My take on Mormonism First of all, this isn't intended to be an "anti-Mormon" essay, although if you are Mormon you probably shouldn't read it as it is most definitely not "faith promoting" and therefore you would be going against the admonition to "follow the Prophet". That said, in this article I will give a bit about my experiences with Mormonism, how I left it and why. I won't go into detail about all the things about the church that I don't believe, but I will touch on a few. So, if you don't wanna read it, don't.

First, let me say I will use the term "Mormon" despite the church's request that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints no longer be referred to as Mormons, but rather be referred to as "Christians" or members of the Church of Jesus Christ. The reasons for my using the term Mormon will become clear later.

Here is some background information about Mormonism for those not familiar with it: Mormons believe that Joseph Smith, Jr. restored the "true" church of Jesus Christ upon the earth back in the early 19th century. He claimed he had a vision wherein he was visited by an angel (or angels) and in this vision he was told about some golden plates that were hidden in a hill conveniently located near his home in New York state. He claimed to have translated these plates via the power of the holy spirit and the result was the Book of Mormon, which Mormons consider to be "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" and a history of people in the Americas from about 600 BCE to about 400 CE.

The Mormons also consider as scripture the Bible (insofar as it is translated correctly), The Doctrine and Covenants which is a collection of "revelations" given to Joseph Smith, and the Pearl of Great Price, which is basically the same thing but with commentary and "translations", most notably the "translation" of the Book of Abraham, purportedly taken from an ancient papyrus which looks amazingly like a Book of the Dead.

Anyway, those are the basics, there is much, much more to Mormonism, if you really want to know the details, there are many resources available on the internet, some of which are listed at the bottom of this page.

Now, for my experiences with Mormonism: I joined the church when I was fifteen, after having been introduced to it by friends at school. At the time, it seemed pretty innocuous (and I still don't consider it a "cult", although I believe it's not completely harmless, either.) I was an active Mormon from age fifteen until nineteen, but I didn't really truly "believe", but I didn't really have a problem with the doctrine, either, I just didn't totally buy it, but I figured it didn't really matter, as long as it might be true. I did want it to be true, though.

When I was nineteen, I went to Brigham Young University, the church-run college in Utah. In Utah, I had to be more of a "TBM" which means "True Believing Mormon" among other things. As part of the BYU "Honor Code" I had to attend church every week and take religion classes. This was the first time in my short life as a Mormon that I actually studied the scriptures rather than just skimmed them. And I found them interesting ... but not in the way the church probably wanted me to find them interesting. At the time I was at BYU there was a lecture series on the Book of Mormon, which I attended with one of my roommates. The man giving the lecture was trying to prove the Book of Mormon was "true" by providing historical and archaeological evidence. My roommate bought it hook, line and sinker. I didn't. His "data" seemed flawed to me, so I began to do more research which ultimately led to my questioning the veracity of the Book of Mormon and the church in general. I wish I could remember his name, I'd like to thank him for his assistance. And I wonder if perhaps it was his intention to sneak some bad data in there in hopes some of the students would pick up on it.

One source I consulted was the History of the Church, published by the church. I also did a lot of praying and studying the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, most notably Moroni 10:4 which I noticed didn't say, as many Mormons claim, to ask if the church is true, but rather ask "if these things are not true." Subtle difference. And of course, the promise only works if you already believe: " ... if ye shall ask ... having faith ...."

Anyway, by the time my end of year interview with the Bishop at BYU came around, I was mentally out of the church (and I told the Bishop so, he didn't seem very bothered by it; maybe this kind of thing happens often at BYU, I don't know.)

So, the school year ended and I returned back home to California and I attended church a couple times just so my friends wouldn't think I'd died or something. But as far as I was concerned I was no longer a Mormon. I became totally inactive about a month after returning from BYU but I did have contact from the church's Visiting Teachers for a few months until I told them I knew they were only visiting me because it was their "calling" and that they really didn't have to if they didn't want to.

My current status is still "inactive", I haven't (yet) requested formal name removal from the church, mostly because they don't really remove your name, they just put a checkmark in the "resigned" box. Besides, to resign, I'd have to re-initiate contact with them, something I have no desire to do.

But all in all I do not regret having been a Mormon, I think it served a purpose for those few years in my late teens, and I think it helped to open my eyes. Years after leaving, I began studying Mormonism again, only this time from the outside, with objectivity rather than always looking for something to support the Mormon version of "truth".

There are a lot of things about the church I don't agree with, doctrine and otherwise, but the two big ones for me are the control issues and denial. I don't think the church is dangerous, per se, because of the way leaders are "chosen" through succession. But I think it has the potential to be, if by some odd twist of fate, some wacko gets into the top position. But my main concern is the impossibly high expectations put on members of the church to be perfect. The church talks about free will, but the reality is that if you are a true believer, you really have no free will - you must follow the leaders of the church. The only free will you can exercise is to leave the church (many people "leave" only mentally, by the way.) The church controls what is taught in church (every Mormon church on the planet uses the same lessons in sunday school classes), they control what people can read (do not read any material that is not "faith promoting", so sayeth the Prophet), they encourage members to spy on one another to make sure people are "following the commandments" (The BYU Honor Code is a prime example of this.)

The other thing is the denial and lies. If you are a Mormon, you will learn to lie. You will be taught that it doesn't matter if you don't believe your "testimony", just fake it until you believe it. You will learn that it's not the "letter of the law" that matters, but rather the "spirit", which means, interpret as you wish laws such as the "Word of Wisdom" or "Law of Chastity". The church leaders will deny history, they will censor, edit, and revise as necessary to protect the image of the church, and they continue to attempt to market the church as "Christian". My own opinion is that it is not Christian, but rather a metaphysical religion founded on fraud and perpetuated in deceipt. But I might be wrong and end up in Outer Darkness, which is fine with me. ;)