For me the church's policy on members cleaning chapels was the critical factor. Suspecting it was simply a money saving ploy rather than an opportunity to be blessed, I thought there must be other members out there that feel similarly so I typed 'LDS chapel cleaning' into google. I certainly found disgruntled members moaning about their own ward's chapel cleaning exploits. One forum led to another and the rest as they say was history. That was a real own goal from LDS Inc as up to this point I had no interest in reading anti-Mormon stuff on the net. I quickly discovered the whole Book of Abraham, JS multiple wives stuff etc and my eyes were opened.

How did you discover the truth?

I'd never read a single anti-Mormon source.
I was drowning in guilt, shame, despair, remorse, and recrimination for ordinary long-ago "sins".

After a failed temple marrige, as result to false accusations
hounded by the bishop, when I wasnt guilty of a sin that
gossip had stirred up,I took the highway and only then I
was later excomunicated for the very sin I had been originally
accused off,dammed if guilty or dammed if I'm not guilty so
I didnt care...

Tho strange thing, my defacto living together relationship
led to her joining the church to my shock.
Tho got married as result and felt I had a 2nd chance
gossip raized its ugly head again, even as far as immigration
that got her deported back to her country.

Tho I was pissed and gave up everything to be with her there,
after about a year there, and now about 5 years excomunicated
I traveled down to south India and was found worthy or
re-baptism. All was working out and my testimony restored
tho I knew nothing about anti mormon literature, so I just
got my shit together and expected re-baptism in about 6 months.

When she got her visa, we came back to australia and being
around 6 months later, informed the new bishop here to follow
up with my re-baptism process that was already approved by
the church in India..

Instead this man claimed revelation,without explanation
that god didnt need me in this church, nor could be seen
fit to attend church with my wife, as surely gossip had
reached this mans ears,and as I became angry with him
for trying to seperate my wife, HE TERMINATED ME ON THE SPOT
and to this day,no permission to attend the ward. He became
stake pres and that meant the whole stake I was banned.

What a contradiction to be told in one country I was worthy
and only to return to australia and be told by revelation
that I was dammed from re-baptism and even termianted from
attending church...

Now its been over a decade excomunicated. In my anger
i discovered exmormon.org/stories.

I realized that I never knew the real jesus
.Justice had robbed mercy. The church was a fraud
and pick and choose who fits in and who does not.
Its all about a perfect clean record, and my failed temple
marrige thanks to malicious gossip by mormons to the latest
marrige destroyed by gossip, all I can say is Lucifer is
alive and strong in mormonism, and arrogant bastard leaders
exist and the rotten bad luck I had, revealed a god who
doesnt care and is brutal but after all, it was a false god
and that is how I left....

I was attacked by supernatural creature claiming to be
the mormon destroying angel no other than satin himself,
but as not having the priesthood, I did call apon the blood
of christ for satin to get behind me an it worked.
Had I not found the real jesus I could of been forever attacked by this monster destroying angel of mormonism...

My alternative was buddhism that seem to also put me at peace
from such evils of the mind, inflicted by mormonism.

Its a terrible relegion, nothing more than a Masonary cult
leaning toward pagen sunday, catholic mark of the 666 beast.
All the money the church has cant save a soul,because they

with the catholics are controlled by the jesuits,Free-masonary
big shots, who control the world leading to a one world order
system, that the bible prophesizes that the whole sunday relegions, are accursed, because the original 4th of the 10 commandments reveal the true mark and sealing authority
of god being remember the 7th day and keep it holy, a law
that would never be justified to change...

all sunday relegions are false. Flee from them all
and worship on the true day of the lords sabbath saturday.

If not and we still want to be pagen at least consider
buddhism a much better choice than arrogant fucked up
mormonism..

amen. karri23@yahoo.com

I could probably write a book about this subject, but I'll keep it short for now. Maybe someday i'll go into more detail. I'd long suspected the fraud just from reading the BofM and all the plagiarisms in it from the KJV Bible. My first bit of real education on the matter was Grant Palmer's book, "An Insider's View of Mormon Origins." I purchased the book at the beginning of 2009, when the curriculom for that year in Sunday School was church history. I wanted to know what the real history was, and at that point, I was prepared to go whereever it led me. My reaction to that book was like, "Aha! I knew it was a fraud all along!" My journey out was also one of diminishing returns on investment, but that's a whole 'nother story. All the stuff about Book of Abraham, polygamy, colorful church history, etc. just validated my decision to leave.

