NOM

I had a really rough time as a missionary and left after less than a year. Like really left, got in a car after my companion fell asleep one night and didn't come back. It took me close to 10 years to come to peace with the experience. I viewed myself as a failure and the mission time itself had som...

Awesome job! As someone who had to pull together all my courage and confidence to say "no" to a calling for the first time this past week, I know what you're going through. You're not alone!

Thank you for all your thoughtful responses. It played no small part in giving me the courage to call the counselor back and say no to the calling! He was actually really nice about it and didn't push back at all. It will be interesting to see if I get any extra attention. The new EQ presidency bare...

I'm currently a (closeted, non-believing) bishopric counselor, and it sucks. One of the redeeming points is the chance I have to get to know people better. I am not an extrovert by any stretch, and while I've always had "friends" in whatever ward I've been in, they've always been measured by qualit...

I've been in Cub Scout callings for a few years which has been a nice relief from churchy callings. I've been warning my wife for a while that I would probably say no to the next calling. She seemed okay with it, not happy but okay. Well the dreaded day finally came--counselor in the Young Men's Pre...

My BIL (a questioning? TBM) reads the TBM blogs to keep his cog dis from exploding his head, had me read this blog article. The point of the article was how wonderfully God treats women in the church and how "help meet" really means they are so much more than a just a helper. It had all these "in t...

Hugs, you're not alone--fortunately and unfortunately! Thanks! It is unfortunate how much we can all relate to the deep pain. Honestly, it sucks whether you're a man or a woman. It' a no win. And experiencing the negatives of leaving mormonism isn't a contest to see who feels worst. It's bad no mat...

The obvious lack of divine involvement in the racist temple ban was my shelf breaker. So discussions on the topic always get me going! Someone noted that both the 1949 and 1969 statements are on the FAIR website. My favorite part of that page is the fact that there are exactly 3 quotes under the hea...

I'd just add that time will help. For all the pain the church still causes me (see recent whine posts if you want more detail), I'm still in a better spot today than I was a few years ago. I'm not at peace with my situation but I have come to peace with the fact that the church isn't true. And hell,...

I'm sorry. I think my dad is kind of where you are. I wonder if he ever made a spreadsheet? My siblings are all grown up and gone, but my nephews are teenagers, so there are ordinances, a mission soon, marriages come soon after that, my kids' baptisms, and then their ordinances, missions, marriages...

Great job overall! Just a couple thoughts. Like Arcturus, I have concerns about the Palmer references even as a nonbeliever. Where possible, I recommend citing a primary source. Corsair makes a good point about the complexity. Leading with a TLDR version might work. Hitting the highlights like "Firs...

Can't we just be a dried out dead grape on the vine in the Lord's vineyard? I 've been trying to do this for 4 years. It gets harder every year for me - I can't stand the group-think, the persecution complex, the superiority complex, etc. Plus, it's sooooo boring and so fake once you see through it...

Thank you all for taking the time to respond. You’re all right of course, there isn’t a good time. But I can still vainly wish that more of you argued with my post title. :lol: I love spreadsheets! :lol: What if you accept it for what is? Consider yourself a "catholic" mormon… Can't we just be a dri...

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. I know my thoughts and questions offered nothing new that we haven't discussed over and over but it helps to know that someone out there hears me and understands what I'm going through. Or you could decide it is time to be straight with everyone and exit....

Yeah, it's a second thread from me. I had two streams of thought and needed some support from you folks so here I am. A lot of threads here and on the exmo subreddit talk about timing the break. I began my faith journey 9 years ago and finally admitted to myself that I no longer had any belief in th...

A little while ago, I asked my wife why she was okay with my lying on the first few temple recommend questions (the testimony ones). After some hemming and hawing, she said, "It gives me hope." I asked, "Hope in what?" But she didn't really have a response. I've made it abundantly clear that I don't...

I think the book's mere existence and its evidence in the eyes of a believer that God still speaks to man is the primary doctrine it supports. As to the Melchizedek reference, well that's biblical and hardly unique to the Book of Mormon. Hebrews mentions that Jesus is "a priest for ever after the or...

It's been my experience they really don't take two deep all that seriously in Primary. And it really, really pisses me off. In my ward, they take the two guys rule very seriously but there's no concern with a single woman. It will be interesting to see how it changes with the new policy. Recently, ...

Thank you for taking the time to respond! And NOMs just have to whine and complain. :) I don't post much but I'm guessing I have a silly high percentage of whiny posts. So I'm not here to judge. Yes, this is a good change----but kind of too little too late. The church always seems to be too little t...

I'm a bit confused with some of the replies. There seems to be opposition to the two adults in a class with kids policy? I thought with all the news lately and the march for the kids, there would be pretty much unanimous support for this change (with the obvious glaring omission of bishop interviews...