Posted on 03/24/2013 7:29:58 PM PDT by Colofornian
(This was actually a reply to another thread but thought I'd re-post it as its own thread)
I think I was at least partially responsible for approximately 10 friends and my entire family (parents & siblings).
I may have lucked out but some things to note that I think helped me was:
1) I never came across as angry or bitter. I was always nice, friendly and self assured (but not arrogant or condescending)
2) They all knew I was a "good" Mormon so they were all very curious as to why I left when it wasn't because of being offended or sinning.
3) I did my research. I studied up on all the issues both pro & anti. I was able to intelligently convey to them the historical/doctrinal problems with Mormonisim that they weren't aware of.
4) I made it clear to them to them that it wasn't me trying to find an excuse to leave the church but my SINCERE desire for absolute truth which led me out. I started out reading anti books on my mission so that I would know how to DEFEND the church, but I gradually realized that most of the stuff was actually true and that the church couldn't really be defended. My eyes gradually were opened to the fact that the church may not be what it claimed to be.
5) I NEVER ARGUED with them about the issues with the church. I would share the information I learned, give my opinion, but never got in any kind of heated debate or let emotions get in the way. If they came up with some rebuttal, I would give mine and just say "I guess this is just how I see it." If they engage me long enough just the info I provide to them would begin to sink in even if they wouldn't admit it the time. Deep down they knew the things I was saying about the church couldn't be defended. I never "railed" against the church. I explained what things "bothered" me and made me "question" things, but I never came off as "attacking" the church. I would never use the word "cult." I would never call the leaders of the church names. I never used words like "evil." For example I would say something something like,
"I was very troubled by the fact that Joseph Smith would marry young girls and wives of other men. It just doesn't make sense TO ME why God would command this or tolerate it. I PERSONALLY don't believe this is something God would sanction."
instead of saying,
"Joseph Smith was a lying two timing adulterer and pedophile!"
In talking with Mormons, you have to start out slowly with them. You have to soften your words. Be careful not to put them on the defensive. Do NOT make it so they feel like they have to defend the church.
Once they start to grasp the magnitude of the problems, THEN you can start "telling it like it is." You just have to be careful to not come across as too "anti."
6) I never forced my beliefs or knowledge about the church on them. If they wanted to talk, I would share it with them, but I wouldn't "force my anti-Mormonism" on them. I was open and honest about what I believed, but only when they brought it up.
As many posters here have stated before, Mormons generally have to be "ready" for the truth. Many of my friends or family were active TBM's but they were struggling internally with some aspect of Mormonism, so they were more open to talking about the church and it ended up being easier for them to transition out (than say other more entrenched Mormons).
For the entrenched Mormons (I was actually one of them), they have to have the willingness to FULLY study the historical/doctrinal issues. Sharing with them, in just conversation, some "tidbits" of truth probably won't budge them, if they are hardcore. They would need to actually take the TIME and sit down and do some research and read about ALL the problems about the church. However most uber TBM's will get scared after a few pages and stop researching. Just a couple anti-Mormon arguments will merely put a dent in their armor, but if they are ACTUALLY willing to sit down and read a book like The Changing World of Mormonism by the Tanners, then I'd say they actually have very high probability of de-converting.
“but i never could a done it without the help of pope ‘ima quitter’ benedict”
If you can de-convert a Mormon, then they weren’t a Mormon in the first place. A testimony is a personal revelation from God, not from some slick salesman. If a slick salesman got to somebody, they didn’t have a testimony at all.
I don't understand this remark? Are you disparaging Benedict? If so why?
On the contrary, the Mormon in question may very well have had this so called “revelation”, but as made very clear in the Holy Bible, evil will come in the guise of the light. Once exposed to the information and using the mind God gives us for discerning which spirits are true to his purpose and those distorting same our now free Mormon learned this “revelation” came from another source, not God.
The “Burning Bosom” was heart burn, just not gastrointestinal...
““but i never could a done it without the help of pope ‘ima quitter’ benedict”
Huh?
A testimony is nothing more than a WFF (i.e. warm fuzzy feeling). Every cult and false religion (JW's, Muslims, Hindus, Christian Scientists, etc.) has numerous adherents who will sincerely claim this type of personal revelation. Some even sacrifice their lives based on it. Obviously, they can't all be right.
That is one of several reasons why there can be no substitute for hard evidence. Period.
ejonesie22,
Go ahead and deny/redicule the workings of Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost.
If you believe the Holy Ghost is ineffective .... I would argue that you really aren’t a Christian.
Can you be a Christian and ignorant of the Holy Ghost at the same time? ...I really don’t think so.
Christ promised the Holy Ghost to those who truly seek him.
I solemnly request that cease your blasphemy of the Holy Ghost and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
How can Christ’s greatest promise have no meaning to you?
Re-read the scriptures because the presence of the Holy Ghost and a witness of Jesus Christ go hand in hand.
It’s not a warm fuzy .... it is the essence of Christianity itself.
listen, even though I do not go to Mass much, and am very disenchanted with my religion, when you grow up in such an environment, its almost impossible to completely deny it....
I'm sure Mormons feel the same...afterall, its a culture thing too....all your early experiences and family experiences and all your friends when you were little centered around being Catholic...
Sorry Cherry
There is such a thing as revelation from God through the Holy Ghost.
As a LDS Mormon I’ve had probably a half dozen experiences where i know God approves of my service to him and my beliefs are acceptable to him.
Even in my most disinchanted phases of my 52 year life, I know that to deny those experiences that were a gift from God through the Holy Ghost, would exclude me from his kingdom.
Again I believe with all my heart the God the Father Lives, and that his Son, Jesus Christ is my reedemer through whom I can obtain salvation. Amen
Of course, the "flip side" of my last post is this:
A very high % of the Mormons you encounter served a Mormon mission.
We need to note those 9 things I listed in my last post (post #12)... and then ask former and present Lds missionaries another question:
Reading some other threads I know that you are not LDS anymore...what denomination do you now claim?
Teppe, did Joseph Smith falsely prophesy in D&C 20:8-9 & 27:5 when he declared that the Book of Mormon was the "fulness of the everlasting gospel"???
Or, is it that the Mormon church could "leave out" all these prime teachings as not being "gospel-worthy?"
So since you have set yourself up as the final judge of all things Christian ....
What is your opinion of 2 Corinthians 12:2.
Where Paul talks about a man caught up into the third heaven?
Sounds surprisingly like LDS doctrine.
#1...I was NEVER Lds...but I am a descendent of a polygamist leader within the Lds church.
#2...I am an Evangelical Protestant.
Discuss the ISSUES all you want - not the posters.
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