Serena and Katie of wHoly Human cover two weeks' worth of Come Follow Me in this episode- Doctrine and Covenants 98-105.In this episode, they discuss Elder Holland's recent talk given at BYU, which has had harmful affects on LGBTQ+ people and their allies (https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-jeffrey-r-holland-2021-byu-university-conference).They also discuss forgiveness, repentance, reparations, moving forward in the midst of persecution, meekness and solemnity of heart, ableist metaphors, the early saints' anti-racism and their backtracking off it, Camp Zion, and thoughts on the phrase "everything happens for a reason."

Two weeks' worth of Come Follow Me study, covering Doctrine & Covenants 93-97.In this episode, we start by sharing the recent LDS First Presidency announcement regarding COVID-19 precautions for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and offering our commentary on it. Going into our scripture study, we start off by discussing what it means to "grow from grace to grace" as disabled and neurodivergent people, and how opposite tensions can lead to further discovery of knowledge. We discuss how the union of the body and spirit to equal the soul is the antidote for earthly self-betrayal. Finally, we introduce Frederick G. Williams as a disabled man and a progressive physician in his own right, examining his life and his work from a disability and neurodiversity perspective.

Two weeks' worth of Come Follow Me study, covering Doctrine & Covenants 88-92.In this episode, we start by sharing information on how to order customized garments, for those in need of that resource. We also correct information we shared in Episode 25 about The Indian Placement Program, using Indian Country Today's website as our resource.We then jump into our studies of the scriptures, and discuss "celestial" bodies and the harms of ranking bodies, the parable of the workers in the field and how the Lord glories in coming to us in our own time, how unique and important each of us are to God within and despite the vastness of the creation, the strain between calls for resisting idolatry vs a working mindset and capitalism within the church and the history of that, and we end our discussion with a break down of the history and canonized text of the Word of Wisdom.

Two weeks' worth of Come Follow Me study, covering Doctrine & Covenants 84-87. In this episode, we celebrate a verse in section 84 which affirms that godly knowledge and influence is sent to every human on Earth, regardless of race, religion, neurotype, disability, country, gender, sexual orientation, and more. We deliberate on whether the Come Follow Me manual lives up to the scripture's potential for inclusiveness, and how long it has to go to fulfill that potential. We talk about "sin" in the "world" and how that has been used in Church culture to vilify marginalized people, especially neurodivergent people, by falsely assuming that "progress" and "growth" is only in one, linear direction, rather than expansive and individual. Finally, when talking about Joseph Smith's prophecy of the Civil War, we remind our followers that slavery still exists in the United States via a loophole in the 13th Amendment, and exhort everyone to continue to learn about issues of slavery, racism, and policing.

We're back at it with Come Follow Me! This is two weeks' worth of study and commentary, covering Doctrine & Covenants 77-83. In this episode, we discuss: The dehumanization of certain peoples in the scriptures, metaphors vs. literal interpretations in the Book of Revelations, confusing and potentially problematic changes to the text of the Doctrine & Covenants, and how the kinds of stories we tell about disabled people in the Church can either empower or stigmatize disabled members.Read full transcripts: https://www.wholyhumanpodcast.com/ Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wHolyHumanShare our content on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wholyhumanpodcastJoin the conversation! https://www.instagram.com/wholyhuman/Explore other fantastic podcasts in the Dialogue Podcast Network: https://www.dialoguejournal.com/podcastnetwork

Everyone meet Saylor O'Brien!Saylor is Paralympic Alpine Skier. She began skiing at the age of four, and is now working toward competing in the 2022 Paralympics in Beijing, China.Saylor was born with Spina Bifida, and born into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She recently decided to stop attending the church, and has developed a free thinking attitude with her spirituality and faith.There is a lot to celebrate and learn from listening and reading her story. Come celebrate Saylor with us!Also, keep in mind that our goal is to lift the perspectives of all disabled and neurodivergent people. As you listen, please keep in mind that experiences vary widely. The views expressed by an interviewee do not necessarily express the wHoly Human hosts' views. Instead, we seek to share diverse experience, learn from each other, and combat ableism together.

