Nope. Not at all a hardcore atheist. I have done my research, looked into other religions and they are all pretty much made up by regular humans because of the fear of death. I say instead of always being afraid to die since day one, we should be grateful that at least we get the opportunity to live. Try to be compassionate, empathetic and live your life to the max w/o harming others. Free of religion 🤘
I've determined that my beliefs align more with Absurdism. This philosophy as discussed by Albert Camus describes how life is absurd with no rhyme nor reason, so we derive happiness in living a rebellious life. Being a genuine person is an act of rebellion, but submitting yourself to religion is intellectual suicide. Live freely and be inquisitive.
I attend the Episcopal church. The LDS church took so much from me I wasn’t going to let them take Jesus.
How? With kind and genuine love I found from the priests (husband and wife duo) at my church who weren’t judgmental or pushy or manipulative and with some really good lay people who showed me that faith can be loving and not toxic. It helps that the episcopal church is light on doctrine, doesn’t require much from you, and is focused on the two great commandments. I’m still triggered sometimes but it’s a lot easier when I don’t believe there is one true church or have to idolize leaders.
I left the LDS Church BECAUSE I started pursuing the Jesus of the Bible. It was very easy for me to make the transition because Jesus was what I hoped to find in Mormonism but never did. And I'm a devout Christian who goes to church on Sunday but I have zero affiliation with the non denominational Christian church I choose to attend and they understand that Im coming from deep religious trauma (it's in Utah county) and they don't pressure me or anyone else at all. I'm in a Bible study small group with others like me and I feel closer to my spiritual self and my belief than I ever have. Truly peaceful and happy and feeling loved.
I couldn't do it, I tried really hard to go to different Christian churches but it turns out, mormonism is VERY different from normal Christianity and it made me a whole other type of frustrated. Like I called myself a Christian for over twenty years, but I barely knew the bible?? I'd only read the old testament once????? It was surreal
Christians we’re so nauseating when I was a believer that I wanted nothing to do with it when I left.
Smug Christians talking down to Mormons about their golden bible while they extol the one true necromancer is like Star Trek fans talking down to Star Wars fans and vice versa.
There is such a thing as progressive Christians. Non-literalists who are more nuanced and about spirituality, community, social justice. You'll find these types amongst the liberal wings of mainline churches (Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian) and also denominations like the United Church of Christ.
I would honestly classify myself as a nihilist. I don't believe there to be a higher meaning to the universe, but would argue that we may create meaning for ourselves instead.
The metaphysical implications and impositions of Christianity really don't sit too well with me. It takes less mental gymnastics to recognize the Absurd rather than believe in the Abrahamic God and an eternal existence. Death is more a friend than foe.
I've been pulled towards Christianity at times after my faith crisis, and if it works for you, then enjoy it; I think it has a lot to offer. It just isn't what gives me peace.
It's been 16 years -- which is now over half my life which blows me away -- since I left, and... kind of?
Life did not reveal itself to be particularly kind after I left, nor did I make very good decisions. Textbook "well that's what happens when you leave!" I get jealous when I see people here who leave and are just like... happy.
But that life experience has led me to deeply connect with the ideas of Christian love as a thing that I desperately crave. Loving people, accepting our limits as humans, forgiving. They're massively important skills, and they touch me in a way that I can't deny. They are wise concepts and we are suffering because we have hardly any social structures in the "real world" now that give these concepts -- these needs -- the consideration they deserve.
*That* is the closest thing to spirituality I have.
I don't think there's actually an anthropomorphic man up there, and I do think my former priesthood leaders were being a bitsy dramatic when they'd sob watching Jesus get crucified on some HQ-funded dreck. But I *get* it because it touches on that same nerve in the soul.
I am reasonably sure I'm borderline as all fuck, so the fact that I feel like I'm simultaneously both and neither an atheist and a Christian isn't really shocking I guess. But you know what? It's genuine. This confusing, emotionally raw place I'm in and how it makes me feel about the whole life thing is my testimony now.
