Life is hard. I lost everyone to help my children escape.

But yesterday, my well read 20-yo son told me he'd read the BOM again. As an adult.

He said, "It's such a bad book. Obviously written by an immature kid in the 19th century. All those battles."

I laughed one of those long, hard, clearing laughs thinking about how seriously I once took that stupid chloroform in print. I couldn't help but think of all our relatives who still take it so seriously. From the outside, that seriousness can be entertaining.

And it was a sad laugh, too, because I'm the one who is blamed for my children's "sins" and disbelief. They're excuses and I'm the evil one. The family will love and accept them because they are supposedly the victims of me.

So in order to protect them from missions and early marriage, I had to take on the role of evil one

It's hard sometimes.

But that laugh over the BOM with my son was priceless. I may not have a family, but at least my children are so far out that no one will ever be able to convince them to come back in.

*They're excuseD (not excuses) and I'm the evil one.

I've said it before, but my Dad read it, just to see what his daughter was getting into. Thinking he was going to be overwhelmed by the Spirit, I eagerly awaited his thoughts.

His only comment was, "Violent little book, isn't it?"

I was crushed and confused. He was supposed to know that the book was true. LOL

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2019 10:08AM by cl2.

That's the greatest accomplishment of all! You have your "family."

My daughter is over the top TBM, where she used to be anti at age 20. I'll say it again, she just got married in the temple January 26th.

Oh, and my aunt sent everyone of my parents' children and grandchildren copies of the BofM to our family for Christmas. I didn't know what to do with them as I really couldn't bring myself to throw them out for some odd reason, so I gave the ones given to us to my daughter. She was carrying one of them around the other day. If she wants to waste her time reading that book, it is up to her. Luckily, most of my family is out. She is the only grandchild who is mormon.

Oh, myself, I'm blamed for not saving my gay "ex." I just wasn't righteous enough.

I’d tell them the way the church breaks up families, I should think it was founded by the devil himself.

If Christianity were true Lucifer would definitely be the god of The Mormons. It is a scare families into staying together forever type shiz that plays on fear of family more than any god.

It is a testimony of the power of faith and human need that the Book of Mormon, a ponderous, lowbrow 19th century comic book, can hijack the intelligence of the vulnerable. Remove the suasion of faith, and the BOM leaves the reader with fits of laughter: nobody can fall for this smutz, right?

I christen thee: The Book of Mormon Smutz.

cheerful prophets constantly prophesying doom, destruction and death.....

What's not to love??

Just remember to read this lovely passage from Enos 1 each night before going to bed...and have pleasant dreams!

+++++
Enos 1:

22 And there were exceedingly many prophets among us. And the people were a stiffnecked people, hard to understand.

23 And there was nothing save it was exceeding harshness, preaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and continually reminding them of death, and the duration of eternity, and the judgments and the power of God, and all these things—stirring them up continually to keep them in the fear of the Lord. I say there was nothing short of these things, and exceedingly great plainness of speech, would keep them from going down speedily to destruction. And after this manner do I write concerning them.

So glad your son saw the reality!

It's hard to relate to people who have a skewed view of reality.

Congratulations for absorbing the hatred, like a scapegoat, and saving your children. There's no "punishment" that the Mormons could put upon you that could take away from the happiness of your children. I used to think: "Bring it on, Mormons! Try what you will! You will never abuse my children again!" The Mormons are the only ones who would think you were "evil" to save your kids from a cult. Everyone else, including me, thinks you are a hero!

You deserve credit, not shunning. Your children deserve respect, for standing up against lies and manipulations, and for following the Truth.

Aloneagain, you seem sad, today. Please don't let the Mormons get you down!

1) You didn't lose "everyone." Many of us ex-Mormons feel that way sometimes, but that's the way the Mormons WANT us to feel. They shun us into "outer darkness", immediately, instead of waiting for their MorGod to do so. They also hope they can punish us and shame us to come crawling back to the cult.

2) Your children seem to be still accepted by your Mormon family--but I'll bet that they are still trying reel your children back in. Mormons never give up. In time, your children will feel so uncomfortable, that they won't want to be around these people very much.

3) You wrote: "I may not have a family, but at least my children are so far out that no one will ever be able to convince them to come back in." It's hard to let go of your children, but if your son is 20, and your other kids are near that age, too, it's a natural time for them to branch out on their own. You might be feeling the common "empty-nest" loneliness. It seems like you still have contact with them. Trust me, YOU will be their go-to parent, moving forward. Like I said, Mormons have their own view of reality, and it closes off others. You will be the parent who listens and understands, instead of preaches and judges.

You have a brighter future with your kids than you think you have! I went through the same thing with my children, years ago, and they prevailed! We live in a Mormon-dominated neighborhood, and we all were given a hard time when we resigned from the cult.The NON- and EX-Mormon friends my children made have been life-long friends. No more Mormon fake friends and competitive "frenemies". My children grew to ignore their jealous gossip. They were active in sports, and were on sports teams. They joined a non-denominational Scout troop, and got their Eagle Scout awards. They were interested in learning at school, and went on to the community college for their associates, and then the University to graduate, and beyond. They had after-school jobs, and (with my help) put themselves through school to graduate with BS, Master's, and a law degree. I am a single parent, and we struggled financially, at first, right after the divorce, and the Mormon kids treated us like we were "a broken home." The Mormons kids in our neighborhood didn't have to work, and the ward members felt more "blessed" than we were.

