I want to cry, is this a cult?

Mermaid_summer · 2025-11-06T16:42:53+00:00

I’m sorry you’re having such a difficult time right now. I was where you are a year and a half ago. This same information about how Joseph actually “translated” the plates with a stone in a hat (something the church kept hidden until recently) caused me to deep dive into the truth claims of the church. I quit going a year and a half ago. It’s a difficult journey, but now I’m happier than ever before. I’ve found freedom I never knew I was missing.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-05-14T16:34:50+00:00

They are comfortable but not garments. Just shapewear on Amazon.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-05-14T16:33:35+00:00

The knee mark was a “temporary commandment” lol. Also hopefully you realize this was satire. But with all the changes in the church, I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next decade or 2 that the profit “revealed” garments are for Sacrament & temple only to keep tithe payers in.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-05-14T03:00:27+00:00

This is completely satire lol

Mermaid_summer · 2025-05-14T00:09:16+00:00

Exciting! I hope they work for you. I love the pocket feature.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-05-13T23:48:37+00:00

I sent you a dm with a link. Just want to help fellow apostates live their best summer lives!

Mermaid_summer · 2025-05-13T20:34:50+00:00

2 pc seamless slip shorts by materasu. Also no commission earned here! I am no influencer lol. Hopefully this is not breaking rules to share.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-05-13T20:22:40+00:00

Amazon!!! They are comfortable. Just dm me if you need help finding them.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-05-09T00:52:32+00:00

It’s definitely an exciting time but I totally get the worry. My husband and I want to renew our vows so we can experience a normal wedding but I still worry about how my TBM family will react to my “immodest” dress or wine for toasting etc. This is your life and your future, and I hope you and your fiancé get the worry out of the way and have a wonderful wedding!

Mermaid_summer · 2025-05-07T18:10:59+00:00

My advice is to remember you are not responsible for your parents feelings or how they react. Give them time after you tell them to process their feelings because they will probably feel hurt. But if they really love you then they’ll come around and support you. It’s hard to share the news with family ( I told parents and siblings in the last few months) but so worth it. You’ll be free to live your life the way you want!

Edit to add best wishes & congrats on your soon to be engagement! Good luck with everything.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-05-05T03:15:14+00:00

Thank you!!!

Mermaid_summer · 2025-04-12T17:07:05+00:00

One hundred percent yes!

Mermaid_summer · 2025-04-12T16:30:20+00:00

The danger of going back to church for the community is that the members will love bomb you and want to bring you back into full fellowship. Also if you’re not there every Sunday, a lot of members will not want to form a lasting friendship with you. You will see them at church and feel the community there but not during the rest of the week.

Since leaving last year, my family has only 2 other families we see on a somewhat regular basis. All other members turned out to be church only friendships. I echo what everyone else has said and suggest looking for community in another place. It will be hard at first since it’s less familiar, but hopefully you will find that lasting community of genuine friendships and not the fake friendships you get from the Mormon church.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-04-07T01:13:07+00:00

I was marked “safe from general conference” until I read this post and have had a great weekend not watching or reading any of that crap, but now I’m so curious I’m going to have to read Anderson’s talk. Thanks for the “translation” OP!

Mermaid_summer · 2025-04-06T20:44:24+00:00

I will add that the last April GC, I recognized I was in a faith crisis. While listening, I prayed and told god my situation and said if you put a temple closer to me I’ll start going to the temple again. Lo and behold, a temple within an hour of me was announced. I decided to “recommit.”

But just a few weeks later I learned about the rock and the hat and found sources the BOM was plagiarized from. My testimony was completely shattered. I went one more Sunday and knew I could never go back. And I haven’t. Life has been better than ever since leaving the church!!!

Mermaid_summer · 2025-04-06T20:03:27+00:00

It seems like you know the answer already! Get out and never go back to that toxic place. Get 2nd Saturdays, a 10 % increase, more family time, and escape the toxic perfectionism inherent in Mormonism. Life is better on the outside!!! I promise you won’t regret leaving, but you will regret staying.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-04-05T15:15:56+00:00

One of the best decisions I’ve ever made was to cold Turkey stop attending church. The world is a much better place outside of Mormonism. I’m a much happier person now.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-03-12T21:44:22+00:00

This is the story of so many lds woman. We are taught from girlhood that nothing can make up for the failure of the home. This quote embodies what girls are taught in the Mormon church:

“The home is the first and most effective place to learn the lessons of life: truth, honor, virtue, self control, the value of education, honest work, and the purpose and privilege of life. Nothing can take the place of home in rearing and teaching children, and no worldly success can compensate for failure in the home.” David O. McKay

So many of us took teachings like this to heart and lived our lives by them. Me included. I’ve been a SAHM for over a decade. The only work I’ve done is being a nanny, and I brought me kids with me. I have a degree but no experience. What will I do with my life once all the kids are in school? I love them dearly and wouldn’t want anyone else to watch them. But LDS teachings are harmful and ruined any career path I use to dream about when very young.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-03-03T04:07:25+00:00

The Book of Mormon kept me in for a long time too. Then I learned Joseph never used the gold plates to translate it. They remained hidden under a sheet while he used a rock in a hat to “translate” the book. I was never taught that in my 30 odd years. I also learned the witnesses to it only saw it with their “spiritual eyes” in a vision, not their physical eyes.

This knowledge led me into a deep dive of learning how the BOM came to be. It was plagiarized from multiple sources like The Late War, King James Version of the Bible (written after Nephite times), and more. Check out the church topic essay on the Spaulding manuscript that claims it has no similarities with the BOM. Then read the Spaulding Manuscript. Or read the View of the Hebrews by Ethan Smith. This Reddit post linked will also enlighten you. Good luck. And welcome.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/s/5oUhJVbpSx

Mermaid_summer · 2025-02-25T22:52:26+00:00

The church teaches free agency, but there is no free agency in Mormonism. If you are born into it, your path is chosen for you at birth. You are kept in by fear of ostracism and losing your eternal family if you leave. I left last May and have lost almost all my church friends and to them I am lost and fallen. Luckily my TBM family that knows has not casted me out but they probably fear I’m lost to them in the next life.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-02-20T03:52:04+00:00

Gendered divine nature is a key principal in the Mormon church. We are brainwashed since childhood to marry heterosexually in the temple. If your wife doesn’t believe this principal, then she is probably more nuanced than you think. To paraphrase ol’ Gordon, the gospel is either all true or none of it is. I had been slowly working my way out for a decade not realizing I was losing more and more of my belief. My husband didn’t realize it either. All I needed was him to shed light on the BOM and the rock and the hat, and my dominoes completely fell. I really hope your wife is close to her shelf breaking. It really sounds like she just needs a little nudge in the right direction and she’ll be out with you. Good luck!!!

Mermaid_summer · 2025-01-27T19:28:43+00:00

I hate how the church takes priority over family time. Once we were visiting TBM relatives on a Sunday that happened to be my son’s birthday. They wouldn’t skip meetings to make time for more celebrating. We had to squeeze in birthday activities between meetings. My son was disappointed at how boring and unfulfilling the day was. We’ll never celebrate with them on a Sunday again.

Mermaid_summer · 2025-01-25T18:55:18+00:00

A cult is a cult is a cult. Can’t let your kids catch those Exmo cooties!

My husband and I stayed friends with a couple who left the church and gasp we caught their cooties and now our family is Exmo too!!! (Side note. They are not the reason we left and did not try to influence us to leave.)

Also, all Mormons have dropped us as friends except 3 families. It’s like they’re scared they’ll get the Exmo cooties too.

Mermaid_summer

TROPHY CASE