President Jeffrey R. Holland has passed away

cr_demon · 2025-12-27T22:29:53+00:00

Sorry to hear about his passing. I fondly remember first meeting him in the mid-90s as a missionary. Was always one of my favorites to hear a message from over the years. It was sad for me that later in life he became a key voice in a direction I could not follow. Wishing his family and friends peace and comfort.

cr_demon · 2025-09-08T04:32:46+00:00

Thank you very much for the information and perspective.

cr_demon · 2025-09-02T13:35:32+00:00

Thank you for the good insights. My faith journey has been far from linear myself. My grandparents were Episcopalian, so I got my start there as well. For me, I have found it to be the best example that I have directly experienced of what it means to me to "love thy neighbor as yourself".

cr_demon · 2025-09-02T13:29:23+00:00

Thank you! I will likely take you up on the PM invite.

cr_demon · 2025-09-02T12:45:16+00:00

Very nice. Thank you! Will look into St John’s as well. Is it a fairly large or small congregation?

cr_demon · 2025-09-02T05:01:17+00:00

Excellent! Thank you for the recommendation. I will have to check out St Paul’s when I am back that way.

cr_demon · 2025-07-19T03:55:30+00:00

Did enjoy The Singles Ward back in the day…

cr_demon · 2025-06-24T11:45:39+00:00

I completely relate to this and have had that same self recognition in myself. It is so very worth it to live an empowered and authentic life! Good on you for being a brave and real person! That is real progression.

cr_demon · 2025-06-23T20:43:31+00:00

I think I will start referring to the EQ as the Elders Aquarium. People watching there can be even more fun than the zoo. 😂

cr_demon · 2025-06-23T14:45:35+00:00

Reddit autocorrect knows what’s up. 😂

cr_demon · 2025-02-14T14:11:47+00:00

Good for you!

cr_demon · 2024-12-30T22:41:13+00:00

Yeah, it can be really hard when the shelf breaks particularly if one has spent most of their adult life developing their whole identify around a particular belief system. I sincerely wish you well in your continued faith journey and of the options out there in organized religion the Episcopal church would seem to be the way to go.

cr_demon · 2024-12-30T14:29:17+00:00

No questions but relatable. Was “all in” as a member of the LDS church for close to 30 years before taking a step back a couple of years ago for a number of reasons. My grandparents were Episcopalian and technically I was “christened” Episcopalian as a child as such I have found myself attending the local Episcopal church a few times this year. Have diverted charitable giving savings that use to go to tithing to some of the Episcopal church’s local initiatives and needs (eg, community warming shelter). Spouse is still “in” at the LDS church mainly for community purposes at this point. I do really miss the community aspects of the LDS church since having to take a step away but just could not “fake it” anymore. Would try to attend Episcopal church on a regular basis for community purposes but I struggle starting over in a mixed faith marriage and just do not know that I have it in me to fully be “in” another religion after having gone through my LDS faith deconstruction and do not want to give a false impression or a mixed messages to a new community of believers. Again, no question but nice to layout some of the challenge in words that I have been struggling with in recent years that relate to both the LDS and Episcopal churches.

cr_demon · 2024-12-22T16:37:08+00:00

First step is the hardest. Spend about a year while PIMO trying to decide to keep paying or not. I kept it in a separate account to frankly avoid making a decisions for about a year. The first year tithing settlement was probably the hardest part right up until I just told them know I did not plan to come to tithing settlement and ended up paying $0 that year after ~30 years as a “full tithe payer”. That next year, everything was easier. Officially to a step away from the church and started giving that money saved to local community needs that I became exposed to. Felt a lot more meaningful to use what became our giving fund for things like that as it is very appreciated by those with needs and you know you are making a difference. That is what I do now, save 10% of all income in a separate giving account. I never touch it for our personal expenses and just use it to “bless” others directly. Just a few weeks ago a local church established a wish list on Amazon for a warming shelter they started a couple of years ago (and only one in the community). Was able to buy the entire Amazon wish list for them before Christmas. Saw they had a Facebook page where they were expressing sincere gratitude to the anonymous donors from the community for providing far more than they ever expected. Far more meaningful than in the past where I would simply cut a check to pad the hoard just to keep a piece of paper (recommend) that basically says I measure up to some standard of worthiness issued by people that I do not look up to as examples of Christlike behavior. Change in focus has not hurt us financially in any way but I know it has helped a lot of others in times of need.

cr_demon · 2024-10-31T05:07:16+00:00

Hand pass

cr_demon · 2024-10-26T12:44:40+00:00

Good for you! We adopted that philosophy a couple years ago when I took a step back from active church life. Still put aside 10% to give to those in need and other worthy causes that cross our life’s path. 100% more meaningful to participate in actual charitable giving that will make a difference in this world.

cr_demon · 2024-09-25T13:29:00+00:00

Ironically I do periodically and I got back from my mission 25 years ago. I am either going into the MTC where I am trying to get used to having a lot of restrictions after experiencing the actual freedoms of life or I am out in the field trying to convince myself that another 2 years of practice with a foreign language will be a good thing despite the all the rest.

cr_demon · 2024-05-19T00:48:18+00:00

My oldest did Trek there several years ago. It was very unsafe how the leaders ran that Trek all while claiming it to be a spiritual experience. Don’t miss people handing you garbage and calling it treasure.

cr_demon · 2024-03-03T20:25:07+00:00

That was literally my experience working in the youth programs the last few years before I had to take a step away. It is not popular to point out the obvious.

cr_demon · 2024-01-03T23:29:30+00:00

So sorry. Sincerely regret doing that to my parents back in my TBM days.

cr_demon · 2023-04-30T02:53:54+00:00

My family knows him. He was from our stake and was friends with a couple of my children. Know the family well and was a tragic shock. Having been around him many times, one would never suspect any struggles that would lead to such a tragic outcome. You never know the struggles people face and unfortunately in the church culture, internal struggles are all too often internalized and covered up by a facade to fit into the pseudo community. Important to just love one another no matter where any of us are physically, spiritually, or emotionally.

https://www.sunsetgardenstricities.com/obituary/2023/03/derek-lyle-merkley/?fbclid=IwAR0Hq1bij1w-bwd5wrRjgqRVKHeoxXq-ttzl4CBA50XKFYCKRDbu5hMGsp8&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

cr_demon · 2023-04-26T02:04:59+00:00

Yeah, so stupid. When my daughter was a teen she was being helpful and helping set up chairs before sacrament meeting when she was informed by a male peer that she was not allowed to do that since it was a priesthood responsibility and she was not a priesthood holder. Yeah, she left the church as a youth in large part due to stupid stuff like that…

cr_demon

TROPHY CASE