Mormons can leave the Church, but they just can't leave it alone: God

Showing posts with label God. Show all posts

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Atheists are crazy!!! Right...?

I used to think atheists beliefs were just as unfounded as those who believe in God. Why is it any less unreasonable to believe in the existence of NO god as it is to believe in God? It is just as impossible to prove the existence of God as it would be to prove God does not exist. I realize now I misunderstood the position of an atheist. An atheist says, "I will believe in something when I see evidence to support its existence." This is why religions teach their members of the evils of "sign seekers." Yes, how dare someone ask for evidence to support the existence of a being whom they are expected to dedicate their entire lives!!!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

I don't know of anyone who would describe church as "fun."

Membership in the Mormon church means meetings. Lots and lots of meetings. More meetings than you can imagine. Take a look a look around while you sit through one. You'll see a lot of glazed-over looks. Everyone is pretty much mentally checked out.

Prepare to be astounded by the sheer boredom of it all. Church meetings are neither fun nor enjoyable. A lot of clock watchin' is the norm.

But we do it because the meetings are so inspirational and it's only in the meetings where you can really feel the spirit and God wants you in those meetings to worship him.

At least, that's what we've been told...

Saturday, February 11, 2012

God is an interesting entity

We are taught God will answer our prayers on his timeline and in his own way, and not necessarily when and how we want them answered. Why should I be expected to worship such a fickle and/or powerless god?

About This Blog

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints frequently leave the organization. And often these former, or disbelieving, members provide commentary on the church. More often than not, the commentary is less than complimentary.

A common response to this situation, from believing members is, "Well, you can leave the Church, but you can't leave it alone." In truth, I myself have made this exact statement many times in response to comments from former members.

In reality, the vast majority of former members would be more than willing, and very happy, to leave the Church completely behind. Nothing would give them greater happiness than to see the Church fading in the dust in their rear view mirror. But this is not to be the case for so many members who have discovered the Church to not be what they always thought it was.

The reasons for this are varied and complicated. Many former members still have family members such as parents or siblings who still believe and don't understand how someone they care about could "give up their eternal salvation" and leave the church. The family pressure is still there, no matter how much the former member wishes it would disappear.

Many former members still have a spouse or children who not only believe but want to attend. It makes for a very awkward and delicate situation when one spouse is packing up the kids and heading off to church while the other spouse stays home. The disbelieving spouse would be ecstatic if their spouse and children would join them and they could all leave the church behind. But this is not to be.

For far too many former members, very real and material damage was done to them by the Church and its members. The forms of this damage are many. Homosexuals are especially damaged by the Church. For impressionable youth who may "slip up" and not toe the line perfectly, an insensitive or uncaring church leader may not handle the situation well and give the youth the impression they are guilty of heinous sins. The guilt and shame associated with this can be carried into adulthood. When the member discovers the Church is not true, they may feel resentment for having been subjected to such guilt and shame when the basis for those feelings was imaginary and were unnecessarily heaped on them by a church leader. It can take a long time for these wounds to heal.

Many believing members feel that when former members make comments about the church and are intent on pointing out the flaws in the organization, they are doing so because secretly they believe the Church to be true and are only being negative about the Church to ease their guilty conscience. This is simply not the case. Former members are still affected by the church, even though most of them want nothing more than to be free of it, and so in response they feel compelled to stand up for themselves and not just lay over and continue to be victimized by the Church. They've been the victim long enough and are ready to be done.

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