I think I might become Mormon again...

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A_Pac said:
CALL FOR REFERENCES!!

On the contrary, this has never been my observation. Having had a number of friends leave the LDS church for drugs, sex, etc., and one for another religious preference (which he has since abandoned), I have never witnessed this. There is no “practice” of dropping people. This is complete ridiculous nonsense, and contra the teachings of the church. The position of the church is to love them, and then love them more.

A Pac
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Sorry, but coming from a family that was at least half LDS, I can attest that it(“dropping”) is NOT ridiculous nonsense. It may be contrary to the teachings of the Church, but it is commonly practiced. I take it from MelanieAnne’s post that what I’ve witnessed has not been an isolated case. I’ll be interested to see if this is the issue with the OP or if it is a theological issue.
 
Whatever you decide, make sure that your decision is based on ***truth ***of the religion, not on social relationships or comfort zones, and certainly not solely on feelings.
 
Thank you to many…

MelanieAnne,
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I have seen this happen numerous times among the people that live among me where I live…You may say that the position of the LDS church in regards to those who leave the chruch, is to “love them” but the FACT of the matter is that as soon as the person stops going to church, the church ABANDONS them.
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To suggest a “practice” of a religion is to systematically label its position. Regardless of your observations (be they honest or not), you have no place to speak on the “practice” of the Church, particularly with your stated, geographical limits. Speak of your observations…I have no problem with that; but to suggest such an irresponsible generalization is “fact,” when you are clearly ignorant of the great majority of such circumstances, only dilutes your credibility on the subject. As I’ve indicated, I’m happy to discuss but have no desire to delve into juvenile hyperbole. Best to you…I will not respond to you again (assuming I remember who you are).

Allwheather,

Many thanks.
None of the Mormons I know are less than the very best human beings. My regret is that these fine people are not contributing their talents and devout faith to the Church that Jesus established, the Catholic Church. My interest is to see everyone Christian, and every Christian Catholic.
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And I regret you haven’t yet contributed to the Restored Church of Jesus Christ. All the same, I do believe your sincerity and thank you for it. I appreciate the ability to disagree without being disagreeable. I look forward to the discussions with you.

Prayer Warrior,
Sorry, but coming from a family that was at least half LDS, I can attest that it(“dropping”) is NOT ridiculous nonsense. It may be contrary to the teachings of the Church, but it is commonly practiced.
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As long as we discriminate between the “practice of the Church,” and the practice of some of it’s members. With that being said, such a practice does unfortunately find harbor in some communities…regardless of the faiths involved.

Chris,
Whatever you decide, make sure that your decision is based on truth of the religion, not on social relationships or comfort zones, and certainly not solely on feelings.
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I agree. Yet in the complicated world of philosophies, how does one sort the “truth” from attractive yet fallacious theories, permeated by circular arguments and sweeping assumptions?

A Pac
 
I was a active lds for 31 years of my 32. I miss the songs that I remember from childhood. I miss having visiting teachers, I miss having an elders quarum that helps you move. I miss being able to laugh at what ever silliness they decided to do for home making(now renamed). At first it was hard because I was used to having my husband bless me and the children. I did lose many people who were my “friends” but even my husband was suprised by the few real relationships that were built on something other than seeing eachother at church that survived us leaving the church. I am making slow progress I hum songs from mass without thinking about it, the mass no longer seems as odd. I still have not made those social connections I enjoyed before at the catholic parish I attend but it has only been a year. And I finally had some one from my parish acknowledge my presence in a non church setting before I did. Wanting to go back is wanting that comfy pair of sneakers that you hide in the back of your closet that are bad for your feet. Yes it is familiar, and comfortable but that doesn’t make them the best fit. Leaving the Lds church is hard. Finding and acknowledging the loss is important. It may not be the correct doctrine but as far as social clubs go it is far superior to my catholic parish experience. Don’t go back even though right now it seems like a comfortable place to fall. You will regret your choice and know that you have twisted logic to return to the egg shell from which you hatched. Good luck and if I remember my prayers tonight you will be in them.
 
I think that the LDS church is somewhat unique in the amount of time that it’s members spend either at church or involved in church activities. couple that with most positions being filled by unpaid lay people who are “called” rather than conventional volunteer and I think that it creates a certain social dynamic. This can vary geographically but has a certain “net effect” regardless of location. There is also the strong teachings against apostasy beginning with the “great apostasy” and reinforced in LDS history with the examples of the many early LDS leaders who “apostatized”. Combine that with the LDS teachings of God blessing the faithful in a temporal manner and “humbling” the wicked and you get some very strong emotions involved. Many LDS “drop” their friends who leave simply because they are so busy with church that they have little time for external relationships. It’s not so much a conscious decision as a result of usually being somewhere where those people no longer are at. Some in my experience fear “interfering” with God’s necessary and inevitable “humbling” of these people. “tough love” if you will. A few I have seen are actually angry at “apostates” or think it necessary to “shun” apostates but my experience is that those are a very tiny minority. Very few LDS in my experience have any interest in apologetics or other churches beyond a potential “missionary” opportunity.
I can attest to the fact that LDS doctrine does not encourage people to “drop” friends who aren’t interested in joining the LDS church or who have left it. BUT… it just seems to happen a lot. I think it’s mostly a result of spending their “social time” in LDS pursuits that keep them in the company of other LDS and/or potential converts rather than a conscious decision to avoid those people. There is though very fertile ground in LDS teachings for avoiding “apostates” especially if those individuals try to persuade others to leave the LDS church.

