I have been reading from here a lot in the past week. The more I read, the more I just hurt inside. I had this chest pain, and it made me feel like I had an albatross around my neck with the pain this church has caused. So I contacted my Stake...and have gotten the ball rolling. 5 minuted after my initial call...that chest pain I had for two day (not indigestion ...lol) was GONE. And the chap that helped me said in his letter ..."I hope you weren't hurt by anything in this Church, I would like to hear your reason."
I wrote to "Wow" a few days back and told him to write the big Kahoonah in Utah, tell him everything that irked him and send it off.....but the truth is...it doesn't matter what the reasons are for me... I know my peace of mind is what I am grateful for, and that sense of relief.
Thanks for listening...

Not name removal. And you don't need to tell anyone why unless YOU want to :)

I just emailed a letter of resignation . They emailed back that they were removing my name from membership records per my request . I fail to see the difference . The end result is still the same .

They flag it in the records, but they still need to keep you on their records.

Name removal does not legally equal resignation.

The end result is not the same.

Resign was in my conversation, with them. I mistakenly thought that removing one's name was one in the same with resigning. Thank you for clarifying that.

NotAlone Wrote:
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> ..."I hope you weren't hurt by anything in this
> Church, I would like to hear your reason."

Because obviously you were "offended." Only two acceptable reasons to leave for LDS Inc. - offense at them and their followers AND/OR desires to break their rules of righteousness.

Congrats... it sounds like it's already starting to pay off.

Again (as I posted in another thread), two things: It's not "name removal." Using that term is a nod to the church that you recognize their authority. And the second thing is to never try to resign through local leadership. There is a place on this site (see the home page) that tells you how to do it. You can do it by E-mail or post, and it should go directly to church HQ. That takes just a short time. If you go locally they may not actually process your resignation or may take forever and keep coming back to talk you out of it.

Saying, "I resign." means you've taken control and you are no longer a member.

For anyone who is interested, complete directions for how to resign from the Mormon church can be found here:

http://www.exmormon.org/remove.htm

Sounds like the load Pilgrim was carrying on his back in Pilgrim's Progress by Bunyan. Welcome to a free man.

Hello NotAlone,

Thanks for your words the other day.

Congrats for having the courage to act so directly. I hope it provides a avenue for positive developments in all that you do.

It can be so difficult for a person to admit to being fooled. While the long term implications are far worse when we don't admit to being fooled, it is hard to admit to any mistake, let alone something as huge as Mormon fraud.

I suppose we all have to handle the pain and grieving individually, just as we are individuals. I constantly battle with those around me and the church leaders about the fact that I am not the one on trial. I did not commit fraud. I did not tell new lies to cover up the old lies.

It is so clear to me now, how cultish the church is, inasmuch that they always put the member on trial and never the church.

Just as you advised me--- maintain control on your own terms-- do not allow them to control the language and terms to define your actions. They are professional in their approach to public relations, and they know that controlling the meaning of words is a massive weapon in any debate.

To paraphrase a Chinese philosopher, he who frames the question wins the debate. Set your own parameters and allow them to be as delusional as they please.

NotAlone Wrote:
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> .....but
> the truth is...it doesn't matter what the reasons
> are for me... I know my peace of mind is what I am
> grateful for, and that sense of relief.
> Thanks for listening...

You know what, the same thing happened to me.

I wrote pages and pages on what I found so troublesome about LDSinc (pre-internet, too!), and had many conversations with everyone from my family and home teacher to the Bishop and SP to an Institute instructor. Yet in the end my resignation letter was three sentences. It just didn't matter anymore.

We don't need to tell them our reasons for leaving if we don't want to. Sure, they'd like to know, but if we don't like to, we needn't share.

Cheers, and good luck on your recovery. It's filled with ups and downs, but like a roller coaster it is always exciting.

Human

I don't think they really want to know the reasons. They just want to absolve themselves of any wrong doing by saying "I'm sorry" if they had anything to do with you leaving.

Not a single person from my Mormon church has ever asked me why I left. They already "KNOW" because they are taught that nobody leaves the church without having sinned. I'm a sinner for just wanting to leave. Even thinking a single negative thought about the church is a sin in most TBM minds. That's all they need to know to feel smug and superior.