Even though I was baptised when I was 14 years old, I have not had an association with the church since I was in my mid 20's and I feel no allegience or obligation to the church. In my mind I am not a member. Can someone tell me why I would need to officially resign? Just in case I am missing something here......

Just to make a point - to yourself and to them. Also, it seems to reduce outreach efforts from missionaries and local members (they track you wherever you may move).

But if you don't feel like it, well, that's also making a point, isn't it? That it isn't worth the effort.

Some of us don't like loose ends. I made a statement to tie things up.

I didn't "officially" resign from the membership rolls. I just told my bishop and, the next day, my stake president that if they ever contacted me again I would sue them and the "church" they represented for harassment. I haven't been contacted since by phone or mail. Of course, they probably excommunicated me and didn't tell me for fear of legal problems and bad publicity. In any case, do what you want. If they suddenly contact you, you can always send them a letter telling them to cease all future communication.

I agree with you ---- it depends on your circumstances and family personalities. First the church is still probably going to count you in their total numbers ---- what is cheating to criminals. To me why waste any more time or effort on the church and since I have TBMs in the family why not just go inactive versus "lose all (actually none) blessings" as a favor to them that they can always have some hope. I can fully understand resigning to get a clear separation but I have no problem with any church members bothering me yet. I think they know enough about my abilities to put people in their place if they make me upset.

Loose ends are among my reasons for resigning...that, and to be left alone by the zealot geezer HP I've written about before.

Ron Burr

I didn't want to remain a member of an organization I totally disagreed with.

If you haven't resigned then you are still a member, regardless of whether you don't believe or don't attend.

I was BIC 5th generation. From what I know and have seen over the decades of being a mormon, they think they own you. As long as you stay on the records, and don't complain, they think that you're one of them and they own you. In the future they may use a form of this reasoning with future relatives. It will never end until you surgically remove them out of your life.

Where you from?

Utah.

Are you a Mormon?

No.

Where did you go to school?

BYU

Are you a Mormon?

No.

What religion are you? (Asked most likely by a Mormon.)

Not a Mormon.

Do you want to be one of their numbers on their official membership numbers?
We want the number to reveal the TRUTH so the CULTers will eventually see that members are resigning. If you are still on their rolls, they can say you are just inactive. You not only want to be officially OUT but you want to be out and bad mouthing the CULT on the internet daily. I say go all out or don't go at all.

I resigned for the following reasons:

-Proving to the bishop and SP I was not joking when I said the church is false
-Making a point to myself, parents, local leaders and GAs.
-If theres something I can do to weaken the Church, I will do it.

I resigned as a matter of personal integrity. I didn't want my name to be associated with the lying, manipulating cult in any way. Resigning was also a way to tell the ward we weren't interested in coming back to church.

Okay... so, you've decided you don't want to keep buying music CDs from the CD club, so you call and cancel. Some flunky on the other end briefly does his/her job trying to talk you out of it, but eventually checks a field in your record to make you inactive. No hanging folder gets tossed. No computer record gets deleted. Maybe an automated "thank you, please come back sometime" card is sent. But your info is all still there.

Same with resigning. There is no fanfare. No wake. No weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Some minimum wage clerk (or volunteer) looks up your record, clicks the "resigned" or "inactive" field, mailmerges an envelope, sticks a "come back" pamphlet into it, and mails it. Maybe takes him/her a minute or two. Now your membership record won't be downloaded to a local unit. BUt it's still there. Then on to the next one.

Or... you remain on the local records, and show up as not being a home teacher. Or a temple endowed member without a recommend. Or an inactive returned missionary. And, they're obligated to come around each month where/when you can give them an earful. The way I see it, remaining a pain in the ass to them for LIFE is a much bigger statement than having a clerk spend a minute clicking my (can be restored later) file "inactive."

But that's me, and I fully understand and appreciate why others want nothing to do with it anymore, and resign. I'm pioneer stock, BIC, blah blah, and my name is all over TSCC's relational databases whether I'm clicked as "resigned" or not.

