Sent in my official resignation letter to the LDS church

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Hi

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I’m wanting to print up a copy of Stravos’ letter and place it before Jesus in my Church’s adoration chapel.

-Tim-
 
TimothyH said:
I’m wanting to print up a copy of Stravos’ letter and place it before Jesus in my Church’s adoration chapel.

-Tim-
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Do it!! For all of us ex-Mormons.

I haven’t sent in my letter or a decade or more. I tried, but got no response. I welcome the missionaries and the bishop when they come to my house… It’s my way ot telling them that someone that is aspostate is not without Christ!!!

Steph
 
I am glad that you were able to follow your conscience. I too have “resigned” from the LDS church recently, but it was not my first choice. I was having a serious problem that I sought councel for from my bishop and the stake president. Neither one of them took me seriously.In their responses they both had suggestions and questions that indicated they had absolutely no intention of taking my problem seriously. I needed to switch wards (for personal reasons that had to do with medical problems) and was told that I would be a burden to the other ward…so very sad. By the way - they processed my request in less than 48 hours.They were glad to get me off their hands…😦

May God bless you in your journey -
Annie
 
Dear Annie,

I am so sorry to hear about that…I don’t fully understand this situation, but I pray that the Lord show you His walk, and that all will work out for you.
 
Stavros said:
As a bit of a history: I was baptized five years ago, and was raised LDS (Mormon). When a person goes “inactive/less active” from the LDS church, they are still touted as members. For some LDS who leave the church, simply walking away is the best option. Resigning from the church can be messy, especially if the person still has True Believing Members in their family, as resignation is rarely anonymous. However, formally resigning can give many people who have left the Mormon church a sense of closure.

I was baptized five years ago, so technically according to the LDS church, I should be excommunicated. You know, denying the faith and all. However, I was fortunate in the fact that I was long out of the church before I got baptized. In 10 years, I’ve only gotten a call once from the leadership in the ward in my area.

After talking with my mother this weekend, I really came to a sort of peace about leaving the LDS church. While I was deliriously happy about being Catholic, I always held back talking about it to my mother since she was an active, or at least a believing, Mormon. My mom revealed to me over Christmas that she had started to go to the Baptist church in her town, and I told her that I had thought about attending the Catholic church.

I came clean with her this weekend and told her that I had actually been baptized five years ago. She said she was happy that I was going to church, and that I had found a religion that brought me closer to God. We even talked about being ex-Mormons, which was surreal. She told me that she had “confessed” to her new Baptist minister about being baptized Mormon and that she was reverting back to Baptist after being Mormon her entire adult life. Her pastor said, “Church isn’t for the perfect people, it’s for the sinners.” So she’s basically renounced the Mormon religion as well.

Not having the courage to send in my resignation letter has always made me feel like there was still a small part of me that was controlled by the Mormon church and fearful of retribution if they ever found out I was baptized. Having “the talk” with my Mom gave me the courage to write and send my exit letter (using the suggestions from MormonNoMore.com and Richard Packam’s site). The only reason I didn’t sent a letter years ago was because I didn’t want them talking to my mother and for her to be upset with me. But since she too has realized that the Mormon church is not true, I felt that I no longer had anything holding me back.

Here’s the contents of my letter, sent today by USPS Priority Mail, Notarized with Delivery Confirmation:
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👍👍👍

Awesome welcome home.

God bless

jesus g
 
Well yesterday I got my letter stating that they are forwarding it to the local bishop, enclosed in the letter was the “invitation” pamphlet. We’ll just have to see where it goes now 🤷
 
It sounds very difficult to leave the LDS and confusing.

I have a question though. Why do you have to resign, send in paper work and etc?

In my case. I stopped going to the Methodist church. Because I was too young to get there on my own. My granny was working at a bakery on Sundays. I started going to a Catholic parish in my teens. It was close to home and could walk with my friends. Later, as an adult. I became Catholic.

The point is, my family wasn’t ever harrassed by the Methodist church. Everyone is welcome in both faiths. You don’t even have to be a member. You are free to come and go.
 
gatewood1988 said:
Well yesterday I got my letter stating that they are forwarding it to the local bishop, enclosed in the letter was the “invitation” pamphlet. We’ll just have to see where it goes now 🤷
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I am sorry that it is taking so long for you. I am not quite sure why it is. I emailed my request to my bishop and stake president, stated I wanted it processed immediately and in a few days received a letter from Slat Lake dated two days after my request was submitted stating that I was no longer a member. I never received the pamphlet you spoke of. Like I said, they were probably just happy to not have to deal with me. I think maybe they did not like the fact that I knew my original request to switch wards was backed up by the Church Handbook of Instructions, which I stated in my firts letter. I don’t think they liked that I knew what my rights within the church were.😛

Annie
 
Annie_B said:
I am sorry that it is taking so long for you. I am not quite sure why it is. I emailed my request to my bishop and stake president, stated I wanted it processed immediately and in a few days received a letter from Slat Lake dated two days after my request was submitted stating that I was no longer a member. I never received the pamphlet you spoke of. Like I said, they were probably just happy to not have to deal with me. I think maybe they did not like the fact that I knew my original request to switch wards was backed up by the Church Handbook of Instructions, which I stated in my firts letter. I don’t think they liked that I knew what my rights within the church were.😛

Annie
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I just wonder if it really depends on your stake president and bishop on how it is handled. Of course I guess if you mail it directly to SLC that it’s probably handled differently. I wonder if they changed the procedure when the new H of I came out in Feb…
 
I still haven’t heard anything official, but I know my request was received, so I’ll wait patiently. At least I know I’m legally out, even if I’m not officially out.
 
