excommuicated confused

[alyachoice]

hi, 2 years ago I walked away from my ward because of extreme  bullying by senor ward members. I had gone to the bishop and stake president but just got told to practice forgiveness. I tried to tell them that it wasn't about forgiveness it was about safety but they would not listen. I ended up taking a protection order out on one brother who was eventually arrested for asualt. I have been going to another ward off and on during this time and have still been teaching family history. At the end of last year I found out I was no longer a member of the church. I'm not sure how this came about? Nobody would answer questions, return emails, or calls. We have recently got a new bishop and he is cleaning house and all the old pratices areno longer aloud. The new bishop sent me a message though a less active member I study with, to take the lessons with the missonaries again which I am doing and they want to re bapist me. I dont understand why I need to be re bapisted? I have been asked by the new ward misson leader if I know of anyone else who left for the same resons I did. I gave them a list.(I know ive been told before worst non member ever). This week is my last lesson and a bapist date will be set but I still dont know what is going on. The only thing I know for sure is the lord has told me it is time to return.

Edited June 27, 2016 by alyachoice
working out how to use peograme

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

I'm sorry that you went through all that.  I've never heard of someone becoming a non-member without realizing it,  Members become non-members either by asking to have their name removed from the records or by excommunication.  Neither appears to be what happened in your case.

Something I think might be a more likely answer is that through clerical error your records were lost.  That happened to me.  When I was getting ready to go on a mission, it was discovered that there was no record of my membership.  I suppose I might have been re-baptized too, but I had a copy of my baptismal certificate.  The same thing happened to someone else who had been in my ward and baptized around the same time as me, so we think that membership clerk must not have been on the ball.  My best guess is that something of that nature happened in your case as well.

Anyway, so sorry for the way you were treated previously and welcome back!

[estradling75]

You are confused by what has happened and you have a new bishop is cleaning house and trying to make right what went wrong.

 

Seems to me that the best way to answer said confusion is to actually work with the man who is both in a position to know what happened on the Church end of things (or at least knows the status of now) and is showing a clear indications of wanting to work with you.

[MrShorty]

Many years ago, I had a friend who was baptized twice, because somehow the records of his first baptism were lost. I believe that the Church is led by Christ, but it is also a fairly large bureaucracy, and large bureaucacies occasionally lose paperwork like this. Your bishop is the best one to talk to in terms of how records might get lost and what policies and procedures are in place when records get lost. My understanding is that the Church prefers to re-baptize members whose records get lost, as your Bishop is requesting for you.

[MrShorty]

duplicated

Edited June 27, 2016 by MrShorty
software generated duplicate