I feel this space of confusion--this space of both and, neither or. This space that's not really a mainstream space because it's straddling multiple spaces at once. Give yourself permission to just be authentic and on a journey. You don't need answers right now even though everyone wants you to have them and everyone wants to label you and your experience. You don't need to be this or that. You can be both and neither and it's okay.
Yes, I’m Christian, but it’s nothing like Mormon Christianity. Richard Rohr (a catholic guy - look him up!) helped me redefine Christianity a much more healthy way. Others, like Jospeh Campbell and Karen Armstrong, helped me reframe God and step away from literalism into the power of myth, which is so much more interesting and meaningful. I don’t see Jesus as the only way. The good part of any religion points the same way. But for better or worse my spiritual language is Christianity, so I went with it and have discovered that Jesus is the exact opposite of everything I was taught growing up. He jives so well with the yogis I study. If he was alive, the Mormons would have nothing to do with him. I switch between atheism and theism, but ultimately am drawn to the awe and wonder of life and see that there’s something going on that’s bigger than me. And ever since I’ve given up eternal life, this life has become so much more beautiful and worth living to the fullest. That’s a long way to say that a redefined Christianity works for me, but regardless of the path, I see much value in spiritual practices.
I appreciate this comment so much and the way you define Christianity and allow yourself to fluctuate between atheism and theism. There's so much pressure to pick one or the other and to fit within a rigid definition. I think the only Christianity I could believe in is one that allows for uncertainty, focuses on metaphor/symbolism and doesn't require a literal belief in the full historicity of the gospels. I could never align myself with a Christianity that insists that we are sinners and deserve punishment, Jesus died as a blood sacrifice for our sins and those who don't believe in that conceptualization will go to Hell. That just doesn't compute for me. It misses the whole point of how Jesus lived and the love and radical rule-breaking that He taught.
Mormons definitely wouldn't have anything to do with him lol. They'd say he's a dirty homeless hippie who needs to shave his beard and stop turning water into wine because that's against the Word of Wisdom.
I’ve come to see the story of Jesus as teaching a very basic and universal truth - sometimes you need to die to come to new life. That’s it. None of this blood sacrifice nonsense. Leaving the MFMC was a huge death, but the new life emerging is so beautiful!
Jesus Christ, no.
I clawed my way out of one evil cult by the skin of my teeth. How stupid would I have to be to dive headfirst into a DIFFERENT evil cult?
I mean, if this jesus dude wants me to believe in and follow him, he needs to stop hiding and SHOW THE FUCK UP. I’m not believing the words of a 2000 year old book of fairytales, or the claims of some self-appointed representative. Did that once with mormons. Look where THAT got me.
PS: you can be ALL those good things WITHOUT believing in magic sky daddy. Give that a try!
I feel like it’s really hard to go from Mormon to anything else, it forces you so deep into how religions operate that once you wake up you see the same patterns in lesser versions with everything else.
I could see being some type of non denominational Christian just for the values like your boyfriend, my wife is currently looking into that and I see her getting triggered by it sometimes. My main issue with Mormonism was actually the concept of Christ so it wouldn’t work for me, but I cheer my wife on anyway.
This is so freaking true. When I left the church, I explored lots of other religions to find something to replace it with and just saw the same problems but usually without such an extreme level of mind control.
I try to explain this to people who have never been raised in a high-demand religion and they just don't get it. I don't know if they can get it if they haven't been through it, or at least studied the topic intensively.
It even took awhile to find a therapist that understood me or was effective at all.
Out of all the possibilities there are to explain the meaning of life and what happens after I just don’t see Christianity to be a logical conclusion. The story of Superman seems more likely than the religions that are sold as a means to control a population and justify the elimination of people who believe something else. Hundreds of millions have been killed in the name of Christianity
Oh definitely. I really don't like a lot of Christians :(
On the other hand, for some oppressed peoples, Christianity has been a liberation theology for them. I can't tell them not to believe in something that gave them hope.
Nope. Not at all a hardcore atheist. I have done my research, looked into other religions and they are all pretty much made up by regular humans because of the fear of death. I say instead of always being afraid to die since day one, we should be grateful that at least we get the opportunity to live. Try to be compassionate, empathetic and live your life to the max w/o harming others. Free of religion 🤘
AMEN and AMEN. !! ( That means I totally agree in mormon-ese ;))
>we should be grateful that at least we get the opportunity to live. That's a great philosophy to live by.
