Leaving the LDS Church = Atheism

[sadie_Mormon]

It’s always bugged me when I see online people who have left the LDS church and ended up Atheist. How does one go from one extreme to the next? It’s not like they go from Mormonism to maybe Protestant or Methodist or even Universalist. They flat out don’t believe anything.

How and why does that happen for those who leave the LDS church specifically?

Once someone proposed the question if Mormonism no longer existed what group would you most align with… I answered either Orthodox Jew/Messianic, Amish, or like groups. I was floored at how many said they would be Agnostic or Atheist.

[Melissa]

Thinks makes me wonder as well. We know that the greatest opposition is going to be against the TRUTH. This gospel organized through the church is the only place to find the whole of it and the authority of the priesthood. So, those who leave the church probably have felt a great force of Satan and really have no choice but to become anti religion. If you leave the truth and your spirit knows it to be true through the HG and the spiritual confirmations you receive then it makes perfect sense to me that your conscious decision to abandon and leave the faith completely would result in nothing less than becoming anti.

I believe it is different than those who have not allowed satan to enter into them to the extent of distorting everything they once knew to be true. For example, those who fall away because of transgression or minor offenses or slacking off, they have not gone anti or atheist but are struggling to feel the spiritual drive to get back.

I had a friend that got to the point that she wanted to be baptized and felt the spirit but before she did, she allowed her self to be taken over by the adversary influence of tremendous opposition to the truth she finally found. She became anti over a matter of a few days and her light disappeared and darkness entered her life. It was so sad but she truly became anti mormon and sure let me know it, lol. Its really sad for her and was indeed a difficult time for myself.

[Elendil]

One common theme among some I have seen leaving and become Atheists, is that they are rejecting the spiritual experiences they have had.

These experiences are instead attributed to their own imagination. When you deny the spiritual experiences i guess it's "logical" to conclude that there is no god at all since everything was just a "trick" your mind played on you.

[sbsion]

guilt......deny everything, then, no responsibility?

[gclayjr]

I guess when one turns away it is never by inches. I have a sister who left the church decades ago. I think it maybe was over women's rights issues. For years she associated with no church. THen I heard that she had joined a church and felt it helped her spiritually. I wondered if she had joined an evangeliccal order, or maybe Baptists, or Catholic or something. ALthough I don't believe in any of these churches, I do believe each has enough truth that they are better than nothing.

I finally found out that her inspiring church was the Unitarian Universalists....

I'm not sure if that is much better than nothng

Regards,

George Clay

[sarahmj]

I agree with the comments here. My sister is inactive and has said that she doesn't believe in God anymore (probably more of an agnostic view than militant atheist), but I think for some it's easier to say you don't believe and live your life the way you want guilt free rather than having to go through the process of finding a new church. Personally, if I was forced to leave the church, I know I wouldn't be satisfied with any other religion....the whole truth or nothing for me.

[Fairminded]

I think a lot of it has to do with the nature of the Gospel message as well. Most churches are very, very lenient when it comes to their message, often barely more than "say you believe in Jesus and you're saved." The LDS Church demands a far more active commitment, both in faith and in works. Not only Sunday services but callings, weekday meetings, Institute/CES programs, etc. Combine that with the vital message that this is the true restored Church, and what do members who lose faith have left? Part of Church membership involves accepting that it's the only true church, so if they leave it they don't go looking for another faith that they've been taught isn't true, they just leave.

Combine a society that's increasingly hostile to religion, and a Church that demands incredible sacrifice and commitment from its members, and it's no surprise that when members break, they break hard.

[ldsfireguy]

I have always said that if I were not LDS, I would probably not be a Christian. This is probably not entirely true, but i would definitely not identify with any other Christian group or denomination. It is all so much vapor, with nothing to back it up.

I became Christian, and then stayed apart from any church at all for 2 years until I found the Book of Mormon. If the situation reversed itself, I would do the same. No sense getting married if she ain't the one.

[Rose Garden]

It seems to me like church members often see the church as their whole life. They go to church for 3 whole hours on Sunday and then spend a lot of time throughout the week doing other activities that are church or faith related, like going to church activities, reading scriptures and praying, home and visiting teaching, and so forth.

So with this degree of immersion in the church, it is only natural for a person to go all the way backwards if something shakes them.

