“11/17/2008

To my ex-Bishop,

I appreciate your letter.

You say that you’ve been exiled for six years and that you have struggled with a lack of significant service and friendship. I have to wonder based on what you have said, that it seems you only search for social acceptance in a very small arena. Church. There is a gigantic world out there with thousands of great things to get involved in. I say open yourself up and get out of the LDS paradigm a little. Maybe join a non LDS band and give yourself the commandment to enjoy it even if someone says a cussword or two during practice or while you are playing at whatever venue.

I will relate to you the things that have come to mind after I had read your letter. I am not writing to offend but to inform. I don’t have any issues with faith as you mentioned. I have faith that the sun will come up and I do that based on the past experience and evidence that it will come around again. Faith in things that can’t be proven at all is another thing altogether.

I have not had lack of service and friendship issues. That must be someone else talking. Interesting isn’t it that others know so much of how we are or what we feel.

David Bednar in conference said that 99% of people who leave the church or have issues and questions about church history were offended by members. He knows how they feel also. That is not the truth. I have read several hundred letters by people who have left the church and those who were offended by members were by far the minority. I did not believe this Mormon myth that “they were offended” and have found for myself that it is in fact not true. Go online and read them for yourself. The majority had doubts and did their own research and came to the conclusion that the churches claims don’t stand up to scrutiny. I believe the leaders know “they were offended” isn’t so but the teaching of this myth is good for the church and David Bednar taught that the members and the apostates are at fault and scapegoats, therefore the church itself is off scot free.

When lifelong members who were taught all their lives that the church was persecuted for no good reasons other than trying to live the gospel isn’t true then this new data learned by the member is what offended them. When they learn that church leaders stood up and preached that the lands in Missouri were meant for the saints and that God would see that they have it, they understand why that would piss the Missourians off and that the church started the persecution. This is what truly offends members. It is offensive to a member to find out that Joseph had 33 wives many of other men’s wives, some men sent away then he married them in secret and they learn of the nonsense with 14 year old Helen Mar Kimbal who did not want to marry Joseph but was coerced by her own father to do it for the salvation of the family, that is offensive.

It is offensive to find out that contrary to the picture in primary where Joseph is scholarly sitting at a table with the plates open in front of him and a little curtain between him and Oliver as he translates the plates turns out to be a lie. He used the same seer stone he used for finding buried treasure, (which he was arrested for but his employers belief in Josephs ability saved him from going to jail) placed in a hat, his face in the hat, the plates no where near, and as the words supposedly appeared he told them to Oliver and they could not proceed unless the word was correct. This offends people. It sure did me.

It offends people when they learn these things and ten thousand more like it as they take off their rose colored glasses like I did and realize things like President Hinckley lying to the world about our teachings. Multiple times in different venues Hinckley lied in interviews about this same belief. God was once like man and man can become like God is taught from children to adults “inside” the church. He taught that doctrine himself in general conference and identified the source as the King Follet sermon to the entire church. Polygamy is not doctrinal. Really? He sets doctrine? Then why is that doctrine is still doctrine? The same doctrine, exactly, that Warren Jeffs uses to keep his church locked up in polygamy which thing we vehemently deny or practice? (However it is holy somehow in our current practice of celestial polygamy) Why did not Hinckley change the doctrine if he in facts sets doctrine? The church lost members after that. That is because it offended people.

When president Hinckley dedicates a grave marker for brother Pratt and refers to the person as an “assailant” and makes it look like Pratt was some kind of martyr when in reality he was killed by the husband of his ninth plural wife that Pratt picked up in California, a husband that wanted his children back, while the churches own rules in canonized scripture in the then D&C 101 that forbid Pratt, especially as an Apostle, from converting a wife and children without the permission of the father that offends people. This woman was not divorced either. Everything was wrong about Pratt and this woman and the husband killed him for it. But lets leave that all out because it won’t be a “faith promoting event” if we don’t. Changing, spinning, omitting information by church leaders to make it more faith promoting and making past wrongs look better and smooth out the contradictions, offends people.

It is offensive when members who have done their research see the current RS/PH manuals that the prophets seem to be monogamists! Omission of information of this kind when it was taught by the apostles and prophets that it was necessary for mans salvation to be a polygamist and this very doctrine today is canonized scripture, offends people.

