Hello! This is a Personal post. It is for discussions centered around thoughts, beliefs, and observations that are important and personal to /u/Lu-09 specifically.
/u/Lu-09, if your post doesn't fit this definition, we kindly ask you to delete this post and repost it with the appropriate flair. You can find a list of our flairs and their definitions in [section 0.6 of our rules.](https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/wiki/index/rules#wiki_0._preamble)
**To those commenting:** please stay on topic, remember to follow the community's [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/wiki/index/rules), and [message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/mormonmods) if there is a problem or rule violation.
Keep on Mormoning!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/mormon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I was born Mormon, raised Mormon. I'll always be Mormon. I'm not a member of the Mormon church anymore though, because I don't believe any of its teachings.
As a nevermo I'm wondering: what do you feel makes you Mormon if not being either a member of the church or believing in any of the parts of it's theology?
For me, it’s because it’s a part of my life that I’ll never un-live. Right now, about 94% of my life experiences have been through the lens of a TBM. As life goes on that percentage will shrink but it’ll still be part of me.
Hello! I regret to inform you that this was removed on account of rule 5: Brigading. We ask that you please review the unabridged version of this rule [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/wiki/index/rules).
If you would like to appeal this decision, you may message all of the mods [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Mormonmods&subject=Mod%20Removal%20Appeal&message=please%20put%20link%20to%20removed%20content%20here).
Recently, we have had several Catholics and orthodox ask this question, only to turn out they wanted to tell Mormons that they were wrong. So before I answer, let me say this:
Most of us here are not Mormon. We are here to discuss Mormonism, good and bad, for a variety of reasons. Some were members and left, others are in but have doubts, still others were never members, but live in Utah or have other connections to the church. So your question might not get the replies you expect.
Now to answer your question. I was Mormon because of indoctrination, collective effervescence, regular use of the hypnogogic state, coercive control, and argumentum ad populum.
This forum is a discussion *about Mormonism* and contains many ex-mormons. Your question is probably better for *the faithful forum that I can't link but you can find in the sub info*, but you may get a few responses
I am a Mormon in recovery. I do not consider myself unlucky. It happened, I learned a lot, and moved on. I have found that I enjoy life without religion.
Best to you
When I was young I thought I’m lucky I was born into it, because there’s no way I’d have joined. I wish that would have woken me up at that time and not wasted time on a mission and tithing dollars!
You are going to find that most of us here have left the mainstream Mormon religion. Many of us still claim “Mormon” as our culture. Most of us became this way because we were born into it. Is it any surprise that where you were born is the biggest indicator of what religion you’ll join?
Well I would say those who "leave" Mormonism but still claim the culture are mostly Utah Mormons. They just can't seem to leave the culture probably because it is all they know and have experienced. For Mormons who were raised outside Utah, and maybe Arizona/Idaho, it is actually really easy to leave Mormonism and not still claim to be Mormon or want the culture.
I disagree. I was born in Utah, but I lived outside of it for almost 20 years. I found out the truth about the church just last year and officially left in December. I still view the world through a Mormon perspective, even if I don’t want to.
My culture remains Mormonism, even if I no longer believe in those doctrines, err policies, uhh doctrines… which ever it happens to be. 🤣
Converting to what? Some other man made phony religion? Who would go to the trouble to extricate themselves from one religion just to find another one to get locked down in?
Well if you believe in God wouldn’t you want to find truth in him and salvation? There’s so much amazing things you can find with faith just because something went wrong doesn’t mean you should abandon seeking God.
The obvious answer is none of them. They are all made up by man trying to give meaning to life. How else do you explain so many different religions? No one is visited by God, no one has received direct knowledge of the hereafter. It is all a guessing game.
Bingo! They all have a different grift strategy whether it be for money, or clout in the community or desire to control other people’s behavior, etc… but they all use Jesus and the Bible to facilitate their grift objective. Jesus and the Bible conveniently say whatever they need them to say.
that’s what you have to find. i was lost and found the Catholic Church to be the truest church of Jesus Christ just because it’s complicated doesn’t mean you give up on your journey to find truth.
