2 Guys on a Tangent

After much delay, today we discuss October 2022 General Conference! What things stood out to you? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content! Today's drink recipe can be found at https://cowboyslifeblog.com/galentines-day-party/

In today's episode, we talk about a Salt Tribune Poll of General Conference Dream Headlines. Some are silly, while others are controversial. Some make references to current issues and others address past themes. We had a great time discussing these and the tangents they made us think of. Which one resonated with you the most? Is there a conference headline you would love to see that wasn't on the list? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

In today's episode, we continue with the CES Letter and the section on the Kinderhook plates and translation claims. This section of the CES letter focuses on Joseph Smith's ability to translate. After translating the Book of Mormon, Joseph acquired various different artifacts of what appeared to be ancient writing and attempted to translate these. Some of these artifacts ended up being hoaxes while others appear to say different things than Joseph claimed. Are the scholars wrong? Was Joseph translating these literally or just using them as inspiration? Is this a sign that Joseph Smith may not have been as inspired as he claimed? How does that change what we believe? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

After a bit of an unplanned break, we're back! In today's episode, we circle back to the CES Letter and the section on Prophets. Does a prophet always speak for God? If not, how can you tell when he is and when he isn't? Does it matter? There is an oft repeated quote from Wilford Woodruff that says, "The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray." This belief sets us up to believe that you don't need to wrestle with difficult choices, or dilemmas, as long as you follow the prophet. Do you agree? How does that balance play out in your life? Finally what roles if any do prophets play in your life?  As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

Today we're talking about the recent worldwide 5th Sunday lesson on missionary work. We are taught that a mission is priesthood responsibility but that's not found in our scriptures. So where did that come from? How does personal agency play into that? In the past mission experiences have been seen a kind of boot camp for life. With the new changes that have been made to the mission experience is that still true? What is the purpose of a mission? Do we as members of the church have something valuable or unique to offer the world? If so, what is it? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

In today's episode, we talk about the Netflix special about the FLDS church, "Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey". What does "keep sweet" mean to you? How does emotion play into church experience? When watching the show, there are times where you feel that they should have realized what was happening was wrong. What harmful things do we do that are obvious to others but not to us? Does God use fear to motivate? Where do we draw the line between religious freedom and something that is widely considered morally wrong? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

In today's episode, we continue part 2 of our conversation about afterlife in the media with special guest Jonny Maruji from the podcast Bless the Refreshments. How have the depictions of the afterlife in The Good Place affected you? How does it compare to LDS beliefs? What can we learn from the various aspects of the show that help us prepare for the afterlife? What role does morality/principles play in preparing for the afterlife? Last but not least what was your favorite part of The Good Place? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent, email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com or leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform.  Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

In today's episode, we have a special guest Jonny Maruji from the podcast Bless the Refreshments. Recently we discussed our thoughts on what the afterlife would be like and that got us thinking, what other depictions of the afterlife exist out there? So today we're talking about depictions of the afterlife in media. How has Hollywood depicted the afterlife? Was there any particular that doctrine that we found amusing? What can we learn from the various depictions? How do LDS depictions compare to non-LDS depictions? In the end you'll see there was only one that we really wanted to talk about. This episode was so fun that we split it into a two-parter. We hope you'll join us next time for the rest of the discussion! As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent, email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com or leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform.  Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

In today's episode, we finish our discussion of the CES Letter section on polygamy. What danger is there from assuming that good outcomes means something is from God and bad outcomes means it was from Satan? Do the later doctrinal developments such as polygamy clash with the first vision, translation of the Book of Mormon and other early revelations? Could polygamy have been a mistake? Do we ignore more troubling aspects of polygamy because we don't know how to handle it? Is there a chance that Joseph was a fallen prophet? How do we take the lessons of the past and apply them to the present so we don't repeat the same mistakes?  As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent, email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com or leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform.  Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