When much of LDS doctrine that comes out of the miracle of the Book of Abraham that Joseph translated from the papyrus into canonized scripture is not mentioned once in a two year course study on the teachings of Joseph Smith that offends people. Members that have studied the problem with the Book of Abraham translation know why it is not in a two year course study. This was no accident. This offends people.

Members who are born into this religion or are converted before they have developed critical thinking skills are fed line upon line with information that is a mile wide and an inch deep. If in fact I knew and had information on all the hundreds of problems before joining it would not have taken place and yes when I learn what has been hidden behind deliberate omissions, lies and spin doctoring that offends me and everyone else that learns of the hidden truths to save our testimonies. Lying for gods purposes?
That offends people. So David Bednar was right, we were offended but not like he portrays.

You mentioned Faith. Faith is not evidence. Faith is belief in something not proven to exist. It is not a thing or a religion. Faith is not virtuous in itself.

It requires no faith at all when you learn of the multiple versions of the First Vision to determine that the Official version holds the least amount of water. It requires no Faith at all to realize that it is scientifically impossible in the 50 times what the rest of the world was experiencing for the population growth required for the Book of Mormon peoples in the Nephite and Jaredite nations. It doesn’t take faith to realize that you can’t build a Temple like Solomon’s with less than 100 people half of which are women and children. It doesn’t take faith to realize that it is not possible to survive in the Jaredite vessels for a week let alone 344 days. It doesn’t take faith to purchase an original 1830 version of the Book of Mormon and check the supposed anti-Mormon claims about all the nature of God, doctrinal, and timeline changes and find that the so called anti-Mormons were right and all the past leaders who taught you that there were none of these changes other than spelling and grammar, had lied.

When you find out that the church really has rewritten history because you have checked with the Church of Christ who carries the same early history and they don’t match then it takes no faith to see that someone lied. It takes no faith to see that in 1850 Europe the LDS leaders vehemently denied practicing polygamy, published “Three Nights Public Discussion” by the current polygamist John Taylor and passed it around as a missionary tool to show the world that the church even had scripture that only allowed one man to one woman and that the marriage was to take place in public, this in the form of the “Marriage Statement” that was in the original D&C (the Church of Christ maintains this statement in their D&C to this day) actually were there to get converts to travel to UTAH and were lying through their teeth. It does not take faith to see that Rigdon was lying when he said he never lived anywhere near where Solomon Spaulding lived. He lied. Postal records have verified his lie.

These things do not need faith. These are just facts. These facts are not anti-Mormon. These facts are just that, facts and like president Reagan used to say “facts are stubborn things and they won't go away”.

Christ taught that it was ok to ask for evidence and he himself provided it when asked “so that they might believe”. No other teaching by any apostle or prophet can trump this teaching. If there is evidence that shows something is in fact not true then explain to me how it is that God after imbuing you with logic and reason, can then punish you for coming to the logical conclusion based on all evidence? A non-member that does his research on this church before joining and then comes to the conclusion that it's in fact not true can not possibly be held responsible for making that decision in Gods eyes. Now explain to me how it would be different for a member to do the same thing?

Long time members have a fantastically huge investment in the church. All life is based on your performance in and the external expression of belief in it. You stated in your letter that for your sake and your families sake that you will remain steadfast. What are you going to tell your grandchildren when they find out information that is readily available to them because the “genie is out of the bottle” due to the internet. “Grandpa, how come you didn’t tell me about this?” “Because I thought it would hurt your testimony”. So now you have to ask yourself? Is it OK to LIE for Gods supposed purposes? Who has the courage to break the chain of becoming of a Mormon just because you were born into it? Now, as a child born into the church, knowing nothing else and no choice but to believe like generations before and thinking this is all normal. Normal because you have no information to pit against what you have been taught and are highly discouraged from personal verification ("Don't delve into the mysteries, you may lose your testimony". Why would that be?) and in fact will be punished by family, friends, and LDS religious authority to look outside the “approved" informational sources.