To be honest I wish I hadn't resigned. I wish I'd stayed in there so I could be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Imagine how many people you could bring to the truth if only you were still accepted on the inside.

But I needed to leave for myself, to get the whole mess out of my psyche. But now that I'm whole again.. I should consider returning..

I think you can do a lot of good where you are: resigned and officially out. I say that because inactive members like my DW start looking around. They maybe attend a non-Mo church, and find out it doesn't seem like an abomination. Maybe they start seeing the hypocrisy. And maybe, after they see other churches aren't so scary and don't devote all their time (any of their time actually) trying to destroy TSCC, and they start seeing other examples that Mormonism doesn't seem like what it claims to be. Then all of a sudden, you "apostates" don't seem so scary anymore, either.

Ex-Mormons can provide needed insight that us Never-Mos quite get, even as much as we read all the "official" Mormon literature. After all, we were never toddlers with someone whispering in our ear for us to parrot back: I'd like to bear my testimony...I know this church is twoooo... Powerful brainwashing, and my DW (who hasn't officially left yet) showed me just how much so.

It was 19 years before I officially resigned and I hadn't set foot in a Mormon Chapel in those 19 years.

Finally I had my name removed because as long as my name was on the records that implied I condoned the doctrine and practices of the Mormon Church.

Took seven months for the Church to remove our names.

because even if they have been mean to you in the past and have driven you away they will still bother you for years trying to get you back, only to possibly do it again. if you resign it's over but you may have problems with relatives and friends. I finally decided that even a marriage was not worth dealing with being false to myself and othrs. things more or less worked out. it cud have been worse. And now I enjoy makeing mormons stare after telling them that I am an rm, I was married in the temple, EQ prez, etc, then tell them i resigned because i discovered the church was false. I don't like to be mean but it feels real good inside whenever i do that. My whole life i have been surrounded by mormons and I have a lot of opportunity to do this.

Just like someone chooses to officially be baptised, it is better for your future mindset to officially be unbaptised. It took me some thinking before I left, but the day I did, my real life's journey began and I could begin healing and searching for my real identity.

I think people who are inactive most of their life likey can just drift away. People who were part of it have to leave for good. The sound statement to the church and to yourself has to be made or you spend the rest of your life sitting on a fence....not a comfortable one at that.

Resigning or not is personal choice based on each person's feelings and circumstances. I would enjoy the finality of it, but I have an SO and numerous progeny who are TBMs. They know I'm not religious anymore, but in order to maintain relationships it's better not to do it. Any of them may ask me bout my belief system and I'll be frank about it. One of my sons is gay and inactive. He and I are open about our natures and beliefs. I am on good terms with my former wife and her husband. They and I are also aware of our common rejection of TSCC, but we share a "don't rock the boat" attitude so that we may continue to interact with our grand-children.

It's similar to what happened last night. I took a part of my family out to a restaurant to celebrate a graduation. A significant number of them were TBMS. Two of us (gay son and I) would have ordinarily had a beer or wine with our meal. We didn't, not out of respect for Mormonism, but out of respect for the feelings of TBMS present and children. I don't respect Mormonism. I do respect feelings of family members. though....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2014 11:19AM by rationalist01.

Confluct avoided.

Guys, the Brethren hover obsessively over the numbers. Enough to
lie about them like everything else. You know they have to be freaking out over the record number of resignations. You can tell by the bluster in recent conference talks.

Dont you want to do your small part in adding to their terror? Every letter sent is another crack in the dam

Why was it important to officially get baptized? Not just be "active".

I resigned after reading the Nauvoo Expositer, from which I found that Joseph Smith died defending his perceived right to secretly practice polygamy. I could not allow my name to be used in support of TSCC after that.

Several good reason are listed above. One more is that every time you remove your name from the church your local Stake President and Bishop get involved. The more people Stake Presidents and Bishops see leave the more they may be willing to actually look into the reasons why so many of us are leaving.