[sadie_Mormon]

Thank you everyone for your comments they were interesting to read. I do agree with your life being completely submerged in Mormonism and people leaving in a grand way when they do. It makes sense to me. So much of our lives and time is devoted to the church that it must be a freeing feeling for them to let go of all those responsibilities.

If someone comes from a family of TBM I would guess it is far worse trying to separate your life from the clan. They have to be in a really dark place in their spirituality to muster it up to leave since that would be a major link being disconnected. When I say leave I mean so extreme as to believe nothing... that no G_d exists. So much of the family is connected to the church and to separate yourself from the church would in a sense separate yourself from the family. Wouldn't that give a feeling of emptiness?

If you had someone close to you who confided in you that they no longer not only believed in the church but that there was no G_d what would you say to them? How would you respond? How would you personally feel? Do you think it would affect your relationship with that person?

[Silas]

I believe that anti-mormon arguments if followed to their logical conclusion become anti-God arguments. Any of the arguments used against Joseph Smith can be applied to ancient prophets and in many cases can be directly applied to Christ himself. That is why it doesn't take long after a person's faith in modern prophets is destroyed for their faith in ancient prophets to die as well. And if a person rejects the servants of the master you can bet that they will reject the being whom they represent as well.

[Rose Garden]

If you had someone close to you who confided in you that they no longer not only believed in the church but that there was no G_d what would you say to them? How would you respond? How would you personally feel? Do you think it would affect your relationship with that person?

Love. I would pray that I would know how to show them love and then try my best to convince them that I loved them. I would follow the Spirit in regards to how I would convince them of anything spiritual. It is only through love that we ever convince anyone to listen to us.

[Rob]

If you had someone close to you who confided in you that they no longer not only believed in the church but that there was no G_d what would you say to them? How would you respond? How would you personally feel? Do you think it would affect your relationship with that person?

It would depend on the context.


If someone I know comes up to me and says "Look, I don't believe in God anymore. I don't want to discuss it, but I hope we can still be close." I would say "Absolutely, we can", and that would be the end of it.

If, however, they seem to be in emotional pain/turmoil, I would take a more supportive role. They may need to sort through their feelings.

In either case, it's a matter of being what they need without losing myself in the process. That is to say, I'm not going to adopt their belief structure. Some folks appreciate being understood, and will leave it at that, while others want you to see the world as they see it.

Either way, I don't care if someone believes in God, Allah, the flying spaghetting monster, or a tree outside. That's theirs. It's when they suddenly abandon their faith that I get concerned. That's not usually a good sign.

[Original_Intent]

I think it is a lot like people in the Book of Mormon - once you have been exposed to the truth and then reject, you become more hardened than someone who was raised with either nothing or paganism. You don't just become non-LDS, you are actively anti-LDS (often). I also think that if you went to another church, you would just be constantly reminded of the things that you were missing. I think if you were honestly trying to live the best life you could by attending another church, I think the spirit would be testifying to you that you made a mistake.

[sadie_Mormon]

Great points.

I do notice that there are those who are determined to make you see things their way (there is no G_d etc.) and that can add some unnecessary tension in a relationship. Some just seem downright bitter and I feel bad for them. For someone who is disrespectful of your beliefs (and home) do you then distance yourself from them? Love at a distance? Or do you tolerate compromising your core beliefs to make them feel accepted and loved in your presence?

I do agree as well with what someone else said here and that is they deny the spiritual experiences. Then one must ask how does one go from being empowered by these experiences to denying them?

[Rose Garden]

I think in at least some cases they forget them. I recall feeling quite astonished that my husband had forgotten a spiritual experience we had together. I wondered if he had really forgotten about it or just conveniently blocked it from his mind. It had been such a powerful experience, at least for me, and I could tell that he had been affected by it as well. I guess to help me understand the experience, soon after that I had a powerful spiritual experience and almost immediately forgot about it. I remembered the experience a couple of weeks later and was amazed that I had forgotten about it. After that, I realized that my husband really could have forgotten about it, perhaps to fulfill some purpose the Lord had in mind.

So I think that it is entirely possible that these people have also forgotten their spiritual experiences. Though they might remember the details, they perhaps forgot the feelings that were the manifestation of the Spirit. The Lord actually speaks of this in the scriptures, saying that those who won't receive more truth will forget the truth they have been given. Don't know how it works, but I know it can happen.