Line upon line the doctrine of fear is taught continually so that when your grandson hears anything true but uncomfortable about the church he has an autoimmune response because of years of programming and shuts off his brain and will no longer listen to logic and reason. “Keep steadfast in your faith” he is told. But faith is not evidence. What will you tell your son or grandson when he learns that the most trusted person in his life left out information to protect his testimony? What half truth will you give? This same child now grown will know the whole truth if he has the courage to follow truthful things no matter where they lead him. What answer could possibly restore this child’s faith you as an honest person when the child learns that you deliberately left out important details because you followed Boyd Packers deceiving teaching that “some truths are not very useful” especially if it sheds a poor light on the church? What will that child think of you then?

All truths are useful! How do you determine if it’s true? Pray and read the scriptures we were told. If you don’t get an answer that the information is true then you're wrong, not praying correctly, don’t understand the scriptures or a host of reasons including piles of guilt for apparently for being too unworthy to get an answer, whose logic is circular because your ONLY option is to believe that the church is true. There is NO other option. All is well only if you believe and conform. Heaven help the person who through using the God given gifts of logic and reason that comes to the conclusion based on all (non-whitewashed) evidence that the church is in fact not true.

If you were a Muslim father who had been born into a Muslim faction that believed that your faction had the only truth and you found out that your religion was based on submittance and obedience and that its foundation was built on sand, would you try to get out or remain steadfast? Does this fundamentalist Muslim who now sees how destructive his religion is have the courage to break the generational chain and work to educate his family on why his beliefs were wrong and destructive. We would see this man a being extraordinarily brave and would commend him for his efforts, and would even say “he righteously and rightly used his Free Agency to save his family”, yet if a generational mormon breaks the chain after not being offended as David Bednar asserts, but by education and honestly researching what is real and what is not, they are reviled and shunned in the same manner the brave Muslim is by his former adherents.

Assume you have been taught that life outside your religion is filled with unhappiness, hopelessness and general lack of any value which you had found to be a complete falsity. Would you want the coming generations to continue to have their lives restricted by the beliefs? Or would you want them to be free to think and choose any religion or none, just as the supposed “War in Heaven” gave all men the free agency to do, without punishment. When you add punishment to choices based on Free Agency when it comes to religion then you are in fact pushing SATANS plan. (Think about the total destruction of Emma’s free agency in D&C 132 or the destruction of Korihors in the BOM, yes Korihor, members forget the two verses before Korihors story of the laws in the land to prevent the nonsense that happened). Jihadists use the same type of scripture as the story of Kohihor to justify their horrific actions to this day and yet we carry it around and use it in Sunday school lessons and think it is a pious story that God would approve of.

This church has practically deified the early leaders unjustifiably so. It is the church of Jesus Christ is it not? Based on all evidence the Leaders are in fact not inspired. People have suffered and died due to their lack of the “spirit of discernment”. Mark Hoffman showed us some serious lack of discernment on Hinckley’s part. The current LDS leader's ridiculous statements about a “war on Atheism” and the supposed war against homosexual rights, is so far from being inspired that it’s beyond reason. Explain to me exactly how the church should be at war with atheism? What terrible crimes do atheists commit? You will not find atheists picketing at religious gatherings or blowing up abortion clinics. You will not find homosexuals doing it either.
Just because someone wrote scripture against homosexuality we are at war with it? It also used to be heresy to believe that world wasn’t flat! Where are Christ’s teachings in any of this uninspired teaching of being at “war” with these things?

The LDS church should be at war with poverty, lack of food, disease, discrimination of all types, lack of education and generally trying to improve the human condition of people everywhere. That is a justifiable war!

All evidence shows that the leaders are not inspired, can not revelate and can not translate (since Joseph died). The Manifesto and the Blacks getting the priesthood don’t count. Those were coerced by outside forces. Why not complete the translation of the papyri that the church has possession of. Why not go on with the inspired version of the Bible? Why pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for documents that may hurt the churches reputation from Mark Hoffman? Why could multiple Prophet's, not discern that there is no Hebrew blood in North or South America and had to be shown this by science? (Yes I am aware of the LDS apologetics on DNA. I have read the FARMS apologies and I am sorry, too many impossible assumptions and their arguments don’t hold water. I have personally consulted with DNA scientists on this subject to be sure that FARMS is wrong.) This list could go on forever. Dead prophets revelations and the espousing from the pulpits of such now have no meaning as the Living prophet comes along and tells you to forget what the early prophets said and did because it is now “embarrassing to the church”, but that means that the current prophets words will cease to have meaning when he dies unless his words fit the current winds of change and it is still faith promoting.