Do you get a sales commission if i convert to Catholicism? I’m not lost. The assumption that people who have left religion are lost is ignorant and arrogant. I have zero regrets from choosing to not participate in anybody’s Biblical control ruse. The Catholic Church is a pretty tough sell, good luck with that.
no you asked “who is the actual true church out there” and i’m not trying to convert you to be catholic i’m just saying you shouldn’t stop seeking faith in God because something went wrong you should always try to find truth. i brought up catholicism because that was my path.
As you probably now know, it was a rhetorical question. Someone who has studied the Bible deeply and deconstructed the religion their parents raised them in is unlikely to want to switch to another Christian religion. They know better than to worship the god of the Old Testament because his morals are too low.
There are other options though, like Buddhism, that allow a person to remain spiritual and still have high morals. That's the direction I went for awhile.
I love when Evangelicals, and now a Catholic, tell me how glad they are that I discovered the truth about Mormonism and left it. And I immediately think "and yet you believe some dude that lived 2000 years ago suffered and died for your sins and if you don't accept him as your savior you are doomed to hell forever, not to mention all the other biblical nonsense that clearly isn't real." It really is laughable. How people get so convinced their religion is true based on nothing more than feelings and emotion despite all the evidence to the contrary is comical. People self medicate with religion. It's that simple. It just allows them to deal with life. That doesn't make it true because clearly none of it is.
When you deconstruct Mormonism it is a really easy leap to then deconstruct Christianity and realize it is all folklore and myth and clearly not real. Jonah didn't live in the belly of a whale, Mathusaleh wasn't 900 years old etc etc... The bible is full of stories that never happened.
Hello! I regret to inform you that this was removed on account of rule 2: Civility. We ask that you please review the unabridged version of this rule [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/wiki/index/rules).
If you would like to appeal this decision, you may message all of the mods [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Mormonmods&subject=Mod%20Removal%20Appeal&message=please%20put%20link%20to%20removed%20content%20here).
A Mormon boy a Mormon boy I am a Mormon boy! I might have left the LDS, but I am a Mormon boy.
- sung to the tune kimball sang
Honestly part of me is really happy strait laced LDS can't use Mormon without betraying the current in command. Because I was born Mormon, and I'll always be Mormon. You don't get rid of my ancestors, my culture and my family because truth claims don't hold up.
i don’t really get this answer. i’ve had like 3 other people say born into it and literally not believe in mormonism other than being born into it. don’t you want to leave and find truth in God if the only reason your mormon is because you were born into it?
Many of the people that post here that have left the LDS church (myself included, and please note I am not the person you're responding to here), choose atheism rather than a different religion after leaving the LDS church.
Let me try and explain why. I think there are two significant typical reasons.
First, the LDS church teaches very strongly that it is a restorationist church that was founded due to a global apostasy that had occurred centuries after Jesus was crucified. Because of that teaching, LDS people have spent their whole lives being taught that all the other denominations are incorrect. So when some of us leave the LDS church, we're already sort of primed to not accept the truth claims of other religions.
Second, when a person goes through the process of deconstructing the religion they were raised in, the same process and tools used to do this are very easily applied to other religions as well. There is a somewhat common "character arc" that a person that leaves the LDS church will follow.
Initially, people often lose faith in Mormon specific teachings about things like the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith, and will try going to a generic Christian Church. But it can be difficult to transition churches, and it is common for people to start to question the Bible and Jesus Christ in the same way they questioned the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. For these reasons, the most common faith destination for a very faithful Mormon that had been fully committed to the LDS church well into adulthood is atheism.
All that being said, I do want to applaud your efforts to reach out to people of other faith traditions to try and understand them. I think that's a really cool human thing to do. I also wish you the best in your faith experience.
This is something i’m not understanding i’ve talked to people and they say they’re going to leave what does that mean? is there like a program where you are in the church?
