In response to those who wonder why mormons who leave the church and then speak out against it and echo the phrase:
“You can leave the church, but you can’t leave it alone.”
Glenn L. Pace, Follow the Prophet, General Conference, April 1989
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1989/04/follow-the-prophet
As mormons, we have been taught to share truth. That desire and value is deeply ingrained with being mormon. So much, that we expect our youth to spend their “best years” as missionaries proselytizing and sharing truth rather than continuing their education or work. We are told “every member is a missionary” as we’re expected to go teaching with missionaries, feed the missionaries, find people for the missionaries to teach and in our homes and make sure everyone we know knows what we believe and what church we “belong” to. We are very focused on what is “true”, living by it, and sharing it with others. Why be surprised when we face the church’s truth crisis and realize that the things we were taught to believe are not true and share that truth. Would it be in character to simply walk away? We’ve been trained to share our truth. That is what we do.
This is understood even by Joseph Fielding Smith in his book. He reasons that if it’s not true, it should not be left alone, but should be exposed!
CHURCH STANDS OR FALLS WITH JOSEPH SMITH.
Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned, or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground.
If Joseph Smith was a deceiver, who wilfully attempted to mislead the people, then he should be exposed; his claims should be refuted, and his doctrines shown to be false, for the doctrines of an impostor cannot be made to harmonize in all particulars with divine truth. If his claims and declarations were built upon fraud and deceit, there would appear many errors and contradictions, which would be easy to detect.
Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. I, Joseph Fielding Smith p. 188
Or in other words, if it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth. I think Joseph Fielding Smith was under the impression that either the truth was genuinely in the church, or at least that it was hidden enough that no one would be bold enough to really decipher the rats nest of cover-ups. It’s no surprise that mormons who leave, can’t leave it alone, we’ve been “programmed” to share truth! We’re also very close to our families and friends as a result of our shared faith, so when it all crashes what can be expected? We just quietly and invisibly fade? That would certainly benefit the church organization in that it would contain and perpetuate the deceit even longer.
Rather than picking on the deception mixed with truth, maybe we should look at the goal of the deception. If Mormonism is a deception of Satan who’s goal is to hurt God by way of hurting God’s people, what is the end result of this deception? Financial harm? Lifetime of slavery to an organization? Being thrown in hell for striving to “be like the most high” as what got Satan kicked from heaven? About the only real harm I can see is the desire to become a god. The reason some refer to the LDS as the church of Satan is because of this belief that a person can be exalted to godhood, just as Satan desired when he became puffed up with pride. It’s so simple, it’s hard not to trip over. From the Garden of Eden’s lie that “You can become like God, knowing what God knows.” to “You can now become a god by doing what all the other gods have done; going from exaltation to exaltation.”
The other thing is that if this is not a Satanic deception, it is a human deception in becoming a god that requires going through a lot of steps. One step is the temple sealing which requires a temple recommend. Of course one of the things needed for a temple recommend is you have to be a 10% tithe payer. Oh how you don’t have to dig too deep to find money involved.
I’m not and never was a Mormon. I just love the people at the LDS church I’m attending for something to do. I’ve made many missionary friends. I’m on my 3rd to 4th set of missionaries. The sisters were adorable and the elders are fun. Every set tries to get me and my wife to pray over the book of Mormon. I have to train everyone that whether the book of Mormon is true or not is just not important to me that I can pray over it with any intent. There are truths in it and I don’t see the book of Mormon as really bad. The book of Moses is ‘something else’. I’m almost afraid what I’m going to be reading when I finally get into the book of Abraham supposedly translated from a scroll with a picture of the Egyptian god Horus.
When I prayed and ask God, “Of all churches, you really want me to go to this one?!” He says, “Keep your eyes on Me and you’ll be fine.” Read into that!