8 Things That Can Pull You Away From the Church

[Not Buying It]

I checked, and I didn't see a post referencing this piece of utter ridiculousness:
http://ldsmag.com/8-things-that-can-pul ... he-church/

Maybe you all just don't have time for the reading of complete nonsense. I can shorten their list for them:

1) The fact that it is 100% obvious the Church isn't what it claims to be the second you are willing to seriously consider that possibility.

This is the kind of feel-good fluff that sounds vaguely right to someone who doesn't want to bother thinking too hard about the truth claims of the Church. The same kind of people are impressed by this kind of junk science:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/4617561-155/ ... s-light-up

They only used LDS returned missionaries. You know what they would see if they did a scan of anyone else in any belief system having a religious experience? The exact same thing.

I tell you, it is discouraging to see otherwise rational members eat these kinds of things up.

[glass shelf]

From the outside, it's so obvious that list is full of acts of belief reinforcement. Where are all the lists about the 8 things that can pull you away from believing in gravity?

[moksha]

Members are somewhat set up to pull away by the all or nothing stance on every part of the Church being true. No focus is placed on comparative advantages of believing and there is a concerted effort to make obedience to Church leaders the magnet which binds everyone to the Church.

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the members."
-- Elder William B. Yeats

[glass shelf]

Moshka-I think you've got that attribution thing all wrong. You're supposed to attribute it to the GA who said it at some point in some talk somewhere. What's up with trying to actually attribute it to Yeats?

[Red Ryder]

I've left 6 comments on that 8 things article and they censored/not posted all of them.

I held back and only mentioned the patterns of institutional dishonesty and carefully worded denials. What a sham.

[document]

I wrote up a long response to this with each point and a rebuttal. However, when I went over the list, I realized that they make a couple of assumptions that the entirety of the list is rooted in.

1. The person leaving the church is lazy
2. The person leaving the church wants to sin

The first comes across as the individuals stop giving an effort in the upkeep of the testimony through study and prayer. What I have found in almost all (not all, but almost all) exit stories is that the person exiting studies MORE from faithful sources during this period of time than ever before. I have also found that most people pray more during this period of time than ever before.

The second comes across as the individual ignoring their covenants. This doesn't mean literally keeping their covenant, it is code for "sin". I still keep a few of my LDS covenants to this day, although no LDS person would consider me not revealing the tokens or signs "keeping my covenant", because I drink coffee every day, alcohol once in a while, and I masturbate.

I see a lot of people who left the church wherever I go. Moving sideways in my exit from Mormonism (from one sect to another), every congregation has a handful of ex-Mormons.

So, here is my modified list:

1 - Taking the scriptures too seriously, read them at a high level and not very often
2 - Taking the culture too seriously, understand that Mormon culture does not represent the institution
3 - Understand that the institution is run by men, not by God
4 - Never, ever, ever marry outside of the faith
5 - Keep your devotion level high, but your understanding superficial
6 - Lose yourself in your religion, identify as the religion, etc.

Now, before you think that I'm insulting Mormons who stay. I realized that this is necessary for most people who wish to stay in their respective religion. With the exception of number 4, I find myself doing the same as I really like being an Episcopalian. I took Mormonism too seriously.

[Red Ryder]

Great post Doc!

We all took it too serious. All the way down to the fundy undies.

Sigh...

[Korihor]

Great post Doc!

We all took it too serious. All the way down to the fundy undies.

Sigh...

The church is missing a great opportunity here. Just thinking how much they could boost birth rates with Fun Undies instead of Funny Undies.

In fact, they could be forsaking a sacred responsibility to encourage members to better multiply and replenish.

[wtfluff]

Funny.

When I was in the throes of discovering the truth about the church, and trying to "strengthen my testimony", I literally doubled down on all of the faith-promoting things that are mentioned in this list. More reading of the BoM, more prayer, etc. I literally put the mormon god to the test, and begged and pleaded for answers.

I actually got my answers. Those answers didn't match up with correlated answers, because "The Church" actually has no answers, neither does the guy wearing a toga near kolob.

Dear Lundberg's (authors of the article): It Just. Doesn't. Work. "The Church" is completely incapable of living up to any of it's grand and wonderful promises.

[Newme]

IMO, there are 2 main things that should pull people away from - or at least have boundaries with - the church.

1. Financial corruption - come on - there's another shopping mall build with money gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. And consider how you have to pay to go to the temple. Even if you're TBM, that's gotta not sit right when you consider how Jesus whipped people out of the temple for using it to make money.

2. Psychological harm. It's a cult and actively engages in mind-control based on thinking distortions (polarized thinking, emotional reasoning, etc.) which cause a lot of anxiety and depression. Utah leads the nation in anti-depressants.

I realize, as someone recently pointed out to me, that this applies to other churches too, but I don't know if it's the same degree and also most other churches are not as self-righteously claiming to be the only true church.

[hiding in plain sight]

I've left 6 comments on that 8 things article and they censored/not posted all of them.

I held back and only mentioned the patterns of institutional dishonesty and carefully worded denials. What a sham.

I added a comment as well and it has never shown up. But then again, I never really thought they want to know the truth. Wanting to believe is good enough for them.

[Anon70]

I studied more, prayed more, worried more..not less. I tried to be more perfectly obedient hoping I'd get the answers I desperately wanted. I got answers...and now they've turned out to be great answers--liberating! But at the time it was devastating. This article feels insulting