8 Passengers Family Speaks Out about Mormon Therapist Jodi Hildebrandt | Ep. 1817

The 8 Passengers scandal stopped being about bad parenting months ago. When Ruby Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested on six felony counts of aggravated child abuse, investigators uncovered evidence of systematic torture that shocked even seasoned law enforcement. What remained unclear was how a licensed therapist and a motherhood influencer convinced themselves, and others, that starving and binding children constituted legitimate therapy. According to episode 1817 of the Mormon Stories Podcast, the answer lies not in clinical psychology but in specific, decades-old Mormon teachings about sexual purity that equate lust with murder.

Background: Purity Culture and The Miracle of Forgiveness

Host John Dehlin argues that understanding the 8 Passengers tragedy requires examining three theological layers. First, the New Testament teaching amplified in Mormonism that to lust after someone is to commit adultery in one's heart. Second, the Book of Mormon declaration in Alma 39 that sexual sin is "next