When I did this, my wife became disillusioned with me, and after a while decided she would punish me by having an affair with a ward clerk from another stake.
Hold the phone. . . she blamed YOU for her having an affair??
She blamed me for not living up to the sacred contract of our temple vows when I stepped away from the Church. I had destroyed our promised life together--actually, our promised eternal life together. She saw it as a betrayal most profound.
I recognize that often, as humans, we do stuff, and then justify what we've done by creating a narrative about it. But in this case, she had a point.
In our case, it was "families are forever until the husband reads a book."
Hold the phone. . . she blamed YOU for her having an affair??
She blamed me for not living up to the sacred contract of our temple vows when I stepped away from the Church. I had destroyed our promised life together--actually, our promised eternal life together. She saw it as a betrayal most profound.
I recognize that often, as humans, we do stuff, and then justify what we've done by creating a narrative about it. But in this case, she had a point.
In our case, it was "families are forever until the husband reads a book."
Hi Morley, thank you for the response. I can understand that marriage would make the process of accepting doubt and leaving the church considerably more difficult. I can imagine why you might try asking missionaries and church leaders to help you overcome doubt. I do not know of a way to brush doubts aside when they become strong.
In some ways I had it much easier leaving at the time I started college. I continued no real contact with the church in the following years. It was some 15 years later I thought to review the church and took missionary lessons. I also read Fawn Brodie's book. It was a shock. With that shock I decided to look at Tanner material. I do not think either of those sources and that information is necessary to think the church claims untrue. They are a slap in the face, however.
Thanks guys, Huck and Morley, everyone, for those back stories!
I too left Mormonism at an early age not due to learning of the dirty laundry of Morm history, but more just not seeing congruence in Mormon god pyramid theory. For instance, I remember clearly, as early as eight or ten, pondering over the idea that - my spirit is an exact replica of my mortal body. Yet, I very much look like my dad. He looks like his dad. etc. How can I look like my mortal ancestors and also look like my spirit body ancestors? I'm guessing someone on the MAD board has an answer but, it wasn't around back then and I'm pretty confidant the answer would have very little congruence then or now.
Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever. - Lee Marvin/Monte Walsh
One other item stands out: Bishop Snow of Manti having his young rival brutally castrated to get him out of the picture in order to polygamate with his sweetheart. Brigham Young praised him for the action because Brigham, like Bishop Snow, were both monsters.