It began to feel like a little pebble in my shoe that I finally had to shake out. Lots of reasons starting with reading a book on Emma Smith I found in Deseret Book store 5 years ago. From there, I started to dislike the prophet and realized if I didn't like him, I shouldn't follow him.

Mine started with a college class on mormonism (not BYU) that tried to be fair with it's history, warts and all. Still it opened my eyes to things not being as I had always been taught.

I had to try to make that fit logically to combat the Cognitive Dissonance, so I came up with some gymnastics for my mind to try to balance it out.

Then about five years later I read No Man Knows My History by Fawn Brodie. The mental gymnastics went into overdrive at that point. That's when I came up with the Whoopie Goldberg character in the movie ghost theory- JS was a fraud, but still had some Godly powers.

Then I had to give a Priesthood lesson that was full of so much deception that I couldn't give it as it was written in the manual. I gave it a bunch of truth, referencing it all in The History of The Church volume 2 so that it would be palatable to the believers.

I misjudged their capacity for truth. I got fired from that teaching job before the end of the three hour block. Then I was way annoyed that the truth couldn't be told. It was forbidden to bring truth to the lessons.

By then I was all but out, but the final straw was soon after when I quoted GBH's "I don't know that we teach that", and was kind of slapped down. I went home pissed telling my wife that, "See, you can't tell the truth there, it isn't allowed!" You can't even quote the prophet in church!

That was the last time we went. My wife still wanted to go, but didn't dare go with me in case I told the truth again, and caused a ruckus. But about six months later she was caught up with me and doesn't want to go either.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2010 07:55PM by DNA.

Boy howdy, what an eye opener it is when you actually study and see what JS and BY actually wrote. The more I studied, the more damage it did.

All the information is out there for anyone who bothers to read.

I left the Church after I worked for it for a time. It proved to be nothing more than a corporation and I finally realized that, as a woman, I really was considered to be a second-class citizen.

I also realized that this was hurting my self-esteem and so I decided it would be healthier for me, emotionally, if I left. Sure enough, the moment I left, my self-esteem began to heal.

Four or so years later, I thought, "Well, I'm either leaving for good, or I'm going back, so I'd better decide which it will be.

About this time, Proposition 8 happened. Being in Canada, I hadn't heard of it, but they mentioned it on CNN during their election coverage and the LDS Church came up, so I looked it up on-line.

I was shocked, appalled and a number of other emotions. I landed on an ex-Mormon site during my Google searches and felt all creeped out, like, "I'm not supposed to be here!" So I got out fast.

But I guess curiosity got the better of me and I kept creeping back in. Finally, over several days, the creepiness subsided a bit each day, until I found myself spending a weekend reading everything I could.

That's when I discovered a forum and received some links to check out. They were the videos on YouTube about the Book of Abraham and the Book of Mormon DNA evidence.

I had been suspecting that the Church might not be true, but I don't think it ever really occured to me that it actually wasn't.

I'll never forget that moment where my hand flew over my mouth and I rocked back in my chair, stunned, and went, "Oh, my gosh! It's not true! It's really, actually NOT TRUE!"

I completely went into shock. Soon afterwards, I went through the extreme anger stage. Anger at being lied to. That's when I officially resigned, and began the healing process.

My strong sense of honesty and integrity would not allow me to be counted amongst the membership of an organization which lies to get gain.

I guess I've been officially out about a year and a half now. I like myself so much better now. I'm a much better person as a non-Mormon. I thought I was a nice person before, but I'm just really comfortable in my own skin now. At last.

