Growing up in Indonesia within a Muslim community, Lilik navigated poverty and familial expectations from a young age, leaving school at 14 and working as a nanny away from home, in Singapore, and later in Hong Kong. Amidst the challenges of her early years, Lilik’s encounter with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints …
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Veronika’s faith journey from a Mormon to an agnostic secular humanist shows personal evolution and intellectual transformation. Growing up in Utah, she was the first in her immediate family to step away from the LDS Church. Initially embracing the conviction that living the gospel would lead to a happy life, Veronika grappled with the church’s …
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Kevin’s journey is a touching story about resilience, identity, and being a gay man in the context of Mormonism. With deep ties to handcart pioneers and a family history linked to Joseph Smith, Kevin experienced the challenges of being a gay Mormon in a community struggling to understand. His turning point, voting for gay marriage …
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Shane’s journey unfolds as a poignant narrative of resilience, love, and profound self-discovery within the intricate tapestry of faith, family, and personal identity. A stalwart member of the LDS Church, Shane’s commitment to his beliefs and his family is evident in every chapter of his life. From the vibrant memories of a South Korean mission …
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Doubt is frequently cast as the opposite of faith. Doubt is frequently shunned, and sometimes, outright condemned. Mormon leaders today demonize doubt and admonish members to doubt their doubts, to stop rehearsing their doubts with others, researching doubts is not going to provide answers and even that research itself is not the solution to doubt. …
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JR’s faithful journey out of Mormonism unfolds as a testament to his commitment to truth. Raised in a Mormon household, his transformation began with the unexpected discovery of a book that prompted a profound reevaluation of his beliefs and his interpretation of the Bible. Embracing Christianity, JR actively participated in various ministries, demonstrating a genuine …
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Jarad was born and raised in the Mormon Church and in the Mormon Corridor in Utah. He reached a point where he experienced doubts and eventually chose to leave the LDS Church. Despite putting in extra effort to study the church doctrine and history, and engage in faith-promoting activities, Jarad found that his doubts not …
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Doc Wade, a retired Chiropractor and Country Music enthusiast, shares his faith transition story out of Mormonism. Born into the Mormon Church, he faithfully followed all the rituals and served a two-year mission. After a temple marriage and raising six sons, he faced challenges in his personal life, including a divorce after 25 years of …
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Baxter, a talented artist and trans man, reflects on his journey out of Mormonism with a commitment to authenticity and respect for diversity. Raised in the Mormon faith, Baxter initially found himself uninterested in church because there were other places he’d rather be on Sunday. However, as he delved into researching the problematic aspects of …
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Jeremy Runnells, hailing from a seventh-generation Mormon heritage, achieved all the milestones within the LDS Faith: earning his Eagle Scout rank, serving as a full-time Missionary, and graduating from BYU. His journey took a transformative turn in 2012, in which he dove into a deep exploration of the church’s truth claims. A CES Director asked …
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Aldous Huxley wrote that “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” This hits home when we think about questioning our beliefs, especially in high-demand religions like the Mormon Church. It’s a reminder that the truth doesn’t vanish just because we turn a blind eye. Deconstructing faith, especially in a church that demands …
Meredith’s story is one of resilience and self-discovery. Born into a seemingly ideal fourth-generation Mormon family in Louisiana, she faced the unraveling of her parent’s marriage and the shattered illusion of eternal togetherness. Despite being raised in a strict environment, Meredith found her voice at 16 and challenged her imposed beliefs. She broke free from …
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Lindee converted to Mormonism as a young adult and served a mission. She followed advice of her Bishop and avoided therapy and saw her mental health suffer. After a long time as a single woman, she married, had children, and continued on the Mormon conveyor belt of life. She “spent a lot of time just …
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Anja was raised Mormon and the church was her entire community. She was a model Aaronie Priesthood holder and served an honorable mission, but recently realized she was a trans woman. Even before this, she had doubts and at first, was able to keep them to herself. However, as she began to get to know …
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René was Mormon through and through. Married a return missionary in the temple, and mother of six children, she was defined by the church before even reaching maturity, as she says, “When my frontal cortex matured and I really began to form my own self, it was too late.” She was kept busy, by design, …