You listed some books that you thought were better than others and told about the “warts” of church history. I have read a few of them. I have deliberately stayed away from books and sites that are actually Mormon bashers. I just want the facts thank you.
Christ said that it is not what goes in a man that defiles him, but what comes out. I believe him. No need to censor grown ups. You can read what you want. I will recommend to Mormons and non-Mormons to read everything. Read it all, then decide. Then unlike an eight year old that knows nothing of religious theology, philosophy, morals and ethics they can make an informed decision based on reason and common sense. The same tools should be used to make important decisions that God gave you to keep you alive and living well and from making errors that could be lifelong mistakes due to the lack of informed consent. The LDS church does not believe in informed consent based on my forty years of membership. Milk before meat works for children but not for full grown thinking adults.

Here is my review of Richard Bushman’s book that you recommended to me.

Richard Bushman: “Joseph Smith, Rough Stone Rolling”
I believe Richard did everything he could to keep from being excommunicated by, not including many factual things that he obviously knows about LDS history but left out.

1. Nothing about the BOA. We all know why he omitted this once we have learned about it.
2. Helen Mar Kimball and many other of his plural wives. We all know why he omitted these histories once we have learned about Helen and others.
3. The First Vision (official version). We all know why once we learn of every single reference to it. Richard glossed over its problems and made assumptions that don’t add up to the context of the earlier versions. He left a couple out.
4. He called Plural marriage Priesthood marriage and mentioned the Masonic lodge but left out Josephs involvement at that time, and Richard left all kinds of stuff out of his Chronology that were significant and he certainly had to have known that there were in fact Indian mounds that were known about in Josephs time in the Canandaigua/Finger Lakes area.

I could go on but basically this book leaves out facts, smooth’s over rough parts, and assumes that Josephs Glass Looking/money digging time was a “preparatory Gospel” (excuse me?) and he still could have been a prophet as seen through Richards rose colored glasses that he provides for the questioning believer to keep them believing. However his book will still scare the bejeepers out of a non-informed member who has been taught that “warts” are anti-Mormon nonsense.

Grant Palmer: “An Insiders view of Mormonism” . No rose colored glasses from Grant. Told it like it is so you could be the judge. I believe he was tired of the whitewashing of history by church authors and like other authors who published uncomfortable facts and were punished, he was punished for publishing his book. The LDS uninspired leaders teach in the Ensign, General Conference, and other church related venues that it is NOT OK to teach a truthful version of church history. The truth can withstand scrutiny?

Fawn Brodie: “No Man Knows My history”. For an author that went in to just get information on Joseph Smith and then to find what she did (you know, all the warts and whatnot) and get punished for again providing a truthful history. Sure she made some assumptions of what he may or may not have been thinking but the facts still remain. Joseph did bad things that cannot be justified by saying you are a prophet. Sorry. Also Hugh Nibleys review of her book was atrocious. I lost respect for him beginning with that and then lost total respect for him when I read his reviews on Charles Larsen’s book “By his own hand upon papyrus”.
Nibley did not address the main problems in either of his book reviews but he sure can mesmerize and attack the living tar out of the authors. His title of “No Mam that ain’t History” has since been proven to be fallacious and Brodie’s book shown to be in fact real history. Sorry Hugh. Hugh was very good at his job as a paid Mormon apologist.

I find it telling that the church should have a vault that only the First Presidency can authorize access to that hides so much history from the “world”. Christ does nothing in secret so why should the church? There should be a vault that is open 24/7/365 for anyone to do research from the church archives and see all the hidden things since the beginning. How the church just now being a little more open with their previously “too sacred to be seen” documents bolsters ones testimony is beyond me. Why hide them in the first place? Because the truth can withstand scrutiny right? Apparently not. Excommunicate those that teach too much from the archives or don’t put a faith promoting spin on it. Then the church discredits anything they said or published by calling them names, labeling them as evil Satanistic apostates, then write a review on their works to keep members assured that all is well in Zion because even though the member hasn’t even read the supposed horrid works of the apostate researcher, church members who are supposedly smarter than you have written a review on the subject.