In today's episode, we continue discussing the CES Letter, specifically the section regarding Polygamy. What comes to mind when you hear that so and so was a polygamist? What does marriage/sealing mean to you? Are they similar and how do they differ? Does it matter? Do we ignore more troubling aspects of polygamy because we don't know how to handle it? How can we deal with this history? Is it possible that maybe the early saints had misunderstandings that led to the institution of polygamy? Does the knowledge that Joseph practiced polygamy impact your testimony at all?  We ended up going deeper than expected into the topic so we split this episode into 2 parts. As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

In today's episode, we continue discussing the CES Letter, specifically the sections about the Book of Abraham translation. What are we to make of the fact that the characters on the papyri do not match the translation given by Joseph Smith? Does it matter? What was meant by translation if it was not the typical translation we think of? Should we still count it as scripture? How can we deal with that? How can we as members better prepare ourselves to receive information that can change the way we view history or cause some cognitive dissonance? Can we find value in a text if it is not 100% historical?   As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

In today's episode, we talk about Come Follow Me and the role it plays in home centered gospel learning. Is it a tool or is it something else? Is there a right way to implement it? Are we just supposed to learn exactly what we would learn at church but now at home? How does the way we view it affect our interactions with it? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

Today, we take a break from discussing the CES letter and ponder about what the afterlife is like. What happens when we die? What does it mean to walk pass the angels standing as sentinels? Is outer darkness a garbage or recycling bin? What is each kingdom like based on the people going there? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

Today we discuss section 3 of the CES letter: The First Vision. Did you know there are 4 different accounts of the first vision? Did you know the first written account was recorded over a decade after the event occurred? Do the differences between the accounts mean anything and if so, what?  As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

In today's episode, we continue discussing the CES Letter, specifically the sections about the Book of Mormon translation. Why were the gold plates needed if they weren't used in the translation? How does showing this image contribute to how the overall history is perceived? Should the church be more open with its past/history than it is? If so, how? How does the terminology that we use to describe differing aspects of experience create issues? How can we deal with that? How can we as members better prepare ourselves to receive information that can change the way we view history or cause some cognitive dissonance? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!  

In today's episode, we begin discussing the CES Letter, specifically the sections about the Book of Mormon. What is the distinction between historical truth and spiritual truth? Why does it matter? Why do we tend to avoid tough/complex issues? Should we avoid them? Is the Book of Mormon a literal translation? Does it matter if it is not? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

It's commonly taught that we should surround ourselves with that which lifts us up and avoid that which could bring us down, but does that apply to people? Is it okay to build up walls to protect ourselves? Is it bad to live in an echo chamber? If not, what can we do about it?  As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

A unique aspect of our church is our monthly testimony meeting. Today we ask the question, where did that start? Why do we share our testimonies and what should we be sharing? Is it time to change the testimony meeting again?  As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

This week we take a look at the children's songbook. What songs are really meaningful to us and which are ready to be retired? Are there any that need to be changed? Along the way, we chat about what a prophet is historically and now. We also take some time to throw out some general conference predictions. Next time, we'll make sure this comes out before conference!  As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

In today's episode, we discuss five myths about our Heavenly Mother from a post on instagram by Rosemary Card. Who is Heavenly Mother? Why don't we talk about her more? Should we? How do we approach topics that we know little about? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!

In today's episode we lighten things up with the topic "If I were the prophet for a day." What changes would we make? What things would you keep the same? Digging a little deeper, as members should we try to change things from the bottom up? Are all changes correct? What is our responsibility in regards to changing or opposing those that we deem are not correct? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach us on twitter @2guysonatangent or email us at 2guysonatangent@gmail.com. Check out our facebook page to stay up to date on announcements and new content!  

In today's episode we talk about ministering. What do you think we do well with ministering? Are there ways we could improve our experience of ministering? How do we open up to others to let them know what we really need without feeling like we are a burden to others? How do we best minister to others? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts.

