I was married in the temple in 1952, graduated from BYU in 1954. It was in 1955 that I was first exposed to "anti-Mormon lies" and spent hours in the university library reading books on Mormonism. By 1958 I had figured out that Mormonism was just another man-made religion.
I knew when my TBM husband who was trying to convert me told me blacks couldn't hold the priesthood. That with the polygamy issue was contrary to what I considered was Christian principles. This was way back in the'70s. He is now Elmo.
I have wondered something similar, but I think so. I decided to leave while I was on my mission, pre-internet. I didn't read "anti-mormon" literature until I had been home for a while. I found everything I needed to make an informed decision right there in my triple combination, supplemented of course with various ridiculous church approved books.
I think you could but you would have to be actively researching. You wouldn't likely stumble on to anything. I had all of the iformation to leave in the nineties prior to the internet but lacked the courage until I returned from Iraq in 2007.
I think between blacks denied the priesthood, blood oaths, etc. You would have enough to raise an eyebrow, but that was likely balanced out by social factors like racism being much more common in 1955 and pre-correlation better ward experiences.
The church in 1955 was pretty 1955. The church is still in 1955 in many ways, but it stands out more now.
My recipe pre-Internet was not being able to accept as taught and reconcile with my reality and future.
1. Mormon Prayer 2. Mormon Priesthood 3. One True Church 4. Mormon Temple Cult Rituals--the only time I've been asked to make a suicide gesture was by my loving Mormon church, but they don't do that anymore
After the Mormon endowment, I knew I didn't want to have that be my future, just had to figure out the way out.
I'm assuming if my life and personality would have been roughly the same but more low-tech. Yes I would have figured it out eventually. The information I've found online is not what made me leave as I didn't know about this or any other useful place until, coincidentally, the day after I had decided to give up mormonism.
Perhaps I would have left it even sooner as one of my main reasons for doubt (doubt here = complete rejection of any possibility of it being true): the story of Noah's Ark. And that was even more taken to be literal back then than it is now.
Lots of people on here place special reverence on the internet as the only way that they could have ever found out about the bad parts of Mormonism. Apparently these people have never read a book.
In 1955 there were books about Mormonism that dissected and criticized the religion just like what we might find on the internet today. If I were TBM in 1955 and dissatisfied with things I probably would have bought one of those books and started working my way out.
My guess, however, is that most people leave Mormonism because they are unhappy, not because the internet taught them about aspects of Mormonism they were unfamiliar with.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2013 05:09PM by snb.
This board was a help for me, but it was books that got me out. Fawn Brodie's "No Man Knows My History" would have been enough for me, and that was published in 1945. There were many books written in the 1800s, like The 19th Wife, Brigham's Avenging Angel, etc. I don't think it would have been much different, except for the social aspect. I think it would have been much harder in 1955 in my family. I still would have left though.
There were books, but you are right, the social aspect didn't exist nearly as much in the past. It is really helpful to have a place like this where people can help others deprogram.
One thing that is different due to the internet is the revelation that there is a large community of people who think like I do. Before the internet there was Sunstone, and that helped a great deal, but before that doubters generally felt like lone wolves. The internet has provided a large support group that helps tremendously with the emotional challenges we face when leaving our childhood faith.
Just my two cents' worth. I'll go back to sleep now.
It took me until the early 60s. I wasn't aware there was 'history', and as a teenager I wasn't privy to what I thought would be deep doctrine.
I just reached an age where I could see how big the real world was, and how insignificant the church was in it. No omnipotent God would have such a silly 'true' church.
I think the totality of their bullshit is definitely much more apparent today. Especially things like 15 wealth and pay, business schemes, etc.
Even at the religion's founding, plenty of people called bullshit on it. It is just that the Mormons would have us think those people had no credibility because they had an axe to grind or something.
B. H. Roberts has family that helped supplant the manuscripts for Studies of the Book of Mormon and The Truth The Way The Life. My family has been responsible in censoring their prize pioneer.
Worried people would lose their faith if they read his writings.
Stan Larson and others were very helpful in overcoming the will of the Church and the Roberts family to hide his writings from publication. As to what he believed and what he knew, I guess many think this is still a discussion. What is obvious to me is that he had exposed that Mormon church leaders at the highest level had no desire to be honest about doctrines and history of the Mormon church and that the Book of Mormon is best explained as a work or collaboration of fiction fabricated by Joseph Smith with no divine origin, regardless of the value of the content.
I was about six or seven in 1955 so I doubt it, but I did figure it out by the end of the sixties without the benefit of the internet.First of all, it didn,t appeal to me, second, it didnt make sense, and t hird, I read books.The information was out there.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2013 10:06PM by bona dea.
I would say yes, my decision to leave was based on the observation of their circular logic, the behavior that TSCC causes in people, as well as comparisons I drew to extinct religions.
I hadn't read anything "anti mormon" (a term I dislike) until earlier this year actually. After doing so my opinion of moism changed, I've come to the conclusion that it is in fact a cult. This then spurred my decision to resign, but I have been out for about 3 years
Exactly the same for me. The only "anti-mormon" things I had read was books written by supposed prophets vs a secular education where for example egyptian, sumerian and chinese civilization happily thrived before, during and after a supposedly worldwide flood. Also I read the old testament, people living to be 900 was preposterous to me even when I was 5. Seminary material admitting that only the first 39 chapters would have been available to Nephi. And don't get me started on the Jaredite barges!
The replies to my question show that clear thinking and reading the church's own approved books were enough to get people out long before the Internet existed. I got out in the late 1950s because I couldn't believe in religious magic, i.e., god.
I knew a higher up TBM who figured it all out, long before the Internet. He had been vulnerable during his life due to a tragedy he experienced but when he finally had a bit of spare time in his life, he sat and thought and realized it was baloney and told me so.
I was too brainwashed then to accept what he was saying, but was a bit incredulous at the time.
I specifically remember as a high school senior, sitting in the back yard of a good friend who was contemplating going on a mission. I didn't want to go and I said, "I don't believe Joseph Smith saw God for one minute, that story seems ridiculous to me".
Unfortunately after some resistance I caved to the social and family pressure exerted on any Mormon boy growing up in Salt Lake and it would be 20 years before that clarity would surface again.