I personally am not willing to believe in something that requires me to bend the laws of credibility, the laws of logic and reason, the laws of common sense and the laws of the physical universe to believe in something just because I was born into a religion. I do not believe that God needs another non thinking sheep that does what he is told because someone said so. I do not believe that I must throw out the validity of the Lutheran, Catholic, Branch Davidian, Moonie, Buddhist or any religious person that personally had a life changing experience when praying to their God, got an answer from their god that his religion was in fact true. 10,000 religions and all say they are true and members of them have had experiences and scripture to back it all up. Just like the LDS church.

I do not believe that God inspires the prophet to tell a returned missionary to pick the girl with only one ear ring because she is following the prophet. The girl who follows unquestioning is in fact a sheep is she not? Is that what you want for a wife, a woman who can’t think for herself? God is not interested in one earring, two earrings, a cup of coffee, a drink before dinner (Joseph drank wine and beer) or a cigarette between two fingers! The living prophets word on how many earrings becomes a living standard by which to JUDGE other people for “external” righteousness. An invalid and uninspired reason from the prophet I think. This kind of thing does far more harm than good.

I get it now. People all over are getting it now thanks to the work that has been done to compile information so that a person does not have to dedicate their entire life to get and correlate information, so one can make an informed decision about what is actually true based on reality.

Average members are getting it, Grandmothers and Grandfathers after 70 years in the church are getting it, Bishops are getting it, Area Presidents are getting it, Stake Presidents are getting it, Mission Presidents are getting it, BYU scholars are getting it, Mission presidents that have had the “second anointing” that made their calling and election sure are getting it. Many are leaving the Church, some are leaving and taking their families with them, some are leaving and leaving their families, some are not leaving because of the damage they know it would cause, some are staying because like you they are not interested in the alternative horrors of leaving and the horrible life you would then be left with (no doubt church friends, family, and members will be sure that this happens, some on purpose, some without even knowing it), some are staying quiet and waiting for a good time to leave, some get it and then stay because their job is with a member company or they may work for the church and their belief is required for continued employment. There are many reasons people use to stay or leave when they find out the truth and finally get it.

Support groups are popping up all over the place for members who decide to leave. Did you know that most members think that you have to be ex-communicated to leave? Ex-communication of course destroys a person’s reputation unjustly so. Then the rumors fly and again what was your crime? It used to be true until the church was sued over the difficulty it gave members wanting to leave. Now you can just resign if you no longer believe. No longer is public humiliation inside the church for a member wanting out necessary. Interesting don’t you think that resignation is never discussed in church or even known by the average member. Most other churches you just leave when you say you are done nor are you counted as a member till the age of 110. The LDS church used to be like the Mafia for Pete’s sake.

Be true to ones self. It is detrimental to your mental health to live a lie. Most people who leave do so because their personal integrity demands it and not because of personal offense which is taught by multiple church leaders.

I have read hundreds of “exit letters” from people who left the LDS church. I must admit I have learned more from this than I could have imagined. I wanted to know why people left the church. Many are heartbreaking not because of leaving the religion itself but because of the reactionary way that leaders, family and even spouses act. These same reactions come from those who were JW’s, Moonies and Scientologists that leave when they also broke the rules and took courage to read and research for oneself. Did you know that Ex-mormons, ex JW’s ex-Scientologist all have the same experiences when leaving the belief systems they were born into? Why is that do you think? Why is it that recovery groups from all religions are popping up by the thousands all over the world? Access to information that was withheld at the pulpit to the members for protection of “testimony”, which is an emotional attachment based on feelings that is constantly taught in church as a method to determine truth. But that is lying. Lying by omission is the worst kind which is “omission” of information that is done in the church by those who do it on purpose (correlation committee) and by those who are ignorant but neither reason is justified if God told all men “Thou shalt not bare false witness”. There are no caveats and certainly no caveats for divine support of lying to protecting ones testimony.

