I still have it somewhere and actually started a small collection. I think they might be very valuable someday, just like the phony Kirtland money is today. Some of those worthless bills signed by JS go for thousands. So I went and saved some of the BoMs in storage, like the gold covered one with the fake reformed Egyptian lettering... that one is a classic. ;-)
I tossed my miniquad into the Fore River in Portland, ME. I still have the missionary BOM that my girlfriend gave me that led to my joining. It is filed with my box of life stuff, and I occasionally get it out when in the mood to look things up.
I have one given to me by my boyfriend's RM cousin...whenever the mood strikes me, I grab some highlighters and coordinating post-it notes and mark things like contradictions, things that are completely ridiculous, etc. I'm saving it so that one day, if I see someone I love getting sucked into the LDS church, I can hand them the marked-up BoM so they can start doing their own research.
We've got a year's worth of Ensigns (not many), a bunch of past lesson manuals, and some other miscellaneous books, plus all my husband's mission stuff (journal, teaching materials/BoM...) I don't ever plan on getting rid of them, for 2 reasons:
1) Like it or not, it's part of our heritage.
2) I want proof in my hands when doctrine changes and they try to play dumb.
I would love to own an original collection of the Journal of Discourses, an original BoM (we recently ordered the remake of the original and intend to read through it while one of us follows in the current, to note changes for ourselves instead of trusting what others say on the internet. Still not as good as the real thing though), and other original stuff.
Helen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in > the Dark > by Carl Sagan
Amen.
I still have all of my church books. I still enjoy looking through them and seeing what I highlighted and thought was important at that stage in my life, seminary, mission, etc. I plan on keeping them for the same reason. I also think it'd be a little hypocritical of me to criticize the church for hiding embarassing documents from its past and then for me to hide my own past.
I was forced to live with my TBM parents after my divorce, because I still had to pay my mortgage while trying to sell the old house. While I lived there I had to play by their rules, so I went to church with them. I didn't even ask, I needed a place to stay, so I just went with the flow.
During that time, I was able to go through the whole B of M in my quad and highlight all the anachronisms, contradictions and problems. I did it while in church and everyone thought I was being so good LOL
I'M keeping my quad because it is now a good exmormon resource for me.
I also have to say that I'll always be grateful to my parents for helping me in my time of need. As soon as my house sold, I moved out.
i have no idea where mine went. i actually bought a triple combo in cambodian (i served in cambodia) and read it... for practice, not for spiritual enlightenment. unfortunately it's one of the few printed materials available in cambodian outside of cambodia.
I got in touch with my ex boyfriend because there is some church material I'd like to get rid of (especially "For the strength of Youth" and some crappy RS manuals), but I decided to keep my quad.
I was also tempted to throw my Bible away, but you never know. I'm working on a few essays and these resources could be useful.
I've had a lot of bad life experiences and the one that sticks out the most in my mind is related to the church itself. But it's still life and I might regret it later.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2012 01:27PM by heytherejules.
I got rid of everything related to Mo'ism except my quad I used in seminary, and Bible/BOM that my parents gave me on my baptism day.
I'll keep them so I can reference them later if needed. With the way things are going, the BoM itself may be folklore in a few years. Could become a collectors item. ;-)
I have a burgundy calf-skin mini-quad with the snap. Except for the snap (which is like a trailer hitch on a Mercedes), it's a beautiful book. The pages are extremely thin. I love the book even if I don't care for the contents. It's one of the few souvenirs I kept from my Mormon misadventure.
It's not valuable, as it's a photo-copy of the first edition. But it's written in chapters, not verses. It's like the cheap junk novel that it was. It abounds with grammatical errors. I love how, at the end of it, it says: The End
I had about 4 of them, including a gold covered one with fake Egyptian writing on it, & I threw them all away. I was still active at the time because my mom forced me to go. After the age of 10, I only read them if I was forced to.
Had one given to me by the mishies that were sicced on me by a "well meaning" friend thirty years ago. Had lunch with them one Saturday and lo and behold they showed up at my door a short time later just "being in the neighbourhood and all". I did invite them in, served up OJ to them while I opened a beer for effect and they launched into their spiel; I quickly changed the topic to "How are you enjoying Victoria" and left it at that...I was supposed to read the BoM but I threw it out into the dumpster that night with the bathroom trash. They dropped in again when I was not home and called once but decided I was a lost cause I guess.