I formally sent my letter of resignation into the church in Feb. 2010. This was after 40 years of being out of the church (disfellowshipped) which was not known to me then. I never was a TBM b/c things never did sound right to me and I have had family members who were in trouble off and on for asking inappropriate questions to church authorities. At the time, I had no idea what those questions were, but I figured they must have been quite out there to get in trouble with the bishops/authorities etc. I come from a very intellectual family some of whom are TBMs. I have not attended for 40 years except for funerals.
I found out in Feb. 2010 something very interesting though. When I was young (14 years old) I was the church organist in the ward. I wanted that "calling" because I loved the church's pipe organ and didn't want to get stuck with some other job. I also played keyboards in a rock band at the time. Well, right before Christmas and after my birthday the year of my disfellowship (40 years ago), I brought my rock band into the church to practice since I loved that organ so much, (I had a key in order to practice the organ) and the group practiced some songs there including "Light My Fire". Needless to say we got caught by the bishop (could hear it outside). The bishop basically kicked me out, but said I would have to come back on Christmas (which was only a few days away) and play for the services because it was too late to get another member to play.
I had just turned 15 a fews before that. Like I said I was young and naive. So I did play for the service as usual. After Christmas I had an appt with the bishop for tithing settlement. I don't know if they have them now at the end of the calendar year but they did then. Since I was not told not to come, I went. My purpose in going was to ask some questions.........I asked the bishop:
1) if members are sealed to each other and the kids sealed etc., how can they rule their own planets since from a realistic viewpoint, it is impossible? and
2) if God gave JS the tools (U & T) to translate the BOM, then why did JS use a seer stone instead? I thought it was a fair question and I had learned in Sunday school to use the things God gave me. I was perplexed as to why JS didn't use the things God gave him.
The bishop came unglued and and asked how dare I challenge the church leadership. I thought he was kidding. I actually mentioned that when I had a math question, I asked the math teacher so it seemed logical to me that if I had questions about church stuff, that I would ask him. He was very angry and basically forbid me from challenging the authority of the church. I realized he was not kidding. That is when I decided to never go back. I left w/o any answers and I still have no answers for those questions. Of course now I don't care.
So jump ahead 40 years to Feb. 2010. I called the church office building to find out how to make sure that my name was removed from the membership list and was told that I had a "disfellowship" on my record from 1970. I told them that since I had not attended for 40 years that they could go ahead and excommunicate me b/c I had no intention to ever go back. I just wanted my name to NOT be on their list.
I somewhat kiddingly asked the person on the phone about how playing the wrong song in church could have severe penalities. She obviously did not know what I was talking about. So, I told her that I was disfellowshipped for playing "Light My Fire" in the ward in 1970. She said that the reason I was disfellowshipped was that I challenged the church's authority in late 1970. These two events happened within days of one another so no wonder I thought the organ playing was the reason. WOW! That was news to me. I am NOT on their rolls etc. so it turned out well, but I was wondering if other people on this board have unusual stories about their excommunications or disfellowships to share. I was never informed at the time of the disfellowship. If they told my parents I will not know b/c they have passed on.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2012 03:22AM by enoughenoch19.

They are supposed to notify you. But you were a minor. As I understood the policy, they do not disfellowship or excommunicate minors. Something doesn't sound "right" with what you were told. But in years past, who knows what they did and why! BTW: Have you checked to find out if you are on the records or not?

I had a good laugh over you playing: "Light My Fire" in the church ...!! I had a combo in those days and we played it as a warm up instrumental in the gym/recreational hall and some of the leaders made us stop!
I mean, really, nobody was singing: "Come on baby light my fire" it was just the music, not the words~! :-)

I have checked to be sure I am no longer on the records and I AM NOT........good news! I have since heard that they are not supposed to disfellowship minors, but that bishop was ANGRY and perhaps he went ahead and did it b/c he could. These guys have so much power over everyone it is sickening.
And my family was known for asking unwelcome questions. My uncle got injured in WWII (testicles). He therefore did not get married and he was disfellowshipped b/c he thought it sucked that he would not go to the CK since you have to be married to go there. His difellowship lasted one year. It was not a secret either. I'm sure the bishop I had knew about our family's asking pointed questions history. And as I said, my parents may have been told but they did not mention it to me. They were very open minded. My mom (I know) had the same questions I did only didn't ask directly.
For whatever reason, they ignored the minor status and did it and I did not know about it until 2010. Not that it matters to me but it does show their extreme control and holier than thou position.

That is great that you had the courage at such a young age to see the problems with the church. Most kids wouldn't have been able to confront the bishop as you had. Surprized you knew about the seer stone back then too!

My husband was disfellowshipped at either 17 or 18 years old for openly defying the Law of Chastity and refusing to repent. He never did repent. He never valued Mormonism. I'm sure he'd still be disfellowshipped if he hadn't resigned entirely.

My parents told me about the seer stone, not in a derogatory, just in an informative manner. As I said, they were opened minded, unusal in the neighborhood and ward at that time (maybe any time).
I remember coloring pictures of JS looking into the seer stone. I don't recall where the pictures came from but there were other pics about the pre-existence etc. in the form of coloring sheets. Did anyone else have these coloring sheets? They were not part of a coloring book but were individual sheets. I do remember coloring them with other kids at a birthday party or some occasion like that.

yah LDS INc and their MORmONS are very offended by your actions, and they are going to howl about it like wounded wolves because that way they dont have to look at the insanely vile acts of PERVERT Joe Smith & crap bag Brigham Young.

For Twinkler - YES I was on their records until 2010.