I recommend you read some of the exit letters from members who have left. I now know what the church teachings really do to members in actual practice. Free agency gets destroyed, guilt is poured out from everywhere, threats are thrown and Christ’s teachings are as if years and years of supposedly being taught Christ’s get discarded and completely forgotten. The only thing left is the church is true and you have sinned in the worst way and you had better get your self right! How many people have had their lives ruined completely with this kind of pre-programmed reaction to someone who’s only crime was that they did their homework? God provided all things, which includes evidence against the LDS church. When one comes to the conclusion that it’s not true based on 10,000 pieces of evidence many that are totally irrefutable, how does God punish this person? God doesn’t. But believers do.

I need to end this as you have probably noticed that I have rambled on. I have learned that there are good people in the church and it’s not the people I have a problem with. I have a problem with deliberate ignorance and telling one that they need to remain ignorant to remain “faithful”. Critical thinking and the ability to identify false logic are skills we deliberately teach our member children to ignore when it comes to the religion. Believing in something you don’t have a clue about is paramount to stupidity and highly credulous in my book and that means if you “feel” good enough about it you will in fact believe in anything. As an example my Bishop is clueless as to the origination of D&C 132 and what was sacrificed to provide space for it. I do. But he knows its “true”. My Sis in law believes that she is justified in thinking anyone who takes in alcohol for any reason is a selfish person. Where did she get this? The logic is false but she believes it to be “true”.

In High Priest Quorum we were taught to “stand up and fight for your right to say prayers in public government funded forums as our right to do so is protected by the Constitution”. This false teaching about the “right to pray in public” is against what Christ himself taught, nor does the Constitution guarantee any such thing. Both assertions were untrue yet not one High Priest (about 25-30 educated men) refuted the teaching. Heads were either bobbing in agreement or were bobbing due to sleep. I realized that no one in High Priest group cared and it was in fact not a venue for truth, differing opinions or critical thought. These are the things I encounter every Sunday in HPG class and Heaven help you if you corrected the teacher or offered a critical opinion in class. Beat up others religion to make the LDS church look good is what was taught in High Priests group by long time members, ex bishops, stake presidency, members who are supposedly intelligent being doctors and lawyers and such. This kind of logic and false teaching from lifelong members? This seems to be the end product.

I have learned that rose colored glasses make you blinder than bandages over your eyes. At least with bandages you are forced to listen more intently and closely. I now understand cognitive dissonance and self justification. It is hard to have your belief system pulled out from underneath you. You need it to be true, your whole life is wrapped around it being true. You don’t want to not believe because it scares you. It just reality though. Just like the churches teaching to be afraid of the “world” like it's us against them. The truth is it’s all just us. All of us on planet earth are in this together.

I like others have who have left the church have written a 52 page exit letter. Why? Because you feel like you have to justify yourself fifty ways from Sunday because you are “so wrong and you need to talk to smarter people to see the error of your ways”. Tried that. They have faulty logic. FARMS and the radicals at FAIR do NOT speak officially for the church anyway therefore I don’t need to believe a word they have to say in reality. When the Prophet comes out with Official statements then we can take note. The battling out of church history and BOM authenticity by ‘non-approved’ sources gives the church and prophets deniability and keeps the fight at a safe distance. I think this logic and practice is used because they need it to be true no matter what and are willing, with the help of cognitive dissonance and self justification, to bend all the rules to make it so. Belief in “the blue fairy” can be justified the same manner.

Here is a little of my reading list and thank you for yours by the way. I can only hope that my own family members will stop “feeling” the church and start reading about the church.

I suggest learning how to get circular reasoning out of your life. You know, the BOM is true because Moroni says so. Or using your own scripture to prove something is “true”.


‘The Demon Haunted World’ by Carl Sagan
Get your “Baloney detection kit” here. The best book I have ever read because it taught me how to start thinking critically. He shows you the circular logic used in many areas of belief including the witch hunting perpetrated by the early Christian churches. This is a must read for anyone who reads period. He never even mentions Mormons.

‘The collected writings of Thomas Paine’
As one of the founding fathers Thomas Paine, Jefferson and others wrote the constitution in a manner that did not allow religion to get involved in government. This collection includes ‘The Age of Reason’, ‘The Rights of Man’ and Common Sense’. Their titles pretty much cover any introduction.

