Leaving the Mormon church after years of being a Mormon is difficult


Hello Eric,

You are free to post this if you think it is at all useful (yes, under anonymity...and I know...spineless...but, heck, look below at all the issues I am dealing with). Your comments to me are appreciated as I haven't conversed with any one who can understand my situation besides my wife.

Your page helped me understand that other people are going through a similar experience to me. I recently needed to know I wasn't alone when my wife and I woke up and realized the LDS church indoctrinates its members with many false teachings. I won't give you another life travel log, but thought I'd instead demonstrate why I think it is so difficult to leave the Mormon faith.

I've been going through a post-Mormon experience with my wife and family for about 4 months now [May 1996] (it was completely unexpected, at least for us). My wife and kids have been able to adjust well to a Christian life during this time. However, I've continued to struggle off-and-on with how I could have such strong beliefs that the LDS church is false yet still have the Church continually on my mind.

Ironically, most non-Mormons wonder why my exodus has affected me so deeply. They figure, "If it Mormonism was working for your family, what was the problem?" (A lot of Mormons have said the same thing.) It seems that the former Mormon has very few people who understand.

I wrote down some thoughts about the Mormon perspective. This has helped me see why it's so difficult to leave the LDS church. These points are all official doctrines of the Church and perspectives that are regularly ingrained into the membership. What blows me away now is that maintaining just a couple of these perspectives often keeps a Mormon in the Church. Imagine (I guess you already have) how difficult it is to recover from a few of these faulty perspectives, let alone all of them!

As a Mormon you believe that (in no particular order)...

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