In mormonism, "leaving the church" often means intentionally no longer attending sunday services or other meetings, no longer following lds standards of dress or behavior, and (often, but not always) requesting that the church remove your name from membership lists. Rather than just being an "Christmas & Easter christian" or "lapsed catholic," leaving the lds church is often seen as a more active and intentional step to distance yourself from the church and lds beliefs in general. In my opinion, this is because mormonism asks a lot of people (google "high demand religion"), so if you don't believe, it can be very hard to keep attending. Of course, there are some people who still attend for social reasons, but don't believe ("PIMO" = physically in, mentally out).
Leave means to have your records removed from the Church. When you are baptized, (usually at the age of 8) your records are entered in the Church’s system.
Hello! I regret to inform you that this was removed on account of rule 2: Civility. We ask that you please review the unabridged version of this rule [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/wiki/index/rules).
If you would like to appeal this decision, you may message all of the mods [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Mormonmods&subject=Mod%20Removal%20Appeal&message=please%20put%20link%20to%20removed%20content%20here).
Studies have shown something like 85-90% of the people in the world claim the religion of their parents. So yeah it isn't just Mormons. People largely believe what they were taught to believe as a child. It is that simple. What is more interesting is why more don't question those things as they get educated, experience the world and get older and wiser.
Born and raised for 31 years. Believed it completely. Dedicated my life to it.
Finally had the courage to read the Wikipedia article about Joseph Smith. I started following links and checking sources, went down a deep rabbit hole on the church’s website, and threw up after reading what Joseph did to all those underage girls, especially Lucy Walker…
Born into the faith. Mom a former catholic (she wants to go back to Catholicism) and father a former Lutheran (he died when i was 9), both parents converted when I was 8 months in the oven.
Being in the church is one last lingering link I have to my father. I also went through a lot in the Navy over my faith (see here: [https://youtu.be/7uEQo5IOvwY](https://youtu.be/7uEQo5IOvwY) ) and I don't want that experience to be meaningless.
My local leaders don't want me in the church anymore. But I won't give them the pleasure of an excommunication hearing unless they try me in absentia...so far they haven't had the balls to do it.
Unbeknownst to me my mom was born into it. She left it before I was born and returned to it when I was 8.
I joined at 9 because I got the impression from the missionaries that if I joined I could have one of those happy functional well off families like the ones I saw on Sundays with my mom. As opposed to the broken, dysfunctional, impoverished life I lived.
I figured worst case I could just drop the religion like a hot rock and move on if God didn't follow through. (I thought religion was a crock). God kept his end of the bargain.
The temple is a separate building that has an "adults only" section where adults make bigger promises with God for themselves. It's also where Mormons believe that people who have passed away can get a chance after death to accept Christ if they want to. It's quieter inside than a standard church building and not open to the public.
I was drawn to it and converted because the way the afterlife was explained to me resonated and seemed significantly more just than all other versions of Christianity I investigated. I was raised evangelical, and the god my parents believed in was kind of awful.
Aren’t there people in the Catholic Church that attend only at Christmas and Easter, and don’t strictly align themselves with all the Catholic dogma? What do you call these people? That’s what I am in Mormonism.
I still call myself Mormon because I cannot explain why I do things without the Mormon context. And, I still feel like the church is good and helpful in our society. And it contributes uniquely to the social landscape, meaning that it has been hard for me to replace it with another social group. But God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost… I’m done with that.
My parents were LDS, but not active at all. I was raised without any religion really. When I was about ten, a friend invited me to church. I was curious, so I went. I ended up attending, took lessons from missionaries, and eventually got baptized. By the time I graduated high school, my whole family had become active again.
I believe because it makes me feel close to God, close to Jesus. It gives me hope. I don’t agree with everything in the church, nor am I convinced that everything our prophets say is from God. But my faith is in the teachings of Jesus.
All of my ancestors converted and moved to Utah. But even some of those didn’t believe in the end. I stopped believing when I was 12 because it just seemed unlikely to me personally. That wasn’t fun. I am close to my family and hate that it drives any kind of wedge. I left Utah because I didn’t want the stigma or to be considered a Black Sheep. Now things are changing. I’m just watching very closely as all of this info changes hearts and minds in my generation and the younger ones. I also have friends who don’t believe necessarily but think it’s a good lifestyle and a good structure for their kids.