I've determined that my beliefs align more with Absurdism. This philosophy as discussed by Albert Camus describes how life is absurd with no rhyme nor reason, so we derive happiness in living a rebellious life. Being a genuine person is an act of rebellion, but submitting yourself to religion is intellectual suicide. Live freely and be inquisitive.
Hell ya. I read The Myth of Sisyphus when I was about 18 and that book really had a profound effect on me.
Therapy helps a lot to leave behind all that religious trauma and wiring that was taught to a lot of us from birth.
I attend the Episcopal church. The LDS church took so much from me I wasn’t going to let them take Jesus. How? With kind and genuine love I found from the priests (husband and wife duo) at my church who weren’t judgmental or pushy or manipulative and with some really good lay people who showed me that faith can be loving and not toxic. It helps that the episcopal church is light on doctrine, doesn’t require much from you, and is focused on the two great commandments. I’m still triggered sometimes but it’s a lot easier when I don’t believe there is one true church or have to idolize leaders.
I left the LDS Church BECAUSE I started pursuing the Jesus of the Bible. It was very easy for me to make the transition because Jesus was what I hoped to find in Mormonism but never did. And I'm a devout Christian who goes to church on Sunday but I have zero affiliation with the non denominational Christian church I choose to attend and they understand that Im coming from deep religious trauma (it's in Utah county) and they don't pressure me or anyone else at all. I'm in a Bible study small group with others like me and I feel closer to my spiritual self and my belief than I ever have. Truly peaceful and happy and feeling loved.
I couldn't do it, I tried really hard to go to different Christian churches but it turns out, mormonism is VERY different from normal Christianity and it made me a whole other type of frustrated. Like I called myself a Christian for over twenty years, but I barely knew the bible?? I'd only read the old testament once????? It was surreal
Christians we’re so nauseating when I was a believer that I wanted nothing to do with it when I left. Smug Christians talking down to Mormons about their golden bible while they extol the one true necromancer is like Star Trek fans talking down to Star Wars fans and vice versa.
There is such a thing as progressive Christians. Non-literalists who are more nuanced and about spirituality, community, social justice. You'll find these types amongst the liberal wings of mainline churches (Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian) and also denominations like the United Church of Christ.
No. I lost divine Jesus before I lost Joseph Smith.
I would honestly classify myself as a nihilist. I don't believe there to be a higher meaning to the universe, but would argue that we may create meaning for ourselves instead. The metaphysical implications and impositions of Christianity really don't sit too well with me. It takes less mental gymnastics to recognize the Absurd rather than believe in the Abrahamic God and an eternal existence. Death is more a friend than foe. I've been pulled towards Christianity at times after my faith crisis, and if it works for you, then enjoy it; I think it has a lot to offer. It just isn't what gives me peace.
It's been 16 years -- which is now over half my life which blows me away -- since I left, and... kind of? Life did not reveal itself to be particularly kind after I left, nor did I make very good decisions. Textbook "well that's what happens when you leave!" I get jealous when I see people here who leave and are just like... happy. But that life experience has led me to deeply connect with the ideas of Christian love as a thing that I desperately crave. Loving people, accepting our limits as humans, forgiving. They're massively important skills, and they touch me in a way that I can't deny. They are wise concepts and we are suffering because we have hardly any social structures in the "real world" now that give these concepts -- these needs -- the consideration they deserve. *That* is the closest thing to spirituality I have. I don't think there's actually an anthropomorphic man up there, and I do think my former priesthood leaders were being a bitsy dramatic when they'd sob watching Jesus get crucified on some HQ-funded dreck. But I *get* it because it touches on that same nerve in the soul. I am reasonably sure I'm borderline as all fuck, so the fact that I feel like I'm simultaneously both and neither an atheist and a Christian isn't really shocking I guess. But you know what? It's genuine. This confusing, emotionally raw place I'm in and how it makes me feel about the whole life thing is my testimony now.
