Hello, friends. I was born and raised in the heart of Mormondom, good ol' Salt Lake City, Utah. I was raised a Mormon, but had issues with the Church from a young age. I moved out of Utah about a year and a half ago, and was finally free to explore other religions and question and do research on the teachings and doctrines of the Church.

I wasn't sure about how felt regarding the truthfulness of the church until I was in contact with another friend of mine who had left the church around the time I was thinking about it. He had done a lot of research regarding the roots of Mormonism and what they don't tell you about the history of the "revelations" and commandments" that came from Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. He had written a 60 page long discourse about a wide range of topics regarding early Mormon history, including seer stones, treasure hunting, Joseph's dabbling in the occult, the BOM, and polygamy.

After reading this paper, I felt sick inside. I couldn't believe that I had been brainwashed into believing a religion that was based on so much evil and deceit.

I haven't been to church for a year, and I'm still deciding whether or not to remove my name from the records. My only fear is that they'll tell my family, and from what I've read on here, it's a good possibility. It's just nice to know that there is a place I can come to where other people will know exactly how I feel and won't judge me for it.

Peace and Love,

Irish

Welcome LI87. The air here is clear... breathing is great. I look forward to your posts.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7Y4uCCaWF8

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Tim 4:3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine..they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Welome Irish...join the ranks of the disaffected folks here and enjoy the resulting friendships and knowledge shared...

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"When authority masquerades as a power, a simple question will unmask it."

"Just because you think, feel, or believe something is true, doesn't make it true!"

"The doubt of your faith, is not God testing you, but truth trying to emerge and free you."

Hi Irish. Welcome.

Unfortunately, I've read many stories where family members were told about resignations. I was lucky. I have no family in the Church. But the Church's lack of confidentiality is yet another thing we wouldn't have believed of them when we were still a believer.

I've often said that the organization which taught me honesty and integrity possesses neither of those traits itself, which is a big reason why I resigned.

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"A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Welcome LittleIrish.

Hey, littleirish87! I did something similar at disillusionment. I wrote down everything that I had discovered and had overheard and put it in an orderly essay. I read it aloud to a good friend of mine to reinforce the knowledge. (That was 13 years ago. I don't think I have the essay anymore---and it was before I learned how to write a proper essay.) But, yeah, the effects of reading distilled, condensed and concise information is motivating---as well as the feeling of profound disappointment in oneself for being so so so silly. Like how could I be that gullible?

But, folk here have gotten past it. Welcome. I mean it.

Just a point of clarification. Joseph Smith's revelations mostly came from his warped mind, his sense of power, and his penis and Brigham Young's mostly came from his sense of power and his bank account.

As for notifying family members when you divorce the church, I guess I'm hard pressed to understand how that could happen by the church. I can certainly see it happening if your local bishop or membership clerk has a personal connection with one of your family members and they decide to rat you out, but I would be very surprised if the church membership folks in SLC actually search out your family to inform them.

At some point you may find that you are angry enough about the lies of the church and their ability to continue to manipulate your family and friends into their cult-like trance that you want your family members to know you have left the church. In fact, you may find that you want to tell them why you left in a (probably futile) attempt to get them to see the truth and save their tithing "contributions" to Mormonism Inc.

Welcome to the fold!

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Dipsnort, sniper of truth and aspiring Harriet Tubman of Mormonism

Welcome, littleirish87!

Dipsnort, I agree with your point on the SLC administration, most likely they are not involved there. However, I do see how local leaders would feel the need to contact the "apostate's" relatives, especially if you voluntarily resign and thus are labeled apostate and a danger to church. I'm not sure if they are instructed to do so but they are told to make excommunication public in cases where they need to "warn the faithful members". Your parents names (and I think even their birthdays) are a part of your record so it's relatively easy to identify them if they are church members.

Katy: That's exactly how I felt, and still feel from time to time. It's a hard feeling to overcome, but I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who felt that way. Thank you all so much for the warm welcome!

Welcome, Irish.