So My wife let the facebook world know she resigned and this is a response she got from a tbm. I would like someone to type a reply: Below is the commets. Wife just said she had good news and that she resigned and someone started puking at the mouth..


It does not mention God at all. From the brief talks I have had with Mike it would seem that your belief in God and Jesus Christ is gone also. I have not met many people who have left the church;' and did not have their entire faith in everything destroyed. The problem is once you begin to doubt then you doubt everything. People usually find another church to belong to but then the same thing happens once they realize their doctrines are man made. Unless you don't do your do diligence then my all means.... So then you may want to explore other options like Buddhism, Hinduism, and maybe even Islam until you wake up one morning and realize all your faith in anything is gone. Then you start to worship other things like nutrition, nature, exercise but these are all appendages of living a worthy life. You become obsessed with finding this void in your life that you end up with nothing at all. You see when people have as much faith in something as you once did; and then come to realize it may not have been true or , "find it wrong" nothing can fill that void. I have talked to so many who have gone through this exact thing. So I wish you happiness in whatever venture it may be. You may even be happy for a season until bitterness creeps into every part of your life until you are filled with hate. This is how satan operates he wants to destroy every bit of faith you have until you are left with nothing. I will always go by the Spirit in which I felt. You may say to yourself well that was the Devil leading you astray. Well Jessica how is it then that we can know that anything is true if not by the Spirit. So you will be left with nothing. It is a very sad state of affairs but luckily you can always come back. If everything you have been taught your entire life is a lie then God must be a lie then also because you have no way to know if he exists but by the Spirit in which you have denied. So I ask again Jessica how can you believe God now? Unless you are just picking and choosing which things to believe within the Church.

//I have talked to so many who have gone through this exact thing. So I wish you happiness in whatever venture it may be. You may even be happy for a season until bitterness creeps into every part of your life until you are filled with hate.//

Sounds like you have personal experience. Is this what happened to you when you joined the Mormon Church? Happiness for a season followed by bitterness until you were filled with hate?

My response would be to delete his post.

Maybe followed by an unfriending or blocking. :)

"Thank you for the excellent example of why I resigned. The arrogance, narrow-mindedness, judgmental attitude, and offensiveness of your post are very illustrative."

No response will be rewarding or have any effect on a tmb. Unfriend, move on.

I think there are two ways to respond: 1) be rude; and 2) reply in a manner that is respectable and illustrates reasons why you left (but no need to go into detail).

I won't leave a rude reply for the TBM commenter because I don't think that works well in the long run. You might want to say something along the lines of this:

"With much research and prayer (and by lack of answers thereof), I have reached a conclusion that the Mormon religion is not needed in my life. It might be of benefit to others, but my life's experiences say otherwise. If there is a god that resembles the characteristics proscribed by the Mormon faith, I would think that god would pay greater homage to thoughtful questioning and the ability to use logic and reasoning over blind-folded faith. I did not choose my beliefs, but my beliefs are mere extensions of my direct experiences and information available to me.

"I understand that you [TBM commenter] are responding out of thoughtfulness, and I respect that a great deal, but I can assure you that my life has changed for the better. I am sure if you had experienced what I have experienced, you would make the same decision I have (and perhaps vice versa). While I can't speak for the individuals that you mentioned in your post that have a void that they cannot fill, I know that I have found something in life that brings a sense of overwhelming joy and do not anticipate jumping ship to another religion. I am going to the beat of my own drum, and hope that you can respect my decision in the same manner that I respect your's."

Since I don't know what you personal beliefs are, I don't know how much of what I wrote would really be applicable to your response. Hope this helps.

I love that reply, waner! It's brilliant.

I would just ignore it. I don't waste my time or patience typing up a reponse to posts like that. Especially if the individual is calling your wife out on her wall in front of everyone, the poster is more than likely doing it to look "full of the spirit" and not really trying to look out for your wife.

so this tbm now thinks your an atheist? you only said that you left mormonism, mabey you still believe in God. Why do TBM's always come to that conclusion?

I'd just tell him the church didn't work for you and that you don't believe. If you still believe in God or Jesus , set him straight.

Let's see if I can summarize: "You suck. I'm better and wiser, and more spiritual than you. I wish you the best, but I'm predicting your utter and complete misery because you deserve it."


There IS no good point-by-point response to that kind of crap. Maybe just say something like "dude, I can tell you're really upset and worried about us leaving the church, but really . . . you need to show a little more restraint. All those dire predictions are just manifestions of YOUR fears. We don't share those fears because we don't share your beliefs. We'll be fine."

If you wanted to be REALLY blunt, you could say "You're welcome to your beliefs, but you'll have to forgive us if we don't welcome your dire predictions and preaching on facebook, or in any other form."

Yep, you COULD just delete them, but then they'd probably think you just chickened out.

on facebook, or in any other form".

I like the idea of posting the summary, then s/he can hear what an ass s/he sounds like.

So this commentor feels he is spreading the good word of a loving God while ripping you apart personally? And having personal revelation that you have no belief in God, will become an atheist--then ultimately a nihilistic heathen? This, imo, was a personal attack of the lowest kind, not worthy of anyone who calls himself a Christian. And Idk that it's worthy of a response. It was abusive.

I think some Dennis Miller is appropriate here: "...I don’t care what arcane passage you pull out of the Old Testament and run through your Jeremiah-begat-Jebediah Decoder Ring, one of the definitive tenets of Christianity is tolerance."

http://givesgoodemail.com/tag/dennis-miller/

Wow. I think waner was being really generous (but what he wrote was wise).

