NOM

Belated welcome. Enjoyed reading your back-story, and can very much relate! I've been a non-believer since 2008. The first 2 years were very difficult as I too was a fence sitter - not believing but still going to Church for the sake of the family. Trying to maintain that position is not fun and can...

My first crack... Going for my Patriarchal Blessing as a young man (40 years ago now). I went to his house to receive it. Sat in a room specially set aside for these, I guess he did this a lot for the area. His wife started a tape recording of the session, from which the blessing would be typed up. ...

TestimonyLost.... Most of us can relate. A faith transition is never easy when loved ones are involved. While there are groups like this where you can seek help, often there is no one you can talk to in person who can relate to what you are experiencing. So naturally you feel alone. And it's tough! ...

Very interesting. Enjoyed reading your post! I've been having very similar discussions with my HT's. Both are believers, but choose to be while still having issues with some aspects the historical doctrine that was practiced and preached in the early times - including the Blacks and the Priesthood i...

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Janus... That is a hard situation no doubt! And not dissimilar to mine. When I married my wife, we were both still TBM. We had both been married before, me outside the Church, but her inside the Church. I didn't know how things worked as far as sealings and such, so I didn't worry about it till it c...

.... For one thing, we speak the language, and know the customs even if we don't really accept the underlying dogma of why it's there. .... Like Corsair, I found your post very compelling No Tof! Specially the line above. The dogma is dead to me: that includes the dogma of all religions, but especi...

It's always interesting to hear about people who have returned to belief after going through a thorough crisis of faith. I suppose that in most cases, such people stopped their questioning at the level of Mormonism, rather than really questioning Christianity and theism in general. It sounds as if ...

LostMormon wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 09, 2017 4:20 pm

Mormorrisey wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 07, 2017 9:21 pm

But can you light your hair on fire still?

I bet Guy could

LOL!

Welcome back! I remember you from the old NOM. Always great to hear a familiar voice! I too see the church in a different light. Once the anger subsided I realized the church is a building where good people come together. Hindsight tells me maybe I could have found a middle way to make it work and ...

Curious. So does he believe that because he "looks for the good/positive" in the church, that the bad/negative parts of the church don't exist? No. He understands there are still problems. And even now, as a believer and as a bishop, at times he struggles with those things. The one point that I got...

Welcome back! I remember you from the old NOM. Always great to hear a familiar voice! Guy wrote: So I started looking at the church in a new light. I still don't believe that the Church is the one and only path to the CK. I still don't believe in the CK. I still don't believe in God. But I do belie...

But he made the conscious decision to stay and look for the good/positive in the Church. Curious. So does he believe that because he "looks for the good/positive" in the church, that the bad/negative parts of the church don't exist? No. He understands there are still problems. And even now, as a be...

Update: Meeting with Bishop... Finally had the meeting with the Bishop. It was very interesting. We talked for over an hour and a half, sharing our experiences related to each of our own "Faith Crisis". Our stories and experiences are very similar, and cover pretty much the same time frame. He resea...

Nice!

Update... My son got called as Deacon President, so I went with him to meet with the Bishop over the weekend. Just from hearing his conversation with my son, the Bishop is definitely a True Believer! So our meeting discussing his "Faith Crisis" and return to being a believer is going to be very inte...

For me specifically...

I feel like I am a better person today than when I was a TBM.

So do I feel worthy enough to enter the temple? Gotta say NO to that one. Purely on the notion that the Temple is meant for believing members and I am a non-believer.

Love the description of your experience. For me personally, I believe that it is perfectly reasonable - even logical - for people to have these "spiritual" experiences, even if you don't believe in the spirit. I'm atheist and I have similar "spiritual" experiences all the time. I am attending Sunday...

No on all accounts.
Even when I was an active believer I never wore garments.
At that time I had a hard time believing that God really cared about what underwear I had on!

Yep. To old change habits now.