Stavros,

And for everyone else here…please…go to your parish priest…and let him know…may be in confession or ask if it is needed, the sacrament of healing…so that you can experience the freedom of Christ and be free of any false guilt.

You are in need of spiritual healing…I have told the priest in confession some of my afflictions…pretty simple…just in a nutshell that comes to about 3 sentences or so…and while confessing my sins, not only am I absolved of them, I experience this great healing of some kind of affliction.

I extend this to everyone…to go to confession and on the side express to the priest…representing Christ present there for you…that you are experiencing this or that…and just want to be free in Jesus Christ…

Go in faith and the Good Lord will heal you.
 
RebeccaJ said:
Thanks, but I’m not sending in a letter…I’ll wait for them to excommunicate me… 😃 …it will make their rejection of me complete! I suspect it will never happen while my parents are living. Which, is fine by me.
…
VT tried once to bring me a plate of cookies for a birthday, years ago. I work full time and they kept coming over in the day, and then I am gone most nights with a full life of things to do and places to go, and so they didn’t find me home in the evenings. When she finally caught up to me, she scolded me for not being home to accept her cookies. Hello, I don’t know you and never asked you over, how about you call first?! I never saw them again either. I threw the cookies away after she left.
…
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I’ve never been Mormon, but if I had and were in your situation, I think I’d be tempted to do something to get them to realize that they should excommunicate me… like get a copy of my real, Christian baptismal certificate and mail it to their offices with some kind of a note… But I admit, I don’t know how morally licit or charitable that sort of thing would be according to Catholic teaching, so please don’t do it just 'cause I thought it would be fun… 😉

Second, speaking of charity, where does that lady get off scolding you for not being available for her charity? She’s the one who’s supposed to be exercising charity in that scenario, giving you cookies to fit your schedule, not you. That’s just common sense! 🤷 Silly people. lol
KathleenGee said:
…The Mormons are hoping to gain the some of same awe the Vatican and the Eternal City have…Catholicism documents, has theologians, inspires artists and musicians to make our churches worthy of the Lord’s presence among us. The Vatican became that way, not for its own self-serving interests and praise of men, but all for the glory of God.

Mormonism’s means to substantiate itself doesn’t have context, history, dates, theology, anthropology, science. It does not have the history of faithful Catholics, our saints, with the reality the Catholic Church has had the greatest impact on Western culture. Our library is the greatest in the world, and its documents open to the public. I read about Mormon worship environment, and it doesn’t have the same kind of symbols or form as ours, because its goals are different.
…
So Mormonism in Rome will likely be in a category of its own…of which we wait to see…
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I’m sure it will look like a toy castle built out of plastic facades and pink flamingos would sitting next to the Taj Mahal. You can’t fake antiquity, and you can’t dress up meaninglessness with the trappings of psuedo-symbolism.

I visited the pre-opening of a Mormon temple in Salt Lake City once, before it was consecrated and we “pagans” were locked out for good. Aside from the strange bull-studded baptismal font for those deplorable “proxy baptism for the dead” rites (which they, of course, didn’t mention), the symbolism of which just seems odd to me, the whole place felt about as sterile and shallow as an open house in one of those cookie-cutter housing developments in the 'burbs. Just to be on the safe side, though, when they offered me a Book of Mormon, I took the Spanish version since my comprehension of that language is only a distant second to my first language, English. (Didn’t want any fancy wording to trick me into buying any of the rubbish they were selling.) Though, I did pick up a pamphlet in which they admitted some of their blatantly-wrong/laughable “you can become a god” and “Jesus is Satan’s brother” teachings.
gatewood1988 said:
Stavros,
You inspired me my firend. I just sent mine too but I am trying via email first since I don’t have money to send it via snail mail lol. I have heard of some people getting lucky with the email route so I’ll try it. I have been putting it off for too long. Thank you for being an inspiration to me 😃 I hope you don’t mind, I borrowed alot of your letter lol 😃
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I’d like to echo all the congratulations and welcomes all you ex-Mormon Catholics have gotten so far. The Catholic Church is such a beautiful, welcoming, and Truth-filled Home to all of us. I thank God every day for His gift of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, and especially for His promise that the gates of Hades shall never prevail against the Church built on the chair of Peter. The House of God is the only House built on immoveable, unshakable Rock, and nothing can rend the Church of God from the foundation upon which He built it. The only way I’ll ever be tricked out of free, willing submission to the Bishop of Rome would be to have my memory of Catholicism completely wiped from my brain. Welcome Home! Blessed be the One, True God forever!
KathleenGee said:
Stavros,

