To remove or not remove?

[_The Dude]

Dude - I think it is largely a trait of "one true" religions. Religions that accept others as equally legitimate usually do not carry this baggage. Protestants, for example, normally do not get upset if their children marry in a different protestant sect. The one exception I know of is the "one true born againers", who view some other protestant sects with suspicion as not "real" born-againers.

Almost every religion classifies other belief systems as "close enough" or "not close enough". For Mormons and JWs, nobody else is close enough and apostates are something to be feared. For Protestants, another Protestant sect would be okay, and maybe Catholic, but religions that don't accept Jesus Christ (as defined by Protestants) are "not close enough" to the truth. So for them there is still a line of expectation for family members, although it might create a somewhat wider circle of acceptability than that allowed by most Mormons and JWs.

[_Who Knows]

Dude - good point. This thread could take place on any number of religious boards.

Who is at fault here, the missionaries or the Catholics (or whatever), who put unreasonable pressure on adult family members who should be free in their choices about belief and association?

Any religion that gets people pissed off when you either leave or join it - is at fault. :)

[_beastie]

Almost every religion classifies other belief systems as "close enough" or "not close enough". For Mormons and JWs, nobody else is close enough and apostates are something to be feared. For Protestants, another Protestant sect would be okay, and maybe Catholic, but religions that don't accept Jesus Christ (as defined by Protestants) are "not close enough" to the truth. So for them there is still a line of expectation for family members, although it might create a somewhat wider circle of acceptability than that allowed by most Mormons and JWs.

To an extent this is true. But I think that religions that are more exclusive also create a mindset that allows consideration of cutting off straying family members than more open religions. This is because the more open religions tend to be less strict about what God demands, in the end, at least as measured by the attitudes of their followers (and sometimes their preachers). Liberal protestants, for example, are far more likely to believe that people don’t really have to be technical Christians to go to heaven – they just need to be good and decent people. So if one of their children strays outside even that comfort zone into nonChristianity, they’re less likely to panic about eternal consequences, and hence, less likely to try to manipulate and blackmail with withdrawal of love and support.

So even though, technically, liberal Christians faiths still only accept other Christian faiths, in practice, the acceptance is much broader. I’m not saying that the family wouldn’t prefer the child to remain Christian, but the “cutting off” aspect is less prevalent.

[_truth dancer]

2) My marriage relationship is now best described as "fragile". If I will just be nice, she is willing to remain married to me for time - knowing full well that there is no way in hell I will return to call Smith blessed. She isn't fond of the thought of being pawned off in celestial polygamy and posibly not ending up a first wife because of this choice to stay with me.

I think this is a very important point.

In the LDS church, if a husband disbelieves the church, the wife is forced to make a decision: She can either continue on in the marriage with the realization that in the next life she will be assigned to another man as something other than the first wife and life polygamously for eternity.

OR, she can get a divorce, take her children, and hopefully find another man to marry where she can choose a husband and at least has the possibility of being a first wife.

:-(

OTOH, if a wife disbelieves in Joseph Smith and mainstream Mormonism then the husband gets to still have a harem in heaven. He can stay married with his wife for this life and well, move on in the next. Just one less wife. No need to divorce.

~dancer~

[_Inconceivable]

Thanks for your comments and concerns everyone.

It has truly been a surreal journey. Living all of the teachings of the Mormon church was my life - particularly the spiritual aspects of it.

If someone had told me in 2004 that in just a few short years I would be cursing Smith and his damned religeon I would have told them they were smoking crack through their horns.