Despite the fact that church leaders remind us constantly that the Lord is at the head of the church, Uchtforf’s refreshing frankness here clarifies that it’s really men running things, and not the Lord. Once you see it, it’s clear that church leaders are merely men doing their best and stumbling along. They are not …
Tag Archives: hope
(Page 3)Expectation of good. Hope for understanding drives faith transitions.
When Leaving the Church, Previous Knowledge Seems Foolish
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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Joseph Smith’s Treasure Digging In Doctrine and Covenants
The church has reluctantly had to admit that Joseph Smith used his seer stones in his efforts to translate the Book of Mormon and not just the Urim and Thummim he received with the gold plates. They don’t like to admit that the seer stone in question is the same one he used in his …
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Oaks’ ‘No Apologies’ – The Church Doesn’t Seek or Give Apologies
In 2015 while speaking with Elder D Todd Christofferson, Elder Dallin H Oaks made a defacto statement that is still reverberating for many Mormons: among believers and non-believers. Elder Christofferson was asked what the church leadership thinks of church members who support same-sex marriage and stated that members can believe what they wish, but warned …
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Will God Permit Church President to Lead Mormons Astray?
There is a common refrain among Mormons, the leadership and membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This sentiment is that the church leaders are incapable of leading the church astray. It’s not even that they wouldn’t lead the church astray, it’s more the Lord won’t permit them to. If they tried …
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Mormon Church vs Tim Ballard: Cancelling Ballard
Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), an organization focused on combatting human trafficking, has garnered recent media attention, particularly concerning his association with the Mormon church of which he is a member. During fundraising efforts for the organization, he was known to suggest endorsements from church leaders, including a senior church leader …
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Christopher Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Christopher’s path within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encompassed doubt, growth, and eventual departure. Born into the faith, he faced critical information as a teen and young adult. He grappled with church history, racial issues, and doctrinal conflicts. His departure from the church marks an authentic pursuit of personal truth and growth …
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Daniel Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Daniel was raised Mormon and cruised along the Mormon conveyor belt in life. He’s also a physician and was educated to “research and investigate, to seek truth from reliable sources”. He suffered from religious scrupulosity and constantly felt like a sinner. He came across the Gospel Topic Essays though and quickly felt “uneasy with the …
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John Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
John was a golden convert. He found comfort in the certainty. He also found the authority of the church exacerbated his anxiety into a real OCD and religious scrupulosity. The high-control authoritarian system was incredibly unhealthy for him throughout adolescence and a mission. John acknowledges that some may blame his OCD, but he knows it …
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1969 Official First Presidency Statement on the Doctrines of Banning Blacks from the Priesthood
Just as the statement from the First Presidency in 1949, there was another statement issued in 1969 regarding the stance of the church on denying the priesthood to any black member of the church. In 1949, the First Presidency consisted of George Albert Smith, J Reuben Clark & David O McKay. In 1969, the presidency …
Elder Anderson claims “We Are Not a Wealthy People”
Elder Andersen met with the leaders of Zimbabwe and he said the significance of the meeting with Vice President Mohadi was to “express to him our desire to help improve Zimbabwe.” He noted that Vice President Mohadi had made a specific request for support with the development of clean-water wells in more remote areas of …
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Debra Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Debra was raised in the faith in a large, strict Mormon family. She didn’t feel like she ever made her own decisions because she was to “follow all the rules set by the church and never deviate.” After some exploration as a teen, she helped convert her husband and raised a faithful Mormon family herself. …
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Would You Want to Know If The Church Isn’t True?
