Why I left the LDS Church (Warning: *LONG*)

[Anonymous]

.

[_Ray A]

Now, I have never tired heroin due to all of the best musicians dying from it, but I have had morphine. I am fairly immune to any mind altering effects it may have. It doesn't do anything to me. I actually prefer canabinoids to opiates. They are safer too.

That was metaphorical. I'm actually a glutton and a beer-bibber.

[_Yoda]

Shades....Thanks for sharing your story. I had always wondered what, exactly, had prompted you to leave the Church.

Did this happen before or after you got married? Is your wife a member?

[_Ray A]

Your mission stories got nothing on mine. I was betrayed by both of my mission presidents. I was betrayed big time by three bishops of my home ward and two stake presidents. These were friends that I admired.

I was cast out headlong by strangers in a strange land, Provo, Utah, :-( after I returned to a stake where previously attempts were made on my life!

By comparison it sounds like Jesus had it easy.

[_Paul Osborne]

I rather enjoyed Shade's story. It was written in a simple manner and very forward. It didn't seem long to me.

Paul O

[_Paul Osborne]

Nightlion, could it be that you were merely having some bad dreams?

Listen, I have a suggestion for you. Repeat after me:

"I am not a prophet, I am not a prophet, I am not a prophet"

There, you should feel much lighter now.

Paul O

[_mentalgymnast]

So, with great fear and trepidation, I went out and bought my first anti-Mormon book.

What was it?

Poor Orson Hyde: Joseph called him on a mission to Palestine to dedicate the Holy Land for the return of Israel, and came back to find his wife sealed to Joseph and pregnant with Joseph's kid!

What reliable source did you read this in?

...Brigham had kept all their money for himself, absconded to Utah, and left their families destitute and in squalor. The outrage caused the majority of them to apostatize--who can blame them?

What reliable source did you read this in?

What of the Kirtland Bank?
Unfortunately, after declaring by revelation that all his followers must deposit their savings into this new bank, he used the money as security as he printed off lots of bank notes in order to pay off his debts.

What reliable source did you read this in?

All the other stuff you referred to I'm familiar with. But not the bolded parts of the ones I've cut and pasted. I'd appreciate "chapter and verse" on those three.

Now, if I was to come up with ways to give Joseph Smith a free pass...

But he shouldn't be given a free pass in regards to anything that he said or did of which he had full knowledge and understanding in regards to that thing which he said or thing that he did being strictly/black and white wrong... with a capital W.

But that's where things get rather murky/muddy. Original sources vs. second or third hand information and/or interpretation and analysis.

Regards,
MG

[_bcspace]

If we apply Shades' logic, his story contains too many misses to be believed.

pregnant with Joseph's kid!

CFR

[_msnobody]

Thanks for the post, Doc. I enjoyed reading it. Actually, I enjoy when people are their real authentic selves.

[_Dr. Shades]

Thanks to everyone who responded positively. Considering how long it is, I'm surprised that so many people bothered!

What advice would you have for members who do decide to leave the LDS church?

Lay low, don't share your unbelief with any of your friends, neighbors, or family members, and don't become a "truth crusader." Keep living life as you always had.

I think you listed Gerald and Sandra Tanner's reasons.

What's with the constant Jerald and Sandra Tanner schtick?

I will tell you why you left the Church, I can do this because....well, you know.

Is it because you're a prophet?

You left because the culture and leadership of the LDS Church today fails to teach you how to repent.

No, I left for the precise reasons listed in the opening post of this thread.

Your mission stories got nothing on mine.

I believe that 100%. My mission was very, very mild compared to what a lot of other missionaries go through.

Poor Orson Hyde: Joseph called him on a mission to Palestine to dedicate the Holy Land for the return of Israel, and came back to find his wife sealed to Joseph and pregnant with Joseph's kid!

This one was new to me. I thought there wasn't any conclusive evidence that Joseph Smith ever impregnated a woman.

From http://www.mormonismi.information/jamesdavid/menwives.htm:
"Frank Henry was born on January 23, 1845. Orson Hyde had left on a mission to Washington on April 4, 1844 'immediately' after a meeting with Joseph Smith (History of the Church, pg. 286). The gestation period for a human is on average 266 days (not 9 months). Of course 266 is an average date and the figures vary. To give you an idea of the range, only four percent of pregnancies are actually carried two weeks or more beyond the average time (Guttmacher, 1983).

Frank Henry was born on January 23, 1845. Orson Hyde left for Washington April 4, 1844. The difference in these two dates is 294 days! That is almost a month longer than expected and is basically physiologically impossible, especially considering that Orson Hyde had not returned to Nauvoo until August 6, 1844 (Andrew Jenson, Church Chronology, August 6, 1844)."

Have a great one, Shades.

You too, Wayneman! Don't be a stranger 'round these parts.

Let me ask, do you, or have you ever, wake up some mornings and have the feeling that everything is normal, that the church is true just like it used to be, and that everything in the church makes sense?

No.

Superficial doubts also began on my mission, though nothing in the doctrinal area. These were more "authority" issues, and the so-called "inspiration" of mission presidents.

Same here.

Did this happen before or after you got married?

After.

Is your wife a member?

Yes. I baptized her, as a matter of fact (though not on my mission, of course. We met in the States afterward).

So, with great fear and trepidation, I went out and bought my first anti-Mormon book.

What was it?

I know how that game is played. No, I'm not going to let you derail the thread. The specific anti-Mormon book I happened to read first is of no consequence.

What reliable source did you read this in?

What reliable source did you read this in?

What reliable source did you read this in?

Is there such a thing as a source critical of Mormonism that you consider reliable?

But he shouldn't be given a free pass in regards to anything that he said or did of which he had full knowledge and understanding in regards to that thing which he said or thing that he did being strictly/black and white wrong... with a capital W.

I have no idea what any of that means. Care to re-word in English?