Stories of mormon faith transitions. Share your truth – own your story!
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"I had to realize also that my spiritual experiences were not necessarily tied to the LDS church (even though I had been led to believe they were). I now believe that any religion should be taken with a grain of salt (or not "taken" at all). I am much happier now than when I was in the church. I am struggling to find community though. That is the part that is hard (leaving the community). But I have a lot more joy than I ever had trying to check all those Mormon "boxes" that I could never get quite right, it seemed. We spend more quality time as a family. And I am learning to reclaim my own self. I see myself becoming happier & happier." Read Lindee's full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/lostinbetween22/
"I spent a lot of time just surviving, instead of thriving. I struggled trying to bury my own identity so I could take on the church's collective identity." Read Lindee's full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/lostinbetween22/
"I was a convert brought into the church by a wonderful LDS couple. The church filled some unmet needs at the time. I served a foreign LDS mission as a new convert. I am a poet & writer. I was a Mormon." Read Lindee's full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/lostinbetween22/
"I came to terms with the fact that my biological father was narcissistic. I realized I had gone straight from a controlling father to a high control organization. I decided I wasn't going to make it to the celestial kingdom & that was going to be okay. I just wanted us all to be happy in this life. I wanted my children to be happy & healthy. The top tier Mormon heaven wouldn't be the same without my child. And I felt arrogant in thinking I could make it there & someone else couldn't, knowing that I also couldn't live up to the impossible expectations." Read Lindee's full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/lostinbetween22/
"I spent a lot of time being single in the church. I passed up an opportunity to date someone I really cared about solely because he wasn't Mormon. I married a Mormon man at age 38. He was also a convert. I didn't really marry for the right reasons. I knew I was going to descend into depression if I didn't marry & have children. We had 2 beautiful children we both adore. I sought to be the mom/wife the church told me I must be, constantly struggling to make it to sacrament meeting on time, study scriptures as a family & do all the "stuff." I definitely wasn't happy." Read Lindee's full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/lostinbetween22/
This is a spotlight on a profile shared at wasmormon.org. These are just the highlights, so please find Lindee's full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/lostinbetween22/. There are over a hundred more stories of Mormon faith journeys contributed by users like you. Come check them out and consider sharing your own story at wasmormon.org!
"A bishop suggested when I was 23 that I didn't need professional therapy, even though I was raised in a moderately dysfunctional family. I believed he was inspired because that's what I was told to believe. He wasn't inspired." Read Lindee's full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/lostinbetween22/
"I have studied & prayed intensely. I came to realize that there are too many troubling aspects to church history, doctrine etc. I just don't believe a loving God would obligate me to believe in something that actively harms people (such as how polygamy harmed women & children... and how the church harms LGBTQ+ individuals/youth). When there are so many problems with the history (& so many things about the doctrine/teachings/policies are so incredibly unhealthy), there is no way any God would ask me to believe in such a thing. That would be abusive, in my view." Read Lindee's full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/lostinbetween22/
"The Book of Mormon can and should be tested. It invites criticism." - LDS Apologist and Historian, Hugh Nibley, 1988
"Think the best of each other, especially of those you say you love. Assume the good and doubt the bad." - Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
"Some things in life we have little or no control over. These have to be endured. Some disappointments have to be lived with in love and in marriage. These are not things anyone wants in life, but sometimes they come. And when they come, we have to bear them." - LDS Apostle, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, BYU Devotional 2000
"I've had deep spiritual experiences my whole life. I've always felt the love of the Divine strongly, and if anything that's gotten stronger since I left the church. My name, Anja, was given to me by Spirit after I'd realized I was trans and was starting my transition - it means "grace". Even with the ongoing genocidal attacks on trans people in America right now, transitioning and living as my fullest self has brought me more peace and joy more consistently than I ever found in the LDS faith." - Anja's "I was a Mormon" Story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/anjaisagirl/
"Then in 2013, I moved from the heavily Mormon area in the Phoenix area I'd lived most of my life to Texas, and found myself working with openly gay coworkers for the first time. Getting to know actual people in the LGBTQ+ community, combined with a church scene where I no longer had the comfortable friendships I'd made with other more progressive and nuanced Mormons even as the things being said over the pulpit and in Sunday School and Priesthood got more narrow-minded, only intensified my concerns, and I started struggling to find the motivation to stay involved." - Anja's "I was a Mormon" Story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/anjaisagirl/
