NOM

I don't know enough Latin to write this whole post in Latin, and neither do you.

I was raised as a Mormon. My mother's parents are converts, and my father is of pioneer stock and has ancestors who were in Zion's Camp. So nearly all of my living relatives are believers. What a bind that put me in, when I discovered that the Mormon Church is false.

It began when I was looking to write a program that could do logic. Thus, I had to look up valid argument forms. The site I found to explain them also said unflattering things about Joseph Smith. One of my youth leaders had said something about the veracity of the Book of Mormon, and I had learned from school that the horse had only arrived in the Americas with the Europeans. With the combination of a wish to defend the Book of Mormon and the honour of Joseph Smith (!) I looked them up. On Wikipedia I found an article entitled "List of Joseph Smith's wives". I was never told that Joseph practised polygamy. I remembered reading in the History of the Church that he explicitly said that he didn't! I had thitherto found archaeological problems with the Book of Mormon, but the Wikipedia article also provided apologetic explanations, which satisfied me. But having found that Joseph Smith lied about his practice of polygamy, I resolved thenceforth to stop checking that the Church was true, but to check whether the Church was true. I found RfM, which contains large archives of grievances against mission presidents and bishops. From thence I found the CES letter and http://packham.n4m.org, which are lists of problems with the truth claims of the Church. Being somewhat interested in languages and linguistics, Packham's article "A Linguist Looks at Mormonism" resonated with me. The CES letter's sections on the Book of Abraham, the Kinderhook Plates, and Mark Hofmann completely blasted my belief in the Church.

In the midst of all this, I continued to read the original website, along with other articles on Packham's website, which combined to destroy my belief in Christianity. I found that the stories of Jesus are no better attested and evinced than the stories of Nephi. When reading the original website, I suddenly thought, as though an electric lamp were suddenly lit, "Agnostic atheism is the only reasonable position!" And even while I was still a believer, the thoughts had crossed my mind several times that "The main objective of the Church is to propagate the Church" and "I need a religion like I need a favourite sports team". (I had suppressed these thoughts, however, because it was sinful to think them.) All this happened by December 2014.

Probably to be continued....

Continued from above. I had written a long continuation, but it was destroyed because my login expired.

December 2014 is a significant month because it was then that I confessed my unbelief to my parents. Though I had done this, my parents remained convinced (and probably do to this day) that they could make a believer out of me. Accordingly, I succumbed to family pressure and enrolled at BYU in August of 2015. I immediately grew to hate the ubiquitous, institutionalised Mormonism, so I registered at the old NOM (having lurked for several months) in September of the same year after hearing something particularly egregious at church. All was okay for a while.

I heard of the odious November policy in November while reading NOM. I immediately resolved to resign from the Mormon church at my earliest convenience.

Over the summer of 2016, I continued to read and post at the old NOM. This was discovered by my parents in July, and I had the same talk with them that I had in December 2014. My unbelief again failed to dissuade them from enrolling me for another year at the University of the Bearded Polygamist, Where Everyone Must Be Chaste and Clean-Shaven, Even BYU, so I went again. I continued to read and post at the old NOM until it went down, expatriating me (as it were). I therefore registered at the Exmormon subreddit to vent about Oaks' recent Tuesday devotional about religious freedom. I read and posted there for a while, ever looking toward NOM Zion. In the course of all this, I discovered, much to my joy, that there was a meeting of post-Mormons within walking distance, which I attended as often as occasion permitted. I was happy when NOM was restored, but I also felt sadness at all that was lost. My history was among those things lost, so I decided to write it again, this time more comprehensively, and update it for events that have occurred since I wrote the first. And thus it is; amen.

LSOF I appreciate your comments on your journey. I am always envious of those like you who discover the church for what it is when they are young. You are lucky in that you have discovered this madness before making those LDS seal the deal decisions i.e. going on a mission, marry in the temple and work hard at building up Zion with a zillion kids. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders and are well on your way to being a valiant ex-Mormon! I look forward to hearing more of your insights.

Thank you. I am indeed glad that I discovered the truth before it could permanently damage me.

LSOF wrote:I need a religion like I need a favorite sports team.

This was my favorite part. It is a great comparison.

Welcome back!