[SempiternalHarbinger]

There are many reasons why people leave the church. But a big one I see is those who put there faith in modern science over revealed truth. Anyone who does a puts there trust in orthodox science either mix the philosophies of men with the scriptures or they realize the cold truth that if orthodox science is correct than all evidence points that there is no God in Heaven. The key tenets of the Big Bang, General Relativity, Law of Gravity, Darwinism are in direct conflict with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. From a gospel and eternal truth perspective all things denote there is a God, while on the other hand orthodox science says all things denote that everything is by accident, gradualism, evolution over time, things acting upon nothing, and that all things denote there is no God. And they tell us the science doesn't lie. It cannot be both. But when one puts there time and trust into these false ideas that are taught as truth in all our schools, eventually they see the problems and many leave the church pleading the very same argument as Korihor, Hawkins, and Darwin have.... That is God is not needed to explain the anything.

Truth is truth forever. Scientific truth cannot be theological lie. To the sane mind, theology and philosophy must harmonize. They have the common ground of truth on which to meet.” [John A. Widtsoe, Joseph Smith as Scientist, originally published in 1908, Bookcraft, 1964, pg. 156

"Religion and science have sometimes been in apparent conflict. Yet the conflict should only be apparent, not real for science should seek truth, and true religion is truth. There can never be conflict between revealed religion and scientific fact. That they have often occupied different fields of truth is a mere detail. The gospel accepts and embraces all truth... Truth is truth, whether labeled science or religion. There can be no conflict. Time is on the side of truth -- for truth is eternal." [Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1966, pg. 129].

"The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice." --- German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer --

In fact, today's Science is a very real religion/church and is taught in ALL our schools at every level. It found its ‘catechism’ in Uniformity or Gradualism as well as Natural Selection or Evolution. Its sacrament is Rationalism and Empiricism; the tenets of the Newtonian universe became its articles of faith. Ones progression depends on ones views and understanding of this science. And if you go against it you are instantly cast out, mocked and ridiculed. Science has no barriers and it has “dominion over all the earth”. It's history is one of deception and lies. It's agenda is to discredit God in every which way possible. To “blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.” (See Nephi 13:26.) It denies what is “plain and most precious.” These ideas are the core of many beliefs system and are taught as facts. Example... The Law of Gravity. It is truly the "great pit" or better said, the great fictitious black hole that swallows all light within it's grasps including divine revelation. It's doctrines are very harmful to one understanding of the true nature of God and prevents many from the mysteries, gifts and treasures of heaven.

D&C 93:24 And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;

The Big Bang is there creation story, General Relativity (theory of everything) is their Holy Grail. They teach Uniformism where the prophets teach Catastophism. Catastophism has no place in there theory of everything. But to latter day saints it is a key to the past and future and is divine revelation in itself.....

"Many geological speculations have been put forth to account for the great changes that have happened in the surface strata of the earth. But it is not our intention to examine the probability of improbability of those conjectures; but merely to give some few facts from divine revelation to show that the present geological conditions of our globe are not, in their general characteristics, the result of slow and gradual changes; but the effects of sudden convulsions and catastrophes under the control and superintendence of the All-powerful Being who formed all things." (The Seer, Vol. II, No. 4, April, 1854, italics added.)

Who do we put our trust in?

[Thinker]

...Part of Church membership involves accepting that it's the only true church, so if they leave it they don't go looking for another faith that they've been taught isn't true, they just leave.

Combine a society that's increasingly hostile to religion, and a Church that demands incredible sacrifice and commitment from its members, and it's no surprise that when members break, they break hard.

I think this is true - a lot of times.
In a way, our black-or-white bi-polar thinking in the church sets it up - it's either true or it isn't.
In reality, it's partly true & partly false because it's made up of imperfect people like us, who are not 100% good nor 100% evil.

I also think that "you can take the person out of the cult, but you can't take the cult out of the person."
And yes, our church has many characteristics of a cult, but so do Athiest groups.
In fact, they have ironically created their own theology (so much for the "A" in Athiesm! )
Some people who are particularly swept up in herd mentality, will go from one herd to another, making the other look like the bad guy, when really, we are all partly bad & partly good.

