Posted by:
summer
(
)
Date: March 25, 2017 03:09AM
Many times atheist board members ask the question, "Why would someone remain Christian who has left the Mormon church?" The feeling is that after having once examined the truth claims of Mormonism, the truth claims of Christianity are also suspect. While I understand this argument, I think it does little to advance an understanding of why some people remain Christian. In my opinion, it is approaching the question from the wrong angle.
The easiest way to put it is that mainstream Christianity can be quite a different experience than Mormonism. It would be like asking why someone might reject the Mormon temple experience but embrace traditional Masonry. Yes, there are commonalities, but it is a different experience.
Most Christians are not bible literalists (for instance I was not and my family were not as Catholics and Episcopalians.) So if you tell them that the facts do not support the great flood and Noah's ark, they might very well agree with you. In addition, Christians on the more moderate to liberal end tend to think for themselves. So they will listen to a church leader speak, and perhaps think, "Okay, I agree with this, but not that." They do not necessarily take the pronouncements of leaders as truth. They do not engage in the black and white thinking that is the bedrock of Mormonism. They feel free to sift ideas and to come to their own conclusions about things.
Also, the churches on the moderate to liberal end do not treat their members abusively. The churches do not track their members down if they miss meetings. They don't endlessly call or knock on their doors. They are not given semi-mandatory callings nor assigned times to clean the church. They are not "commanded" to give 10% of their incomes. You might ask what this has to do with chasing down the facts of Christianity, and I would respond that it makes the membership a lot more relaxed and unconcerned about the exact precision of the facts, because their feet are not held to the fire. They are looking at the experience as a whole, and focusing on uplifting things that they hear each Sunday. Christian sermons are not focused on temple, tithing, and obedience. They focus on topics like compassion, generosity, humility, etc.
It is also a longstanding tradition in Christianity to leave one denomination for another over doctrinal differences. Christians accept doctrinal differences as a legitimate reason to leave a particular church (unlike the Mormons, who tend to go with sinning, lazy, or being offended.) So you could say that people who leave Mormonism but retain Christianity do so over doctrinal differences. In effect, they never lost the religious impulse. This would be particularly true of more conservative Christians such as the fundamentalists, bible literalists, and the evangelicals.
If you think that all religion is anathema, then probably little or nothing of this will add up for you. But in my opinion people who embrace mainstream Christianity (or Judaism, Buddhism, etc.) may do so for reasons other than why they left the Mormon church. Joseph may have lied, but they can find a meaningful spiritual experience elsewhere.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2017 09:20AM by summer.