In today's episode we use Peter Enn's book the "Sin of Certainty" as a jumping off point to talk about faith, certainty and trust. What are the differences between certainty and trust? Are there things that we are supposed to certain of? Are there things we teach as certain that shouldn't be? In what ways can better prepare ourselves to handle change? Are we okay not having all the answers, even if it seems that we should have the answer? How can we learn to trust God more? As always we hope you enjoy the discussion and we would love to hear your thoughts.

In today's episode we discuss Brad Wilcox's recent fireside address to a tri-stake youth group in Alpine Utah. Sometimes the things we say or the way we say them create issues or unintended consequences for ourselves and others. How do we handle that situation? When our intentions are good, do we just have to realize that some people will still find something problematic about our message or its delivery? Do we need to change the messages, ideas, or justifications that we use to describe aspects of the gospel, the church or the community? Are we addressing the hard questions and creating space for those who see things differently? As always we hope you enjoy the conversation and would love to hear your thoughts.

In today's episode we discuss faith journeys. What causes people to change their beliefs? Is it possible for us to create a community where people can be authentic to who they are without feeling like they have to conform to our norms in order to be welcome? If it's possible, how do we do it? Jeff opens up a little bit about some of the challenges of his own faith journey. As always we hope you enjoy the show and we would love to hear your thoughts.

Finishing out our 3 part series on the attributes of God the Father, Lucifer and Christ, in this episode we take a look at specifics of what made Christ unique. We discuss how he's similar to the Father and yet played a very different role in the overall plan. We revisit some of our thoughts about Satan and how they contrast with Christ's example. Finally, we take a deep dive into some of our own thoughts about why we needed a savior at all. We hope you enjoy and as always would love to hear your thoughts.

In this episode we decided to talk about the attributes, tactics, and goals of Satan. If God is who we are to be emulating then what aspects of Satan are we to be avoiding? Will Satan be saved? Are we all screwed? Is everything bad that happens part of Satan's agenda? Join us as discuss these and other questions

In this episode we continue the conversation we started last week talking about the attributes of God the Father. Using the same wikipedia article again this week, we highlight some of the harder attributes such as jealousy and wrath. Through the conversation, we continue to discuss which attributes we can work on, which ones we disagree with and which ones we feel cannot be emulated. As always we hope you'll join us for part 2 of the discussion.

In this episode we talk about the attributes of God the Father. We believe that life is not about doing the right thing but about becoming something. So what are we to become? We believe that the answer is like God. Using an article that addresses the broader Christian view of the attributes of God, we contrast which attributes we could work on, which ones we disagree with and which ones we feel cannot be emulated. This episode ran longer than we anticipated so we broke it into two parts. As always we hope you'll join us for part 1 of the discussion.

In this episode we talk everything callings. We talk about some of our favorite callings and the not so favorites. As a church we teach that callings come from God but just how much do all callings come from God? Does it matter? Should we ever reject callings or ask to be released? As always we hope you join us for the discussion.

In this episode we talk about what a church is and the value it provides to its members. What is church to its members? Does it provide the same thing for all its members? As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we use the phrase the one true church or the only true church. Does that send the message that all are welcome? How can we create a more inviting space for all to come and worship with us? As always we hope you join us for the discussion.

In this episode we discuss the idea of what salvation means. In Christian circles the question is often asked, "Are you saved?" or in other words, "Are you going to heaven?" Many members of the church believe this is something we don't know yet because the test is not over or they have not yet achieved perfection. However, we believe that the answer is a resounding "Yes!" We hope you join us for the discussion and see why.

In this episode we wanted to introduce ourselves and the theme of our podcast. We want this to be a place where we can have more serious conversations about religion and life experience but also try to keep it sprinkled with light heartedness. We realize that we are learning and growing too and these are not intended to be answers as much as discussions. What topics or ideas do you wish were discussed more often? We'd love to hear your ideas and look forward to getting to know you!