Obviously this is all my opinion based on my own observations while I was a member of that church and since I became Catholic.
 
i’m so behind. paul, i didn’t read your post until after i had replied so i was not referring to you with the knowledge comment. thanks good daughter!
 
Dear Patty,

Yes, the Catholic Church is not the best social situation but it has one thing no other church has and that is the truth and 2000 years of it. Hang in there and work with Our Lord; he will lead you by the hand and will not fail you. Sometimes you seen alone but I can assure you that he is looking over you. Patience and it will work out. I will pray for you.

As far as shunning. If you really don’t have anything in common with a person as far as religion goes what is there to talk about? Religion and its common belief system is what binds people and a nation together. Otherwise there is this disconnect such as when I talk to Mormons at work; there is just no connection. So when you become a Catholic let the old life die and start a new life with Christ; I can assure you it will be much better in the long run.
 
I’m being very presumptuous here, and if I’m out of line, just ignore me. But hopefully you left the Mormon church originally as a member in good standing. If that is not the case, you really owe it to yourself to address any situation still unresolved before switching to Catholicism. That just wouldn’t be right.
 
PattyPryor said:
I know you all know me and i’m a pain but I like to say how I feel. I think I might go back to the LDS church again (mormon)

I am sooo happy being Catholic again but I keep thinking i need to go back there

I don’t know…

😦 :o
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if your happy being a Catholic, why would you want to go back to being a mormon?:confused: you don’t need to go back to being a mormon. pray about it, offer it up to Jesus, and keep talking to us here.

I for one cannot believe what mormons teach to be the truth. mormons believe that everyone will become “gods” and that is not so. God himself says in the 10 commandments you shall have no other gods before me. that is in direct conflict with what mormons believe.

if you read scripture, as a lot of mormons don’t read the OT and the NT, there says nothing in it about people becoming gods. mormonism to me sounds like people who believed in zeus and all the pantheon that belief has. many gods, so little time. the egyptians had over 700 gods. all of it was false belief and pagan.

human beings will not become gods nor will we have planets of our own to rule over as gods. to even think that is absurd. Christ never promised us that at all.

lean on the Catholic Church, and lean on us. we will always tell you the truth.
 
My experience with the Mormon church (and I was a nonmember who refused to be baptized) was pretty rocky at times. I have one mormon friend with whom I still associate but I have no idea if that will last. We’ll have to see on that one.
I have bipolar disorder that has gotten out of control over the past year and a half and I’ve tried to go to many different churches looking for emotional support and friendship. I would get involved as best as I could but I was going through a lot of mood swings (I’m a rapid cycler). Sooner or later I’d start getting the cold shoulder from people and I’d quit going. I experienced the same thing with JWs and quit associating with them after 5 or so months. I also had a real difficult time quitting smoking and that didn’t help either. Enter the Mormons. Initially, everything was fantastic there, too. But I still wasn’t stablizing on meds which by now had been changed several times. The mormons were really great about arranging transportation for us (we don’t have a car). But within a short amount of time I started becoming really uncomfortable at the meetings. Each week I would “lose” it in one of the meetings at least and just burst into soul wrenching sobs. This was always disruptive and I couldn’t help what I was doing. I’d always get up and head for the ladies room but it was always a major distraction and I was always deeply embarrassed that I couldn’t sit through an hour meeting without breaking down.
I finally quit going to meetings altogether for this and other reasons. I was started to have a lot of questions about the mormon faith. I had read Brigham Young’s book (LDS Publication) and several things he taught really disturbed me. Even if the church wasn’t teaching these things any more, what happened? BY was still God’s mouthpiece on earth wasn’t he? How can someone else go in as a succeeding prophet and just change what God said previously. The doubts began to really pile up for me.
The final determining factor for me to leave was because of a mormon woman friend who claimed she “loved” me. But after she learned that I had no intention of being baptized, she broke off all communication with me and would only talk to my husband who by this time had become a baptized member of the church. She called him one night and just chatted for about 15 minutes. It took Jim about a week to tell me about that conversation. It was really beginning to eat at him and he wondered, too, whether or Tiana ever had any godly integrity at all. She had told my husband that “your wife is on so many pychotropic drugs I don’t think I can ever believe a word she says.”
I walked away completely at that point and won’t look back. Last weekend my husband wrote his resignation letter to the bishop. And we are beginning to study the Catholic faith again and find our way back home.
I think the public at large, Christian or not, is afraid to try to understand what the mentally ill have to go through. It’s rough on us. We are not readily accepted by anyone and there is much prejudice and bigotry. I did not ask to be born with a mental illness and living with it has been extremely hard at times. At times it has taken ALL my efforts just to keep living for the next moment. Temptation to suicide is strong sometimes.
I guess the whole point of this is in the long run Mormons are really no different than anyone else. I can’t speak for anyone else and I can’t say how well the mentally ill are tolerated in the LDS church. I’ve not been able to find any statistics.
This was just my experience and story.
Thanks for listening.
Johannah
 
Johannah,

Of course I cannot speak for the members of your local Catholic parish, but I can speak for mine. In our parish, someone with the challenges you continue to face would be welcomed and cared for, not ignored and shunned. That you were so mistreated does not speak well for the Mormons who did that.

