Early in my marriage I tried to show my wife how the church actively withheld information that is readily available to everybody else with internet access.
She insists everything critical of the church is lies, and totally believes that the church warns her away from it for her protection.
She is so conditioned that she started to feel physically ill when she started to read any of the Gospel Topics Essays. That may also be due to me saying that some of the material in the Essays was once considered anti-Mormon.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2019 03:32PM by GregS.
We met online. She'd divorced four years earlier after being married to an RM who convinced her during their 30 yrs together that she was crazy and couldn't function on her own. By the time I met her she was running a cafe on her own and was still struggling fulfill her callings.
We talked a lot during our courtship, but very little about Mormonism. She told me about the WoW and Law of Chastity. She wasn't too concerned that I drank, and seemed quite pleased that I didn't judge her lax LoC. I didn't think too much about it because I grew up Catholic, and the Catholics I know are notorious for preaching one thing and practicing another.
She sold the cafe and took a job with shorter hours so that she would have more time for her callings.
She also made me a ward project. The only fights we have ever had were about efforts to convert me, and the worst were in those early years. I read and studied everything I could get my hands on to counter the missionaries and ward members. I shared much of it with my wife, which prompted accusations that I "chose not to believe" so that I could drink coffee and beer, and sleep in on Sundays.
A couple years ago she practically stopped going to church, and begged the bishop to release her from her callings. There was a lot of drama going on with her mother and her children (all adults). She was stressed, depressed, and something had to give. She started to drink, swear, and judge people, which led to more stress and depression.
She beats herself up for being a "bad Mormon example" to me, and I do my best to let her know she's the best person I know and does not deserve how she's treating herself.
We moved into her sister's ward 9 months ago, and my wife has been making an effort to be more active again, though she still has no calling. She still enjoys a glass of wine every now and then, but I'm the only one who knows. (She just had a glass in a restaurant on Sunday while we were driving home from Kentucky.) One of the things she has enjoyed the most, even during her inactivity, is to have the missionaries over for dinner.
The only time we seriously discuss religion is when the missionaries are over, and even then we're not conversing with each other. It's mostly her mentioning something I've said about Joseph Smith or Mormon history, and then sitting back while the missionaries and I have a back-and-forth.
> > She insists everything critical of the church is > lies, and totally believes that the church warns > her away from it for her protection. > > She is so conditioned that she started to feel > physically ill when she started to read any of the > Gospel Topics Essays. That may also be due to me > saying that some of the material in the Essays was > once considered anti-Mormon.
I believe it was Jeremy Runnels, author of the CES Letter, who said something to the effect of "today's anti-Mormon lies are tomorrow's Gospel Topics Essays".