In this episode we discuss two weeks’ worth of Come Follow Me, covering Doctrine & Covenants 51-59.We call out the hypocrisy and tragedy of scriptures with admonitions to care for the “poor and needy” that cover up contextual ableism and discrimination. We point out ways the the Church can be more like Jesus Christ and “leave the 99 to go after the 1” by centering the concerns of marginalized people like disabled, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ people. Finally, we have an illuminating discussion of how Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs both informs the conversation around Church and community care, and how Maslow’s model falls short because of its appropriation of First Nations/Indigenous knowledge.We realize that on wHoly Human, we strive to move upwards from self-actualization to community care and perpetuity, as the First Nations model represents. By doing so, we hope to bless our own lives and the lives of those around us.

This week we continue our series of bringing disabled and neurodivergent people to our virtual pulpit! Please note: The views expressed by our interviewees do not necessarily represent our views at wHoly Human. We strive to have healthy dialogue as we unroot our own internalized ableism, however, it is a work in progress. If you have any suggestions for how to balance this representation please reach out to us. Amy Chapman is a special education teacher at a local elementary school. She enjoys swimming, wheelchair basketball, reading books, and relaxing watching a movie. Amy was born with a condition called Fibular Hemimelia. When she was born she was missing the fibula bone in both legs as well as most of her ankle and foot bones. She had an amputation when she was 14 months old in order to prosthesis better. Amy is a life-long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She grew up in Chicago, IL, and moved to Utah when she was 17. She served an 18-month proselyting mission in Long Beach, CA. Amy has also been involved with the Especially For Youth program for the last 3-4 years. For more on the metaphor Serena shares at the end of the episode, please check out Ariane Fauteux on TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeGNrfHF/ Follow us on Instagram @wholyhuman, read full transcripts at www.wholyhumanpodcast.com, and email us at [email protected] to connect.

Two weeks' worth of Come Follow Me, covering Doctrine & Covenants 46-50. TW: Conversation about gaslighting spiritual experiences and gaslighting with hearing voices or seeing visions. In this episode, we discuss what it means to "cast someone out" of a church meeting, what the "proper way" is to express your spiritual feelings, and where the line is between a spiritual breakthrough and a psychotic episode. Spoiler alert: We don't believe there is a "right" way to express your emotions, whether they be spiritual or mental. We also fully believe that neurodivergent people - including people who experience psychosis and hallucinations - have the right to determine their religious beliefs for themselves. We also introduce our book wishlist, which we hope our devoted audience can help us out with. Every book you buy for us helps us to make more connections about disability and theology, which in turn makes each episode better! Click to contribute --> https://www.amazon.com/registries/custom/15KWNR03XYJND/guest-view

Since many of our followers might be engaging with the disability and social justice communities for the first time, we decided to produce an episode dedicated to defining important terms. We use these all the time in our podcast, so feel free to come back to this episode as a reference whenever you need it!Side note: These are not all-inclusive terms for all disabilities and neurodivergencies. Instead, this episode "jet-skis" over the terms to include as many as possible within our time constraints. We leave the "deep sea diving" for our regular episodes. There are more vocab episodes to come!Side note to the side note: These are very basic descriptions, meant meanly for ablebodied and NT people who are just starting their anti-ableism journey. If you identify as being or having one of these neurodivergencies, please feel free to correct us on this information. The 40 terms defined in this episode: Neurodivergent, neurodiverse, neurotypical, “functioning” labels, masking, special interests/specializations, stimming, autistic meltdowns, autistic shutdowns/burnout, medical zebras, paralysis, assistance animals, service animals, emotional support animals (ESA), psychiatric support animals, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Fair Housing Act (FHA), the Air Carrier Access Act, the American Kennel Club (AKC), reputable breeder, public access, Depression, Anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), ADHD/ADD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Schizophrenia, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), BPD splitting, Scrupulosity, personality disorders, Bipolar/Manic-Depressive Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), delusions, hallucinations, psychosis, panic attacks vs anxiety attacks, executive dysfunction.