I recycled my Ensigns, RS manuals, and all books of mormon (a few extra & several foreign language) except my mother's copy, and mine, which is quarantined so I don't have to look at it. Tossing them in the bins was very therapeutic, especially knowing how worthless they are, and knowing I would never have a need for their propaganda, and faith promoting BS. I freed up a lot of space for books that are actually factual, and useful.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2012 09:39PM by atheist&happy:-).

Home teachers, visiting teachers, garments, temple costumes

to visit me. In the corridor, most would be LDS. I said no. Either going to make it or not. Luck of the draw or good surgeon and anesthesiologist but no magic words over me would make any difference. Guess I am cured of organized religion.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2012 09:50PM by mav.

Nothing more is needed. I live my life with as much of a positive upbeat, grateful, fun loving, appreciative attitude with as much laughter as possible.
I refuse to allow the past mess up my present.
At my age, in my 7th decade on this earth, I'm grateful for every day I wake up and can enjoy it -- stress included!
Mormonism is a non-issue in my life.
It can be ignored for the most part.
I live with and love Mormons and always will! They are just like me. Our difference of opinions over some religious issues are not important. Not in the long run.
I respect and honor their RIGHT to believe anything they want, and I receive the same in return. Can't beat that!

Very satisfying to say the least.

That's horrible. A martini would have been a nice finer drink for sitting next to the fire.

I got rid of the snarky Mormons who were shunning us and trying to manipulate us to come back to church.

This year, there were zero hristmas gifts or Christmas cards to or from any Mormon neighbors! They stopped being my friends when I left. The only one to bring us goodies was our former bishop. I do have some Mormon friends from high school and college, who still do things with us non-Mormon.

The funny thing is, that we exchanged more gifts than ever this year.

Those fake friends took with them their negativity, gossip, and complaining. It was only after they were out of our life for a few months, that I realized that they had been a real downer.

Attended Exmormon Conference to build more positive friendships with quality people and learn more about how being Mormon affects later life even as exmos (passive aggressive, repressed anger, oppositional behavior, etc.)

Meeting exmormons in person has enriched my life, adding good peeps for fun, work and play.

Anagrammy

I have realized that my life gets better when I let go of the past, deal with the short-term existential angst that follows, then fill up my life with new people and experiences and things. Things not mormony.

I have only a short stack of photos now representing my years up until now. All the ones that made me sick to my stomach went into the fire place.

Good question, thanks for asking this...

Student.

They have traumatized me so much, I want only what is essential to me, and who I am. Overall I never really changed, but anything that reminds me of the cult, and its thinking, is on its way out. It takes a long time to sift through everything, and it can be painful to realize friendships here only revolve around TSCC.

After I realized I was no longer bound by their rules, I got a tattoo, dyed my hair black, and started dressing in sexy gothic/punk clothes. I wish I had more photos from those days.....
I also started doing what I wanted, when I wanted, be damned any consequences. Good times.

I haven't been inside a Mormon church in eons. Somehow the local talent pool of Mormons became depleted. Some lady called me and asked me to be organist for Stake Conference in a town about thirty miles (non-freeway driving= about 45 minutes one-way) from my home. In order to do that, I would've had to get out of my regular Sunday morning organits jobm which pays $150.00 weekly for one service that lasts an hour. It's about seventy-two minutes of work for me because I'm responsible for prelude and postlude. It's a six-minute drive from my house on-way.

So I had two options:

Option A) I could put in a total of 84 minutes counting transportation both ways, incidentally playing a smallish but very nice pipe organ, and be paid $150.00 before taxes.

Option B) I could give up a total of 210 minutes of my life to playing a substandard hymns on a substandard electronic organ, and be paid zilch, although I would have the privilege of paying for the gas at about $3.50 per gallon. (Oh, I forgot that I would be paid in blessings.)

I chose Option A. I'm one-hundred-fifty dollars wealthier (before taxes) not even counting the approximately twelve dollars' worth of gas i would have burned up with Option B..


I'm satisfied with my choice.

You should have told her that your fee was $150 per hour including travel time both ways, plus mileage.

Ditched callings, meetings, activities, home teachers, and started spending a whole lotta time on RfM ;)

I just kept drinking coffee and didn't feel bad about it one bit.

In fact, I upped my daily consumption to about three cups daily.
I've really developed a taste for it, and look forward to my morning "cup" every day.

Ten years ago, I would never have guessed I'd ever let coffee,tea, or alcohol cross my lips. I was a true stickler when it came to the WoW. I even asked my bishop if it was okay to drink Coke, just to make sure I was in "good standing" if I enjoyed a Big Gulp or any other portion of cola. He smiled and said he liked Coke, too. I was so relieved!

