S5E31 Crosses and Purgatory

Standard of Truth

Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat

Religion & Spirituality

5 • 709 Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, we dive into listener questions about Catholic doctrine and why every Latter-day Saint chapel does not have a crucifix. Gerrit walks through Catholic doctrine, including venial vs. mortal sin and purgatory’s purpose. We discuss the history of the Christian cross as a symbol, tracing how early Protestants saw it as Catholic idolatry, why Joseph Smith and early Saints avoided it, and how Protestant denominations eventually reversed course under cultural pressure. Gerrit Dander Meter: 373,641 Kristy’s KorneЯ (Last Minute Lesson Prep): We ran out of time so this will be as a separate mini bonus episode Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠ If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: ⁠⁠[email protected]

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Standard of Truth podcast. In this podcast, Dr. Garrett Dirk-Mott and Dr. Richard
0:08.2	Leduc explore the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the life
0:14.3	and teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith. They examine the original historical sources and provide
0:20.4	context for events of the past.
0:23.1	They approach the history of the church with faith, expertise, and humor.
0:37.1	Hi, welcome to another episode of the Standard of Truth podcast.
0:40.9	I'm your host, Dr. Garrett Dirkmont, and I'm joined by my friend, Dr. Richard Leduke.
0:46.7	Hello, Garrett.
0:48.0	Thanks for having me back.
0:49.3	We have an exciting episode today.
0:52.1	We're going to be talking about the Catholic Church and some of their
0:55.3	beliefs as we talk about our Catholic brothers and sisters answering some Littner questions today.
1:01.6	Yeah, I feel like we had to kind of pivot away from Hulk smash Garrett.
1:10.3	I feel embarrassed every time we put out an episode and I'm like, hey, stop attacking the apostles.
1:21.3	I mean, I'm embarrassed.
1:22.6	I mean, obviously I want to stand up for what is true.
1:26.0	And at the same time, I have a very difficult time moderating, apparently, which is why you had to institute your score.
1:35.2	We had to implement the dandermeter.
1:37.7	Originally, it was on a scale of 1 to 10.
1:40.4	We didn't feel that was precise enough.
1:42.2	So then we put it on a scale of 1 to a million with the first score there coming in at about 901,000.
1:50.9	Your dander was was was was was was was was was was was way up way way up.
	...

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