‘Losing A Lost Tribe, Native Americans, DNA and the Book of Mormon’ by Simon Southerton
Every member needs to understand the implications of DNA not just in humans but in plants, animals, and viruses and how their origins can be tracked. Simon shows in layman’s terms how DNA evidence relates to the claims made in the Book of Mormon.’

‘Nonsense: Red Herrings, Straw Men and Sacred Cows: How We Abuse Logic in Our Everyday Language’ by Robert Gula
Want to differentiate between the heavy emotional language you hear, the logic used, and the various errors in logic?
Get some critical thinking skills here. Great book with easy to understand examples.



‘Suddenly Strangers’ by Brad and Chris Morin
When Brad and Chris eventually tell their families and friends of their decision to leave the Church, they find themselves "suddenly strangers". Some who have known them all their lives and respected their goodness suddenly see them as evil; hide your women and children, here come Brad and Chris. It is decided that they must be evil, wicked men based not on any evidence whatsoever to that effect, but merely because they have chosen to leave the Church. And surely that is proof enough that there must be something terribly wrong with them. "Suddenly Strangers" challenges that kind of thinking. Members need to know how their reactions ultimately show their failure to follow Christ’s teachings in this matter.

‘An Insiders View of Mormonism’ by Grant Palmer
This book it is an excellent compilation for the layman in learning about the problems with Book of Mormon authenticity and some of the early claims of the Church.

‘Farewell to Eden: Coming to Terms with Mormonism and Science’ by Duwayne R. Anderson
This book helps lifelong Mormons attempting to come to terms with their realization that so many acknowledged scientific facts are not sensibly reconcilable with LDS doctrines. Basically it shows that the doctrines of the Church are as irreconcilable now as is the flat earth teachings in the Old Church. This has an impressive scope of scientific theories that are in direct conflict with Mormon doctrine. It details and describes the conflicts between Mormonism and geology, astronomy, physics, and anthropology.

‘A Friendly Discussion: Mormonism- Pro and Con’ by Ed Bliss
This is a very easy read in the format of a discussion between a non-member and a missionary on a plane coming home from his mission. Very informative for members who are just plain un-informed to know what problems non-members see with the LDS Church. Highly recommended and is not anti-Mormon in the least.

‘By his Own Hand upon Papyrus’ by Charles Larsen
The Papyri that the church has in its possession that was translated by Joseph into the Book of Abraham has been proven beyond all doubt to have nothing to do with Abraham and is simply Egyptian Funeral documents. These facts are supported today by all Egyptian scholars including LDS scholars. Disregard Hugh Niblely’s review on this book however it would be telling to read both to see for your self the nonsense he espoused in his review. LDS scholars do not support anything Hugh said and are disappointed in the unjustified and unsupported conclusions he used to keep members believing in some shred of evidence that the translation could still be viable. This book 100% debunks the translation and includes great color foldout photographs of the papyri themselves the quality of which exists nowhere else. The LDS apologists now say it was a spiritual translation which theory never existed until it was proven false.


‘Studies of the Book of Mormon’ by Brigham D. Madsen, B. H. Roberts, Sterling M. McMurrin
Required reading for every LDS member. To this day B. H. Roberts is considered the single most intelligent LDS General Authority. He was ‘the’ defender of the faith. In his later years he realized and researched the problems with the Book of Mormon authenticity and was disappointed that the Brethren had no answers and that all they could do was cry and bear their testimonies. We know of course that testimonies are not evidence.

‘In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith’ by Todd Compton
This is NOT an anti-Mormon book. Compton was for years a BYU professor, and co-editor for the FARMS Hugh Nibley collected writings project. He remains still (the last I heard) a member of the LDS church in good standing. In any case, he wrote this book with a clear, honest intent to pursue the full truth and not just produce another "faith-promoting" version of Joseph Smith and early church history. LDS scholars do not dispute the fact that Joseph had at least 33 verifiable wives. The focus of this book is on the women’s stories and much is learned about how these women were intelligent and caring. Most of them however later in life were against the practice of polygamy.


I do not blame anyone in your or my position who remains a member once they learn the church may not be “true”. The very real consequences scare the pants off of us. I do however have tremendous respect for those who took courage to do what they thought was right regardless of the consequences because they are the “chain breakers” and they see the long term and are willing to sacrifice themselves for the future.

