Good to be here.

[Emower]

Hello all:

I have viewed this forum for a while but never could register on the old forum. I am glad this has been resurrected. I love coming to the here and seeing the diversity and the friendship.

I have a fairly typical story, pioneer ancestors, all immediate and most extended family in the church, served a mission in norway, went to byui, married in the temple etc.

I began to hear that many of my mission companions, people I had met in Norway, and friends had begun to leave the church. I was really curious why? For a while I did not want to investigate because we all know that that is how Satan gets to you. Can't use the thinker in this church. Anyway, eventually I got over that and started asking my friends why they were
leaving. Aaaand here I am. I can't put the genie back in the bottle.

This has been an interesting journey for me, I feel so liberated concerning my spirituality. I am not confined to a box anymore. It feels wonderful. Thanks for being here and providing a place for people like me. I don't have much anger towards the church so Reddit was not great for me. Mormon discussion wasn't that interesting to me either. But this forum is interesting, thought provoking, and normal.

[Corsair]

The NOM 1.0 board had some problems. We hope to keep this one up to date going forward. New user registrations simply stopped working around June and our biggest fear was the inevitable drop in new members leading to the board getting stale without new ideas from new users. We're glad to have you here.

[Fifi de la Vergne]

Welcome, emower! It's good to hear from someone who managed to leave with relatively minor trauma. If you don't mind sharing, how long ago did you start to question, and how long did it take?

[SeeNoEvil]

Welcome Emower! Glad you found us! How did you like Norway? My brother went there but that was eons ago. Curious, just how much of a problem is it there with people leaving? My brother came home from his mission and left right after he did the obligatory temple wedding to make the parents happy. I look forward to hearing more about your journey.

[Emower]

Welcome, emower! It's good to hear from someone who managed to leave with relatively minor trauma. If you don't mind sharing, how long ago did you start to question, and how long did it take?

Well, I am not through with my faith transition yet. Crap might start to hit the fan at this years tithing settlement. My wife is supportive, but the rest of the family is less so. I started to question about 1 1/2 years ago and the process is ongoing. I told my wife that this was like cleaning out the fridge. I took everything out and I am giving it a good sniff before I put it back in. There's not a whole lot in there anymore.

[Emower]

Welcome Emower! Glad you found us! How did you like Norway? My brother went there but that was eons ago. Curious, just how much of a problem is it there with people leaving? My brother came home from his mission and left right after he did the obligatory temple wedding to make the parents happy. I look forward to hearing more about your journey.

I have mixed feelings about Norway. I spent most of my time in tiny towns past the arctic circle and got quite depressed during the dark periods. But it was a beautiful country and as long as you weren't pushing Jesus the people were polite. I don't have a great sense for people leaving, but a third of those I called good friends have left over various issues.

[Emower]

I guess I didn't give a whole lot of detail surrounding my journey. I am not used to sharing this real often.

I work for the game and fish as a fisheries biologist. I went to byui for wildlife management and then to Mississippi state for a masters in fisheries management. Currently I work for a state fish hatchery in New Mexico. I travel an awful lot for work and I discovered the great world of podcasts. I listened to some great church ones, legacy, something to do with farms as well as non churchy stuff. Anyway, getting ready to go on a trip and I came across one called Mormon stories. I thought this would be some sweet genealogy podcast or something. I ended up listening to an episode describing why people leave the church. That was information overload in a major way. That got me curious about why people I knew had left. I was scared, felt guilty and disloyal, and knew that I shouldn't. But I couldn't unhear all that stuff. Was it true? Is this why people left? I thought it was just because they had thin skin, wanted to drink, or were involved in pornagraphy. What I learned was that people had legitimate reasons for leaving. The church had hidden information and actively suppressed other information, and guilted you into not reviewing yet other information! I then devoured all the Mormon stories episodes, read Mormon think, RSR, Brody, the Givens, some of Quinn's stuff and now am trying to figure out what to read next.
I didn't have a shelf per se. Any questions I had in the past about sketchy stuff I would always think to myself, "I don't think I believe in that" and move on, but I couldn't think about what that means if I don't believe that. So my shelf didn't crack as much as I just felt a permission of sorts to go ahead and believe what I wanted to. I haven't changed any of my lifestyle, still sort of attend, still hold a recommend although that is due for a change soon, and still believe in some sort of Jesus and some sort of God. But man it feels great to not outsource my spirituality to the lds church. I can take it wherever I want to go.

[tearjerker]

Emower, hi. Also in NM. workin for USFWS at the regional office in ABQ. We have a live group in the ABQ area... But they are mostly 30-somethings. Maybe we can connect sometime.

[Red Ryder]

Emower, hi. Also in NM. workin for USFWS at the regional office in ABQ. We have a live group in the ABQ area... But they are mostly 30-somethings. Maybe we can connect sometime.

I travel to NM for work about 3 or 4 times a year. I'd love to connect with New Mexican New Order Mormons!

[Emower]

Emower, hi. Also in NM. workin for USFWS at the regional office in ABQ. We have a live group in the ABQ area... But they are mostly 30-somethings. Maybe we can connect sometime.

I would love to connect. What do you do for the "dark side?"