Windy Sydney

Don't you just love it how we are automatically tossed aside as ignorant sinners who were looking for reasons to leave the church? The guy who emailed me a few days ago claiming that I had fallen away because Satan was misleading me really got me worked up. I try to let things like this go, but I have to vent.

Attention All Believing Mormons:

People do not leave your church because they are too lazy to attend the various meetings that waste half their life... time they could be spending actually enjoying their life and spending time with their family.



People do not leave your church because they were looking for a reason to leave. People like me leave because we have valid concerns with doctrine, church history, and the way the leaders of this church purposefully omit information from text books, lessons, and good old fashioned conversation.

People do not leave your church because they have sins they don't want to confess to their bishop. If we had sins we didn't want to admit, then we could just keep our mouths shut and go on with our lives like normal! Why in the world would we leave the church completely and make everyone assume we had done something wrong? There is no logic there.

People do not leave your church because they want to stop feeling guilty for something they did in the past. Leaving the church does not make guilt go away. If I did something wrong as a member I would have the same reaction and guilt that I would have if I hadn't left the church. Your religion of choice has no impact on your conscience. I know you would like to think otherwise, but you are wrong. People who resign are still good people... we don't automatically get drunk every night, sleep around with strangers, or become serial killers. Our morals are still very much a part of who we are... as a matter of fact, most people leave because they have high moral standards and they find that the leaders of the church don't.

People do not leave your church because they were offended. This has got to be the stupidest thing in the world to assume of someone. We don't resign because we don't get along with the bishop or because someone in the relief society made fun of our jello salad. Being offended would never make the church untrue, it just makes you offended. Like it or not, this is more than likely a reason people become inactive, but not a reason that people resign. Again, there is zero logic in that assumption.



People leave your church because they find out Joseph Smith was a con artist who lied to nearly everyone in his life. He married 14 year olds in secret for crying out loud! You want us to believe a man of God would do that? We are automatically bad people because we take his lies into consideration as evidence of his character? Get a clue.

People leave your church because the leaders are less than honest (to put it mildly). Most believing members of the church simply assume their leaders are chosen by God and would never lie, cheat, or mislead their members. If you did some searching and looked at the facts instead of focusing so much on the warm fuzzies you might just realize we know what we are talking about.

People leave your church because it isn't true... and the fact that the leaders and members of your church (who supposedly love everyone) love to discount our feelings and actions by using lame excuses like these is a way to keep other believing members from trusting us.



I know it's hard to believe right now, but you are putting your trust in the wrong people.

Andee

P.S. I took these photos while I was out in the bitter cold today. They have nothing to do with the topic at hand, but I thought I would throw them in to keep things interesting.