| 0:48.8 | no longer believe that are following the post-mormon social media pages. And sometimes they even feel |
| 0:55.6 | trapped or they're like, how do I get out of here? Or most commonly, there's kind of this just |
| 1:01.4 | dilemma that they present of like, I'm on my mission and no longer believe, I'm following |
| 1:06.8 | X-Mormon social media, but do I come home or not? How do I deal with my mission president? What will |
| 1:12.3 | my parents think? So that's a dynamic that's been happening for many, many years. But rarely have |
| 1:20.4 | we been able to have on Mormon Stories either an actively serving Mormon missionary who no longer |
| 1:27.1 | believes and we still haven't had that yet. But what we wanted to have for some time, especially recently, |
| 1:34.5 | is someone on Mormon Stories who's recently returned from his or her Mormon mission, |
| 1:41.1 | who lost their faith while on their mission. And if possible, either listen to Mormon Stories |
| 1:47.0 | as a missionary or read the CES letter as a Mormon missionary, that sort of thing and can talk about |
| 1:53.0 | what it's like to, yeah, lose your faith as a missionary. So today, we are really excited to have |
| 2:00.4 | with us in Studio Colby Swarinson. Hey, Colby, welcome. Hey, I guess I check off all those boxes |
| 2:07.0 | for you because I did all of those things while a missionary. Yeah, and you've only been home |
| 2:12.5 | how many months? I think around six months, around six or seven at this point. So we're in 2022, |
| 2:19.2 | we're in March of 2022 and you got home from your Mormon mission when? August or September 2021. |
... |
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