It was a complete shock to me, just like Greyfort. I'd never considered before that the Church might not actually be true. I was googling Mitt Romney, wondering what the public reaction would be to the possibility of a Mormon U.S. President, and I stumbled on this website. I remember saying "Holy S**t! out loud, several times, as I realized that it actually wasn't true. And I'm not a person who normally uses that kind of language. I kept going to church for a couple of years after that, to try to figure things out for myself about what I believed in, but eventually I couldn't stand to be there because I saw through everything. RfM was the catalyst that made me see the truth - keep it up, everyone!

I lived a sheltered life in Happy Valley, free of all non-Mormon influence (though some of the stories in the BoM did seem like whoppers, and some of it seemed plagiarized).

When I went on my mission, there were plenty of people who were willing to tell me about the facts behind the Book of Abraham, etc. I stayed for the full two years, putting in the back of my mind (I wasn't about to come home early and face that humiliation after devoting so much time and effort already), but the seeds were planted for when I came home.

In 2007 they ran a two part program called The Mormons.
In it were the two most evil antimormon lies ever told- that there were Blood oaths in the temple and that Joseph used a seerstone to translate the plates. But the real problem was that those evil lies were being admitted as true by mormons.

Going to the internet to google seerstones led to the BoA, postmanifesto polygamy, and then the floodgates opened full blast with a neverending flood of information. Every antimormon lie was the real truth and everything I ever believed was a lie.

Thanks all, some great stories so far. I should probably add to the original post that there were three things that started to plant some small seeds of scepticism in my mind some years previous to the chapel cleaning fiasco and which probably made me feel so uninspired by the cleaning policy change:

1) Increasingly the church was beginning to feel really corporate and I couldn't help but feel that this didn't reflect my idea of a Christian church. I honestly sat in church meetings that were exactly like being at work - 10 year plans for doubling ward attendance were shared on PowerPoint slides with detailed breakdowns and graphs of how each auxiliary would need to grow each year to meet the overall targets, even down to how many new babies would need to be born and attend nursery!

2) Sitting in a church meeting where it was revealed that the elders were teaching someone that was an illegal immigrant with no right to be in the country, yet was dishonestly claiming government handouts. I assumed that this would quickly put an end to their plans to baptise this person but no, I was quickly corrected by the ward mission leader (ex-member of stake presidency) that according to the Mission President, this wasn't anyone's business and the person should be baptised. I remember thinking 'what, so they can't drink a solitary cup of coffee but they can be baptised whilst knowingly exhibiting no integrity?' - it's really just a numbers thing again.

3) I genuinely liked Pres GBH as a prophet and kind of looked forward to hearing God's mouthpiece on earth at general conference time. However it started to dawn on me that his conference talks were nothing more than a congratulatory pat on the back about how well the church was growing etc. No real substance or 'thus saith the lord' and nothing more than any other member could give. I felt c'mon, surely God wants to tell us something more important than this - yeah, "ladies, don't have more than one earring!"

I guess these smaller three things had planted some seeds deep at the back of my mind, so even though I was TBM, I did feel aggrieved when the whole chapel cleaning thing came out as an obvious corporate cost saving measure. Like the poster above, when I found out the stuff on BoA, JS etc I literally read for hours and hours with no interest in sleep - it was such an OMG moment, but also very exciting and liberating too.

If a member insists on raising a historical, doctrinal, or other issue, the character of the member is called into question. The issue itself is never addressed by the church. Once it finally hit me that this was true, I embarked on my own search.

And I got answers. And more questions, and more answers. And far, far more information, much of it shocking, than I ever would have thought about asking!

My wife was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer in late 2001 and I started seriously questioning things when we would give her a blessing every week and no change would happen for the better (Duh). I was thinking why don't we just give her one good blessing instead of repeating everything- do priesthood blessings have an expiration date? About that time, my dear brother in Orem Utah just happened to let me know about the problems with Mormonism that he'd discovered. I read Simon Southerton's book and the book about the papyrus/Book of Abraham and that was it- no turning back after I'd been slapped in the face with the real truth. Thank God for my brother, Simon Southerton, and moments of weakness (Strength?)!

preparing a church lesson. Blew me away. Struck me funny. I knew something was "wrong with this picture."I started snickering and laughing at how Joseph Smith Jr told that whopper and got away with it.
Then the family members left the church officially a year or so later, then I followed after them.

goin ta hail, that reminds me of the time a "really righteous Priesthood holder" type gave my friend, who has chronic fatigue syndrome, a blessing. He commanded her to be well from that moment onwards. He commanded the illness to leave her.