I do believe that it is good to continue looking for God - finding ways to express our love.
But I don't believe in Atheism - it's illogical.
God is defined countless ways, & to deny all of them is not only ignorant, but also making oneself out to be "all knowing."
IE: If God is defined as what one worships... one's Ultimate Concern... then there is no denying the ultimacy of one's ultimate concern.
And ironically, those who go from preaching the gospel to preaching Atheism, still worship god, but their god/ultimate concern has now become atheism.

[Benjamin_LK]

There are many reasons why people leave the church. But a big one I see is those who put there faith in modern science over revealed truth. Anyone who does a puts there trust in orthodox science either mix the philosophies of men with the scriptures or they realize the cold truth that if orthodox science is correct than all evidence points that there is no God in Heaven. The key tenets of the Big Bang, General Relativity, Law of Gravity, Darwinism are in direct conflict with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. From a gospel and eternal truth perspective all things denote there is a God, while on the other hand orthodox science says all things denote that everything is by accident, gradualism, evolution over time, things acting upon nothing, and that all things denote there is no God. And they tell us the science doesn't lie. It cannot be both. But when one puts there time and trust into these false ideas that are taught as truth in all our schools, eventually they see the problems and many leave the church pleading the very same argument as Korihor, Hawkins, and Darwin have.... That is God is not needed to explain the anything.

Truth is truth forever. Scientific truth cannot be theological lie. To the sane mind, theology and philosophy must harmonize. They have the common ground of truth on which to meet.” [John A. Widtsoe, Joseph Smith as Scientist, originally published in 1908, Bookcraft, 1964, pg. 156

"Religion and science have sometimes been in apparent conflict. Yet the conflict should only be apparent, not real for science should seek truth, and true religion is truth. There can never be conflict between revealed religion and scientific fact. That they have often occupied different fields of truth is a mere detail. The gospel accepts and embraces all truth... Truth is truth, whether labeled science or religion. There can be no conflict. Time is on the side of truth -- for truth is eternal." [Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1966, pg. 129].

"The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice." --- German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer --

In fact, today's Science is a very real religion/church and is taught in ALL our schools at every level. It found its ‘catechism’ in Uniformity or Gradualism as well as Natural Selection or Evolution. Its sacrament is Rationalism and Empiricism; the tenets of the Newtonian universe became its articles of faith. Ones progression depends on ones views and understanding of this science. And if you go against it you are instantly cast out, mocked and ridiculed. Science has no barriers and it has “dominion over all the earth”. It's history is one of deception and lies. It's agenda is to discredit God in every which way possible. To “blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.” (See Nephi 13:26.) It denies what is “plain and most precious.” These ideas are the core of many beliefs system and are taught as facts. Example... The Law of Gravity. It is truly the "great pit" or better said, the great fictitious black hole that swallows all light within it's grasps including divine revelation. It's doctrines are very harmful to one understanding of the true nature of God and prevents many from the mysteries, gifts and treasures of heaven.

D&C 93:24 And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;

The Big Bang is there creation story, General Relativity (theory of everything) is their Holy Grail. They teach Uniformism where the prophets teach Catastophism. Catastophism has no place in there theory of everything. But to latter day saints it is a key to the past and future and is divine revelation in itself.....

"Many geological speculations have been put forth to account for the great changes that have happened in the surface strata of the earth. But it is not our intention to examine the probability of improbability of those conjectures; but merely to give some few facts from divine revelation to show that the present geological conditions of our globe are not, in their general characteristics, the result of slow and gradual changes; but the effects of sudden convulsions and catastrophes under the control and superintendence of the All-powerful Being who formed all things." (The Seer, Vol. II, No. 4, April, 1854, italics added.)

Who do we put our trust in?

What I have generally found is that plenty of what is science nowadays is flattery to people to have faith in earthly institutions. Plenty of scientific data derived from nuclear bomb tests, for instance, show that within a year, the difference in radioactivity is hardly noticeable, largely due to the dispersion from the bomb, accelerated radioactive decay, and the incredibly short half-life of the actual fallout itself, yet popular culture and some flattering figures, notoriously including Carl Sagan, have put forth the idea of the nuclear winter, or the fallout lasting for thousands of years, and this is hardly questioned. There also is the hardly questioned notion that nuclear war would cover all land surface on Earth, again made on misleading calculations and assumptions, yet it's treated as factual enough that pretty much the old civil defense programs and emergency plans for a nuclear attack largely aren't used much anymore. Even though the possibility of a real nuclear attack does exist, with all the nations out there, not just America and the EU vs. Russia, that are armed with nuclear weapons to a significant extent. Again, I am not going to draw some odd conclusions about it, but let's get real, law and order would be gone in a nuclear Armageddon, but likely the survivors would rebuild nations over time (Though, IMHO, such a reconstruction would be the establishment of Zion)