Anja's "I was a Mormon" Story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/anjaisagirl/
I grew up immersed in the Mormon faith. I was homeschooled (due to academic concerns, not faith reasons), which meant the church was my entire community. I was a model Aaronic Priesthood holder, served an honorable full-time mission. I realized I was a queer trans woman in June 2020 and started transitioning immediately. I was a Mormon." - Anja's "I was a Mormon" Story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/anjaisagirl/
"Then in 2013, I moved from the heavily Mormon area in the Phoenix area I'd lived most of my life to Texas, and found myself working with openly gay coworkers for the first time. Getting to know actual people in the LGBTQ+ community, combined with a church scene where I no longer had the comfortable friendships I'd made with other more progressive and nuanced Mormons even as the things being said over the pulpit and in Sunday School and Priesthood got more narrow-minded, only intensified my concerns, and I started struggling to find the motivation to stay involved. - Anja's "I was a Mormon" Story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/anjaisagirl/
"When the church began openly pushing against gay marriage in the late 90's and early 2000's, I struggled to reconcile that with the 11th Article of Faith, where we supposedly allow all others to worship according to their own conscience. But I believed in following the prophet, so I mostly kept my doubts to myself. - Anja's "I was a Mormon" Story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/anjaisagirl/
"We have to remember, that these people are just simply us who haven't yet learned the truth. I don't know what the answer is. Part of me thinks if we stop talking about it and just love them. Maybe. Maybe that's the answer. Maybe we quit dogging Joseph and Brigham. Those people have heard it. They know. They've just been brainwashed. They can call it whatever they want but that's what it is... Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for the love that you've made my family feel in a time where they felt nothing. You don't know what you've done for me." Mormon Bishop in Mississippi Resigned - Says Thank You
"I owe it to my ward family, to hear it from me. I've asked to be released. Not because of some sin. Not because I'm hiding something. Not at all. There's just a few things that I've been required to do that I personally cannot morally stand by. I can't. So I need to step down." - Mormon Bishop in Mississippi Resigns at Pulpit
"The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too." - Ernest Hemingway
Men Without Women, 1927
"If any one of you is faltering in your faith, I ask you the same question that Peter asked: “To whom shall [you] go?” If you choose to become inactive or to leave the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where will you go? What will you do?" - Elder M. Russell Ballard, 2016
"If some of you are looking to fill what some call “a bucket list,” this is it: fill your bucket with oil in the form of the living water of Jesus Christ, which is a representation of His life and teachings. In contrast, checking off a far-off place or a spectacular event will never leave your soul feeling whole or satisfied" - Elder Ronald A. Rasband, April 2023
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad, 1869
"Re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul" - Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, 1855
Deseret News in 2015 claims the term Mormon can only refer to the largest LDS church, and that Mormons have a problem controlling the public's opinion of them due to bad actors like Warren Jeffs. By 2018, new church president Russell M. Nelson said "If we allow nicknames to be used or adopt or even sponsor those nicknames ourselves, He is offended... To remove the Lord’s name from the Lord’s Church is a major victory for Satan."
“Meet the Mormons” is a feature-length documentary film produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that will be released in select theaters on 10 October 2014. Four years later, in October 2018, new church president Russell M. Nelson said "If we allow nicknames to be used or adopt or even sponsor those nicknames ourselves, He is offended... To remove the Lord’s name from the Lord’s Church is a major victory for Satan." This documentary was a major victory for Satan, not only sponsored by but also produced by the church, which generated proceeds donated to the American Red Cross. Living prophet insists that God was offended.
After the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched its “I’m a Mormon” media campaign in Great Britain in 2013, LDS officials say they are seeing significant increases in British interest in the church. These campaigns ended abruptly in 2018 when new church president Russell M. Nelson said "If we allow nicknames to be used or adopt or even sponsor those nicknames ourselves, He is offended... To remove the Lord’s name from the Lord’s Church is a major victory for Satan."
In New York City, the Church launched the “I’m a Mormon” campaign in 2010. The campaign ended abruptly in 2018 when new church president Russell M. Nelson said "If we allow nicknames to be used or adopt or even sponsor those nicknames ourselves, He is offended... To remove the Lord’s name from the Lord’s Church is a major victory for Satan."
I'm a Mormon was an advertising and outreach campaign by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2010 to 2018 that aimed to combat stereotypes and misconceptions about the church by featuring short profiles from church members (also known as Mormons) on the mormon.org website. In October 2018, the church president Russell M. Nelson said that the use of nicknames such as Mormon was "a major victory for Satan." The outreach campaign thus ended.