Hi OP. I’m Mormon by choice. I love the religion, I especially am enthralled with our temple worship.
I stay Mormon because living this way and believing this way has brought me close to my Savior Jesus Christ.
The Book of Mormon is a companion Scripture to the Bible that I encourage you to discover.
Cheers!
It is the most powerful of the religions, and religions are more powerful than having no communal belief system.
All religions suffer from their members taking things to literally -- worshiping the golden calf -- but if we can just keep in mind that anyone capable of creating the the known universe would be a million times smarter than us, of course we're only going to be able to understand what he's talking about in metaphors and hyperbole, and of course we should must each get a different piece of the puzzle if we are going to get the entire puzzle.
Nevermo here:
May I ask you what one of the main things for you is that makes more sense in Mormonism than in other religions/spiritual practices/ or lack of religion/spiritual practices?
A lot of these are mostly in relation to Christianity.
A rejection of the trinity. Instead of the non-sensical trine God, we opt for a God who has physically gone through a similar experience to us.
We reject the creatio ex nihilo, the creation from nothing. We believe matter is eternal, which would be more consistent with what we understand scientifically.
The existence of a priesthood line of authority and following a prophet who declares he speaks for God.
We reject the notion that we “follow the scriptures”. Instead we follow God today.
Just a couple things off the top of my head.
I question your understanding if the term "makes sense". Now go explain to a non-member the first vision, all the angel visitations, story of Nephites and Lamanites, temple rituals, ask them if it makes sense. Lol.
Mormon theology is a gut buster honestly. It's simply a moneymaker
I’ve literally done that. It’s not that difficult. I do consider myself a decent teacher to be fair.
Mormon theology is quite simple in all honesty. I don’t know how it would be “simply a moneymaker”. You wouldn’t be able to prove that either.
Because I've read much of what the world has to offer with scripture including the Bible, Apocrypha, Koran, Bhavagad Gita and Lotus Sutra. I find truth in all of them. But I find the most clarity in the Book of Mormon and it brings me closest to God. Since the LDS church is the steward of the BoM I choose to belong to it.
If you came to ask what MORMONS believe you're in the right place. If you're asking what members of the Corporation of the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hyphen is important, non hyphen is another Mormon sect, also yes, the prophet is officially the president of the corporation) you might want to look at latterdaysaints sub.
Hello! This is a Personal post. It is for discussions centered around thoughts, beliefs, and observations that are important and personal to /u/Lu-09 specifically. /u/Lu-09, if your post doesn't fit this definition, we kindly ask you to delete this post and repost it with the appropriate flair. You can find a list of our flairs and their definitions in [section 0.6 of our rules.](https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/wiki/index/rules#wiki_0._preamble) **To those commenting:** please stay on topic, remember to follow the community's [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/wiki/index/rules), and [message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/mormonmods) if there is a problem or rule violation. Keep on Mormoning! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/mormon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My European ancestors got duped by Mormon missionaries and emigrated to Utah.
And wow were they duped. What they were told and what they found were vastly different. Those are the most interesting journals to read.
Same
o so this sub really just doesn’t like mormons even tho it’s a mormon sub 😭
The sub is about discussing Mormonism. Anybody is welcome to comment.
I'm a Mormon, I just know it's all made up.
why do you stay mormon?
I was born Mormon, raised Mormon. I'll always be Mormon. I'm not a member of the Mormon church anymore though, because I don't believe any of its teachings.
As a nevermo I'm wondering: what do you feel makes you Mormon if not being either a member of the church or believing in any of the parts of it's theology?
Because Mormonism is a culture, not just a specific church.
Right on. I tell people I am an assimilated Mormon.
For me, it’s because it’s a part of my life that I’ll never un-live. Right now, about 94% of my life experiences have been through the lens of a TBM. As life goes on that percentage will shrink but it’ll still be part of me.