Second is the climate change, and all the postdictions of storms, and vague predictions of awful storms to come, used to pretty much scare everyone into submission. Not that I don't believe in being conservative on resource consumption, but it almost sounds like doomsday preaching with some of what they throw out there. Personally, I do feel that God has a plan for the Earth's climates, and whatever change does happen in climate, it won't stop the spread of the gospel. I also feel that plenty of those poor countries could use a more efficient means of agriculture as well, you could more efficiently feed the population if there was some synthetic fertilizer, some mechanical assistance for planting/harvesting, and so on.

False narrative on controlling insect-borne disease. People need to get honest on how insect-borne diseases work. Better sanitation, and insecticide controls allowed America to drastically reduce it's malaria problems. Mosquitoes are perfectly capable of hibernation, which is why they can survive in Arctic and Subarctic Climates. So having winter alone wouldn't stop them, having plenty of sanitation and controls on the insect population could.

[djinwa]

I think our beliefs can lead one to a certain way of thinking that can make you wonder about God.

I have a friend who left the church. Among other things, he said he wouldn't be able to become like our God as we are told we can. He said he would be too tempted to help in certain situations, whereas our God does not. He cited a case a few years back near hear.

An animal named Joseph Duncan was driving down the freeway in Idaho and saw some kids playing at a house near the woods. Came back later, tied up the parents and older brother and beat them to death with a hammer. Took the young boy and girl up in the mountains and raped the boy and girl, tortured and killed the boy and videotaped it all. After a few weeks he came back to town and was caught.
My friend said as God he would not be able to watch such without helping, as he would with his own children. So he concluded that God either isn't there, or is too busy, or doesn't care, or something.

I asked about the feelings of the Spirit he had received, and he said those were just emotions, like the good feelings he gets at a game when his team is winning. He said we feel good when our survival needs are being satisfied, like when our team/army is winning, or we bond with a group.

I asked about miracles, like healings, and he said sometimes people get better, but often times even after blessings promising healings, people don't get better, but we don't talk about that. He said you have to look at all the cases, not just the ones that support your belief.

Anyway, can't say that I had a good answer for him.

[drjme]

Great points.

I do notice that there are those who are determined to make you see things their way (there is no G_d etc.) and that can add some unnecessary tension in a relationship. Some just seem downright bitter and I feel bad for them. For someone who is disrespectful of your beliefs (and home) do you then distance yourself from them? Love at a distance? Or do you tolerate compromising your core beliefs to make them feel accepted and loved in your presence?

I do agree as well with what someone else said here and that is they deny the spiritual experiences. Then one must ask how does one go from being empowered by these experiences to denying them?

This what you Don't Do (in Blue). If they disrespect your Home? (im not sure what that means) , If they disrespect your beliefs, you tell them " I love you, I want to be your friend, I respect your right to choose your beliefs and please I ask for you to respect mine." Be straight up. 99% of people will respect this. you set them clear boundaries. Just make sure YOU are adhering to the boundaries. ostracizing them will only give them more ammo that they were right and you were wrong. Judging them when you are commanded not to will give them ammo.
They Know the Word. but they are looking at you to see if you will be an example of it. If you don't then they will say, "This person isn't even living the beliefs they profess and are dedicated to, it means it is fake." Don't give anyone a reason to believe it isn't real. they are not dumb they know what is written and the are looking for you to live it.

Most don't leave and deny the spiritual experiences. they leave because they have None. they leave because people around them don't have them. they leave because people around them don't live it. and when they see these people profess a religion and their love is fake, their fellowship is fake, they begin to believe it is all fake. "look at this person who has been living this religion for 20 years, look how they back stab and gossip, look at how they judge etc etc. they have studied it for their whole lives and look, they are fake."
This will drive so many away.