It didn't do a thing of course. She said, "Why would it have? None of the other such blessings ever worked."

I don't know why she remains faithful. Or even the Priesthood holder for that matter. These guys are taught that they have real power, and if they know they've kept worthy, it must really mess with their heads. I feel sorry for the guy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2010 12:27AM by Greyfort.

Greyfort, I think they remain in the faith because their fear of the unknown is much greater than their willingness or ability to think rationally. I am still just amazed and dumbfounded that I was willing to ignore the obvious for 45 years.

FAIR

For us, it was an old story i've seen posted many times on this board - the members drove us away, quite simply. We weren't valued as a family at all. It didn't matter whether we were there or not and many preferred us not to be. Christianity is thin on the ground in TSSC. Forgiveness? Understanding? Empathy? Honesty? Loyalty? Not casting the first stone? Please!! These people can be vicious. After a few years of anger/resentment etc, i finally felt brave enough (and yes, it took courage) to start reading and here i am. Have been out for about 6 years and so much better for it. We lead 'normal' lives now. I relate to Greyfort "just really comfortable in my own skin now". what a relief.

That was another primary reason I left. I did not really matter at all to other members if I was there or not. My mom was married to a non-member. I had not gone on a mission or to BYU. So I was always being condescended.

like, actual scholarly study, not what believers think it means. i realized it was just an ancient way of looking at the world, no more holy or inspired than any other ancient texts.

it became clear to me the new testament was just a creative misreading of the Hebrew bible. and without the bible, mormonism has no leg to stand on.

i tried to keep the faith for a while, but my brain fatigued from the mental gymnastics. i finally had to face facts.

nowadays i like to say that somewhere along the line of life I became an empiricist. i have no place for faith. it's inherently irrational.

I left the day I moved out of my parents house at 18. Still believed it was true, but didn't really care to practice since it made me so miserable. I deliberately had jobs where I had to work on Sunday so that I could avoid the questions from my parents about why I didn't go to church. They kept giving my name to the ward, strange people kept showing up at my door and I would tell them to go away.

Then, finally, in May 2009, I had a bishop (mine, I guess) call me repeatedly. I was selling my house at the time and always answered the phone because it might have been a realtor wanting to schedule a showing. I hung up on the guy 4 times as soon as he said "this is bishop so and so from the xxx ward" He finally left me a voicemail and said that if I was going to behave like this, then I should just remove my name from the records.

Wait, I could remove my name from the records? I never thought of that!

I Googled, and I found this site. Like others, I read all day and night. I had an "aha!" moment and realized that ever since I was a primary child that I never really believed it was true, even though on the outside I was as TBM as they come. I wrote my letter, sent it in, and the bishop expedited it for me. I got my Dodge letter the day before I got married.

I can't remember the bishops name, but if I ever run into him, I'd like to shake his hand and thank him for helping me find my way out.

It all came tumbling down as I was teaching gospel doctrine, D+C. For some reason it all became very clear. I stopped the lesson, grabbed a chair and walked down the isle right in front of the SP, sat down, and asked, "Am I the only one, or are there others who feel like God has more for them than where they are and what they're doing?" He answered, "All the time," as if he had nothing else to add. I picked up the chair, finished the lesson and never returned. From that day on, everything I see, read, hear and yes, even FEEL tells me how sheltered, isolated, and brainwashed I had become until it seemed like "WHAT" I had become was out of my control. I took my life back, after 33yrs, and have found the peace and happiness I once knew.

For me it all started with one simple question. People would always say we are now in the last days. I kept thinking if we are in the last days then 99.99% of everyone who is on the earth and who has been on the earth never would have even heard about this religion. So what is the point of the religion??? Long story short it led me to read the whole mormonthink.com website and here I am.