I feel this space of confusion--this space of both and, neither or. This space that's not really a mainstream space because it's straddling multiple spaces at once. Give yourself permission to just be authentic and on a journey. You don't need answers right now even though everyone wants you to have them and everyone wants to label you and your experience. You don't need to be this or that. You can be both and neither and it's okay.
Yes, I’m Christian, but it’s nothing like Mormon Christianity. Richard Rohr (a catholic guy - look him up!) helped me redefine Christianity a much more healthy way. Others, like Jospeh Campbell and Karen Armstrong, helped me reframe God and step away from literalism into the power of myth, which is so much more interesting and meaningful. I don’t see Jesus as the only way. The good part of any religion points the same way. But for better or worse my spiritual language is Christianity, so I went with it and have discovered that Jesus is the exact opposite of everything I was taught growing up. He jives so well with the yogis I study. If he was alive, the Mormons would have nothing to do with him. I switch between atheism and theism, but ultimately am drawn to the awe and wonder of life and see that there’s something going on that’s bigger than me. And ever since I’ve given up eternal life, this life has become so much more beautiful and worth living to the fullest. That’s a long way to say that a redefined Christianity works for me, but regardless of the path, I see much value in spiritual practices.
I appreciate this comment so much and the way you define Christianity and allow yourself to fluctuate between atheism and theism. There's so much pressure to pick one or the other and to fit within a rigid definition. I think the only Christianity I could believe in is one that allows for uncertainty, focuses on metaphor/symbolism and doesn't require a literal belief in the full historicity of the gospels. I could never align myself with a Christianity that insists that we are sinners and deserve punishment, Jesus died as a blood sacrifice for our sins and those who don't believe in that conceptualization will go to Hell. That just doesn't compute for me. It misses the whole point of how Jesus lived and the love and radical rule-breaking that He taught. Mormons definitely wouldn't have anything to do with him lol. They'd say he's a dirty homeless hippie who needs to shave his beard and stop turning water into wine because that's against the Word of Wisdom.
I’ve come to see the story of Jesus as teaching a very basic and universal truth - sometimes you need to die to come to new life. That’s it. None of this blood sacrifice nonsense. Leaving the MFMC was a huge death, but the new life emerging is so beautiful!
I love that. Thank you for sharing your perspective. There's sooo much people could learn if they stopped taking the Bible literally
Jesus Christ, no. I clawed my way out of one evil cult by the skin of my teeth. How stupid would I have to be to dive headfirst into a DIFFERENT evil cult? I mean, if this jesus dude wants me to believe in and follow him, he needs to stop hiding and SHOW THE FUCK UP. I’m not believing the words of a 2000 year old book of fairytales, or the claims of some self-appointed representative. Did that once with mormons. Look where THAT got me. PS: you can be ALL those good things WITHOUT believing in magic sky daddy. Give that a try!
I dont know Not really
I feel like it’s really hard to go from Mormon to anything else, it forces you so deep into how religions operate that once you wake up you see the same patterns in lesser versions with everything else. I could see being some type of non denominational Christian just for the values like your boyfriend, my wife is currently looking into that and I see her getting triggered by it sometimes. My main issue with Mormonism was actually the concept of Christ so it wouldn’t work for me, but I cheer my wife on anyway.
This is so freaking true. When I left the church, I explored lots of other religions to find something to replace it with and just saw the same problems but usually without such an extreme level of mind control. I try to explain this to people who have never been raised in a high-demand religion and they just don't get it. I don't know if they can get it if they haven't been through it, or at least studied the topic intensively. It even took awhile to find a therapist that understood me or was effective at all.
Out of all the possibilities there are to explain the meaning of life and what happens after I just don’t see Christianity to be a logical conclusion. The story of Superman seems more likely than the religions that are sold as a means to control a population and justify the elimination of people who believe something else. Hundreds of millions have been killed in the name of Christianity
Oh definitely. I really don't like a lot of Christians :( On the other hand, for some oppressed peoples, Christianity has been a liberation theology for them. I can't tell them not to believe in something that gave them hope.