1792: Deconstructing Mormon God – Celeste Davis Pt. 1
Join John and Margi as they interview spiritual director, Celeste Davis. Celeste was born and raised in the church, went to BYU, served a mission in Slovenia, and married in the temple. For many years Celeste wrote for the Church’s official blog and, as of today, those articles can still be found there. During the church’s involvement with Prop 8 and the 2015 Exclusion Policy, Celeste’s husband began to lose hope in the church. Celeste grappled with the burden of holding her family in Mormonism, but began to question even God himself. Who is God and how can we have a relationship with him?
Celeste Davis
- Instagram – Celeste M. Davis
- Website – celestemdavis.com
- Substack – Celeste M Davis
- Tik Tok – Celeste M Davis
- Blog – Marriage Laboratory
- Poem – Why I don’t talk about Jesus anymore
1793: Finding “God” after Mormonism – Celeste Davis Pt 2
Join us for part two with insightful guest, Celeste Davis. Picking up from where we left off, she takes us on her transformative path of leaving the Mormon Church and reevaluating her beliefs with courage and vulnerability. From deconstructing patriarchy, capitalism, and monogamy to embracing uncertainty and finding self-compassion, Celeste shares practical tools and profound insights for spiritual growth. Her journey of self-discovery offers a fresh perspective on beliefs about God, Jesus, and the afterlife, inspiring listeners to explore their own unique paths and live authentically. If you’re seeking enlightenment, emotional regulation, and a deeper understanding of self, this conversation is a must-listen.
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Show Notes:
Celeste Davis
- Instagram – Celeste M. Davis
- Website – celestemdavis.com
- Substack – Celeste M Davis
- Tik Tok – Celeste M Davis
- Blog – Marriage Laboratory
- Poem – Why I don’t talk about Jesus anymore
Celeste Davis LDS Articles
- “How to pray in a way that the God can answer”
- “The biggest barrier to your connection with God”
- “What it really means to be a child of God”
- “Going After That which is Lost”
- Motherhood: A Sacred Weight
- The Beginners Guide to Family Counsels
- How I Learned My Worth Isn’t Measured in Checkmarks
- Chad Webb quotes Celeste in his talk
Mormon Stories Related
- 860-861: Carol Lynn Pearson – The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy
- 1547: Coming Home to Myself – Margi Dehlin’s THRIVE Story
Books
- Power of Everyday Missionaries – Clayton Christensen
- Seven Principles to Making Marriage Work
- A Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
- Daring Greatly Brene Brown
- A Hundred Birds Taught me to Fly by Ashley Hoiland
- Ghost of Eternal Polygamy by Carol Lynn Pearson
- A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
- Falling Upward by Richard Rohr
- Things Hidden by Richard Rohr
- Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Kidd
- The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
- Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Other
- YouTube video “The Egg”
- The God Makers movie
- Mama Dragons
- 2015 Exclusion Policy
- Russel Nelson calling the Exclusion Policy doctrine
- Dan Witherspoon’s Mormon Matters Podcast
- Bill Reel Mormon Discussions
- Brené Brown Ted Talk – The power of Vulnerability
- Mormon Matters Retreat
- Atonement story of boy getting punished by teacher
- Lower Lights Meditation class
- The Unity Spiritual Center Church
- Richard Rohr
- Beauty in the Now – Margi Dehlin
- Window to his love by Julie de Azevedo Hanks
- Holy Now by Peter Mayer
- The rise of the None
- Ordain Women
Thank you Celeste for sharing your story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait for part 2.
Also, I love Margi as your copilot John, more Margi🙂
Thank you so much for telling this story. I relate to so much of it and it feels so good to listen and feel connection that we are not alone.
She is one of the best episodes ever done on MS! Thank you so much for interviewing her. That poem was fantastic ❤️
These two episodes were absolutely paradigm shifting for me. Thank you for giving me words to describe my experiences.
Did she really call God a monster?
I think we need to consider that we see through a very
tiny lens on this earth. In the grand scheme of things, our perspective is minute. To think we know better than God and to call him a monster is as petty and immature and sacrilegious as it comes.
Michelle, I think what she said was IF there was a god he would be a monster, based on what the church teaches.
Thank you for your story. It resonated with me so much. I left the church 7 years ago and thought I had processed everything but I have recently begun to reprocess again. It seems this will go in cycles over and over throughout my life. I wish there was an end but the healing continues. This story helped me revisit some things that I needed to. Can I ask where it was that Celeste trained to be a spiritual companion? I wanted to look in to it myself.