What's new

Why can't people who leave the LDS church move on?

Everyone I know that has left the LDS church can't seem to move with their life's. They are obsessed with church still. It's all they talk and think about. Constant Facebook posts about the church or anti religious comments. The people talk more about the Church now then when they were members.

So why can't they move on to other endeavors? The Church is now consuming more of their time now then it was beforehand. I just don't understand it. It makes no sense.

Everyone I know that is a member of the LDS church can't seem to talk about anything else. They are obsessed with the church. It's all they talk and think about. Constant Facebook posts about the church or religious comments. The people talk more about the Church even as they get older.

So why can't they develop any sense of identity outside their membership in the LDS Church? The Church consumes nearly all of their time and thoughts. I just don't understand it. It makes no sense.
 
No. If the money was specified for just about anything then it should only be used for that.

But unless it was specified that the money be turned over to the parents in case the beneficiary doesn't go on a mission, the parents shouldn't look at it like they won the lottery either.

I agree with this.
 
Snarky comments aside, I hear this all the time, usually from people who have made no effort to try to answer the question for themselves and find out why ex Mormons might 'obsess' about the Mormon Church. How about trying a bit of simple empathy, before spouting such nonsense?

As someone who has left the Mormon Church, I think I understand well why. Here's just a couple of many possible reasons:

1. Having spent, make that devoted, decades of one's life to a religion only to find out later that it is not only false but that its leaders have used (in their opinion) questionable at best and highly deceptive at worst methods to hide aspects of Church history, or things that would have allowed them to make informed decisions, there can arise a great deal of bitterness at being deceived and profound sense of alienation. Many can't move immediately on from this and resume their lives, they need time to process and work through it. You really don't have any idea how difficult and traumatic this can be until you go through it yourself. Many understandably can't just 'move on' without a period of anger, bitterness, grief, etc. It can take time.
2. People seek out others for social support who share their experiences and views. Thus, the thriving ex-Mormon social media sites and networks. Particularly for those who are not accepted by their spouses, families, and friends after coming out, or who are judged, or condemned, or have their morality questioned, they can't turn to family and friends, so they go where they know people understand and don't judge (in theory). There they can talk about and again process their experience.

When I left the LDS Church, I spent some time at ex-Mormon social media sites, debated on discussion boards with LDS members, etc. I was angry, bitter, embarrassed, feeling like I wasted years of life on what I believe 'with ever fiber of my being' is a fraud. I honestly felt like I had wasted my life away. I wanted to talk about it. I wanted social support. I wanted friends who knew what I was going through. It took me about two years, and then I moved on. I have no interest anymore in any ex-Mormon sites, religion discussion boards, or even discussing Mormonism, except if people ask (inevitable since I'm from Utah). That said, I must deal with the Mormon Church every day, as my wife remains active, as do my family on both sides. That, and I live in a state dominated culturally and politically by the Mormon Church. As much as I would love to 'leave it alone,' it won't leave me alone, so I must deal with it still. I tend to do so mostly by ignoring it to the extent I can, but occasionally I am dragged back into it, like when I feel compelled to respond to ignorant posts, like this one.
 
My parents left the church when I was pretty young. I don't remember them being overly hung-up about it. But all the same, we lived in SLC and we were surrounded by LDS culture, so it was part of our life. When it was an annoyance we were annoyed, when it was familiar and pleasant we enjoyed it. In my early teen years I went through what I think is a pretty standard activist phase where I wanted to debate religion and politics with people and tell them how wrong they were. I grew out of it.

But my mother converted after she started dating my father. For her leaving was pretty easy. My father made a special trip to southern Utah to tell his family he was leaving the church. It was much harder for them and for him.

When I was 14 and my grandmother on my father's side passed away we attended the service. I was pretty offended by one of my uncle's eulogies where he used his time to encourage those of us who had left the church to come back so we could all be part of an eternal family. I don't really understand LDS doctrine but what I was hearing during his eulogy was essentially that there were some of us (my immediate family) who were going to screw it up for everyone else and who were probably causing my deceased grandmother pain and suffering beyond the grave. I haven't wanted to have much to do with that side of my family since. I loved my grandma. I didn't need to be lectured and given a guilt trip at her funeral. I'm sure my uncle meant well and his message was heartfelt, but it really, really put me off. I wanted to stand up and leave, but I was only 14.
 
Snarky comments aside, I hear this all the time, usually from people who have made no effort to try to answer the question for themselves and find out why ex Mormons might 'obsess' about the Mormon Church. How about trying a bit of simple empathy, before spouting such nonsense?