And for everyone else here…please…go to your parish priest…and let him know…may be in confession or ask if it is needed, the sacrament of healing…so that you can experience the freedom of Christ and be free of any false guilt.
…
I extend this to everyone…to go to confession and on the side express to the priest…representing Christ present there for you…that you are experiencing this or that…and just want to be free in Jesus Christ…

Go in faith and the Good Lord will heal you.
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Confession is a truly beautiful and humbling Sacrament. Ever since the first time I went a little less than 2 and a half years ago, I have been completely free from a mild but nevertheless theretofore unbreakable addiction that had plagued me for a good decade, if not longer, until that day, January 1, 2009. The Grace available in the Sacrament of Reconciliation is truly powerful and lifegiving! Never forget to avail yourself of the Graces available in all the Sacraments of the Catholic Church. He is God and His Mercy endures forever!
 
Tiberius…

Thanks for your cheerful comments…they help people alot who have had experiences in very different belief systems…

Yes, and how fantastic you experienced the healing power of Christ in the confessional…
 
Tiberius1701 said:
I’ve never been Mormon, but if I had and were in your situation, I think I’d be tempted to do something to get them to realize that they should excommunicate me… like get a copy of my real, Christian baptismal certificate and mail it to their offices with some kind of a note… But I admit, I don’t know how morally licit or charitable that sort of thing would be according to Catholic teaching, so please don’t do it just 'cause I thought it would be fun… 😉
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Could be fun, but too passive-aggressive for me. 😛 Funny thing is, the Mormons who come over they know I haven’t been going to their church for decades. Not once has anyone asked me what I actually believe.
Second, speaking of charity, where does that lady get off scolding you for not being available for her charity? She’s the one who’s supposed to be exercising charity in that scenario, giving you cookies to fit your schedule, not you. That’s just common sense! 🤷 Silly people. lol
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It is cultural. Mormons do a lot for other Mormons and it is expected that everyone is playing along in the proper order. I should know that the Mormon ladies are going to bring me cookies and stick around my house until it happens…and act surprised.

Only thing is, I didn’t know, and was surprised. lol. Apparently, she was surprised (and frustrated) that I wasn’t sticking to the script.
 
Inishfree said:
It sounds very difficult to leave the LDS and confusing.

I have a question though. Why do you have to resign, send in paper work and etc?

In my case. I stopped going to the Methodist church. Because I was too young to get there on my own. My granny was working at a bakery on Sundays. I started going to a Catholic parish in my teens. It was close to home and could walk with my friends. Later, as an adult. I became Catholic.

The point is, my family wasn’t ever harrassed by the Methodist church. Everyone is welcome in both faiths. You don’t even have to be a member. You are free to come and go.
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Mormonism has a number of differences from Christianity.

One of which is the nearly cult-like approach to retention.

A Mormon who falls away will often be visited at least yearly by the local ward’s retention committee. They will also ask family members to apply pressure. They will also mail invites back monthly for a while (2 years, in several friends cases), and quarterly or yearly thereafter. They also will call on a similar schedule, saying things like, “Just calling to let you know we’re still praying for you.” It seems innocuous, until you realize that the only ways to stop it are the formal letter or returning to the LDS lifestyle.

Likewise, Mormons are not supposed to associate with fallen away Mormons. (Or members of the dissident Mormon groups, like the RLDS and FLDS.) And so the fallen away Mormon’s family often are the strongest force calling them back… because, once excommunicated or otherwise censured, they are supposed to shun the ex-mormon. And also, it means not being able to go to sibling’s weddings, namegivings, and such.
 
Aramis said:
Mormonism has a number of differences from Christianity.

One of which is the nearly cult-like approach to retention.

A Mormon who falls away will often be visited at least yearly by the local ward’s retention committee. They will also ask family members to apply pressure. They will also mail invites back monthly for a while (2 years, in several friends cases), and quarterly or yearly thereafter. They also will call on a similar schedule, saying things like, “Just calling to let you know we’re still praying for you.” It seems innocuous, until you realize that the only ways to stop it are the formal letter or returning to the LDS lifestyle.

Likewise, Mormons are not supposed to associate with fallen away Mormons. (Or members of the dissident Mormon groups, like the RLDS and FLDS.) And so the fallen away Mormon’s family often are the strongest force calling them back… because, once excommunicated or otherwise censured, they are supposed to shun the ex-mormon. And also, it means not being able to go to sibling’s weddings, namegivings, and such.
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I never got any such visits or requests to return. As a matter of fact it was as if nobody noticed I was not there. And I still have Mormon friends. So, what you say may be true in some cases but it is obviously not true in all cases.

Annie
 
Tiberius1701 said:
I’ve never been Mormon, but if I had and were in your situation, I think I’d be tempted to do something to get them to realize that they should excommunicate me… like get a copy of my real, Christian baptismal certificate and mail it to their offices with some kind of a note.
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I thought about that, but then I realized, no, to give them reason to excommunicate me would acknowledge that they have power over me. Which they do not. So a simple resignation was enough.
 
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