Here’s a truncated version of my story:
My mom and her family were nominal Protestants who converted to Mormonism in the 1960s. My dad’s family is Mormon all the way back to 1831. Samuel Smith, the brother of Joseph Smith Jr., baptized the step father of my great, great, great, great grandfather and his sister. I am from Mormon pioneer stock. I even had an ancestor in Brigham Young’s wagon party.
In a way, I still have the spirit of the pioneers. I’m having the courage to begin a new adventure.
I was an LDS missionary 20 years ago. My move away from Mormonism began then, although I couldn’t see it at the time. I’ve always been a questioner, and Mormon apologetics was my thing for a while.
I graduated from BYU (I’m still a BYU sports fan), and went on to pursue a doctorate in the humanities. Along the way I began to apply my new scholarly skills to my own Church, its history, and its teachings. As I did so, I slowly, but surely, moved out of the Mormon mainstream. Publications for genuine LDS intellectuals replaced the slipshod apologetics, and I found that I was merely being tolerated by the corporation that is Intellectual Reserve Inc.
During my studies, I’d come to the conclusion that the LDS Church’s teaching on the Great Apostasy invalidate the LDS Church itself, and that it’s teachings in this area are ultimately flimsy and circular.
Although my belief in Mormonism was fading as I became increasingly heterodox, I found that my belief in God was secure. I had (and have) powerful, simple faith. My intellectual questions continue, and I believe they are healthy, but my belief in God is just something that is.
I found myself becoming more of a spiritual pluralist, or what intellectuals sometimes call a mystic. I searched through many religious traditions and philosophies. I’ve found much of value in my search, but I’ve been stunned at how beautiful and truthful the Catholic Church is. In a way, the good things in other beliefs and traditions seem to be pointing me to Catholicism.
I’ll try to persuade my wife to post her story too.