I officially resigned my membership in the LDS church so I would have written confirmation from them that I was no longer one of their number. That way, any annoying, irritating, idiotic (I think you get the point) local church leaders who came to me would be unable to claim that they had any right to check up on me.

It worked. Since terminating my membership with them, I've had one bishop come to my home claiming that he was "the Lord's servant" in regards to the welfare of all church members in the area. When I told him that I was not a member of his church, he claimed that I had never had my name removed from the roles. I showed him the letter from Salt Lake as well as a copy of the letter I had sent them. I pointed out the letter had stated that I would press charges of harassment against any LDS representatives who came to my home.

That bishop was gone faster than I would have thought possible, and I have not been bothered by them since then.

So, I think the official resignation from the LDS ranks was worth it.

I went inactive in 1959 at age 17. "Resigning" didn't exist then. I finally resigned at age 53 because LDS interference in Utah politics was bothering me. In the intervening 36 years I was only contacted once by the CoJCoLDS. I told them to lose my phone number and they never bothered me again.

My son was baptized at age 8 because my parents insisted on it. He never attended church. He is now 43 years old and is still on the church records. I recently asked him if he wanted to resign and he was not interested. The church has lost track of him and they never contact him or bother him. So I have to agree that there is no reason for him to resign.

Many RFMers are adamant about resigning. This seems to be associated with ongoing unwanted contact from the church. If that's how you feel then by all means resign.

So you don't get discussed in ward council.

The church really wanted my husband back because he did a good job with his callings. We had unannounced visitors coming to our door, phone calls and drop by presents (banana bread). All of a sudden I had 3 different women calling me if I wanted a ride with them the women's conference. So many fake friendships to try to keep us in the church to keep their numbers up. We didn't want to be their "re activate project" anymore. And for our younger than 8 years old kids we didn't want them to be hunted by the primary presidency once they would turn 8 years old.

Yep, you are wasting your time by resigning....
Your name is never taken out of rolls...

It is only important to you if you determine that is the way you want to handle it.
It's not important to everyone.

In my case, it was important to me to make that statement and receive the confirmation in black and white.

For others; not so much!

Leaving the LDS Church is a: "Do It Yourself" Project. Nobody can make the decisions on how it is to be done, for you. It's all up to you.

You don't 'need' to, unless it's important to you. For me, it was my way of saying to them, "I want no part of you. I do not want my name associated with your organization in any way."

Because I was tired of hemming and hawing about my membership.

Before resignation: "Are you a mormon" or "are you a member" or "what ward are you in" or "what is your calling" etc etc etc. I would say I am not active or I don't go anymore....Now, "no, I am not LDS" is all I have to say and it's done. If pressed, I tell them I resigned years ago. again, done.

As long as my parents are respectful of my choice not to attend LDS services and to attend the services of other churches when I so desire, I just leave well enough alone. The day the church itelef becomes overly intrusive or my parents become too pushy, I'll be out of there in the amount of time it takes to print out a form letter that is already stored on my computer.

I resigned because I wanted to stop my ex-husband from sending the missionaries over once I quit going to church after I filed for divorce. I also didn't want to belong to an organization that treats women as second class citizens only good as brood mares. If I didn't resign when I did, I certainly would have resigned over Prop 8 because I didn't want to be affiliated with an organization that's against marriage rights for all consenting adults.

First, it removes you from the records in the ward you live in so that you don't appear on their lists. Out of sight out of mind. Members will not see you as an inactive member needing reactivation or visits. I haven't been visited from a member since I resigned 12 years ago.

Second, I wanted to send a signal to the church that I REJECTED the church and definitely do NOT believe in nor wish any further association with the church in any form PERMANANTLY. I was not just some weak member who slinked away into inactivity. I wanted to send the statement that I am NO LONGER A MEMBER OF THEIR CHURCH. I wanted to do everything in my power to reduce on their records those who associate themselves with the church. I want the higher ups to SEE WITH THEIR EYES the droves of people resigning from their organization.