51 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
51 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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date: 2026-02-28
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description: "A brief retelling of my journey that led me to leave the Mormon faith."
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image: ""
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lastmod: 2026-03-02T00:40:43-07:00
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showTableOfContents: false
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tags: ["religion", "life"]
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title: "Why I Let Go of the Rod"
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type: "post"
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draft: true
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---
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# Why I Stepped Away from The Mormon Church
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## First Nephi
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I recognize it's important to establish some things before embarking on this voyage. The audience I could be reaching is extremely broad, but this route is filled with narrow passes and nautical lingo (so to speak). Before I get to telling my tall tale, I want to make my intentions clear, so I don't run the risk of losing any passengers along the way.
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{{<aside caption="It's not Mormon anymore" >}}
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At the time of writing, it is widely held preference by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to not say Mormon. One would posit, the name Mormon does not reflect the Christ-centered nature of the church that the full name does. I will use the term Mormon or LDS going forward interchangeably. I don't mean to offend or be rude, I'd instead prefer to prioritize clearly expressing my experience. I also am more comfortable typing what comes to mind and not fretting over always saying the longer full name.
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{{</ aside >}}
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- I'm not writing this to persuade anyone. This is my story. I am
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going to put the onus on you, the reader, to draw what conclusions you deem appropriate. If my feelings seem extreme, then I will apologize now. But I also hope you can recognize the sincerity in my writing.
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- My motivation to write this is to have something more thought out and prepared when people ask why I left. This request
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typically comes from friends and family still a part of the faith, which I always appreciate. Your brain is left
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whirling a bit when you leave the Church, so hopefully this can clarify things for both of us.
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- If you, the reader, don't know much about the (more commonly recognized) Mormon faith, then this post may be hard
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to follow. I will waste no time explaining concepts and assume the reader is familiar with the doctrines, history,
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and positions of the church. I will do my best to delineate between commonly held **facts** and my _opinions_ and cite
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my sources when appropriate.
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- If you, the reader, take issue with how I've portrayed things, please reach out! I mean it. There's no real way to
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express my sincerity through high contrast pixels on your device of choice, but I mean all of these words. I feel strongly it is
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important to always keep these conversations open, and I'm willing to accept I have made mistakes. [Tell me your thoughts](mailto:nate@fosscat.com)!
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_Hopefully_ I haven't lost you, and I want to thank you in advance for any of the time and effort you take to
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hear my story.
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So, without further ado, lets "begin at the very beginning"
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## "Born of goodly parents"
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I grew up in a loving home with parents that did their best to give us kids a great life. I'm the middle kid, the
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glue you might say *smirk. My involvement in the church informed much of my life. My friends were typically the boys in
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my ward's Sunday school class or in my boy scout troop. My views of the world were most entirely shaped by my religion.
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There was some anxiety as a kid in the calculus of membership of everyone around me. I learned quickly to look for the tells: multiple ear rings, tattoos, swearing, revealing clothes / garment lines under adults clothing, and of course, the lack of brightness in someone's eyes. It felt crucial to determine the activity of someone was a member because it meant Friends houses that weren't
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members of the church felt unsafe.
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When I was 8 or 9, I remember feeling immense responsibility, mixed with privilege and dread, thinking that God had
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restored His One True Church to my neighborhood! Relief washed over me when I learned that there were actually millions
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of us, not just the two hundred in my ward. lol.
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