Posted by:
Insomniac_Agnostic
(
)
Date: October 17, 2010 02:28AM
During my slow and painful self-extraction from evangelical Christianity in my early 40's I became fascinated with various belief systems and their consequences. I read everything I could find about LDS history and doctrine. I think it's safe to say I probably have a much better knowledge of Mormon history and doctrine than the average member. Applying the same criteria for proof and internal consistency to my own beliefs that I was using to gauge the veracity of Mormon claims was very helpful to me in realizing how ridiculous my own beliefs actually were.
Anyway, after I had left my own faith I was pretty bitter, and more self-assured than ever. I didn't hesitate to let the few LDS missionaries I encountered have it with both sarcastic barrels. I must say that I am ashamed of my behavior, especially after reading so many personal stories about the struggle and victimization experienced by these kids. Had I known what most of them have to endure I would have been much kinder.
So, say I have nothing but their best interests at heart - what is a good (and concrete) approach to helping them out, being a relatively well-informed ex-Christian? I live in a larger metro area of Western Canada, where there is quite a large LDS population. I'm not talking about deprogramming them in 20 minutes or less - just helping them to feel mostly human, etc. Also, are there 'underground' resources in the local ex-LDS community that I could use?
Tanks