Lately, I reflect on my de-conversion a lot. My path was not clear cut. I'd had my doubts as a child but my first huge shock was going to the temple for the first time a few days before I got married.

A few years after that, I quit wearing my garments, but continued going to church because I was scared I would be damning my son. This continued for years. I didn't read anything. I didn't even study the scriptures because I was terrified it would be true and I was increasing repulsed by it.

My husband quit going long before I did.

I stayed through Prop 8, even though I voted no.

Finally, last December, after wrestling with my boys in sacrament meeting and sending them off to primary and nursery, I went out to my car and just fell apart. At that moment I realized I had to choose: either give myself over 100%, or quit.

I chose to quit. I went to see the bishop that evening and he added me to the do not contact list.

I had moments of fear, "What have I done? What if it is true!?"

So... I started to read, starting with a book recommended by an ultra-TBM friend titled, "Rough Stone Rolling." Bushman seemed to be balanced, but sometimes the excuses he made for Joseph made my head roll and my stomach queezy.

From there, I read Brodie's, "No Man Knows My History."

I cannot express how relieved I am that it's all a fraud.

Now, what's left is the struggles with my family. I hate that my inactive status, not baptizing my son, and refusing to bless my baby after it's born this summer is hugely distressing to my mom. However, I am so happy that I will not be raising my children with all the lies and disgusting doctrine.

A member has to actually care about truth for exposure to the facts will make any difference.

I have been pondering for weeks my having proved without a doubt using Mormon-only sources, that the Mormon church is based on lies. And to have that person react so differently than I did when I first heard the truth (through the Tanners' efforts).

After much thought, I came to the conclusion that part of the brainwashing of Mormonism is to detach the members from the value that truth is important. When you think about it, they tell you that it's very important that you pray about whether the BOM is "true". The missionaries talk a lot about what is true, what is restored, what is translated incorrectly, what was lost and is now returned, accurate temple ceremonies, etc, etc.

Then, once you are in, you are told not to ask all those bothersome questions, not to teach the truth even if it was the words of a prophet. You are told the old stuff doesn't matter even though Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon are old stuff. You are told to follow the modern prophets, the latest one, even if what he says conflicts with Jesus (which, by the way was my personal last straw). But you can't ask these modern prophets anything and they deny they have revelation and don't know what the church teaches. They, like Peter, deny what they perfectly well know. So it is completely circular.

This is not apparent to the members, though. They are depressed and blame themselves. They don't see clearly that they are in a no-win situation because they look around and it APPEARS that everyone else in the ward is doing OK, is bearing their testimony, is attending their meetings, is livin' the good life and they are the only one feeling like sh*t. Whereas the truth is that they have ALL been taught that appearing to be happy is what's important. Appearing to be blessed, prepared, clean, reverent, honest, trustworthy, happy, happy, happy is what is important. No one gives a flying fig what you feel like inside as long as your numbers are good (you attend/you pay/you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant/you have a calling or two or three). Everyone is going through the motions...

Then someone cracks. And all the other Stepford Wives nod their heads and say, "She should have honored the priesthood in her home..." or maybe, "Her womb was shut up--we don't know why..." and the vicious gossip begins.

I've been the victim of such gossip and know how it feels to have to explain to the bishop that I'm neither a whore nor a polygamist, despire what the biddies say. I've also been subjected to sexual questioning and was in one ward where no one could be found whose wife would let them be my home teacher (that's the way the bishop put it).

That was many years ago when I was a single hot female convert and no one told me Mormons didn't wear short skirts and purple suede boots to church. (Pleasant Grove, Utah 1970's)


Anagrammy

Reading the bom as an adult gave me this feeling that it was contrived. The newsflash from the Sorensen Institue at BYU that native americans descend from 6 mongolian mothers brought the book completely into focus.

So,
The landbridge stuff was right

They didn't have steel

They didn't have horses (at least not after 10k years ago when they went extinct on this continent)

We can't find chariots because there weren't any

The implausibility of traveling from central america to hill cumorah (with a stop at the manti temple site mind you) now makes sense

The writing style is old english not because god thinks it sounds more credible but because JS does.