I will keep you in my prayers.
 
Thanks much Melanie Ann. It’s really comforting to know that the Catholic Church can also be a warm and loving place. Thanks again for your kind response.
 
Johanna,

Yours is a tough path, no question. Everyone has some obstacle in their lives that they have to work to overcome. You’re no different from the rest of us in that regard. I see people in church every time I go who are having obvious problems, and others, like me, (and you) whose problems are less obvious, but nevertheless very real for them.

This morning at Mass there was a lady behind us who was having a terrible coughing fit. It was very obvious that this lady was in great pain. After a good ten minutes of this, she finally calmed down. The coughing reminded me of my mother who has a lung disease that requires her to be connected to an oxygen tank most of every day. This tank, she uses as an excuse not to go to church (she’s a Lutheran). I can certainly see that dragging the tank around is an impediment, but it shouldn’t keep her out of church. She, like this lady behind us this morning, should go to church if she can. And the same goes for you.

You’ve got some problems. We’ve all got problems. God may or may not fix the problems in just the way you want Him to, but there is something for you in church, and you have something for someone else. Don’t let your emotional rollercoaster ride keep you away from people. Some people will react negatively to you. Nothing you can do about that. Others will find in you an example of rugged faith that refuses to be ground down by adversity.

From your description, it seems as if your Mormon friends were as helpful as they could be, but that you developed some objections to Mormon teaching as you became aware of them. To tell the truth, I think that’s a good thing. Big surprise there! Whatever the reason you and your husband are finding your way back to the faith, we sure are glad you’re back, and hope you’ll find one or two, or a group of people in your parish who will be your close friends. Don’t wait for them to reach out to you… you make the first moves and introduce yourselves. Church people, whether they be Mormons or Catholics, are usually some of the world’s best people, and I think that if you reach out to them they will reach back. God bless.
 
Johanna,

Best of luck in all you do. FYI, my little sister is mentally disabled and is the pride of the family. Certainly individual situations are just that…individual. Hope you find happiness.

Just a thought on something you mentioned:
I had read Brigham Young’s book (LDS Publication) and several things he taught really disturbed me. Even if the church wasn’t teaching these things any more, what happened? BY was still God’s mouthpiece on earth wasn’t he? How can someone else go in as a succeeding prophet and just change what God said previously. The doubts began to really pile up for me.
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Do you know what the Journal of Discourses are (the text to which you are referring)? The fact is that they are stenographies—short hand transcripts taken by listeners. They were not prepared speeches, nor came with notes, and because of that there are some definite inconsistencies between stenographies. Moreover, Brigham Young gave explicit instructions that anything he said is as good as doctrine…AS LONG AS he reviewed it, and authorized it. The Journal of Discourses were not, but edited by a number of others, including his son, BY Jr… To therefore make sweeping determinants based off of the Journal of Discourses is, to be blunt, tremendously naive. But it is commonly done, so I hope that helps you understand why such “oddities” were most definitely “clarified” by later prophets.

A Pac
 
of course the JoD is often quoted in curent LDS teaching manuals so it can’t be all incorrect. You can also look at older LDS publications and see what other apostles and prophets had to say about those teachings and get a pretty good idea of what was taught. It certainly isn’t the same as today. Why is that?:rolleyes:
 
Yes I do believe ANY manual put into church publication should be correct in form. I don’t like the prophets of the LDS church change thier mind and then call it a revalation.
Sees very fishy. Like God always changes his mind.
like now you don’t have the mark of cain you can hold the priesthood. things like that.

Interestly enough I have a new thread about how I decided to stay catholic. Anyway… I think exmormon.org is absolutly wonderful and that living hope ministries is doing a wonderful job with the LDS videos and books like the Bible vs the book of mormon.

it seems and get me wrong if this isn’t true but it seems like the LDS people always seem to try to defend EVERY little thing in the religion. Like all the outsiders have never picked up a book or anything. I have read church publications and I don’t think they are accorect.

On the other hand I love reading Catholic books and feel they are just super. I really like the idiots and dummies guides lol:blush:

I was reading John yesterday and just started crying. I knew that God was SPEAKING to me through the pages of John. Saying he is the WORD and how the bible says how God never changes.

I can defently say I feel more ‘spirit’ at a Catholic Mass than an LDS meeting or sacrement
 
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