4. All the rewards come in the next life...not this one
"Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins." (Mormon 8:32)
I think they're saying that about other churches, about how evil they will be.
31 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations; when there shall be many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day. But wo unto such, for they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. 32 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins.
Feeling that the truth is more important than anything. More important than what your friends think. More important than a comforting yourself with a fairy tale. More important than your ego so you can admit you are wrong. So important that you have the courage to completely rethink your beliefs, make new friends, break old bonds, set new goals, face unpleasant consequences and shake hands with the unknown and the unknowable. You just can't live a lie because living a lie would be worse than any of the above mentioned difficulties.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2011 12:04AM by CA girl.
I do read a lot. I was a devout mormon to the point of putting my life and those of my kids on the line for mormonism. It is easy to say to yourself "I'm just not doing enough. I'm not perfect enough, blah, blah, blah."
I lived the gay/straight marriage and, in the end, no matter what other bullshit I'd been told or read or been taught over the years, I KNEW he had done ALL HE COULD and I had done ALL I COULD and they were WRONG. They fucked up our lives. When you finally put 2 and 2 together--you do know deep in your heart. I knew nobody who had left mormonism. I knew inactives. I had been sure of my nonbelief for over a year when my therapist directed me to this board.
Me, it is mostly #1 with a dash of hating being lied to thrown in.
But as far as the youth, it seems like most of the youth that I know including myself at that age, they go where they are accepted. If the church kids are jerks and the jackmos or nevermos are cool and accepting, you've got a very slim chance of that kid staying in church.
As I think about it, my break started with prayer. I felt a lot of doubt and prayed with great faith. The more I prayed and did not receive an answer, I finally came to the conclusion that there was no one answering. That put me on a path of discovery which included a lot of reading and I never looked back. I am an ultimately rational person and could not reconcile faith as a virtue if reality never lined up.