DiscussMormonism.com

I figured that since we exmos are always being told the reasons we left the church, I'm wondering what people think are the reasons people join.

I've seen people join the church for a number of reasons. I would say that most of the people I've known personally joined because they honestly believed that the church was true and felt they should join. But I've also seen people who joined for these reasons:

- Did not want to disappoint the missonaries
- Wanted to play sports at the church but the missionaries wouldn't let them unless they got baptized.
- Husband/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/relative really wanted them to join
- Needed financial or social support and the church met those needs
- Were genuinely confused as to what the church meant (Joseph who?) but thought getting completely submerged in water sounded fun
- Wanted to get a missionary in bed with her (it worked)
- Thought joining the church would help them get off cocaine (it didn't work)

I would say many people are attracted to the Mormon faith and join because of the emphasis on family, good values, and the doctrine on sealings or proxy work. (with the exception of plural marriage)
Some see a happy loving LDS family and desire that kind of lifestyle.

There are also those who are drawn to the church because of the organization and social reasons. The youth programs are very helpful for parents trying to raise their kids with good values and friends. The Relief Society is a great place for women to make friends and I have seen women join the church for that fellowship. I had a friend tell me that she doesn't care if the church is a fraud because it's a great place to raise kids.


I've also known of children who were baptized Mormon for a candybar offered by the missionary. They call them "snickers baptisms" in Brazil.

In college I saw girls join the church in my area because they were attracted to the missionaries.

I've seen people join to get off drugs.

Some join for the church welfare system.

In Southern California where I served half of my mission, couples living together would get baptized because the missionaries would tell them that the bishop would marry them for free. Apparently many poor Mexicans don't get married because the Catholic Church charges them, and they can't afford it. So frequently people would get baptized and married on the same day.

There are many dumb reasons. But not nearly as dumb as the reasons why some people serve missions.

I'm probably in a minority, but I joined at the age of 19 because when I prayed as the missionaries instructed me, I thought God told me the Book of Mormon was "true". Of course, that same God remained silent on the topic of Joseph Smith being a "true prophet", but my already LDS sister and the missionaries convinced me the two issues were one and the same. They're not, but I felt the spirit otherwise at church and still joined.

I joined at 14 and sincerely believed in everything the church taught me. I wasn't taught be missionaries, I simply started going to Mutual with a neighbor friend and that led to the rest of my family getting involved and we were all baptized together. I was absolutely in love with the church, everything about it.

In retrospect, though, I can't say I joined because of any testimony because I didn't "know" anything. I was 14 ... I was convinced that I knew it it was true. My little ward met some important emotional needs for me at the time, they were probably the loveliest people I will ever know and gave me love and acceptance I wasn't used to. The church was good for me as a teenager. My grades went up and I stayed out of trouble, for which I am still grateful.

So I joined because the church met my emotional needs at the time.

Then there's the "rest of the story" but that's not what this thread is about.

I joined the church as a child because the missionaries told me that there was a man who talked to Jesus. I believed them.



To add a little more to the story.... my nanny, Mary was an LDS woman whom I dearly loved. She was a devoted member and invited us to take the discussions which I did. She was very abused by her LDS priesthood holding husband but I did not know it at the time. I saw the bruises but didn't put it all together until one day I came home from school and received the news that her husband shot her and then himself.

It is one of the reasons I have devoted my life to women and children who are abused.

~td~

My mum joined because the missionaries turned up a few weeks after she lost her mother and she was distaught. My dad joined to please my mum, and I joined, as a 9 year old, because I thought the missionaries were cool, and because I fancied the idea of getting baptised by full immersion.

My brother (age 14) chose not to join, and it put a wedge between him and the family that lasted for years.


We were baptised at 11.00 at night after much persuasion of my father.

My parents 'almost' divorced as a result of the disharmony that ensued between them, and we lived for about a year in a situation approaching hell. That disharmony stopped when my mother (after wise counsel from some kindly home teachers) was told that family should come first. She stopped going to church, and everything got back to normal.

I got active at age 14 because I was searching for answers and the church seemed to answer my questions on what life was or should be about. It also provided a set of values that I could relate to and feel comfortable with and a great set of young adults to associate with. One or two of them are still my closest friends now.

Mary

Since people only leave Mormonism because they want to sin, it is only logical that people join the Mormon church to stop sinning.

Maybe they want the real excuse to be some kind of sin rather than some intellectual reason. There are people who lead and continue to live good lives, raising families , working who concluded on the basis of evidence against the authenticity of the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham that the church was not true. When I was in the church many young girls joined because of the attentions of the good looking missionaries. After the missionary left they often became inactive.

I joined the Church because I was in an emotional funk, and all the smiling, happy faces of my Mormon friends seemed to evince an inner peace for which I yearned. Too bad my friends got to that bliss through ignorance, and that I didn't figure that out until later.

"For they are like whited sepulchres, which appear beautiful outwardly, but within are full of dead men's bones."