Posted by:
Chump
(
)
Date: April 08, 2014 04:05PM
Same here. I didn't like going to church every week, but I had some great member friends. I didn't grow up in Utah, so many of them went to different schools and I only saw them at church, scouts, and sometimes on the weekends. I had some great leaders too, and got to do tons of fun stuff that I probably wouldn't have done without the church's youth programs.
As an adult, all the fun was gone. No activities, few close friends, etc... It was everything I could do just to get through the meetings. I actually started paying attention to the talks and lessons, and there was nothing there. Once I really started thinking about the doctrine and the history, it was painfull obvious that it was all BS. How could I have missed this?!
Now, I don't like being surrounded by members in Utah, but it's not all bad. Like jesuswantsme4asucker, I'm more angry because I'm watching my aging parents devote all of their time and energy to the church. They're going to waste the best years of their retirement on missions, temple work, etc... I'm angry because speaking the truth has negatively affected my marriage...my TBM wife clings to the church and has stepped up the brainwashing with our children. I'm not worried that my kids will stay in the church, serve missions, etc..., but I think that will destroy my marriage if my wife doesn't wake up by that time. I lose respect for her every time she learns something new and chooses to ignore it, so I can't talk to her about the church any more. I know, because she's told me so, that she'll blame every bad thing that happens to us going forward on my "apostacy". If I lose my job, any of us get sick, get in an accident, etc... She's questioned if I'm gay, accused me of never loving her, etc... We had a very happy marriage up until I dumped my doubts on her...I had no idea that the brainwashing could run so deep.