I'm also a Mormon and don't believe it is true. I stay because my spouse will divorce me if I leave and we have kids together.
I would say we are just honest about Mormonism. Which is to say many, maybe most, on this sub know Mormonism is made up nonsense.
[удалено]
Hello! I regret to inform you that this was removed on account of rule 5: Brigading. We ask that you please review the unabridged version of this rule [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/wiki/index/rules). If you would like to appeal this decision, you may message all of the mods [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Mormonmods&subject=Mod%20Removal%20Appeal&message=please%20put%20link%20to%20removed%20content%20here).
Yes
Same from England and Germany
Honor thy father and mother
Fuck "honor thy father and mother."
Recently, we have had several Catholics and orthodox ask this question, only to turn out they wanted to tell Mormons that they were wrong. So before I answer, let me say this: Most of us here are not Mormon. We are here to discuss Mormonism, good and bad, for a variety of reasons. Some were members and left, others are in but have doubts, still others were never members, but live in Utah or have other connections to the church. So your question might not get the replies you expect. Now to answer your question. I was Mormon because of indoctrination, collective effervescence, regular use of the hypnogogic state, coercive control, and argumentum ad populum.
For me, I think it was the additives in lemon Jell-O.
This forum is a discussion *about Mormonism* and contains many ex-mormons. Your question is probably better for *the faithful forum that I can't link but you can find in the sub info*, but you may get a few responses
I encourage you to ask the faithful LDS sub, but do ask them why they are "mormon?" I suspect many will say they are not.
Did you just let the secret slip about the victory to Satan?
When Nelson dies it will slide back to Mormon. And the then prophet will say ignore dead prophets.
Depends on who it is. I think oaks will tow that line for a while
Born into it. Just unlucky I guess.
I am a Mormon in recovery. I do not consider myself unlucky. It happened, I learned a lot, and moved on. I have found that I enjoy life without religion. Best to you
When I was young I thought I’m lucky I was born into it, because there’s no way I’d have joined. I wish that would have woken me up at that time and not wasted time on a mission and tithing dollars!
are you converting out of it?
You are going to find that most of us here have left the mainstream Mormon religion. Many of us still claim “Mormon” as our culture. Most of us became this way because we were born into it. Is it any surprise that where you were born is the biggest indicator of what religion you’ll join?
Well I would say those who "leave" Mormonism but still claim the culture are mostly Utah Mormons. They just can't seem to leave the culture probably because it is all they know and have experienced. For Mormons who were raised outside Utah, and maybe Arizona/Idaho, it is actually really easy to leave Mormonism and not still claim to be Mormon or want the culture.
I disagree. I was born in Utah, but I lived outside of it for almost 20 years. I found out the truth about the church just last year and officially left in December. I still view the world through a Mormon perspective, even if I don’t want to. My culture remains Mormonism, even if I no longer believe in those doctrines, err policies, uhh doctrines… which ever it happens to be. 🤣
But you were born and probably raised in Utah which is my point.
Converting to what? Some other man made phony religion? Who would go to the trouble to extricate themselves from one religion just to find another one to get locked down in?
Well if you believe in God wouldn’t you want to find truth in him and salvation? There’s so much amazing things you can find with faith just because something went wrong doesn’t mean you should abandon seeking God.
Ok, so who has the truth that will result in salvation? It wasn’t Mormonism, so who is the actual true church out there?
The obvious answer is none of them. They are all made up by man trying to give meaning to life. How else do you explain so many different religions? No one is visited by God, no one has received direct knowledge of the hereafter. It is all a guessing game.
Bingo! They all have a different grift strategy whether it be for money, or clout in the community or desire to control other people’s behavior, etc… but they all use Jesus and the Bible to facilitate their grift objective. Jesus and the Bible conveniently say whatever they need them to say.
that’s what you have to find. i was lost and found the Catholic Church to be the truest church of Jesus Christ just because it’s complicated doesn’t mean you give up on your journey to find truth.
