I am trying to find a quote from a lesson I remember in Seminary. It was a quote from someone who had apostatized from the church, and the idea was that after they left the church, they had never known another happy day since. They talked about how badly they wished they could have the happy feelings back that they had had in the church.

I wish I could find this quote! It was one that stuck with me for a long time and kept me from doubting (because of fear, of course). It was really effective at making me think I would lose the Spirit if I doubted or apostatized. Does anyone remember this?

It puts me in mind of all the stories in chain letters about all the horrible things that happened to Brigadier Foosworthy and others because they *BROKE THE CHAIN*.

Bumping to the top for one more try...
Nobody remembers this one?

Thanks!

Lol! I don't remember this specific one but I've heard plenty like it. And I was always confused when I saw people who had left the church and were doing quite well

I went from active involvement (but admittedly never a particularly spiritual person) to atheist and am quite happy.

They say that so people will be afraid to think outside the box, of course. Fear and guilt are the tools of all religions. How ironic it is to be pitied for lack of "The Spirit" while I feel more liberated and happy than I ever have before.

The unhappy part lasts for a short duration as it occurs to you that you threw money down the toilet for years, and for what? And that you trusted these guys, and for why? Most of this unhappiness happens while you are still officially a member, and the happy part lasts the rest of your life.

Sometimes so-called "good Mormon" spouses may make life miserable by exacting marital problems due to one's leaving, but one can't do anything about how it makes others feel.

“Remember: when you see the bitter apostate, you do not see only an absence of light, you see also the presence of darkness. Do not spread disease germs.”

- Apostle Boyd K. Packer, “The Mantle is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect,” speech given August 1981 at BYU, Brigham Young University Studies, Summer 1981

If I were a poet, I would write a Mormon Inferno a la Dante. I would show the levels of hell where the so-called prophets pay their just dues.

The lesson is the use of fear. By teaching everyone that lesson, they will be morbidly afraid of leaving TSCC. Truth is that we are happier away from TSCC.

Maybe mormons think that we're always unhappy because the only times they see us is when they're on the attack. They probably never see the glowing smiles and cheerful laughter that resumes once they leave.

JoD3:360 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Maybe mormons think that we're always unhappy
> because the only times they see us is when they're
> on the attack. They probably never see the glowing
> smiles and cheerful laughter that resumes once
> they leave.


Funny, DH was outed after a family reunion with his uber-TBM relatives. Once she found out, one sister pleaded with him to NOT TAKE HIS LIFE because, with her powerful level of discernment, in retrospect, he seemed suicidal. Of course, the truth was, he was bored senseless and realizing that all his family had to talk about was TSCC. If only they could see him with a cup of coffee or beer bottle in his hand...

I didn't complete Seminary so I can't say for sure, but the only "apostate" I can think of that rejoined the church and made it into a faith promoting story was Thomas B. Marsh. A president of the quorum of the 12 until he was excommunicated, he groveled before Herber C. Kimball with the following:

"Having lost my wife some three years since I began to awake to a sense of my situation; you will, perhaps, say why you slept a long time or was a long time in waking and would say truely for so it is for I have, at least, been grooping in darkness fo[r] so [sic] these 18 years."
(Lyndon W. Cook, " 'I Have Sinned Against Heaven, and Am Unworthy of Your Confidence, But I Cannot Live without a Reconciliation' ":Thomas B. Marsh Returns to the Church," BYU Studies, Vol. 20, No. 4, p.396)

There's more self loathing quotes of his but that's the closest I saw to "never knowing a happy day since". His story is commonly known to TBMs as "The Strippings of Milk Story", but there seems to be some disagreement about what actually happened with that - go figure.

Hope this helps. If not give me some more context and I might be able to find it. And for the record, life outside the church isn't perfect but it is better.

Marsh never recanted nor said he lied in his affidavit which can be found on line. He was just never accepted elsewhere. But the truth stands forth in that affidavit damning Joseph and the Danites.

I found it! It was from Lyman Johnson, who left the church, but remained friendly with members. Brigham Young reported his quote in the JOD. This damn quote really got in my head and I remembered it pretty much forever.

"If I could believe Mormonism as I did when I traveled with you and preached, if I possessed the world I would give it. I would give anything, I would suffer my right hand to be cut off, if I could believe it again. Then I was full of joy and gladness. My dreams were pleasant. When I awoke in the morning my spirit was cheerful. I was happy by day and by night, full of peace and joy and thanksgiving. But now it is darkness, pain, sorrow, misery in the extreme. I have never since seen a happy moment."
Journal of Discourses, 19:41

I found it on this delightful page:
http://mainstreetplaza.com/2012/03/12/personal-apostasy-research-from-lds-org/

Thanks for citing it! I remembered reading the quote but didn't remember where from or the exact wording.

Sounds like Mr. Johnson refused to take responsibility for his own happiness. He didn't need to "believe" in a fantasy trip like Mormonism to be grateful and joyful. He just needed to cultivate gratitude and happiness in his life, like a productive gardener, as if it really mattered to him. He needed to ask, "How can I obtain these gifts?" and make a plan to do so, then do it.

I guess he didn't really want those things, after all...

It sounds like Lyman Johnson had suffered from an obsession with the church when he believed in it. Such an obsession can give a drug-like high. Remove the object of the obsession and the crash comes.

I believe that true peace is found in equilibrium, not in the wild gyrations of obsession.

Isn't this quote very telling in that he wishes he could still believe, but just can't. I mean he can't even pretend and go back to that life. He knows the truth and the fantasy is over.

Who WOULDN'T want to go back to a fairy tale that made them really happy? But who'd be happy going back and pretending it isn't a fairy tale when you know it is?

So what are they saying when they quote this? "Be careful what you read and study. Because if you find out the truth you can never go back to to pretending. And pretending makes us happy."

Well that's just a stupid assertion from BY (big surprise, there!) and a big fat lie.

If anyone truly felt like that, I would think they would rejoin. And if they felt like that but didn't want to rejoin, they surely wouldn't be telling BY so he could gloat about it. He was such a prick!

The cautionary tales aren't unique to Mormonism, but the belief maintenance technology has gotten quite effective in TSCC. Remember the story of Korihor? Add some other more recent apochryphal tales like Marsh and other unspecified persons.... Good lesson material for fearmongering. Fear is good, guilt generation works well too. It works nearly as well as Islam's death-to-apostates policy.

To quote Billy Joel:
"I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints; the sinners are much more fun,
only the good die young."

Depression is common as losing the church is a loss. Even if you intellectually realize it's a fraud, it's hard to lose your main social outlet and deal with the rejection from friends and family.

Once you move beyond that, and nearly everyone does, you can live a freer, happier, more productive life.

They want to take that depression phase, which is like mourning the loss of your religion, and pretend your whole life will be that way. When exmos hit the depression, they think "ZOMG! They were right. I've ruined my life".

If they just press on, the dark clouds will vanish and then you are just left with the normal ups and downs of life that everyone faces, without being burdened by the church and its expectations and lies.