This now-infamous question (slightly paraphrased) posed by President Boyd K. Packer at this past October Conference will, I think, reverberate in the minds of many church members for years to come and not just with respect to sexual orientation. I cant help thinking that Elder Packer may for many members…
Category: Deconversion
Forever vs. Family; Rules vs. Relationships
By way of introduction, I am a gay Mormon, who also happens to be (currently) married and a father. I started the coming out process last fall, and my wife and I are currently in the process of separating with plans to eventually divorce. Even before recently coming to terms…
Exodus: A Gay Mans Journey Out of Marriage and Mormonism
My world changed forever on Sunday, October 3, 2010. That morning, I heard four sentences that wrecked my faith in Mormonism, shattered my marriage and destroyed a false persona that I had carefully maintained for most of my adult life. These words, which quickly became infamous, were uttered by the…
Why are we leaving the LDS Church in droves? Why? Why? Why?
I think that Kevin Barney was sincerely interested in finding answers when he first posed the question. The trouble is that when you ask a question on the Internet, there’s a danger that you’ll get responses from people who have actual, first-hand experience. Then the double-trouble is that it’s hard…
Do people leave the church for greener grass?
I was just reading a fascinating new post at Times & Seasons — Wanted: Greener Grass. I won’t lie; part of what amused me was the link to a study of children’s drawings that captured their preconceived notions of what kind of person a scientist is (with implications as to…
Knowledge, Community, and Relationships
Over at the faithful Mormon blog Faith-Promoting Rumor is a discussion enticingly titled “Do Relationships Make the Church True and False?” This post is a short enough one that you should just go over there and read it, but I guess I will still highlight some points here…when I was…
if you choose to pursue any more than what is in the manuals
I didn’t expect things to turn out the way they did. After taking the missionary discussions and with the support and prompting of my friends and a few family members I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at the age of 14….
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Personal Entrance/Exit Stories!
This week we have had a bonanza of personal conversion and deconversion stories! Naturally, you probably noticed Saganist’s story posted here yesterday. But there are more! Check out the Urban Koda’s funny story When I knew…. Greenish Blue reposted a fascinating mini-series recounting his personal history with Mormonism and belief….
What is/was your relationship with Mormonism?
This is a question I just had for everyone…because if there’s one thing I’ve learned from all this blogging, it’s that people have such widely differing relationships with Mormonism. I’ve taken for granted that people are looking for the same “things” from it as I was/am, but that is not…
The Rise and Fall of a Testimony
The following is an essay I’ve written on my journey out of Mormonism (originally posted on my personal blog here). My journey to atheism is another story. Perhaps I will post it in the future. Tell me about your testimony. I was 24 years old when my bishop asked me…