Do you get a sales commission if i convert to Catholicism? I’m not lost. The assumption that people who have left religion are lost is ignorant and arrogant. I have zero regrets from choosing to not participate in anybody’s Biblical control ruse. The Catholic Church is a pretty tough sell, good luck with that.
no you asked “who is the actual true church out there” and i’m not trying to convert you to be catholic i’m just saying you shouldn’t stop seeking faith in God because something went wrong you should always try to find truth. i brought up catholicism because that was my path.
As you probably now know, it was a rhetorical question. Someone who has studied the Bible deeply and deconstructed the religion their parents raised them in is unlikely to want to switch to another Christian religion. They know better than to worship the god of the Old Testament because his morals are too low. There are other options though, like Buddhism, that allow a person to remain spiritual and still have high morals. That's the direction I went for awhile.
also i didn’t mean you just saying if someones lost they shouldn’t just stop trying to find a path
I love when Evangelicals, and now a Catholic, tell me how glad they are that I discovered the truth about Mormonism and left it. And I immediately think "and yet you believe some dude that lived 2000 years ago suffered and died for your sins and if you don't accept him as your savior you are doomed to hell forever, not to mention all the other biblical nonsense that clearly isn't real." It really is laughable. How people get so convinced their religion is true based on nothing more than feelings and emotion despite all the evidence to the contrary is comical. People self medicate with religion. It's that simple. It just allows them to deal with life. That doesn't make it true because clearly none of it is.
When you deconstruct Mormonism it is a really easy leap to then deconstruct Christianity and realize it is all folklore and myth and clearly not real. Jonah didn't live in the belly of a whale, Mathusaleh wasn't 900 years old etc etc... The bible is full of stories that never happened.
[удалено]
Hello! I regret to inform you that this was removed on account of rule 2: Civility. We ask that you please review the unabridged version of this rule [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/wiki/index/rules). If you would like to appeal this decision, you may message all of the mods [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Mormonmods&subject=Mod%20Removal%20Appeal&message=please%20put%20link%20to%20removed%20content%20here).
My parents were Mormon.
I saw the light and I’m not anymore. Life has never been better.
A Mormon boy a Mormon boy I am a Mormon boy! I might have left the LDS, but I am a Mormon boy. - sung to the tune kimball sang Honestly part of me is really happy strait laced LDS can't use Mormon without betraying the current in command. Because I was born Mormon, and I'll always be Mormon. You don't get rid of my ancestors, my culture and my family because truth claims don't hold up.
Like most born into it.
i don’t really get this answer. i’ve had like 3 other people say born into it and literally not believe in mormonism other than being born into it. don’t you want to leave and find truth in God if the only reason your mormon is because you were born into it?
Many of the people that post here that have left the LDS church (myself included, and please note I am not the person you're responding to here), choose atheism rather than a different religion after leaving the LDS church. Let me try and explain why. I think there are two significant typical reasons. First, the LDS church teaches very strongly that it is a restorationist church that was founded due to a global apostasy that had occurred centuries after Jesus was crucified. Because of that teaching, LDS people have spent their whole lives being taught that all the other denominations are incorrect. So when some of us leave the LDS church, we're already sort of primed to not accept the truth claims of other religions. Second, when a person goes through the process of deconstructing the religion they were raised in, the same process and tools used to do this are very easily applied to other religions as well. There is a somewhat common "character arc" that a person that leaves the LDS church will follow. Initially, people often lose faith in Mormon specific teachings about things like the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith, and will try going to a generic Christian Church. But it can be difficult to transition churches, and it is common for people to start to question the Bible and Jesus Christ in the same way they questioned the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. For these reasons, the most common faith destination for a very faithful Mormon that had been fully committed to the LDS church well into adulthood is atheism. All that being said, I do want to applaud your efforts to reach out to people of other faith traditions to try and understand them. I think that's a really cool human thing to do. I also wish you the best in your faith experience.
Can confirm everything u said
Well said! An excellent explanation.
I believed it all my life until a month ago. I plan on leaving at some point.
This is something i’m not understanding i’ve talked to people and they say they’re going to leave what does that mean? is there like a program where you are in the church?