This is a spotlight on a profile shared at wasmormon.org. These are just the highlights, so please find René's full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/graydame/. There are over a hundred more stories of Mormon faith journeys contributed by users like you. Come check them out and consider sharing your own story at wasmormon.org!
"I'm so happy now. Fitness and aging gracefully are important to me so wearing 3 layers of clothing doesn't jive with respecting and adoring my healthy body. My husband took a minute to cross over to the new me and though he is a TBM he loves me for who I am." - René's 'I was a Mormon' story | https://wasmormon.org/profile/graydame/
"I started an Instagram @gograydame to express my freedom and to acknowledge that getting old is my only option and I intend to live it to the fullest! I began a podcast under the umbrella of Mormon Discussions (shebecamevisible.org), I only interview women where we discuss the freedom of leaving this misogynistic cult and finding our selfs!" - René's 'I was a Mormon' story | https://wasmormon.org/profile/graydame/
"My last and sixth child was born when I was 32 and his traumatic birth and resulting disabilities formed my future path. My severely disabled child died on Christmas day 2022, he was 37. I had resigned my membership 3 years prior from exhaustion and increased knowledge." - René's 'I was a Mormon' story | https://wasmormon.org/profile/graydame/
"Patriarchy loomed large and obvious as I watched my husbands life thrive and mature with his career and his church positions. I was an eternal mother with diapers and snack bags." - René's 'I was a Mormon' story | https://wasmormon.org/profile/graydame/
"I believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Book of Mormon but had no historical background and just believed what I was told. I pushed limits and poo-pooed rules that I knew were man made but still obeyed. I took out my second and third piercing and didn't get the tattoo I wanted so badly in the 90's. I was too busy to do anything but routine given to me." - René's 'I was a Mormon' story | https://wasmormon.org/profile/graydame/
"I married a return missionary in the Salt Lake Temple and became a stay at home mom to six children. When my frontal cortex matured and I really began to form my own self, it was too late." - René's 'I was a Mormon' story | https://wasmormon.org/profile/graydame/
"I was twelve when my mother and stepfather joined the Mormon church. My older brother and I had no choice in the matter but I thought the young Elder missionary was so cute, who could say no? I grew up in a family of Methodists so much of the religion didn't seem strange to a me as a child. I was a Mormon." - René's 'I was a Mormon' story | https://wasmormon.org/profile/graydame/
“Come over and help us; teach us our errors; convince us of our delusions, if we have any; set us in the good old paths of ancient Christianity if we are not already walking therein; take us by the hand and lead us into the light, if you consider us in darkness; prove to us that the Book of Mormon is an imposition that we may be justified in rejecting it; convince us that a plurality of wives is contrary to the gospel.” - Orson Pratt, LDS Apostle, The Seer, May 1853
“Convince us of our errors of doctrine, if we have any, by reason, by logical arguments, or by the Word of God, and we will be ever grateful for the information.” - Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, July 12th 1843
Celestial Marriage: A Revelation on the Patriarchal Order of Matrimony or Plurality of Wives.
Published in 'The Seer', January 1853, Volume 1 Number 1, by Orson Pratt
"To those searching for truth – not the truth of dogma and darkness but the truth brought by reason, search, examination, and inquiry, discipline is required. For faith, as well-intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction – faith in fiction is a damnable false hope." -
Thomas Edison
King: I know that the Church is opposed to gay marriage.HINCKLEY: Yes.KING: Do you have an alternative? Do you like the idea of civil unions?HINCKLEY: Well, we're not anti-gay. We are pro-family. Let me put it that way.And we love these people and try to work with them and help them. We know they have a problem. We want to help them solve that problem.President Gordon B. Hinckley on Larry King Live in 2004
Larry King: You are the prophet, right? Does that mean that, according to the church canon, the Lord speaks through you?
Hinckley “I think he makes his will manifest, yes.”
Larry King: So if you change things, that's done by an edict given to you. How do you receive it?
Hinckley: “Yes, sir. Well, various ways.
It isn't necessarily a voice heard. Impressions come.” - President Gordon B. Hinckley on Larry King Live in 2004
!["If any one of you is faltering in your faith, I ask you the same question that Peter asked: “To whom shall [you] go?” If you choose to become inactive or to leave the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where will you go? What will you do?" - Elder M. Russell Ballard, 2016 | wasmormon.org](https://i0.wp.com/wasmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Ballard-where-will-you-go.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1)