As someone who has left the Mormon Church, I think I understand well why. Here's just a couple of many possible reasons:

1. Having spent, make that devoted, decades of one's life to a religion only to find out later that it is not only false but that its leaders have used (in their opinion) questionable at best and highly deceptive at worst methods to hide aspects of Church history, or things that would have allowed them to make informed decisions, there can arise a great deal of bitterness at being deceived and profound sense of alienation. Many can't move immediately on from this and resume their lives, they need time to process and work through it. You really don't have any idea how difficult and traumatic this can be until you go through it yourself. Many understandably can't just 'move on' without a period of anger, bitterness, grief, etc. It can take time.
2. People seek out others for social support who share their experiences and views. Thus, the thriving ex-Mormon social media sites and networks. Particularly for those who are not accepted by their spouses, families, and friends after coming out, or who are judged, or condemned, or have their morality questioned, they can't turn to family and friends, so they go where they know people understand and don't judge (in theory). There they can talk about and again process their experience.

When I left the LDS Church, I spent some time at ex-Mormon social media sites, debated on discussion boards with LDS members, etc. I was angry, bitter, embarrassed, feeling like I wasted years of life on what I believe 'with ever fiber of my being' is a fraud. I honestly felt like I had wasted my life away. I wanted to talk about it. I wanted social support. I wanted friends who knew what I was going through. It took me about two years, and then I moved on. I have no interest anymore in any ex-Mormon sites, religion discussion boards, or even discussing Mormonism, except if people ask (inevitable since I'm from Utah). That said, I must deal with the Mormon Church every day, as my wife remains active, as do my family on both sides. That, and I live in a state dominated culturally and politically by the Mormon Church. As much as I would love to 'leave it alone,' it won't leave me alone, so I must deal with it still. I tend to do so mostly by ignoring it to the extent I can, but occasionally I am dragged back into it, like when I feel compelled to respond to ignorant posts, like this one.


I don't see how its ignorant? As an example my brother in law spends hours each day on ex-mormon websites. His Facebook is filled with anti-mormon stuff. He left the church 4 years ago.........

I spend 3 hours a week at church and barely do my home teaching. I bet my brother in law spends 3x as much time a week focusing on the LDS church than I do.
 
I don't think you guys get it. This thread is about Beanclown. It's not about other people.

Beanclown is still in the church. Beanclown doesn't understand why other people who left the church might have negative feelings about their experiences. Therefore, those people are now irrationally obsessed with something they had no interest in before. All of them. There is no equivalency or justification.

Beanclown lived his life a specific way. Beanclown's parents had a specific parenting strategy. If you were parented differently and the terms of your parenting changed, too bad. Only the way beanclown was parented is valid. If you expected anything different then you are lazy and have no reasons to have raw feelings about your relationship with your parents changed. It doesn't matter if things changed in an effort to manipulate you. If you have bad feelings about it, then you are lazy. Only Beanclown's life experiences and beliefs are valid.

Science > your opinion. Beanclown's understanding of the secrets of life is well documented. That's why he's the most respected poster on the board.

You have quite the imagination.

My only point was that people shouldn't judge how other people spend their extra income when it comes to helping out adult family members.
 
I don't see how its ignorant? As an example my brother in law spends hours each day on ex-mormon websites. His Facebook is filled with anti-mormon stuff. He left the church 4 years ago.........

I spend 3 hours a week at church and barely do my home teaching. I bet my brother in law spends 3x as much time a week focusing on the LDS church than I do.

Guys, I have some breaking news.

I know this guy who spends approx. 10 hours a week reading about a topic relevant to a long portion of his life. He thinks about it a lot and even posts about it on facebook.

I only spend maybe 4 hours a week on the same thing, even though I still do it.

Obviously my behavior is the only possible baseline of being perfectly reasonable. That guy....he's obsessed.
 
Guys, I have some breaking news.

I know this guy who spends approx. 10 hours a week reading about a topic relevant to a long portion of his life. He thinks about it a lot and even posts about it on facebook.

I only spend maybe 4 hours a week on the same thing, even though I still do it.

Obviously my behavior is the only possible baseline of being perfectly reasonable. That guy....he's obsessed.


Think of it this way:

Its like me being a huge Jazz fan and coming on here 1-2 hours a day to discuss the Jazz. But then I decided I'm not a Jazz fan anymore. Not only that but I'm a huge Lakers fan and I really really hate everything about the Jazz.

But instead of MOVING ON to the Lakers forum and discuss their upcoming season.....I stay on this Jazz website and discuss the Jazz and everything I don't like about them....for 3 hours a day.....

Let me know if you are still confused and I can have my 5 year old draw you a picture.
 
Think of it this way:

Its like me being a huge Jazz fan and coming on here 1-2 hours a day. But then I decided I'm not a Jazz fan anymore. Not only that but I'm a huge Lakers fan and I really really hate everything about the Jazz.

But instead of MOVING ON to the Lakers forum and discuss their upcoming season.....I stay on this Jazz website and discuss the Jazz and everything I dont like about them....for 3 hours a day.....

