Hi all, been lurking on this site for quite some time now. I am a nevermo, although I have a number of people very close to me who are in the cult, and grew up in a town in in the West that overflowed with Mormons. The negative effect that church involvement has on people I care about, as well as the perverted understanding of God (not that my own understanding is objectively correct) dismay me continually. That is why I visit this site regularly, to read the words of others who "get it," as just about everyone I know either *is* a Mormon, or thinks that the Mormon church is just another harmless Protestant sect whose members are productive, wholesome people.

One of the things that never fails to amaze me is the degree of micromanagement that members accept, especially when the stakes (to them) are so high. It seems a despicable thing to me, to teach that the church has the authority to withhold God's love and approval if you don't follow all their pissy little rules. What movies to watch, how much money to contribute to the church, what drinks to enjoy, in what capacity to volunteer (or whether to at all), whom to marry, which service to show up for, what music is ok to play during worship, what intimate activities to engage in in the privacy of your own bed, on and on and on. It blows my mind. Was it hard for you ex-mos to not respond to some of that crap with, "I'm a big girl and I can figure out if this damages my relationship with God or not?"

It seems to obvious to me that our worthiness is between us and God, and the fact that the Mo-church has managed to pass off this giant fraud and convince so many that they hold the keys to the kingdom, and that members can't access God and all his mercy if they don't jump through endless, meaningless hoops makes me so sad.

if you're Lutheran, Methodist or whatever, you get to pick and choose until you find a congregation that's just right.

The marments actually tell you where you will go to church. That's a big mindblower for us nevermos.

And what time you're allowed to attend church. I have friends who complain about their ward's times, but they're appalled by the very concept of going at another time that's more convenient.

That's money that they could be giving the church so, in turn, the church can "give to the needy."

I did not question sitting outside with my honorable, yet "not worthy," mormon parents while my sister got married. Yeah, it felt bad, but I didn't question it.

It truly is astounding how much control mormons cede to their spiritual "leaders." I will never understand it. It is as if mormons (regardless of age) are children, and the "leaders" are the parents.

How does one grow spritually or otherwise in such an environment? Where so many of life's decisions are made for you? No wonder that leaving the cult is such a difficult thing to do for so many people, and so many decide it is not worth the trouble to even investigate the truth.

I switch back and forth from perplexed, to disgusted by it all, and then back to perplexed.

Was it hard for you ex-mos to not respond to some of that crap with, "I'm a big girl and I can figure out if this damages my relationship with God or not?"
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Yes, and I failed. I pretty much responded that way and was branded as an uppity woman who was out of control and MUST. BE. STOPPED! Ha ha ha ha.

I vividly remember walking out of the YW lesson when they taught me that my one and only true purpose for existing was to become a brood mare and slave to some arrogant self-righteous guy. I argued for a minute about Mother Theresa and my mom (nevermo, worked as a nurse saving lives for 40 years) and I just couldn't accept that any god would create a species, give it free will, and then condemn it for making a choice. Made no sense.

My dad busted me, sitting in the lobby during class after I walked out. He asked what was up and I explained that the lesson was so terribly offensive to me that I was either going to stand there and fight for the rest of class, or I was going to leave the class, but there was no way I was going to sit there with my mouth shut while some stupid cow insulted my mother who wasn't even there. My dad said, "Carry on," turned on his heel and went back to his class. We never spoke of that again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2010 04:05PM by dogzilla.

We had that exact same lesson one Sunday. I stood up and walked home. The ward building was only 2 miles away from our house.

I got in huge trouble for not coming home with the family.

Being a teenager SUCKED.