What was YOUR biggest SHOCKER.....

In my investigations as to what "my religion at the time" was really about, I think Joseph Smith using the hat with a peepstone must surely rate at the top of the list in being a shock to my system causing me to investigate further.

For me it was mind blowing to say the least, because all pictures and testimonies had depicted something so totally different up till then. This is what sent me on a quest to find out more and to find out things for myself and not just believe what others were telling me as 'the truth'.

I started with 'approved" church history and from there realized why there was the wording "anti mormon literature" - a very clever ploy to keep me ignorant.

I was just wondering what your "Big Shocker" was...?.

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Permalink Reply by pollypinks on October 16, 2011 at 12:46pm

Prefer not to get involved with Living Hope Ministries. Prefer not to get involved with anyone who touts their own line of wares, looking to make a profit. People leaving mormonism are too raw and too vulnerable and fall prey to fundamentalist lines of thought. I find it best to avoid it at all cost.

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Permalink Reply by Enlightened on October 16, 2011 at 3:03pm

With all respects pollypinks - IMO getting "involved" is one thing, reading opinions "touted" by others is something else.

I appreciate your stance on this as your opinion, as we are all different, but have to say I am very grateful for an open mind else I may have just stayed locked in TSCC.

The literature I mentioned was exposing Mormonism. I dont quite know where you get the "falling prey to fundamentalist lines of thought" from. Care to explain?

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Permalink Reply by troyboy1 on October 16, 2011 at 3:13pm

I agree, but of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion. My leaving the LDS church was to get away from religion. I am trying to keep the Mormons and ward people away, but I am just as vigilant in keeping away anyone touting the title "pastor", "reverend", "elder", or whose organization contains the word "church" or "ministries". To me, religion is a way to get people to follow you to help their cause and enrich them. No thank you.

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Permalink Reply by Enlightened on October 16, 2011 at 3:35pm

If it is of any help, I DO NOT KNOW what Living Hope Ministries stand for, or practice, or believe for that matter...I did not bother to find out and still have no interest. The DVDs offered were no different to some of the information I have been exposed to on this and other sites about Mormonism and dealt with stuff about exposing it and had nothing to do with touting their beliefs....Why is this becoming a thing about religion? Yikes! (going on midnight here so "nite all" )

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Permalink Reply by pollypinks on October 16, 2011 at 5:42pm

Whatever ministries float your boat, go for it. I went to Living Hope Ministries online and realized I could spend a fortune learning their opinions, and that's great if you are having a good experience with it. There's just a lot of stuff out there that you can probably learn online without spending the money these folks are asking for. And I've enjoyed going at a slow pace for a number of years just comparing a different bible than the one we were raised with. Where I go to church they encourage you to bring whatever version you are comfortable with. Or not. Some people there are atheists and come for other reasons.

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Permalink Reply by pollypinks on October 16, 2011 at 5:50pm

troyboy 1, I think you are smart to avoid clergy at this point in your life. I think most mormons who leave do just that, and man, is that ever understandable. Sometimes we come to a point in our lives when we meet "some" clergy, reverends, pastors, ministers, teachers, whatever you wish to call them, and we realize they aren't of the same mold as LDS elders. I had been raised with very negative connotations of paid clergy, and thought very poorly of them. Until I took a couple of classes with some of them. I'm sure, in fact I know, you'll find some real assholes out there. But I've found some very humble and learned men and women who've taught some interesting classes. I'm in a unique situation, being a universalist, going to a presbyterian church for the fellowship and social outreach programs. My pastor is a woman, with a doctorate in theology, but we aren't allowed to call her by a title, only by her first name. I've learned a lot from her, and from others there who think like I do. There are many shades of gray outside of mormonism, so don't come unglued if you have a family member who chooses another faith.

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Permalink Reply by pollypinks on October 18, 2011 at 6:28am

We didn't have the marriage ceremony in writing, nor on video, back in those days. I just remember those particular acts of slitting my throat and bowels. Funny, I didn't think much about it at the time. Not much of a thinker in those days, obviously.

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Permalink Reply by pollypinks on October 18, 2011 at 10:17am

The notion that a temple marriage is far superior to any other kind of marriage kind of rocks my boat these days. All those years of being trained that we were superior, because we'd be in heaven with our spouses and family members. Well, maybe I don't want to be in heaven with all my family members. Nobody who interviewed me ever asked me about that.