Skip to main content

About Me


I grew up in a mixed faith family. I say mixed faith even though both of my parents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS/Mormon) because my mother was always the "spiritual leader" in the family with a long history of Mormon ancestors, and my father was a convert who regularly shared his alternative perspectives on church teachings. I guess you could say I had a healthy dose of skepticism even as a child since I was constantly exposed to differences of opinion regarding belief.

Even though I wouldn't consider my father a staunch Mormon, he supported our family going to church and participating in church activities. He baptized my siblings and I when we turned 8, kept a temple recommend, was partially active (maybe once every few months), and help fund my mission. He was never shy to tell us about his non-Mormon past and to encourage us to pursue truth. I see myself a lot like my dad in my own faith transition.

My mother grew up in a large Mormon family, whose parents were Mormon, whose parents were also Mormon, whose parents were also Mormons, whose parents were pioneers and Utah settlers who knew Joseph Smith personally. I was told stories about my amazing Mormon family history as a child and taught how important faith is. My mom's answer to almost any crisis or trial was to pray and have faith. I love my mom and respect her faith. 

So how did I make the jump from full blown Mormonism to being a non-believing, heathen, apostate atheist? It has nothing to do with being offended at church, I don't have any favorite "sins" that I just can't let go of, it had nothing to do with church policy or doctrine. One day, I asked myself a simple question and tried to be as intellectually honest with myself as possible. I asked, do I really believe in God? 

At first, my indoctrination answered for me "of course!" But the answer changed the more I asked myself follow-up questions:
"Well, I do believe...but what exactly do I believe about God?"
"How is God explained in the scriptures?"
"Do I accept that as true?"
"Do I believe in the supernatural?"

I've always been interested in other churches and belief systems, on my mission I was able to talk to many people from other religions and learn about different beliefs. I came across all kinds of supernatural claims, supposed miracles, answered prayers, and good feelings. But a foundational belief in God seems to always be based on the same thing, faith. So what is faith? Is faith reliable? I will explore faith in the blog and offer some of my own insights as to whether or not faith is a good enough reason to accept a belief as true.

My mental journey out of Mormonism and theism has been one I've kept internal and secret from my friends and family. As you can expect, coming out as a non-believer tends to result in major backlash and negative repercussions when everyone you love and interact with adhere to the same belief system. I've even kept this aspect of my personality a secret from my wife and kids as I am afraid of the tension and issues it would cause. Perhaps someday I will make the jump to reveal my unbelief, and if that day comes, I will do my best to document the results here. 

I prefer to remain anonymous and I would please ask if you do know who I am or know my name to respect my privacy. Please do not comment or mention my name in this blog.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Telling My Wife I Don't Believe

I finally told my wife that I no longer believe. At the beginning of this year, The Mormon Church made some significant changes to the ceremonies in the temple. Growing up in the church, it was common to hear how priesthood ordinances like baptism and temple work were unchanging and had to be done exactly to script. Because of this, we would frequently mock the Catholic church for how often they change their ceremonies and practices to suit more modern audiences. However, now that there are several changes being made to the Mormon ceremonies, most members of the church are praising these amazing "new revelations."

An Introduction

The goal of this blog is to express my own journey out of theistic belief with an emphasis on LDS (Latter Day Saints/Mormon) indoctrination. I will not be attacking specific doctrines or church history. Rather, It is my hope that by working through my own thoughts and struggles I can inspire and support those who may be in similar situations and to inform others how this transition can be a difficult one. I plan on exploring topics like faith, morals, the supernatural, depression, and more. Please feel free to comment and discuss as I am open to alternative perspectives and insight. For more info, please visit my about me page.

Hope For My Kids

My oldest son has a very intuitive mind. Even when he was a toddler he would think things through very carefully and be really observant. As he grew up, he would constantly ask questions about how something worked or what it does. I even remember when he was about 4 years old, he sincerely asked my wife why he should love Jesus. He asked: I don't really know him, he's not here, so why do I need to love him? I think my wife answered something about how even if we don't see him, we should still love him because he's the savior. He has asked these types of questions about the church and my wife usually gives the standard church answer. If he asks me, I try to turn it back on him and ask what he thinks. I think it's a great exercise in critical and skeptical thinking.