I've been a lurker and occasional poster on this board for about 2 years. I was BIC, graduated from BYU, served a mission to Sweden, nearly married a Mormon girl I met there. The first doubts I had started when I was a missionary. I started talking to a fellow on the street in Lund, Sweden one afternoon...I started giving the first vision spiel...at the end he asked me if I knew that there were multiple versions of Joseph Smith's first vision and that they didn't all exactly match up. I had never heard that before. I told him he was mistaken and that whoever had given him that information was a liar. He laughed and walked off. It got me thinking, but I put it up on the shelf. Things kept building from there.

It's been a ten year process since that first hit to my Mormon testimony till today. I stopped believing shortly after the mission as I started doing research into church history etc, but faked it for a few years because it was what I knew. It was my social life, my family life. Went inactive when I went back to Europe for grad school. Finally decided that I needed to cut the last tie to the LDS church, my membership.

I sent my resignation email on April 3rd and today I received the letter from the LDS church acknowledging it. Now, of course they said it was an "ecclesiastical matter that must be handled by local priesthood leaders", but that's just a formality. I'm finally out and I'm thrilled about it. Planning to call the bishop the church listed just to tell him to hurry up and process my request so that I can receive the final letter.

This hasn't gone over well with my family. It has ruined what was once a close relationship with my father. But I had to be true to myself. I could no longer associate myself with the LDS church.

Just wanted to share my good news with the board. I'm happy to finally be out of the LDS church!

Well done.

So sorry about your father, but I'm proud that you had the gumption to resign in spite of it.

Congratulations. Best to you. I think and believe I have found Mormon missions to be very helpful in triggering the desire/need to exit Mormonism. Of course this is not universal, but it is a critical event. I also think those who are sincerely engaging their prospects, investiagtors, and mission community by listening on top of talking are most likely to find Mormonism for a fraud and lacking the redeeming qualities of a fraud church as a Charity.

One of the positive things about young women serving in greater frequency and younger is they will experience two key triggering events for exit without the intense pressure of cancelling a Mormon wedding/sealing.

A Mormon temple cult ritual, but not on the day before their wedding and a Mormon mission, with the opportunity to observe up close priesthood authority in action.

Congratulatioms

Yeah it rocked my world when I realized I had been teaching people (and I taught lots of people) things that weren't true on my mission. That the church knew weren't true. And implying other things that weren't exactly true or at least the whole truth. Only made it worse that I followed the rules and had a terrible time for the first year, kept to their schedules, took crap from leadership, blah. Sickens me.

Good for you for resigning. I wish I could, but my wife is TBM and I don't think it's worth the trouble.

I hope your father gets over it.

Woo-Hoo that is big news. Not an easy journey, but one that brings liberation as you live a more authentic life.

Congrats!!

congratulations! your father will come around. you show him unconditional love if you care, if you guys got along and this church thing got in the way.
funny how investigators or people we talked during our missions made us rethink our position. in my case, it was a jehovah witness, my own mission president, and a few other missionaries.

Congratulations!

Thanks for sharing, Jesse.

Congrats to you Jesse. Being true to yourself is important. Hope your father develops some understanding very soon.

Yea Jesse; similar story here - been out forever but got out this year. Bishop called to make sure I was me and wanted out: said I could always return and be "re-baptised". Yea, right. I didn't know better at 8. Then the letter came about two weeks later. Congrats



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2014 09:54AM by moremany.

Seems we all fake it for a few years before resigning.

Congratulations!

Warms my heart Jesse.

Sad about your Dad. That will heal in time.


Your story makes me want to seek out the next mishie I see and give him 9 different versions of the FV...

Congratulations. Yes, I know the feeling even though it's been quite a few years for me.

My relationship suffered with my father when I JOINED the Mormon church because he knew from the start it was a fraud and kept trying to get me out. Now that he has died I don't have the opportunity to tell him he was right. Luckily, my dad was able to keep our relationship strong despite the religious rift. He was a big hearted man and a great father. I hope your dad lives long enough to appreciate some day what a smart son he has. If he doesn't get past your apostasy let me tell you right now. If your dad knew the truth he'd be bragging about his smart son. Believe it.

As a side note: I served a mission in Switzerland and Mormons were always asking me if it was hard to learn Swedish. LOL