Have you experienced gaslighting from the Mormon church?

Oh boy do I have an answer for you!
This is like. All they do. It's their whole fucking brand. This shit runs on gaslighting.
Not only that, but whenever I've had to deal with psychosis, I've been able to double-bookkeep my way through it with no problems. For those of you who don't know, double-bookkeeping is a skill that psychotic people can use to hold two separate and contradictory beliefs simultaneously, which can allow us to act as if both could be true and therefore both should be prepared for, and to accept that our beliefs may not reflect reality, which reduces disorientation and distress... when it works. It's not a common skill as far as I know, and it's certainly not something that works for everyone - for some people, it actually makes things worse.
Why is this relevant? Because the reason I'm so good at double-bookkeeping is because I was basically forced to do that for nearly two goddamn decades to justify being a rational person who believed in science and treating people with kindness AND being a Mormon. The kind of delusions I've dealt with are child's play in comparison to the mental gymnastics required to be Mormon and be kind at the same time.

Anonymous

Here’s what the church likes to do: 1. Teach something as doctrine.
2. The belief trickles down to the laity, who teach it as doctrine. 3. When the doctrine becomes problematic, quietly stop teaching it and scrub it from official materials.
4. When laity continue to hold and teach beliefs, say it is an opinion and claim it was never doctrine to begin with. It's such a brilliant way to offload and memory hole problematic doctrines. So yes, the church loves to gaslight.

spendiggity144

I’m not one who lost faith altogether. I love God and I have a personal relationship with him. I think a lot of Mormons get confused and think that religion and your relationship with God has to be one and the same, they must intertwine. I can’t think of anything further than the truth. God is everywhere. He’s not just in the temple and he isn’t just available if you’re perfect, everyone has access to him. God is not exclusive. That’s another thing that mormons are confused with, and it makes it really culty, a lot of other religions welcome people. They aren’t exclusive. The Mormon church is one of the most exclusive, churches or cults I have ever experienced. The way that Mormons expect perfection is extremely unhealthy. That’s probably why Utah has the highest suicide rate among teenagers. Most other religions accept the fact that we are all sinners, and that we need God in our lives to help us. This is where the Mormon church is so toxic.

kathyh1976