Let me know if you are still confused and I can have my 5 year old draw you a picture.

Oh, nowwww I get it.


£¥£
 
My only point was that people shouldn't judge how other people spend their extra income when it comes to helping out adult family members.

Sweeping generalizations pertaining to any issue are nothing more than unpasteurized bull-****. But this habit of looking at things as black-or-white has always been your thing via your persona on Jazzfanz.
 
Think of it this way:

Its like me being a huge Jazz fan and coming on here 1-2 hours a day to discuss the Jazz. But then I decided I'm not a Jazz fan anymore. Not only that but I'm a huge Lakers fan and I really really hate everything about the Jazz.

But instead of MOVING ON to the Lakers forum and discuss their upcoming season.....I stay on this Jazz website and discuss the Jazz and everything I don't like about them....for 3 hours a day.....

Let me know if you are still confused and I can have my 5 year old draw you a picture.

So they're like ncoloradojazz? That does suck.
 
Bean - you seem to have an unhealthy obsession with these people.

Why can't you just let it go?
 
Think of it this way:

Its like me being a huge Jazz fan and coming on here 1-2 hours a day to discuss the Jazz. But then I decided I'm not a Jazz fan anymore. Not only that but I'm a huge Lakers fan and I really really hate everything about the Jazz.

But instead of MOVING ON to the Lakers forum and discuss their upcoming season.....I stay on this Jazz website and discuss the Jazz and everything I don't like about them....for 3 hours a day.....

Let me know if you are still confused and I can have my 5 year old draw you a picture.

Sigging
 
Everyone I know that is a member of the LDS church can't seem to talk about anything else. They are obsessed with the church. It's all they talk and think about. Constant Facebook posts about the church or religious comments. The people talk more about the Church even as they get older.

So why can't they develop any sense of identity outside their membership in the LDS Church? The Church consumes nearly all of their time and thoughts. I just don't understand it. It makes no sense.

Your play on words makes no sense. What does make sense is when someone is involved in a religion or activity that they talk about it or are obsessed.

Being obsessed with something they are no longer affiliated with makes no sense.
 
Your play on words makes no sense. What does make sense is when someone is involved in a religion or activity that they talk about it or are obsessed.

Being obsessed with something they are no longer affiliated with makes no sense.

Are you affiliated with ex-Mormonism? Cuz you sure seem obsessed with it right now
 
Ha, I'm a BYU fan. I don't see the BYU football team as a representative of the church though, even if they do themselves. That probably doesn't make sense but whatever.

When it comes to holier than thou attitudes, every religion and, especially, culture seems to have that. The religious faux-superiority from mormons and other denominations doesn't bother me as much as ethnocentrism, although they are close. I could elaborate but I don't like to type for long periods of time. I'll just say that living here in South Korea gives me another perspective on a lot of things. These are things I couldn't see or experience whilst living within a mission bubble.

All of you people are waaaaaaaay off topic. Let me get us back to the relevant issue here.


Let me start with you Safetydan. You seem like a cool guy. I like you. I think of this every time I see a post from you. I know you've probably heard this before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM4okRvCg2g


Secondly.... there is no second thing. I am obsessed with the safety dance and I no longer wear a hat.
 
As someone that did not have any financial help from my family maybe I can explain where Beans bitterness comes from>(I could be way off the mark though)

I have always paid my own bills. It drives me crazy when people in their twenties whine that their parents aren't supporting them. Imo you have every right to be pissed at your parents but to use your lack of access to a trust fund as an excuse not to attend college is bs. There are plenty of people that have had no other choice and have gotten it done irregardless. I hope to go back to school this winter. I will be paying out of pocket and I have a family to support.
The reason I haven't completed a college education is because I didn't, period. Excuses are like *** holes everybody has one and they all stink.
Being distraught that your parents thieved money from you (on the grounds of moral superiority) is an excuse?
 
Having spent, make that devoted, decades of one's life to a religion only to find out later that it is not only false but that its leaders have used (in their opinion) questionable at best and highly deceptive at worst methods to hide aspects of Church history, or things that would have allowed them to make informed decisions, there can arise a great deal of bitterness at being deceived and profound sense of alienation. Many can't move immediately on from this and resume their lives, they need time to process and work through it. You really don't have any idea how difficult and traumatic this can be until you go through it yourself. Many understandably can't just 'move on' without a period of anger, bitterness, grief, etc. It can take time.

And there are a whole lot of people that realize this on the outset and cower before it. Straight up chicken ****.
 
Your play on words makes no sense. What does make sense is when someone is involved in a religion or activity that they talk about it or are obsessed.

Being obsessed with something they are no longer affiliated with makes no sense.
For a long time you were on my ignore list but then I thought you might have matured a little so I took you off. This thread has clearly demonstrated to me that I was wrong. You're back on ignore.
 
Top