John Larsen is back with Carah @Nuancehoe and John Dehlin to deconstruct how the Church uses the concept of happiness to control and gaslight members. When Mormons talk about "happiness" what do they really mean? 00:00:00 Intro & Re-cap 00:08:00 Salt Lake Update 00:12:30 Happiness Introduction 00:20:00 1. Sin-free 00:21:00 2. Heaven/Paradise (perpetual happiness & joy) 00:24:45 3. Nuclear Family 00:37:00 4. “Keeping the Law of the Gospel” 00:51:30 1. Reversal - everyone sins, therefore no one can be happy 00:59:00 2. Reversal: Happiness a promise not delivered until you’re DEAD, so you don’t have to manifest happiness in this life to get it in the next. 01:00:45 Many deaths follow this doctrine, LGBTQ, the sick, depressed, etc 01:04:00 3. Reversal If you aren’t reproducing (nuclear family) you aren’t happy 01:07:00 4. Box of misery “Defined happiness out of existence” 01:12:45 Unfalsifiable - conditioned to dismiss outsider happiness 01:15:30 Addiction & depression in Utah 01:18:00 Real happiness in religion most often relates to community 01:21:00 Those happy in Mormonism are those not taking it too seriously 01:23:30 Equating success as growth in membership sets up a system of exploitation 01:25:00 Happiness definitions are incongruent 01:26:40 Fallacy 1: “Appeal to purity” or “No True Scotsman” 01:34:00 Fallacy 2: Definist fallacy - defining something deliberately to support your position 01:38:15 Fallacy 3: Reification, a fallacy of ambiguity. Making the abstract into “real” 01:42:15 Fallacy 4: Special Pleading 01:46:15 Fallacy 5: Relativist or Subjectivist Fallacy 01:47:40 Fallacy 6: Courtier’s response - not enough knowledge, faith, understanding etc 01:55:00 The Happiness Trap 02:10:45 Jesus’ teachings provide a happiness worth pursuing 02:12:00 BYU article about happiness does not include ANY of the Church’s teachings 02:18:00 The prevalence of being blamed for depression/postpartum, etc 02:21:00 Depressed realism 02:26:30 Beware of anyone selling you happiness. 02:27:00 Justice, empathy, community are all better values to pursue than happiness 02:37:00 Don’t complain about the swearing. We warn you every time! _________________________ Mormon Expression is made possible by generous donors! Help us continue to deliver quality content by becoming a donor today: https://mormonstories.org/podcast/mormonexpression John & Carah on Other Platforms: Mormon Expression Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dxn6T2fEuU7Ezb5jJqk7Z Nuancehoe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAib1bMCLZh9Ln0Uq62xxjw Nuancehoe on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nuancehoe John Larsen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnLarsen1 Support Mormon Stories Podcast here: One-time or recurring donations: https://donorbox.org/mormon-stories?default_interval=m Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mormonstories Our Platforms: Mormon Stories Blog: https://www.mormonstories.org/episodes Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mormonstories Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4sDzk7dRjODTSEqzZKZJzk?si=148b0efc1ccc4404 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mormon-stories-lds/id312094772 Contact us: MormonStories@gmail.com PO Box 171085, Salt Lake City, UT 84117 Social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mormstories TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mormonstoriespodcast Discord: https://discord.com/invite/kuX5p6yyjF