The true believing lifelong Stake President did not leave because Satan deceived him. This teaching by the church is ridiculous and is the same as lying. That old Stake President left because he knew the consequences of siding with reality and chose to break the chain anyway, knowing he would be reviled against and even hated by his living posterity and maybe even his wife. He did this knowing that his posterity would, after the initial shock wore off, would begin to wonder why would a staunch dedicated believer leave, and that they would begin to ask questions. That ex-Stake President knew that the answers are just a mouse click away from them if they only have the courage ………………to look.

AmIDarkNow?”



P.S. (for this posting only and not included in my reply to my ex-bishop)

I was a member for 40 years. I know what I was taught and where to find the references for what I was taught as a long time member. I know what has changed and why. In a 30 year career being a Network Engineer I must see in my mind the whole picture of the entire Network, its pieces parts, the intricacies and how it all interacts in order to troubleshoot issues. I would not have lasted long in my career without being able to do so. I put that same skill base to work when scrutinizing the belief system that I was practically born into. It is beyond disingenuous and self deceiving for a member to tell me that “You did not understand correctly”, or “you were not taught correctly” or any other face value excuse to justify to themselves that I am wrong in my conclusions and decisions. No one is a mind reader including believing LDS members no matter how close the relationship is. These shallow excuses that members parrot from what is heard over the pulpit is a hard thing to leave behind. As Christ supposedly said from the cross “forgive them father for they know not what they do” I must do the same now when I hear parrots.

I became a Chain Breaker. I received confirmation of my resignation from the LDS church on Oct 3rd 2008. I was divorced Nov 2010. Living with an ex-member who was willing to talk about church issues with family without censorship was too much for a generational and believing spouse who wanted my unbelief to just go away. I only needed two things after my disaffection from the church and was more than willing to let my now ex-wife attend as she wish. One. I will never be a member of the LDS church and am not subject to its rules. Two. My teenage son had the right to attend or not as he so chose. Neither were acceptable. I would not practice censorship in my own home. Free agency, the supposed most precious thing fought for in the supposed War in Heaven, was a non-consideration and was tossed aside as if an annoying side rule that was taught in church as a primary individual religious right yet in reality and in practice was actually “discretionary”.

The advice for her from an LDS counselor and Bishop? “He needs to get on his knee’s with you to pray and read the book of mormon”. This from inspired men? Inspired men would know that you cannot un-ring a bell. I tried for middle ground and thought that divorce was a bad idea. I met with her LDS counselor. He would not answer simple questions and when he finally did, he did so condescendingly. The LDS counselor was so unprofessional that I got up and left after fifteen minutes with thoughts of calling his licensing authority. We agreed to meet with a non-LDS female counselor who had never met us. After fifteen minutes talking to us the counselor turned to my then spouse and asked. “Do you even want to be married to this man?” No answer. We left. After some time the spouse went on vacation then told me to check the mail. Divorce papers.

I have tried to put it all into perspective. Some leave with their marriages but many don’t. Some spouse’s burn research books in the back yard, some change the locks and possessions are found on the front lawn and some pack up the kids and leave the very next day after unbelief is declared. The fear of information that is factual and true but sheds an uncomfortable light on the church is so deeply ingrained in an LDS believers mind that irrationality runs rampant when “protection of the church and testimony” mode kicks in.

Life has been difficult but it is more than worth it to have a free mind. I have not lost one ounce of integrity or morals yet I have lost massive amounts of the shallow face value judgments of people. I have better, deeper more genuine relationships. I have found a new friend. She is the exact opposite of what I have known. Our friendship does not include a relationship based on third party fantasies. In other words she is not partnering up with an Ideal of what I or she “should” be. It’s just us. And that is a fantastically wonderful and refreshing thing.

Good luck to all the “Chain Breakers”.
It is hard and at first it’s a very lonely road indeed but you do not travel it alone. You have what others lack which is the courage to act and let the chips fall where they may. It is worth it. Look up from the road. The future is bright and beautiful and the universe is more wide and fantastic than you were told. We who have gone before you and broken our chains are with you.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2012 03:00PM by AmIDarkNow?.