Thanks for all the responses to my other thread. I thought rather than create a super long thread that I'd create another thread.

I am now Baptised (or rebaptised) into the Church of England.

It's a High Church aka Anglo Catholic Church, which the family were members of before my mother fell victim to the Mormon missionaries.

It was a warm and very welcoming service. The priest played his guitar during one of the hymns.

Anointed with oil consecrated by the Bishop, then baptised with water, but not full immersion, though I believe the COE does arrange that should you wish.

In re baptism: how long were you sinless? And what’s it feel like?

"It was a warm and very welcoming service."

You can return the favor by teaching them the signs, tokens and passwords… just in case they want to hedge their bets.

(just kidding)

Congratulations to you. This is what you wanted and I hope it serves you well.

+1

I would have said "congratulations" a few years ago, but having worked for an Episcopal Church for the last three years (long story) I'm shaking my head. People go into religion with pie-in-the-sky dreams about it being oh-so-good, and not-liike-the-other-religions ideas. Let me tell you, after seeing how churches work on the inside I would NEVER work at one again, let alone go to one.

I saw the most petty, jealous, bickering, nit-picking, self-glorification among the clergy AND staff. I worked for TWO Episcopal churches and they were equally toxic in different ways. Church 1 was a "conservative" parish - i.e., rich, white, right-wing Trumpers, anti-gay, with openly neofascists attending. I'd estimate the fascist element comprised about 60-70% of the parish members. Church 2 was a "woke" parish, super gay-friendly, mostly agnostic, into making worship kind of a circus of sorts, and the inability to think critically. If there was a wacko idea, they embraced it.

I've attended probably 7 Episcopal parishes in the last 7 years since I left Mormonism. Thought I had found "it." Each one was super disappointing, and I found the same cliqueishness I found among Mormons. Went to a few Catholic churches as well. Same thing. Tried a parish of the ACNA. Same thing. When a person I talked to called it a "Burger King vs. McDonalds" argument I was pissed off, but a few years later I found he was spot on.

I decided to read some books by Bart Ehrman, PhD, mostly because I had been warned against them by the churches I worked for. By the time I finished "How Jesus became God" whatever little faith I had in Christianity had completely evaporated.

Side note: I still work for a church (very part-time), but I don't believe at all. I'm an agnostic now - closeted - until I can find other paying work. Christianity is built on a foundation of sand and superstition - Mormonism AND all the rest.

You might want to listen to the podcast from an Ex-Mormon/Ex-Christian on Mormon Stories. In Part 2 (it's a 3-hour 2-part show), she describes how she recognized how toxic churches are and what led to her faith deconstruction.

Final advice: Apply the same critical reasoning to Christianity (any flavor) that you did in rejecting Mormonism. You'll find yourself out eventually. It's a painful process to lose faith. It's devastating.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1611-from-mormon-to-evangelical-christian-rachel-wunderli/id312094772?i=1000567166174

If you search hard enough, you can find reasons to be anti-everything.

A case can be made that ‘sanity’ is merely accepting a point of view that the police can respect. ‘Insanity’ would obviously be the reverse.

> A case can be made that ‘sanity’ is merely
> accepting a point of view that the police can
> respect. ‘Insanity’ would obviously be the
> reverse.

Oh boy, you said it.

Are you now holier than thou ?

I like the Church of England, especially after my experience with mormonism. I think it’s because I grew up in it and everything feels so familiar at a very basic level (and I have no trauma related to it). I did wonder if being baptised into the mormon church cancelled out my christening as a baby from their point of view.

Anyway, I’m not religious anymore but if I were, that’s where I’d go. As a side note, it was nice to drink wine instead of water on a Sunday! I especially love the old churches with the stain glass windows, and the unique smell. Weird, I know. I still like those churches.

Congratulations on finding a faith you are comfortable with. When I left the LDS church years ago, I found it difficult to even think about attending another church, but I missed having a church home. I now attend my neighborhood Methodist church and feel at home. Methodist was also the faith I spent my childhood in. Question: Was LDS baptism not accepted by the COE church? I know you were baptised in the COE. Just curious what thier position is on LDS baptism. Again, congrats.

I can't speak for the CoE, but normally, Trinitarian churches insist on a Trinitarian baptism.

Matt were you dunked or sprinkled? CofE is usually the first.

kentish Wrote:
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> Matt were you dunked or sprinkled? CofE is
> usually the first.

Sprinkled. After being anointed with oil on my forehead.