As some of you know I'm still 17 so I can't leave the cult yet as my TBM parents would kill me... possibly literally. So I do as little as possible whenever I can without arousing suspicions, waiting until I turn 18 next year.

Well today the mishies called my dad and asked them if I could go on splits with them, and my dad was happy to oblige. I came home from school today and was greeted by this "wonderful news."

I'd like a good excuse to weasel my way out of going on splits while not compromising my somewhat precarious situation.

Many thanks,
2humble4u

Hmm - could be weirdly interesting. Tell us how this turns out!

There's no school tomorrow - it's a long weekend so the "too much homework" excuse won't work too well, I'm afraid.

"Dad, I'm not really comfortable going out with the Elders because I may be asked questions or be involved in discussions about things that I am not sure about myself."

That excuse has never stopped a missionary.

I say do it. It'll be a rare chance to experience missionary work from that side, and you can make all the awkward comments you want and your parents never have to know. If you see it as a learning experience you might find it amusing and slightly less of a time-waster.

Do the missionaries know you're a disbeliever? If not, it would probably be fair to tell them when you get a chance, rather than pop out with "no, I can't say Joseph Smith was a prophet" in the middle of the discussion.

I agree with this. Go, see what their life is like and don't be taken in by how happy they seem. It'll be an interesting experience.

If not, you can always just say no.

Hi 2Humble,

Out of curiosity, how did you find out that the Church is false? Regarding your parents freaking out, what will change when you turn eighteen?

In a way, you're fortunate. You don't have a spouse or children, so your departure from the Church won't destroy a family unit. But I can hardly imagine what your parents will do when they find out. Even though you'll pay a high price, and cause all kinds of stress to them, you'll at least be saving your future spouse and children from belonging, by default, to a social institution that pretends to believe in an obviously imaginary god.

It takes great courage to live out your moral convictions. I advise you to focus all of your attention on school and doing very well there. Study the subject that truly interests you--if you know it aleady. Set yourself up for an emotionally and financially rewarding career.

You'll never escape your Mormon enculturation, nor is there any reason to. But you have every reason to discard false beliefs and live life in accordance with the dictates of your own conscience.

Don't allow yourself to be intimidated. Carry through.

Good Luck,

Steve

The real opportunity is to innocently answer some question by the person being visited in a way that raises questions in their mind about TSCC. Or you can insert such a question at an appropriate time. Done carefully the missionaries will not report the innocent question or answer upward but may begin to question things themselves.

Sick is always a good excuse. Just say you aren't feeling well. If anyone asks say your stomach feels off and you have some vague aches.

+1

Dengue Fever? (severe joint pain and nausea)

No one will want to get near you...

Sounds good to me...

How bad could it be?

Think of it as a sociological experiment. Observe and listen. Identify the logical fallicies and silently develop arguments to refute the claims.

Have fun. Ask the mishies what is the most frequent or silliest objection they hear. You might be able to plant some seeds. For instance:

Mishie: Oh, someone told me that Joseph Smith used a seer stone during the BoM translation. How silly is that!

You: Well, actually elder..... Emma and their other witnesses present did write that Smith took a stone, placed it in a hat, placed his head into the hat and then dicated. There is an Ensign article about this, I can get you the reference if you'd like to read it.

Mishie: Someone claimed that Smith married young girls and married women. I don't believe it!

You: Well, actually elder.... according to Mormon historians and the church's own family history website, Smith married at least 33 women and young girls. One of the youngest was Helen Mar Kimball who was only 14! At lease 11 of his other wives were still marrried to their legal, living husbands at the time they married Smith. Zina Diantha Huntington was pregnant with her first child when she became one of Smith's plural wives. Of course, Emma didn't know anything about these 'marriages'.


You get the idea.

Eeew! I was gonna suggest appendicitis.

You should go, it might be fun and who knows what you may hear or learn?

I went on splits with the missionaries and we visited an inactive who started talking about blood-atonement and the many wives of BY. I hadn't heard of either at the time and being the good little morgbot I was, that exchange encouraged me to research the claims so that I could answer them. And well, that led me here.

If you're lucky, maybe something like the above will happen and you can go home and report back to your family about concerns that you heard and spur some research in them.

^^^^^that^^^^

It's the perfect way to have topics introduced into conversation with your parents. Topics that they otherwise might wonder where you're getting your info.


The Book of Abraham
JS wives
The mall, and where money goes
How the BoM was written and by who?
The MMM

Honestly I'd recommend you go. It will give you a taste of what you won't be missing for 2 years. Besides you could have some fun bringing up questions to them.

Go and don't say a word. You probably won't be asked back.

Comedy option: go and be silent but make incredulous expressions they can't see. Hold up flash cards that say "This man blows goats. I have proof."

You say that as if blowing goats is a bad thing.

Party on.

It was horrible.They hazed me and made me get undressed for a bath. Then they filled the tub with scalding water and tried to coerce me to get in. So my weekend involved both homoerotica and torture. Mormonism in a nutshell.

Uh oh. They're grooming you to leave on your mission at 18. Look out.

Ohhhh, tracting at 17 is the worst (or really at any age). Especially if you are recongized by people in your community. I got roped into doing that from 16-18. Hated every second of it. OMG it is so embarrassing. Don't do it. You'll hate it. It's a freak show and your the freak. My advice, fake the stomach flu, which is going around (start about 12 hours early though) so as not to raise suspicion.