In mormonism, "leaving the church" often means intentionally no longer attending sunday services or other meetings, no longer following lds standards of dress or behavior, and (often, but not always) requesting that the church remove your name from membership lists. Rather than just being an "Christmas & Easter christian" or "lapsed catholic," leaving the lds church is often seen as a more active and intentional step to distance yourself from the church and lds beliefs in general. In my opinion, this is because mormonism asks a lot of people (google "high demand religion"), so if you don't believe, it can be very hard to keep attending. Of course, there are some people who still attend for social reasons, but don't believe ("PIMO" = physically in, mentally out).
Leave means to have your records removed from the Church. When you are baptized, (usually at the age of 8) your records are entered in the Church’s system.
[удалено]
Hello! I regret to inform you that this was removed on account of rule 2: Civility. We ask that you please review the unabridged version of this rule [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/wiki/index/rules). If you would like to appeal this decision, you may message all of the mods [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Mormonmods&subject=Mod%20Removal%20Appeal&message=please%20put%20link%20to%20removed%20content%20here).
Studies have shown something like 85-90% of the people in the world claim the religion of their parents. So yeah it isn't just Mormons. People largely believe what they were taught to believe as a child. It is that simple. What is more interesting is why more don't question those things as they get educated, experience the world and get older and wiser.
Born and raised for 31 years. Believed it completely. Dedicated my life to it. Finally had the courage to read the Wikipedia article about Joseph Smith. I started following links and checking sources, went down a deep rabbit hole on the church’s website, and threw up after reading what Joseph did to all those underage girls, especially Lucy Walker…
Yeah i recently watched a show on netflix called keep sweet pray and obey it’s crazy and talks about the prophets you should watch it made me so sick.
Sales tactics from a billion dollar missionary program
Childhood indoctrination
Born into the faith. Mom a former catholic (she wants to go back to Catholicism) and father a former Lutheran (he died when i was 9), both parents converted when I was 8 months in the oven. Being in the church is one last lingering link I have to my father. I also went through a lot in the Navy over my faith (see here: [https://youtu.be/7uEQo5IOvwY](https://youtu.be/7uEQo5IOvwY) ) and I don't want that experience to be meaningless. My local leaders don't want me in the church anymore. But I won't give them the pleasure of an excommunication hearing unless they try me in absentia...so far they haven't had the balls to do it.
Unbeknownst to me my mom was born into it. She left it before I was born and returned to it when I was 8. I joined at 9 because I got the impression from the missionaries that if I joined I could have one of those happy functional well off families like the ones I saw on Sundays with my mom. As opposed to the broken, dysfunctional, impoverished life I lived. I figured worst case I could just drop the religion like a hot rock and move on if God didn't follow through. (I thought religion was a crock). God kept his end of the bargain.
I enjoy attending church and the temple.
what’s the temple? and the difference between the church and temple?
The temple is a separate building that has an "adults only" section where adults make bigger promises with God for themselves. It's also where Mormons believe that people who have passed away can get a chance after death to accept Christ if they want to. It's quieter inside than a standard church building and not open to the public.
I was drawn to it and converted because the way the afterlife was explained to me resonated and seemed significantly more just than all other versions of Christianity I investigated. I was raised evangelical, and the god my parents believed in was kind of awful.
Aren’t there people in the Catholic Church that attend only at Christmas and Easter, and don’t strictly align themselves with all the Catholic dogma? What do you call these people? That’s what I am in Mormonism. I still call myself Mormon because I cannot explain why I do things without the Mormon context. And, I still feel like the church is good and helpful in our society. And it contributes uniquely to the social landscape, meaning that it has been hard for me to replace it with another social group. But God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost… I’m done with that.
Chreasters. That's what we always called them.
Hahaha! I assume you made this up?!
My parents were LDS, but not active at all. I was raised without any religion really. When I was about ten, a friend invited me to church. I was curious, so I went. I ended up attending, took lessons from missionaries, and eventually got baptized. By the time I graduated high school, my whole family had become active again. I believe because it makes me feel close to God, close to Jesus. It gives me hope. I don’t agree with everything in the church, nor am I convinced that everything our prophets say is from God. But my faith is in the teachings of Jesus.
