After watching that awesome John Oliver segment on thieving televangelists and everything coming out about Josh Duggar and discussions here about TSCC. I'm done. DH was right, religion is a social construct used to control people. The good and genuine people who try to play by the religious rules get taken advantage of by very evil men and women.

Congratulations! Hats off to you for making that final leap to the truth! Enjoy your journey and your time of no longer being controlled.

Thanks. It's been an interesting two years. I would have never guessed that I would be where I am today.

brandywine,

One thing I know, having read your comments for a while, is that you are a great person. I have confidence that you'll be able to see yourself through this important time. I think you're the the tops!

Congratulations on realizing the truth and connecting the dots about the scams out there in the name of religion especially in the morg. I wondered, in the temple session, Satan warns, "religion, you want religion do you? There will be many willing to teach you the philosophies of men mingled with scripture." (That happens in the morg all the time). And in another segment Satan says, "you can buy anything in this world for money." Again, that's the morg system. If you want to go to CK, you better pay your tithes and offerings. It's so bizarre how Christ taught, Satan is the father of lies, and yet, in the temple, Satan repeatedly tells the truth. To me, that is one of the turning points to connect the dots. I believe that Satan's comments speak to the deception, manipulation, and scam in the morg. In other words, the morg is confessing their scam via Satan, hoping no one will believe him because Christ taught us not to as "he's a liar from the beginning." It's quite the ruse. A scam on a scam. I'm glad you figured it out.

Thanks unbelievable!

You are so sweet wondercat! Thank you for the compliment.

Brandywine,
It's only 2 years since you became inactive? You are doing GREAT.
Learning and understanding is not a race, it's a life long process....
Hope your lumberjack got home OK. I just had to LOL at your description of him!

Congrats! It's not just Mormonism - all religions are the same. It's high time people leave the fraud and manipulations behind and start living authentic and liberated lives. It makes me happy when I hear that someone has figured it out and is going to kick it all to the curb! :)

It's been two years leaving Mormonism and a few months since I resigned. I was baptized in a little Christian church a week before I resigned. Now I've decided it's not for me. I love the people and music but I no longer believe everything in the bible to be literal. Now for the hard part, leaving. I get very attached to people.

Somebody above said "all religions are the same..."

Well, not really. But they do all share a common base, promoting irrational, magical belief in outrageous, unsupportable things...and all too often, using that base to control and fleece people.

That said, there are churches that keep the nonsense to a minimum, and spend most of their time actually trying to make the world a better place. Despite the base, I have a hard time quibbling with those religions. They're good people trying to do good, the best way they know how. Let's not paint those with the same brush we do the fleecers and the massive hypocrites :)

You don't *need* a church or religion to do good. You don't *need* a church or religion to have a community to belong to. Your move out, I think is recognition of that, and I congratulate you for it. Be good, do good...and don't worry about the dogma. You don't need it.

Proud of your journey, cousin! :)

Thanks for helping me out cousin! You really got me thinking about stuff. :)

Not everything in the Bible is to be taken literally. Some churches do teach that and the next thing you know...cog dis.

LOL

I think that whatever works for you is fine. Having said that, you have been looking at the most extreme, opportunistic forms of the Christian faith. I think that for people who would like an avenue of spiritual expression, there are moderate churches that treat their members with intelligence and respect. I also think that people need to realize that religion is in service to humanity, and not the reverse. It is wise to never cede one's own authority and decision-making power to any faith.

I love my little church. But feel like a hypocrite attending if I don't believe everything they teach.

So be a happy hypocrite! Ain't no rules against it!

Will you help others when asked? Will you smile when smiled at? Do you feel good about contributing because what you're getting back is worth it?

Just because you've reached a point where you feel that there is no 'salvation' to be led to by people in touch with the divine, doesn't mean you've ceased to be a social creature.

Let yourself evolve! Don't MAKE yourself stop going. If you look forward to going, go. And then don't be harsh on yourself if you wake up one Sunday morning and don't want/need to go.

Do you feel like a hypocrite being married even though you don't agree with your husband all the time?

justarelative Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do you feel like a hypocrite being married even
> though you don't agree with your husband all the
> time?

I wasn't aware that marriage vows required agreeing with your spouse all the time...?

No. I do think this is different since I don't take everything in the bible to be literal.

??

I've been a Christian since I was 16. I don't believe everything in the Bible is literal. None of the churches I've gone to require me to - not even for membership. Did you sign a detailed doctrinal statement when joining? often you don't have to - not believing everything your church teaches is the normal state of a church attendee.

I don't mean to challenge your decision, I can't speak to that, only you know what you want to do and I wouldn't try and dissuade you. But if you still want to go to this church and are only being stopped by the Mormon idea that you have to subscribe to every jot and tittle or else leave, I just want you to know that that's not how most people in most churches would see it.

If you love your little church, but feel conflicted about the difference in beliefs, talk with the members openly about what you believe. I have no idea what the teachings of your church are. But if it is an open, loving church, they will still welcome you and your personal truths.

If they do not welcome you, all that you are really losing is a fantasy that you had about this group. Now you know the truth. If you want a church, or any kind of group to belong to, look around. There are plenty of churches and other groups which will be delighted to have you as a member.

I don't belong to any church, and can't see myself joining any church --- it's just not my style. But there are several that I can see attending, if I needed the company or sense of community. I find all that I need in other groups --- cultural, service, and such things.

Thanks :)

try jesus, opie

Yep. Jesus is mind opium all right.

What's he being tried for now?

Being true to yourself is always a good idea. For me, that was a hard row to hoe after leaving Mormonism. It took a few years before I gave up religious belief altogether too, but it sure feels good and right. It feels like this is the natural way to be. Only I get to decide what I believe or don't believe. Mostly I take great pleasure in trying to winnow out fact from fiction.

May your continuing journey be an enjoyable and satisfying one.

Imbolc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Being true to yourself is always a good idea. For
> me, that was a hard row to hoe after leaving
> Mormonism. It took a few years before I gave up
> religious belief altogether too, but it sure feels
> good and right. It feels like this is the natural
> way to be. Only I get to decide what I believe or
> don't believe. Mostly I take great pleasure in
> trying to winnow out fact from fiction.
>
^^^ This is where I am too.

> May your continuing journey be an enjoyable and
> satisfying one.

^^^Thank you!

It really does. I feel more myself as an atheist than I ever have

As my therapist says, most people are faking it at least partly at church. If the community works for you, take what you want and leave the rest.

Your therapist is right. I do have community with the ExMo group that meets at Harmon's in Draper so that's helpful.

Brandywine- I wasn't able to go to yesterday's Harmins meet up.
Do you go solo or does your DH go too?
Next week for sure I'm going...