But then. Like eating too much celery, my body was empty of naught but bitterness.

If only I had had someone on a social networking platform to call me to repentance in not only a dickish fashion - but also one that is offensive to any and all other belief systems - yea even lack of belief systems.

It would have saved me from the unbearable hurt, anger, and bitterness of Satan molesting my heart.

Wo is me! My pride cameth before the fall! I trusted in the flesh of men's brains when they wrote down facts about Joseph Smith being a conman, sexual predator, and piss poor egyptian translator.

Wo, wo, wo, wo, wo.

WML

Wo, my, life.

I'm just curious 'cause it's late and I took an antihistimine.

:)

Keanu Reeves would also have been acceptable.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2012 02:55AM by Raptor Jesus.

:)

Can't argue with a narcissist. I'd just delete and move on.

I can make my own decisions and take responsibility for my choices in life. I don't need an organization to tell me what to think, what to do and what to wear. I know how to be a good person. I don't need to be judged worthy by men or by a piece of paper or by my underwear.

I will find my own path and follow it where ever it leads, and I will not blame others for my decisions. I'm not trying to fill a void. I'm getting rid of the clutter in my life.

"Thanks for informing me you hope I feel miserable. I always like to know who wishes me ill. Forewarned is forearmed."

You could just delete the comment. Or tell him, "you presume too much."

Here's my offering --

"What you spend your time thinking and talking about becomes your reality. I notice the words, "bitterness," "hate," "Satan," and "Devil" in your response. These are words of fear, not words of joy. I seek joy."

You can't reason with unreasonable people. They are under the spell as we were. It took time for many of us to wake up and it may take time for them if they are lucky. Arguments are not helpful. You can use your FB platform to express yourself. Speak, what is more important to you with passion and courage. Keep all your friends and find more. You may want to be a spell breaker for those, who are under the spell of authority, who are deceived. They are victims, they only don't know. You may want to post BITE model one day http://www.freedomofmind.com/Info/BITE/bitemodel.php or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWKC2Bc3-Uc another day or everything you feel is good for you and your loved ones. It is great education for yourself and your friends. We should be happy, we're out. Those who are not, needs compassion. Yes?

templenameaaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
The problem is once you
> begin to doubt then you doubt everything.





what's the problem with doubting and questioning everything.
If a person really claims to love truth they will discover the world is not exactly full of truths. It is a rude awakening for those who are mateur enough to handle it.
I came to the point that I wanted to find truth in all avenues, as much as could be possible, and I have no regrets about that. It's led me on an amazing journey.

You quickly find out where a person sits in this regard when they are basically saying that they don't want to know truth, they want to accept all things they've been told in life. those who aren't mateur enough will not want truth and will respond like the above person.

templenameaaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>Then you start to worship other things
> like nutrition, nature, exercise but these are all
> appendages of living a worthy life. You become
> obsessed with finding this void in your life that
> you end up with nothing at all.

Okay now, this doesn't make any sense at all.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2012 12:18PM by dec.

"I don't want to believe -- I want to KNOW." Carl Sagan

Sadly, Mormons have misappropriated the word "know" so I don't know if they'll get the actual meaning of the quote.

I am not afraid.

templenameaaron Wrote:
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>>Well Jessica how is it then that we can know that anything is true if not by the Spirit. So you will be left with nothing.

http://www.mormonthink.com/testimonyweb.htm

I’d refer this information about how the Mormon “spirit” works.

This person also has a tremendous negative attitude to think that someone would be left with nothing.
What on earth possesses him/her to think that?
Mormonism, the book of Mormon, the prophet, the temple dance, it’s not true, therefore the subsequent fear and hope tactics surrounding the LDS afterlife is also not true. Why would they believe that finding out it’s a lie leaves nothing? For those who are independent it frees up a lot of room.
Does he/she say this because he/she will look down on them for leaving?

Bleh!

And on that note, I need to clear this ugly comment out of my system and get to lovely brunch and then enjoy the cool water of the lake. (you know, that nothing I’m left with.)

1. I have suspected for a while now that the brain pathways and expectations in life the church set for us created something that seems to be missing once we leave it. For example, the church wants us to believe that we are so sure of the truth that there can be no other. However, once a person leaves the church they usually no longer have the "comfort" they once had of "knowing," thus it feels like we must be missing something. Had we not grown up in such an atmosphere of self-assurance of truth then I don't think it would matter so much.

2. Why is "truth" so necessary? To Mormons it is, because they have an easy and, I think, naive way of coming to it. It doesn't take long to realize that the feelings of the "spirit" are not really so sure-fire as they seem once you really think about it and open yourself up to that possibility.

I think church members need to realize what a legitimate and difficult thing it can be to leave the church--yes, it challenges the very foundations of the reality you have lived in for a long time. Some people who leave the church really need support from the people who profess to love them, whether those loved ones agree with what you're doing or not. Trying to shame or fear a person back into the church though LDS reasoning will almost always hurt relationships and simply cause damage that may be irreparable.

Good luck on your journey.

Thanks everyone what great food for thought. Waner was the winner. We will use a form of your reply.

Too much?

"I have not met many people who have left the church;' and did not have their entire faith in everything destroyed..."

Then your so-called church must, therefore, be a force for evil. I pity you that you cannot understand this.

Would that work? ;oD