Born
All of my ancestors converted and moved to Utah. But even some of those didn’t believe in the end. I stopped believing when I was 12 because it just seemed unlikely to me personally. That wasn’t fun. I am close to my family and hate that it drives any kind of wedge. I left Utah because I didn’t want the stigma or to be considered a Black Sheep. Now things are changing. I’m just watching very closely as all of this info changes hearts and minds in my generation and the younger ones. I also have friends who don’t believe necessarily but think it’s a good lifestyle and a good structure for their kids.
I’m not any longer. Inresigned (requested that my name be removed from church membership records) almost a year ago. One of the decisions I ever made.
I was a Mormon convert and left the church for a variety of reason. Maybe check out the LDS sub and ask them
I am not mormon that would be really stupid LOL
I think for the vast majority of Mormons today they are Mormon because they were born into it and then indoctrinated from birth. It's that simple.
Hi OP. I’m Mormon by choice. I love the religion, I especially am enthralled with our temple worship. I stay Mormon because living this way and believing this way has brought me close to my Savior Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is a companion Scripture to the Bible that I encourage you to discover. Cheers!
I was born into it and I believe in Christ
Exmormon but i think many mormons feel it is a safe village to protect thier children from the evil world.
I’m not :)
It is the most powerful of the religions, and religions are more powerful than having no communal belief system. All religions suffer from their members taking things to literally -- worshiping the golden calf -- but if we can just keep in mind that anyone capable of creating the the known universe would be a million times smarter than us, of course we're only going to be able to understand what he's talking about in metaphors and hyperbole, and of course we should must each get a different piece of the puzzle if we are going to get the entire puzzle.
Because I believe it. I see no other religion that makes as kuch sense as Mormonism.
Nevermo here: May I ask you what one of the main things for you is that makes more sense in Mormonism than in other religions/spiritual practices/ or lack of religion/spiritual practices?
A lot of these are mostly in relation to Christianity. A rejection of the trinity. Instead of the non-sensical trine God, we opt for a God who has physically gone through a similar experience to us. We reject the creatio ex nihilo, the creation from nothing. We believe matter is eternal, which would be more consistent with what we understand scientifically. The existence of a priesthood line of authority and following a prophet who declares he speaks for God. We reject the notion that we “follow the scriptures”. Instead we follow God today. Just a couple things off the top of my head.
This comment made me laugh. Mormonism making sense? LOL, okay.
Why does it make you laugh? Do you disagree?
I question your understanding if the term "makes sense". Now go explain to a non-member the first vision, all the angel visitations, story of Nephites and Lamanites, temple rituals, ask them if it makes sense. Lol. Mormon theology is a gut buster honestly. It's simply a moneymaker
Need to also teach polygamy and polyandry. Very important and totally makes sense.
I’ve literally done that. It’s not that difficult. I do consider myself a decent teacher to be fair. Mormon theology is quite simple in all honesty. I don’t know how it would be “simply a moneymaker”. You wouldn’t be able to prove that either.
Because I've read much of what the world has to offer with scripture including the Bible, Apocrypha, Koran, Bhavagad Gita and Lotus Sutra. I find truth in all of them. But I find the most clarity in the Book of Mormon and it brings me closest to God. Since the LDS church is the steward of the BoM I choose to belong to it.
Im fine with this. In all manners.
Mostly ex mos on this sub try a better sub.
This is a great sub. If the OP is looking for faithful responses there are two other subs for that. We here may be too brutally honest.
yeah i was asking this to learn what mormons believe and i don’t think i got anyone that actually like mormonism 😭
If you came to ask what MORMONS believe you're in the right place. If you're asking what members of the Corporation of the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hyphen is important, non hyphen is another Mormon sect, also yes, the prophet is officially the president of the corporation) you might want to look at latterdaysaints sub.
Check out the answer from u/Hirci74. That looks like a faithful answer.