My kids became the good examples for my ex-husband's TBM family, who, until last year, lived nearby. The in-laws wanted my kids to be roommates with their TBM cousins in college, to help them find jobs, to set them up with good dates, to give them advice, to get two of them off drugs. This was a burden to my kids, and I finally had to step in, and discourage this. I didn't care if they thought I was awful. My children actually thanked me for getting them out of those tough family situations, and for taking the flak for it. Maybe this is what parents have to do, sometimes.

If money is a blessing, my children and I are truly blessed. The ignorant TBM neighbors don't remember how hard we all worked, and they ask invasive questions about our various careers. We are reputable and honest, and they seem disappointed at our happiness. My children all have houses in the neighborhood, are happily married, and their children are happy non-Mormons.

Sometimes I have nightmares, that I'm back in that Mormon world, when I was threatened with failure and outer-darkness, and the fear that my children and I would be separated for eternity.

Don't go back there! Don't buy into the notion that you don't have a family anymore! A family is all about LOVE. UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. And you have that! (((hugs to you)))

These are such beautiful words of encouragement, advice and praise which, I would also like to second.

I would like to add one thought. The MormonCult gives us this unreal picture that if we follow "their" way everything will we sublime and I believe it is human to grasp tightly on this wonderful idea and so want to believe it, and definitely difficult to let go even when we know that reality has proven it to be a smokescreen.

You have done well, very well, with your children. And, who knows how soon even some of the others in your life you desire to have a relationship with just might, from your example, swing over to your side.

Yes, a lot of stupid battles at places that geographically don’t exist. A lot of things in the BOM didn’t even exist in the time period it was allegedly written. Very violent indeed.
It would be neat to have a contest, a “ BOM study”, where everyone goes through it and writes down all the contradictions, inconsistencies, impossibilities, etc
The person with the most , wins.
Of course, everyone would have at least 3 pages ( back and front equals one page)

Years ago my DD was looking through her junior high newspaper. There was a list of student's favorite books. I rolled my eyes and said "lemme guess.... BoM ?"

"Yes," she replied. "But it's in the fiction category".

not really, but we had a good laugh.

The OP is right. When you are looking forward generationally, the opportunity for the next generation to grow up without the Mormon baggage--it's well worth taking any shots for being a baddie from one's parents, siblings or other relatives.

Reading the BoM sans the pre-conceived notion that it is truuuue is a real eye opener.

Righteous, God says kill, take a cruise, bloody battle, wicked, bloody battle, dark skin curse, Jesus destroys America, bloody battle in the millions, cut off your arms, bloody battle, bloody battle, the end.

So happy for you and your kids, aloneagain. You have my respect.

I can see clearly now the church is gone. There's a song in there somewhere.

Thank you all. I needed some warm words.

The whole cult part of it can really get me down sometimes.

I am so happy I have my children and they're the best family of all.

But I still wish I had some other people, too.

I suppose I never really had them, though. The only me they loved was a me who made them feel good about them. That's different than really being loved.

I asked my 15-yo daughter the other day if she ever wondered if I might not love her. She thought that was hilarious. "Of course you love me mom! Your love could never go away. I could be a terrible murderer and you would love me. That's the foundation of everything. How could it not be? What a silly question."

So, I've succeeded with them. Wouldn't it be great to have a parent like that? One who cared more about love than whether or not their fellow ward members were sure they believed in the truthfulness of a dumb book? A parent who loved me more than they cared about whether I think Joseph Smith was a predato or a prophet?

I suppose what I really want is parents. I'm jealous of people who have parents.

My wife used to have me read the BOM to her because she has dyslexia and she figured it would be faster with me reading. That lasted only a few weeks because I could not stop myself from laughing as I read it. I described one of the more ridiculous passages as "Green Eggs and Ham" without the rhymes or the humor.

Haha! All those battles. I think the Book of Mormon was written by Mr. Bean.

and that just ripped my heart out. So many exmormons have felt as you do, that you wish you had parents LIKE YOU ARE. What a great mother you are that your child KNOWS you will always love her.

I was one of the few lucky ones as my parents listened when we talked about my not believing any longer. My parents always loved us all. There were times they tried to get us to go back to the church, but they never stopped loving us. After we had talked long enough, they were accepting. Actually, my mother was more accepting than my dad for a long time and my mother was more active mormon than my dad. She told me that I could be spiritual and not be any religion.

My oldest brother was rebellious as a teen and quit the church then. He did go back for a short time after he had a stroke in his 40s. My parents nursed him back to health after 5 brain surgeries--FIVE. They took him to speech therapy in Ogden from Brigham. They watched out for him and he them until their deaths. And he was not an active mormon. They weren't perfect, but we knew they'd always love us no matter what. I know how lucky I really am.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2019 06:38PM by cl2.