Now I understand that drinking coffee is basically meaningless, and I doubt it would cause even a ripple in a Supreme Being's
consciousness as far as "sin" is concerned.

I also have stood firm to my own stance on Mormonism. I know it bothers my mom a lot, but I feel pretty confident about my decision to back away from the church. I know what I know, and I can't go back to looking at church history and doctrine the same way I used to. I'm sure my family (all except my agnostic father) think I've gone way off the deep end, but I keep reminding myself that, through meticulous study, I know things they don't, and probably don't want to know. They all seem very happy in the church, and as long as it provides them and their families with a sense of cohesion and spirituality, so be it. I'd love to reveal the whole mess to them, but I don't want to risk causing a big rift in the family. I doubt they'd want to discuss it--I've tried in some subtle ways before, and it didn't go over well. My brother threw a fit, and started bearing his testimony. Ironically,he had little use for the church as a young man, and only served a mission for his fiancee's sake, as her parents were adament she marry an RM, which she did. Twenty-nine years later, my "rebellious" brother is now a bishop, and my sister, who was never truly religious and had been inactive for almost 20 years, has served as RS president, as well as in many other church callings. She and her husband (another former totally inactive family member) were sealed in the temple, and are now fully active and TBM'S. Meanwhile, I, the formerly most devout sibling, am sipping coffee and sitting at home in my PJ's each Sunday morning, with such relief that I don't have to get all dressed up and spend 3 hours in church. I used to hate Sundays, but now it's my favorite day of the week, because it has become truly a day of rest, and not a scramble for getting ready and out the door for a long day of bench sitting, listening to droning speakers, and cringing my teeth with all the noise and confusion of exhausted children screaming and running up and down the aisles. Three hours is too much for most adults, for kids, it must be pure torture.

Anyway, I'm just going along with my life and my belief systems, and acting accordingly. I still have my doubts about the veracity of Mormonism, but I don't doubt enough to put on my panty hose and go back to church.

We had at least an hour round trip added to this. I was criticized for wearing a nice outfit with pants at first, criticized for not being able to stay awake, hated the spiteful behavior of the girls, hated being forced to associate with strange people I did not want to know, and the branch president & wife from Utah were the most dour people I had seen at their young age or most any age. They were lifeless, and devoid of joy. I liked to watch "Meet the Press", read, ride my bicycle, and always had some project to do. I don't know why I ever returned, but yes, boring, a completely boring waste of time.

The fast offering thread reminded me-
The kid showed up at the door for fast offering. I accepted the envelope, closed the door, wrote on the form "take me off the route!", put the form back in the envelope, opened the door, and gave the envelope back to the kid.

Meanwhile, TBM Mrs Misfit, from the other room, "Who is that?!"
"Its just the fast offering collection, dear."
"Can you take care of it?"
"Yes, dear, its all taken care of!"

That was great! :-D

Wrong posting place



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2012 03:04PM by imalive.

Before August 2011 I had issues with church leadership, questioned some church doctrines, believed I had a better idea than most members of the imperfections in the church, but basically believed it was, at least in the important parts, "true".

And then I *REALLY* learned about the problems with church:

Leadership - they are lying men who have never received a single inspired thought from the Holy Ghost. Why? Because there IS NO HOLY GHOST! (Or, in the extremely unlikely event that there is, He certainly wouldn't be "inspiring" anybody who leads the Mormon church)

Doctrine - the whole damn thing is MADE UP! There is no such thing as the LDS Gospel. What passes for LDS theology is inconsistent, incoherent, and subject to change at any time the current profit feels like it.

Church History! HA! Don't even get me started...

I threw away all my Cleon Skousen books and that notorious Spencer Kimball piece of s.h.i.t "It's a Miracle to Be Forgiven."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2012 03:05PM by imalive.

And decided to let my new friends know about my mo past without guilt or regret. Whew.

I resigned.

I warned one of my neighbors.

I warned the little girls next door that it was a bad church (they're not mo) when they told me they thought the missionaries "tell you about Jesus." I told them the cult thinks women should just stay at home and have babies. they wrinkled their noses at that! Their mom is pretty non-religious and does not take them to church, so I don't think I did wrong.

And the work continues.......

Susan

I quit going to church, cold turkey. (From YM presidency to totally inactive in one day.)

I threw out a ton of church books.

Thew out the garmies.

Still stuck with a TBM wife...