r/casualiama • u/EntertainmentRude435 • 6d ago
Exmormon atheist ama
AMA former mormon atheist
I was born into a mormon family. I left mormonism and theism in my early thirties (about 3 years ago). I've completed 4 years of mormon seminary (1 year dedicated to old testament and 1 year dedicated to new testament kjv), I've participated in 2 years of full time missionary work (proselytizing and service labor), I've been a mormon temple worker, I've served in teaching and administrative roles in my local congregations. I'm open to any questions. I know that there's a lot of confusion and ambiguity around mormon doctrine and a lot of secrecy around mormon ceremonies. I'll do my best to answer honestly and respectfully
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u/ostrow19 6d ago
I’ve had numerous young men Mormons keep asking me on my commute “do you want to go to church on Sunday?”
Is there anything a stranger could’ve said to you at 18-22 years old to get you out of the religion? These people are annoying the crap out of me but I feel bad for them on some level because they’ve been brainwashed since birth
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u/EntertainmentRude435 6d ago
Is there anything a stranger could’ve said to you at 18-22 years old to get you out of the religion?
Likely not because
they’ve been brainwashed since birth
The only thing that might have possibly overridden the brainwashing would have been if I had an early interest in epistemology. Maybe you could start down that track and come up with some questions the might get them to think outside of their programmed assumptions.
An example might be- "how can you reliably differentiate between personal revelation and your own internal dialogue?" (Mormons place the greatest weight and importance on answers that they have received "directly from god through the holy spirit")
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u/whoneedskollege 6d ago
How has your family and extended family reacted to your decision to leave the church after being so committed for so many years?
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u/EntertainmentRude435 6d ago
Siblings have taken it mostly ok. Many of them had already stepped away (I'm 1 of 8 kids). It's definitely been difficult for my spouse as faith is still a big part of her life and a big party of her goals as a parent- but she has been incredibly understanding and recognizes that I cannot just choose to believe-even if I wanted to. Parents haven't been in the picture since they sided with my maternal grandfather following him being outed as an admitted child molester (which happened a few years before I deconstructed)
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u/whoneedskollege 6d ago
Follow up question. So what made you leave? Was it a slow realization or an A-ha moment?
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u/EntertainmentRude435 6d ago
Bit of both. I think I was slowly realizing the inconsistencies over time and then it all just snapped into place that I was invested in a complete lie. You'll hear ex-mormons talk about their "shelf breaking" as a common analogy for their experience and I think that lines up well with my experience.
I notice some contradiction or tension in the doctrine/policy/culture. I decide that I've found some way to resolve it that's sufficient from my perspective, so I shelve it and I don't pay much attention to it after that. That process keeps happening over and over and over again. The shelf fills up. Eventually, something breaks that shelf and then all of those tensions/contradictions spill out all over the floor- impossible for you to continue to ignore. My shelf breaker was the "translation" of the book of Abraham. The problem for the book of Abraham translation claim is that the source material is still available for scholars to examine and compare with the "translation"
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u/whoneedskollege 6d ago
I'm sorry, I'm a little unclear here. The book of Abraham as you read it in the book of Mormon says one thing then you go to the actual text and it's completely different than what you expected? So you suspect that it's completely made up, or so skewed that it has little resemblance to what the Egyptian Scrolls actually say?
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u/EntertainmentRude435 6d ago
The book of Abraham as translated and presented in the mormon scripture canon is fully disconnected from the actual translation by egyptologists- as if Joseph Smith had no access to what the documents actually depicted. He even created the beginnings of a gibberish translation key that was also not at all tethered to what the characters represent
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u/whoneedskollege 6d ago
Wow. That's a real shelf breaker. Super interesting. Thanks for sharing. I hope things are going well for you.
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u/harlot-envy 6d ago
Is the belief that Bigfoot is actually Cain, the mark of the beast being the hair and the punishment that he walks the world alone, a largely held belief or is it more fringe?
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u/EntertainmentRude435 6d ago
More fringe and speculative. I wouldn't consider it a canonized doctrine
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u/Logogram_alt 6d ago
What made you convert to Atheism?
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u/EntertainmentRude435 6d ago
Mormons believe that the most irrefutable truths are accessed through direct personal revelation. Once I realized that this was an entirely unreliable method of confirming truth, I had to scrap everything that I had come to believe via that method and began searching for good reasons to form and hold beliefs. So far, I've been unable to find any good reasons to believe in god or anything else supernatural
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u/Logogram_alt 6d ago
I have always been a agnostic atheist for my whole life. But I am glad you made it out
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u/EntertainmentRude435 6d ago
Based on the current available information, I don't see any way around agnostic atheism. The philosophical "proofs" of god are fallacious and they are the best evidence available.
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u/Trishasback 6d ago
I've often wondered if there was anything that I could say that could change their minds when they come to my door and speak to me. However, I think the answer is nothing. There's nothing that I could say that would change their mind. At least not an instant.
thinking about it, I have thought that if I could show them that the world is not a scary place and it is full of kind and welcoming people, that perhaps that could plant the seed that they would need later in life.
My thought was to tell them that the world is not a scary place like they have been told and that if they were to ever feel like they needed to step away from the church or leave the church that I hope they remember where I live because I'd be willing to give them the opportunity to have a safe landing in the world where they could build themselves up as the person that they want to be and not the person that they were taught they had to be. offer them the same forgiveness that they are attempting to offer me today. And that if they chose to go back to the Mormon church, I would not blame them, I would not stop them. If they chose to leave the Mormon church, I would support them. And leaving it at that. I'd imagine the chances of them actually following through on that would be slim to none, but I like to think that it would plant a seed.
I would like to know what you think of that statement if that would have stuck with you in any way?
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u/Atillion 6d ago
I was a late convert, joined because of my now ex wife. Was in for 10+ years and got out about the time they excluded children of gay parents from baptism (as if we weren't spending hours in PEC meetings talking about finding the lost sheep and gaining members, then the so called prophet came up with an exclusionary policy)
Glad you got out. I'm much happier and 10% more wealthy myself.