All of the amazingly convenient answers to the religious questions of the day, such as infant baptism, really were contrived just as I suspected.

Guess what happened to my faith in JS? Brothren ADIEU!

Rock in a hat. How screwed up is that?


Btw, the convenient answers in the bom almost pale in comparison to the convenient ansers in the D&C.

JS: "What there is a problem with something? Just a minute, I'll go check. Oh yeah, God just told me you are screwed up but if you will just do what the servant of the lord (me) says from now on, everything will be fine."

I was getting rather overwhelmed with how time consuming church was becoming in my life. And I was increasingly disillusioned by the intellectual climate at BYU. I had a professor lock the door so we could frankly discuss evolution and religion. During that discussion, one of my fellow students said I was headed for apostasy. I guess he was right.

One evening by chance I hopped from the LDS website to a friendly USA Today article about the Morg, then from there to irr.org and started reading a bunch of crazy stuff about Joseph Smith translating with a rock in his hat, the Book of Abraham mistranslation, and polyandry.

That's a Christian site, so I thought the folks likely had an agenda. But it was enough to get me to the library, which was the begining of the end.

It still took me quite a couple years to physically and emotionally disentangle my life from the Morg to the point of resignation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2010 11:02PM by snowball.

That is the Mountain Meadow Massacre of Sept. 11, 1857. I had only a slight knowledge of this event and this article got me very interested in learning more of just how this kind of horrid event could happen.

With tons of internet research and ordering and reading three different books on this subject I found out truths that I had no idea of concerning my life long religion. This led to further study and research (after taking my Mormon blinders off) on many different subjects that I again had little knowledge of concerning the origins of Mormonism. This led to my total loss of belief and my resignation from the Mormon church. It also cost me a near 40 year marriage.

My story is long and what I have said is just a "nut shell" statement but that is how it all started just 5 years ago.

It's amazing to read all of your stories and realize how similar the path out was for all of us. It consists of knowledge and being able to research and read using the net. We all owe our freedom and new lives to the net and knowledge. For you lurkers from the COB reading this site, take note. The internet will eventually lead to massive changes in TSCC. It is time to start dealing with the reality that the fraud you have perpetrated all of these years is now exposed for easy viewing by all members of TSCC and you never again will be able to supress the truth. Thank god. Shame on all of you that are running TSCC. Your conduct is one of the most reprehensible things I have ever witnessed in my lifetime.

rAmen!

Priesthood blessing and prayer requests were given for things that could go either way... and in most cases, things people would recover from anyway. No limbs restored, but people recovered from a cold or the flu. No rain? Thank God. Rained anyway? It was God's will.

My opinion was irrelevant because my immediate church leaders were inspired. Unless the bishop was inspired differently. Or the Stake President was inspired differently than him. Again... no divine intervention was apparent. In fact, a couple of bishops of mine were more full of themselves than anything divine.

I didn't see any prophesying, seering, or revelating going on from the big (white) boys in their ivory tower.

A subsequent study in into the techniques of the leaders of mass movements, and mormonism fit it perfectly.

I never bought into the "we're more righteous" because of the pre-existence valiant stuff, (part of that mass movement thing...) The priesthood ban, polygamy, dark skin curse. "God" wasn't going to bless us any better or worse than any other human, despite our "one and only" claim to him.

Sunday abstinence, coffee, pepsi, earrings, alcohol, etc... all trivial things with little value other than controlling the masses, and making them feel special.

A bit of study in anthropology, mythology, world religions.

The temple was stupid at best, cultish at worst. It didn't take a rocket scientist to put temple attendance and tithing together to see the extorted cash flow.

I hated every freakin' day of my mission, and, the "other" people (contacts) made as much sense (if not more) than we did. Their claims appeared just as valid. That made me a bad missionary according to my comps, DLs, ZLs, APs, and MP.

For me, it didn't take any anti-mormon stuff. I was out before the internet took hold. I saw nothing about mormonism to make it special, other than its own hype. A little push from a bishop whose arrogance far exceeded his intelligence, and I was gone.

The incompatibility btwn "church" and "corporation"--both scripturally and legally.