I would like to share this video It isn't an LDS but a pastor from another church. Its basic stuff but sometimes we just need to get back to basics. towards the end deals with what you are talking about:

[Thomas]

Benjamin_LK wrote:
What I have generally found is that plenty of what is science nowadays is flattery to people to have faith in earthly institutions. Plenty of scientific data derived from nuclear bomb tests, for instance, show that within a year, the difference in radioactivity is hardly noticeable, largely due to the dispersion from the bomb, accelerated radioactive decay, and the incredibly short half-life of the actual fallout itself, yet popular culture and some flattering figures, notoriously including Carl Sagan, have put forth the idea of the nuclear winter, or the fallout lasting for thousands of years, and this is hardly questioned. There also is the hardly questioned notion that nuclear war would cover all land surface on Earth, again made on misleading calculations and assumptions, yet it's treated as factual enough that pretty much the old civil defense programs and emergency plans for a nuclear attack largely aren't used much anymore. Even though the possibility of a real nuclear attack does exist, with all the nations out there, not just America and the EU vs. Russia, that are armed with nuclear weapons to a significant extent. Again, I am not going to draw some odd conclusions about it, but let's get real, law and order would be gone in a nuclear Armageddon, but likely the survivors would rebuild nations over time (Though, IMHO, such a reconstruction would be the establishment of Zion)

A lttle off topic here but nuclear winter is not based on fallout. It is the effects of smoke and debris filling the atomosphere and blocking out the sun. One volcanno can change the weather quite dramatically. Joesph Smith's family farm failed in I think 1814 or 1816 because of a volcano in Indoneasia. The volcano put enough ash into the air to partially block the sun. The result was snow in July, in Vermont and much of the United States and Europe. Many people died from crop failures, especially in Eastern Europe.

A modern nuclear bomb can put a crater into the ground, one mile deep and serveral miles in diameter. All the material is pulverized and hurled high into the air. Some of the finer particles would take ten years or more to decend back down. On top of that the heat produced instantly sets everything on fire, within a thirty mile radius. All buildings trees etc. start on fire. The nuclear winter senario is based on several hundred nukes going off over the planet. It would start a fire storm that would ignite much of the worlds forests and buildings, filling the atomosphere with smoke. It would also be much like the indoneasian volcano thrusting all the dirt into the air but times that by however number of bombs, there are thousands in existence.

A nuclear winter senario is based a several hundred nukes. The effects would be a new ice age, over the nothern hemeishere. many of the elite are known to have purchased large tracts of land in the equatorial zone.

Could be part of what revelations describes for the last days.

[ATL Wake]

Going from Mormon to atheist actually makes a lot of sense to me. Back in my doubting days, I would have gone atheist.

In the church we are taught early on, essentially, that all the other churches are messed up. We are taught that God is a God of order. So if He is, why would there be this mess in the world called religion?

If Christianity is true, the Catholics can't be right, look at all the evil that's been done in their name.
But that leaves all of the Protestant sects. We'll how can that be right, why would God want all His believers disagreeing with each other and then who has authority. We are also taught that the Bible is all messed up. It's got errors, omissions, etc.

The church teaches us early on there must be authority. And I think it effectively persuades that no one else has it. So if there's no one with authority and one scripture that's not reliable, then Christianity isn't it. So if Mormonism isn't true, then who else?

Islam? Really what fruits? How can a God damn billions of people who don't believe in Allah?

Judaism? Really? God has a small chosen people and doesn't reveal himself to the rest of the world? And the Old Testament is terrible. God is killing all these people, women and children, no thanks.

While some of the values of Buddism and Hinduism are helpful, I don't buy the theology.

So what is there?

When you are raised that everyone is in error, and then you stop believing you are the only source of all truth, I think it's not only a simple step to go atheist, but logical.


Personally, I'm not Mormon because I want something to make me feel good. I'm Mormon because I believe it's true. People who are searching for truth are not looking for something to make them feel good and have warm fuzzies. You can't settle with Protestant Christianity or some other belief if you think it's not true, even though there is still much good there.

[EmmaLee]

Excellent post, ATL. You just described my nephew and his wife (both served faithful missions, married in the temple, previously very active), and now, their four children, as well - to a "T" - down to some of the very words and phrases they use when talking about their journey from "true blue Mormonism" to atheism. Exact description.

[Rose Garden]

ATL, you said what I was trying to say, but couldn't put into words.

As for me, I know God exists. I know why the Lord established the church and how it helps us come unto Him. I know that the Lord wants me to serve in the church. There's no where else for me to go. Leaving the church would mean leaving my God.