Meaning you can't deny the truth? Once you learned it was false and everything clicked into place you didn't choose not to believe, you simply didn't believe. And you could not choose to believe after you discovered the truth. You can't unlearn something.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2014 12:40AM by Queen of Denial.
It is interesting that you brought this topic to light. I was talking to my daughter about TSCC. We were talking about the essays and what we think might be the outcome of them from TBMs perspective. She mentioned that some people would make a choice to believe even if the GAs came out and said that it was fake. I don't agree. I think when it is so obvious that it is false, even the staunchest believers will have to admit that it is a sham/scam. I know I did not choose to think it was fake. I knew it was fake, and that JS was a con man false prophet. It was not a choice.
In my opinion most people don't "choose" to believe. They believe something based on the available information to them. They can however choose to remain ignorant by not bothering to learn the facts or to investigate from a variety of sources. Most Mormons choose to remain ignorant of the facts. They REFUSE to look at the evidence against Mormonism. In my opinion, 90% (or more) would no longer believe in Mormonism if they knew all the facts. The very few who would remain believers are either truly delusional types or truly narcissistic.
I remember when I first came across my first anti-Mormon tract. It shook my testimony and troubled me, but it didn't make me totally lose my belief in Mormonism. I still believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the church was "true." However, the strength of that belief wasn't as strong as it used to be. For a period of time after that, I avoided looking at anything that I thought might be anti-Mormon. Why? Deep down I was afraid my belief in Mormonism might crumble even more. After a while though I made the choice to follow the truth wherever that would lead and "let the chips fall where they may." I therefore made the decision to study Mormonism from both pro and anti sources. I still WANTED Mormonism to be true and HOPED that there were answers to the critics but when I really dug into the evidence, it became too BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that the church was not what it claimed to be, no matter how much I wanted it to be true.
That you had to make a conscious effort to believe, but that it required no effort to realize it was false?
Because I can see that. Believing requires one to shut down certain lines of thought, and shut out information. Not to mention weekly (or daily) indoctrination.
But non-belief just requires one to be willing to ask reasonable questions (like 'where does the money go', and 'why, of all people, would god pick a 14-yr old boy'). It also usually occurs in people who are willing to re-evaluate old information, or consider new info.
I think what i was getting at has been captured by the responses I'm seeing. Leaving tscc just happens organically once a person allows themselves to think rationally. Joining tscc was a decision to believe in something without 100% certainty.