It has been stated that if the church is true, it’s arguably the most important thing to know about in the world. It’s the most important news we can share with anyone in the universe. Eternal salvation is at stake. The truth should be trumpeted from the rooftops! Wherever you have come from, shout it …
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Questioning The Infallible Thinking of Mormon Leaders
In 1945 the Improvement Era shared the now-ingrained Mormon mantra “When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done“. J Raymond Cope In response to this message, a Christian minister was troubled by what control the Mormon church leaders had on the people of Utah. He was not a Mormon, but a Unitarian minister in Salt …
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Why Latter-day Saint Leaders Support the Respect for Marriage Act
Recently the US passed an act called The Respect for Marriage Act. This act requires the U.S. federal government and all U.S. states and territories to recognize the validity of same-sex and interracial civil marriages. It also protects religious liberty. Almost surprisingly, Latter-day Saint leaders supported the act. Support is a Dramatic Reversal Taylor Petrey, …
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Be Open to the Magic of Awareness and the Wisdom of Insecurity
Even though experiencing a faith crisis is devastating, there is hope, it does get better. After struggling with a breaking shelf and feelings of groundlessness, we can reconstruct and find wonder again. There is still magic to be found in the world! Even when deconstructing a church worldview or faith paradigm, we must dig deep …
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Stay in the Boat or Follow Jesus Out
Considering the demeaning parable from Elder Renlund about the spoiled boy leaving the boat and Elder Holland being furious with members who “bail” and imploring members to “Stay in the Boat” as well as The Old Ship Zion references from Brigham Young, Mormon church culture has a lot of imagery around boats, and staying in …
Gen Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Gen grew up as a military brat with strict Mormon parents and experienced various forms of abuse during her childhood. She also suffered the devastating loss of her brother, who was her best friend, and sees Mormon beliefs as a contributing factor. After leaving the church, she is now focusing on healing and discovering her …
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Pascal’s Wager for Mormons and Ex-Mormons
Pascal’s Wager is an argument proposed by the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal in the 17th century, which attempts to demonstrate that it is rational to believe in God. It does not provide evidence or proof that God exists, but it sets up belief as a rational choice we can make and outlines the …
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Explore the Origin Story of wasmormon.org – A Mormon Book Reviews Podcast Episode
A recent episode of the Mormon Book Reviews podcast features an interview with Evan, the creator of wasmormon.org, and his brother Garrett. Evan shares the story of how he came to create the website and why he chose to share his experience of leaving the Mormon church. The interview includes the personal stories of faith …
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Does Faith Survive Seeing the Forest for the Trees?
This idiomatic phrase relates to one who does not understand or appreciate a larger situation, or problem because they are considering only a few parts of it. If you can’t see the forest for the trees, you are too focused on small details or parts and so you are missing something more important; you fail to understand …
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On Being a Mormon Historian from Michael Quinn
The late Dr. D. Michael Quinn was among the many scholars who were forced to choose between promoting church propaganda and maintaining their integrity as historians in response to Elder Packer’s controversial talk “The Mantle is Far Greater Than the Intellect,”. Quinn delivered a pointed response to Elder Packer’s remarks in his lecture entitled “On …
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Brendan Was a Mormon, a Post-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Brendan was raised in the church but from early on saw things that didn’t sit well with his soul. He recognizes many instances in his life where cognitive dissonance was telling him something wasn’t right. This led him to study deeply and even pursue a study of history, which led him to an internship with …
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Russell Nelson to receive the Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize
Mormon Church President, Russell M Nelson is being honored by the Martin Luther King Jr International Chapel on Morehouse College Campus in Atlanta, Georgia. He is to receive a new award, the first recipient, which is to be called the Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize. This is in coordination with the Gandhi-King-Ikeda Institute at the chapel. What …
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Elder M Russell Ballard’s Colorful History With the SEC
Before M Russell Ballard was an apostle, he is praised as a successful businessman. He was involved in various business pursuits in Utah. He was the top-selling salesman for his father’s Nash car dealership, which he left and in the late 1950s put his efforts into being the first Edsel car dealer in Salt Lake City. Sadly, …
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Elder Uchtdorf Compares Peep Stone to His Smartphone
The church has done much to normalize the fact that Joseph Smith used a peep stone or seer stone when he purportedly translated the Book of Mormon. They have released images of the exact stone he used and have received quite a bit of pushback since in the past, the narrative was he used the …
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Writing Your Traumatic Faith Crisis Experience is Healthy and Healing
Do you have exmormon trauma? Try writing your story. Write about your faith deconstruction or crisis. wasmormon.org gives you a place to do this important and healing writing. Consider contributing your story to the site so others can read it and find community and validation as well! Suppressing the trauma is bad for us and …
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Bill Reel Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
As a convert in his late teens, Bill Reel learned early that church history was messy, but loved it. He began a podcast (which has now grown to host over a dozen individual podcasts) to discuss and explore this messy mormon history. Over the years through examining the church, he discovered that the Mormon church …
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Other First Visions, Which are Not of This Fold
The First Vision of Joseph Smith is told today as an original exact story detailing the unique experience that sets the foundation for Mormonism and the restoration movement. We’ve discussed that even though one version of the story is canonized in Joseph Smith History as the “official” version, there are multiple versions of the first …
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The Mormon Church Published The Gospel Topic Essays
After receiving the Faith Crisis Report, the church leaders commissioned and started quietly publishing what they call Gospel Topic Essays. These essays, for the most part, are the first time the church has published an official stance on many of the topics. They were published quietly and buried deep within the church site of materials. …
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