Did Jesus run to Caesar and BEG for his church to be a corporation? Not that I could see. (Mormons brag how their church is the "same" as Jesus' early church.)

I ended up writing a legal brief to Dallin Oaks listing all the reasons a "church" should not be a corporation OR 501(c)3 Tax Exempt from both a scriptural stand point as well as the legal. 8 pages worth.

I was told by family and friends that he would never answer--too busy. About 10 days later I got his reply--a 1 page 10 line scolding, accusing me of listening to "dead prophets instead of the living".

I wrote him back that night suggesting that he could save the church a ton of money--by never publishing another BoM, D&C, PoGP or Bible. After all, those prophets are all dead, and if what he (Oaks) said was true, their words are useless anyway. He didn't like that answer much. I guess he didn't, as he never responded.

(PS-- I was polite and respectful in both letters.)

It was after thinking about Oak's reponse, which didn't contain ONE rebuttal, that the thought FINALLY entered my mind and out my mouth at the same instant, "THIS CHURCH IS NOT GOD'S CHURCH"!

Tho I had MANY questions over my many years as an active Mormon, it had never occured to me that the church was a fraud until that moment. From that moment and for the next 3-4 months an avalanche of confirming information seemed to just fall into my lap, and all those troublesome questions on my "shelf" were instantly answered.

Thanks, Dallin! Your non answer was THE answer!

RM, Temple Married, Active. At the age of 31 I somehow heard Joseph Smith had polygamous wives. Prior to that I thought they were all sealed to him after his death.

I wanted to find out more. Read "In Sacred Loneliness" by Compton. Factual, rational, objective. That ended my testimony. How could this... philanderer be a prophet of God. Same story to each woman "Angel will kill me if you don't marry me." Ouch. It hurt bad. You can't get around it.

I had been studying church policy about temple divorce. I tried for many years to get a cancellation of sealing, going to every new bishop and stake president, and getting different answers. I wrote letters to members of the First Presidency, who knew my GA relative when he was alive. The man I wanted a temple divorce from, almost killed me, and I had witnesses, but I was still sealed to him--and was told that my children by my second husband were sealed to him, too--and he now had two more temple wives--and I would be his "possession" (to use GBH's word) ad his polygamous wife in the hereafter.

One day, I voiced my frustration to my 24-year-old hair dresser, and she said, "I got a temple divorce! It was easy. It took just a couple of weeks." What? She told me she had been married to her ex for a little over a year, and decided they "didn't really love each other" and that "he was really a nice guy and all." (her words). Turns out, her father was a close personal friend of GBH's. The rules depend on who you know!

Then one Saturday, my children told me that the Mormon adults had abused them--and in that one moment--all of us we were out!

THIS CHURCH IS NOT GOD'S CHURCH! I knew that in my heart more powerfully than I ever thought I knew Mormonism was true.

I logged onto RFM for the first time, to ask about the rules of temple divorce--and for the first time, ever, I got real answers!!! Thank you!

I returned to RFM to find out how to officially resign myself and my children, and realized that I needed help in recovering from this life-shattering experience. Thank you, everyone! You are still helping me!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2010 04:07AM by forestpal.

When the church basically ignored my childhood sexual abuse. By the time I hit college I was suffering so badly from PTSD and severe depression because of the abuse...I could not function. And the church's prescription to all this? That I needed to "pray more" and repent.

It was then I began to learn that the rank and file is generally over-stressed, out of balance, superficial, out of touch with reality, and the "clergy" is completely untrained, especially in regards to any kind of mental health issues.

So grateful to be out of that mess.

1) Not a single scrap of evidence of any of the BoM civilisations. Not a single one. As someone with an interest in ancient civilisations, I couldn't rationalise it away.

2) the Book of Abraham. Not by Abraham, or about him, but a bog-standard Egyptian document from much later, and for which the translation is available.

3) DNA evidence. When I left DNA testing was still in its infancy, but each new discovery only confirmed that the peopling of the Americas had its roots in Asia, not the Middle East.

There were many other things, but these three fact based elements couldn't be argued away and clenched it for me.

Rudi