Have any of you gone back to full activity after having learned the truth about the church, and have a satisfactory LDS social life?

Sometimes I wonder about dropping in just for the hell of it, to join in the class discussions. As for sustaining any leaders, don't ask don't tell.

good question. how many active people do we have on this board?

I am, reluctantly. At this point I feel like the damage of leaving would outweigh the drudgery if staying.

The damage of removing the faceplate would outweigh the benefits of living as an individual rather than a bee in a hive.

Mormonism does not teach you that authenticity is even a value, let alone an important one.


Kathleen

We used to be encouraged to use our personal experiences and creativity to design lessons based on a general theme.

I remember being shocked when we were all told that we were not to add or subtract from the lesson manual.

I reminded the bishop of how successful the peg scripture game had been with the nine year olds. He said it didn't matter, the instructions came from Salt Lake. Period.

Then they took away the money that the Relief Society had earned and usually used to support the Road Shows and Scouting activities. They made us ask the priesthood for our own money --why? The bishop said it was undignified for the priesthood to beg for money from women.

It's better principle, the Bishop said, for money to be under the control of the priesthood.


Kathleen

There are a bunch of board members who are either questioning, nonbelievers, or NOMs but who still attend for a variety of reasons, i.e. family, work, etc.

We know that TBMs sometimes come here to proselytize, troll the board, or stalk exmo family members who post here. I'm not sure if some come for other reasons.

I come here to present the honest viewpoints on things from a TBM viewpoint. There are some TBM's out there who present things very dishonesty so I just try to present the views on how TBM's have to think honestly :)

Now beware that there are some people, particularly almost all of the unbelievers, who think that what I write is parody or satire. These people tend to be those who don't believe that the LDS church is the most honest, truthful, and transparent church in the world. Well of course it has to be super honest, truthful, and transparent to have the label of "true church". Otherwise the members would be needing to say "I bear testimony that the church is kinda truthful" or something else than just saying "I bear testimony that the church is true" with confidence. I think one of the most wonderful things that can be done to shoot down the criticisms of the anti-Mormons is to show all the links to the detailed financial/statistical reports from the church at lds.org. Hmmmmm I guess we better go look up those links :)

Now what I personally believe on anything is nobody's business but mine, those who listen to my tears of joy during F&T meeting as I give my long monologues to the Ward people, and those in-the-know on the Lord's sacred surveillance program. Its so silly how some exmos get all worked up with angst over how Bishops ask very personal questions about their undies and sex life. That is hardly an instrusion at all into their privacy in comparison to other ways. Just imagine all the wondrous 24/7 loving heavenly surveillance on all your thoughts/actions that must surely be happening by the angels in Heaven on each/every person in order to prepare their record for the glorious Judgment Day. It sure helps keep the sheep self-disciplining themselves to not think doubtful thoughts to think that such a program exists. Now of course the exmos don't believe that such a surveillance program exists. But the TBM's live 24/7 with such a wondrous blessing in their life to believe it does. Now if the whole enchilada wasn't true then they'd need some serious recovery from such a fraud to be self-aware and in control of their own lives. But it would be a grave sin for me to think about such things so I better put my mind on more vital matters, such as how our local chapel needs its toilets to be scrubbed even better so Heavenly Father will be happy.

Dear "Honest TBM",

Please be quiet and just let the Correlation program work. What is important is to get everyone into the Church. Don't worry about the truth. That is the job of the Correlation program to worry about which doctrines are emphasized towards the goal of getting everyone assimilated.

Getting the popcorn. This is getting entertaining!

Of course the 24/7 surveillance creeps me out, though!

Ah, those scrubbing bubbles. "We work hard so you don't have tooooo". TSCC is kind of nice in a way, with the ward family and all. It's just way too stagnant and controlled for what you get in return. The amazing thing to me is how something as made up as Mormonism functions spirituality. It shouldn't work, but it does for some people. It's true for you if you believe it, just like Santa.

The basic problem most exmos have is all of the deception. The church only comes clean on its past when it has no choice. Even then, there's no pursuit of truth. Inconvenient facts are swept under the rug even though they would lead to greater truth. This is called loving a lie. I know many people who love an easy lie over the hard truth. I'm not saying self delusion won't work for you. It's just not right for me. There are actually many more problems related to the debilitating effects of cult psychology on human development that I won't get into. They're discussed a lot on this board.

If you take away factual information, you have a social club. But if your club can have any mythology, why stick to the Mormon one? The Marvel Universe is much more interesting.

I never formally left the LDS church. I guess I get sort of a twisted pleasure in letting them guess whether or not to baptize me when I die. On the one hand I've drank enough coffee alone to warrant 5 excommunications. But since they have no way of knowing what I'm doing, the pressure is on them that they have an alleged priest that is living totally different standards than the ones they have under watchful eye.

I teach a youth sunday school class twice a month, but of course I don't use church manuals. I teach lessons on science, evolution, the correct version of church history, morality, etc. It's been a couple years now with no complaints that I know of, but I'm up in the Pacific NW. Told the bishop he could fire me anytime he wants, but he seems to be cool with it.

My husband was, but he was too handicapped to go to church (his legs gave him a lot of problems). So instead, they came to us to give us the sacrament. Usually the missionaries were involved in this (giving them something useful to do).

Yes active.
But three good friends not active. So interesting to try to understand how people feel about the church that don't believe anymore.

They are still good people, checked no tails or horns. Just humans, love them still.

also lets be honest some of the thoughts here make me laugh. Any religion that cannot have a laugh at itself is paranoid.

Those TBM guys go everywhere together hmmm

If you are an adult, then you get to chose your own beliefs and the way you want to live your life.

If you honestly believe attending TSCC is your path to domestic tranquility, so be it.

If you spend one minute indoctrinating children into this cult, then you are a POS!!!