Can anyone relate to this? I haven't officially withdrawn my name from the church records, but feel I must to rid myself of the feeling that the church still has its hooks in me. I hate the thought of being included in their "ever-growing number" of members. At every baptism, the bishop would proudly announce that the new member was now a part of a family of (13 million?) members. At the time, I felt proud to be included in that number. But NOW, I am ashamed and embarrassed.

Just be aware that even if they rescind your membership, they will still lie and include you in membership numbers.

They can't help but lie; it's the very foundation of the so-called "church".

Yeah I wonder, when they say "13 million strong" how many of those are actually active members. Anyone know how to find out?

Two thirds of the counted membership (13+ million) is "inactive" or out entirely. Many are dead, and if they died in obscurity from the church, the church doesn't know this so keeps them on until they are 110. (This means that my father died in 1966 and is still on the rolls.) All people who resign fit into that one-third. Each ward or branch regularly received a message from LDS Inc. with a list of names who they believe might be in the area, but aren't sure, with the request to beat the bushes and see if they can be found. Many members have disappeared forever and will never be found.

Roughly another one-third are just inactive. People know who and where they are, but the church can't get them out on Sundays.

Another one-third are active, more or less. It includes the real active tithe-payers, and them that just come out a couple of times a month and who remain thorns in the side of the leadership because they don't pay tithing or hold meaningful positions. So not even all the active one-third is truly active.

The church figure of "13 million" is meaningless. And the church statement of being "the fastest growing religion" has always been a lie. Catholics grow faster just from new births alone. The Seventh-Day Adventists began 33 years after the Mormons and have 16 million members with about 70% activity. There are many, many more examples of churches that grow significantly faster.

even though they don't officially reduce their total number after we leave. I think most of us like the idea that we've given offical notice that we're out of there.

Besides that, it's worth it to eliminate the unwanted contact and the names usually are deleted from local ward lists if not from the records in Salt Lake City.

I know a lot of people resign for different reasons, but I resigned because I didn't want to be associated with the church and the things they did. This became especially true after prop 8.

The nicest part of the 'book' of one's life, the bit in which one was a naive, brainwashed 'Mo-bot', is waking up to the demonstrable fact that Mormonism is a fraud, and liberating oneself totally from the Morg by resigning. Here's how: http://home.teleport.com/~packham/leaving.htm

You cannot change the past. You can, however, non-judgmentally accept that you acted according to your awareness at the time (we all did) and consciously make good/healthy choices for your life. You'll be happy and at peace that way.

Here's info. about how to psychologically move past Mormon 'programming' that may be of interest: http://members.shaw.ca/blair_watson/

Best wishes!

1. Say "i'm not a member."
2. Think, "When they say I'm a member, they lie."

The problem is really theirs, not yours. You don't want them to do something. The minute you stop caring what they do, you are done.

That's exactly why I resigned 7 years ago.
And I wanted to say, "No" when asked if I were a Mormon.
Whenever I was asked, I cringed.
But I was 60 years old when I resigned.......after being inactive for decades.

K

It had been two years since I left the Church, and the suits were still showing up at my door. That needed to stop.

As far as the 57 bazillion members figure, whatever they're claiming it is this year, I see it as just another one of their ridiculous claims like Kolob and magic underwear.

I haven't resigned and don't plan on it.

To me--from my own experiences in life--what my experience is is my truth. I don't need a piece of paper or a legal document to say anything about me.

I am still legally married. I am not emotionally married. Anyone who knows me knows that--even church members.

When my husband was talking of leaving, had been cheating for years, I tore up our marriage license and mailed it to him. He was very shaken up, crying, etc., and asked me how I could do such a thing. It wasn't me who "tore up" the marriage. His actions broke up the marriage. That document meant NOTHING.

I am not a mormon. I consider myself an apostate, a heathen. I don't need a piece of paper to tell me so. The minute I realized they lied, I no longer owed any allegience to them and I certainly don't need to jump through their hoops. They can lie to themselves if they want--tell themselves they have 13 to 14 million members.

I could lie to myself and tell myself I still have a marriage, too.

When I resigned, I did so for several reasons such as mentioned above, however, I also wanted to send a MESSAGE to the suits running the scam. I wanted to tell them straight up that I REJECT the LDS Church because I discovered it was NOT TRUE.

It was more of a sign of protest than simply wanting to be "left alone." I wanted everyone to know (from the records dept, to the General Authorities, to the Bishop, Stake President, and everyone else that is becomes aware of my resignation) that I NO LONGER BELIEVE. I wanted everyone in the Mormon Church to know that the church is being REJECTED by the many thousands (and probably millions) of us ex-Mormons and "less actives" and deflate the arrogant misconception/lie that the Mormon church is GROWING BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS.

I also hope to wake up or at least plant some seeds by those who had to read my letter and by the number crunchers who have to look at the church's membership stats. Unlike many of you I wrote a fairly lengthy letter ( 3 to 4 pages) highlighting the many problems with Mormonism (historical, doctrinal, etc) that made me realize the church was not inspired of God. When my Bishop called me to confirm my resignation, he said he had read my letter, and said, “well, it sounds like you know what you are doing and I wish you luck on your journey in life.”
There was no attempt and rebuttal or urging me back to the faith. He was a nice guy and I think he knew I had discovered the truth of Mormonism and there was no way I’d be coming back.

For me resigning was like a vote of no-confidence. It’s to show them that I tried out their product and want to return it because it was defective at best and a total scam at worst. I have a dream that eventually the ex-Mormons will far outnumber the active Mormons and that we’ll all be bold and confident enough to expose the scam for what it is and bringing to light the truth.