Irenaeus Posted January 7, 2014 Report Posted January 7, 2014 Hello everybody,It's nice to meet you all. I'm just your local neighborhood atheist turned Mormon turned Catholic roaming the interwebs. I've been contemplating making the final jump in officially resigning from the LDS church, having essentially left it about two years back, but figured I owed it to all the wonderful people I met during my Mormon days to give it at least one last look before making the plunge. Besides, I'm always looking for an excuse to have a good discussion about religion! :)I look forward to getting to know you all, and God bless! Quote
Roseslipper Posted January 7, 2014 Report Posted January 7, 2014 Hello nice to meet you. Why do u want to leave the church? Hope u dont mind me asking? Quote
Irenaeus Posted January 7, 2014 Author Report Posted January 7, 2014 Seeing as my intent to formally leave is the reason for my being here, I certainly have no objection to elaborating on the subject.I grew up an atheist and remained one until I was about 24. I was in the navy at the time, and I had the great privilege of working with many intelligent people who fell into both the Atheist and Christian camps. Because my Christian colleagues where quite intelligent, I couldn't contribute their faith to stupidity, so rather had to assume it was rooted in some underlying bias. To be fair, though, I had to admit that I was every bit as subject to such a bias as they were.Having come to that conclusion, I decided to seriously give religion a chance. I visited some local churches, and fell in love with the LDS congregation. I fully committed myself to the church, and was quite active for about a year and a half. I also dedicated myself to study of the faith, which ultimately sowed the seeds of my disillusionment. There were, to be frank, too many holes. For example, the Joseph Smith translation of the account in Exodus where Pharoah hardens his heart seems to contradict the exegesis of that same verse in Hebrews where God hardening Pharoah's heart is discussed. Another example would be in Church history where a secular scholar theoretically verified Joseph Smith's translation of the tablets, while not a single secular scholar I've found confirms his translation of the still extent Book of Abraham.Ultimately, I couldn't find any evidence for Mormonism having any more merit than any of the other 19th century Restorationist traditions. I concluded that the evidence was not compelling that the LDS church represented the one true Church on earth. As a consequence, I stopped attending and began to research where I thought the truth truly lied. Ultimately that inquiry lead me to Catholicism, but that is a subject for another post. :) Quote
Roseslipper Posted January 7, 2014 Report Posted January 7, 2014 well u came to the right place there are many intelligent and spiritually people that will help you. Not all here are Lds, we have multiply vary and all are welcome... Quote
ztodd Posted January 9, 2014 Report Posted January 9, 2014 Welcome Irenaeus! Were you able to meet with the missionaries and other church members to ask them your questions? Quote
Irenaeus Posted January 9, 2014 Author Report Posted January 9, 2014 Welcome Irenaeus! Were you able to meet with the missionaries and other church members to ask them your questions?I'm actually specifically avoiding that. Bear in mind, the question is not whether I want to go back to being LDS (I don't). The question is whether or not I'm confident enough that Mormonism is wrong to take actions that would essentially eliminate the prospect of ever returning (I recognize that you can return after name-removal, but only after much effort).As it stands, the local ward appears to have either lost my contact information or simply has chosen not to use it, and I'm rather okay with the status quo on that one. I don't want to reestablish contact unless I make a decision to either return (highly unlikely at the moment) or all-together resign. Quote
ztodd Posted January 10, 2014 Report Posted January 10, 2014 What if you start to feel differently and start to think there's a possibility the church is actually what it claims to be? I've known that to happen sometimes...Plus, wouldn't the people of the church be part of the "fruit" that you should consider? Quote
Irenaeus Posted January 10, 2014 Author Report Posted January 10, 2014 What if you start to feel differently and start to think there's a possibility the church is actually what it claims to be? I've known that to happen sometimes...Plus, wouldn't the people of the church be part of the "fruit" that you should consider?As for whether I will start to feel differently, that's pretty much the point of this whole endeavor. I'm trying to figure out if I think it's a realistic possibility that I'll ever want to go back. I do know that right now I'm leaning towards no.The people in the Church is a consideration. As I believe I previously mentioned, I have fond memories of my time in Mormonism, and this is mostly due to the wonderful people I met during that time. There were bad apples as well, but that's true with any group. The thing is, there are wonderful people in Catholic, Baptist, and Episcopal churches as well, to say nothing of the other 40,000+ denominations. The difference is, if I go to a local Baptist church, I don't have to worry about them showing up every month for the forseeable future if I decide to go with another denomination. With Mormonism that is a concern. The only way to guarantee they leave me alone at that point is name-removal, which is why I don't want to establish contact unless I decide to either rejoin or break it off all-together. Quote
ztodd Posted January 11, 2014 Report Posted January 11, 2014 You got a good point there- sometimes hometeachers can be very persistent. I've heard that occasionally you find a hometeacher who's even a little too pushy- although in all the wards I've been in, they have been incredibly respectful of people's wishes to be left alone. But maybe it's different in your area.Of course God should be your ultimate source of truth in the matter. Best wishes! Quote
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