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Troy was happy as a Mormon and sees Mormonism as part of Christianity. He saw extreme examples of leader worship that led him to see cult-like behavior in the church community. He’s not sure if it goes all the way to the top, but he saw enough to understand the church as being a corrupt …
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Shaylee was born into the Mormon church and was raised with a fundamentalist leaning. She always knew all the answers at church and graduating seminary was more important to her than high school. She knew about Joseph Smith’s polygamy at a young age and stated that she would “also marry a prophet at age 14 …
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Freidom was a happy Mormon, or so she thought. Her questions were ignored, she was silenced, and her devotion was taken for granted. After experiencing a devastating divorce she realized that she was not cared for at all! Out of spite she checked out an exmormon channel on youtube and binged it. This led to …
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Erin was born into the church but left the church as a child when her parents did the same. All her extended family has remained Mormon even after her dad wrote a book about leaving and was outspoken against the church. She was not raised Mormon, but evangelical, and has since become more agnostic. She’s …
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Lucky was troubled with questions about the Mormon faith of her upbringing. She researched her questions and came to the conclusion that “Mormonism was not something that I could believe in.” She feels lucky that she left home and created her own life and is now loving the life she has and wouldn’t change it. …
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Mike was raised in a part-member family but never had missionary aspirations. Instead, he wanted to get an education and “fly jets.” He found immense pressure to serve a mission from ward members and was surprised when his Bishop presented him with mission papers. He declined and has been on a road to personal growth, …
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In the April 2023 General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson pleaded with members of the church for more civility and decency. He states that vulgar language, fault-finding, and evil speaking of others are too common these days. This is wise counseling from the church leader. Does the prophet follow his own council? Should he or …
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One could define a faithful perspective as supporting the church’s truth claims at all costs. Anything that is outside of that faith-promoting mindset could be argued to be anti-mormon, because it doesn’t align with promoting faith in the church at all costs. We aren’t willing to sacrifice everything (as Elder Oaks says is his Apostolic …
Latayne converted to Mormonism and was swept up in the fullness of the Gospel. She attended BYU and loved it. She came to a realization though that she trusted the Bible first and foremost, and began to study the church closer. As she studied she was startled by the “contrast between what I’d been taught …
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Brooklyn grew up in the church and considered her testimony “unbreakable”. She served her country in the armed forces and saw among the LDS while she was deployed that they did not live by LDS standards but she needed to rely on them for priesthood services (blessings and sacrament). Later she worked as a police …
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There are reasons to believe, and there are reasons to doubt. Can we simply choose to believe? Can’t we just stay in the pews even though our conscience and judgment tell us not to? What about tradition? What about the kids? Leaders tell us that we have a choice, and even a duty, to choose …
Sam Young discovered that his children had been asked sexually explicit questions by Bishops in worthiness interviews. This troubled him and he discovered that it is commonplace among Mormon Bishops to ask these questions, which lead to real harm. He advocated for protecting children from this harm and campaigned for church leaders to stop the …
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Elder Dieter F Uchtdorf remarked that as members leave the church, they leave the “light of the gospel,” wherein these exmormons find themselves questioning why they ever believed in the church and their previously clear knowledge would even seem foolish in retrospect. Here he contributes to the narrative that church leaders enjoy telling about those …
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Ken converted to the church and then faithfully served in church callings and as a CES Educator. Over his 27 years teaching for the church, he grew increasingly uneasy with the whitewashed history the church teaches and took notes along the way. Eventually, this led to a tipping point where he “just couldn’t violate [his] …
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Brent was raised in the church and served faithfully. Over time his shelf items overloaded his testimony. He was particularly distressed after leaving to find out that issues he dismissed as anti-mormon lies were confirmed to be true by the church gospel topic essays. He left the church with his wife and joined his 4 …
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