Runtu wrote:It’s pretty clear to me, and I’m sure to most of my readers, where this advice comes from, and it’s not generally from a concern for the wellbeing of my soul.
It isn't about you.
When I was a priesthood leader oh so long ago, 99.5% of persons who hated, disliked, were agnostic about, or uninterested in the Church stopped attending and, in some cases, had their names removed and then basically left Mormonism behind. No public posting; no obsession with bringing the Church down; no creation of blogs. I even had a woman in my ward who was involved in an anti-Mormon ministry with her pastor husband in a large evangelical church who went through this. Some of these silent departures, of course, would tell people and family members when asked the reason for their departures, but beyond that -- not much.
As to the .5% who are critical and public opponents of the Church, it isn't easy to define or explain why they do it. It is possible to perhaps put them in categories, but I don't think there is one single reason to explain their public opposition to the Church.
My own opinion, as unexpert as it may seem, is that people fall into the following categories (which may overlap) as to the .5%. The order I give is in no particular significance. Again, this is just the active, public critics and isn't describing the 99.5% who leave all the time:
1. Divorced men and on occasion divorced women: They equate the church with their divorced spouse (the one who remains active, or is seen as some sort of rank hypocrite and remains active) and use the public fora to lash out, much like they might do in their divorce proceedings. Their divorce roughly coincides with their church departure.
2. Those addicted to internet argument. They have to find something to argue about; model trains or NASCAR won't do it. They don't know much about Jehovah's Witnesses. Why not the Church?
3. Those who are looking for ratification of their decision to leave the Church, much like the heroin addict looking for fellow addicts. A few pats on the back helps them feel good about their decision.
4. The guilty. A few pats on the back helps them feel good about their decision.
5. Those with mental or psychological issues; sociopaths wanting to injure anonymously. If it isn't the Church, it might be their employers, their friends. It is therapy.
6. Those in good faith who see the Church as evil and see it as their mission to put it out of existence.
7. Those in good faith who see the Church as frivolous (not believing in God or evil) and see it as their mission to put it out of existence.
YB