I've talked about all of this before, but I wanted to reiterate some of my feelings about being an ex-Mormon...
I LOVE IT !!!
There are so many reasons and I'll touch briefly on some of them:
10) Testimony; I no longer have the pressure of getting up and bearing my testimony about something I've never seen. Sure, I still have a testimony: I know it's not true!
9) Word of Wisdom; while I don't smoke and do agree that smoking is terribly unhealthy, I no longer judge those who smoke. It's their life and their body. I can have an occassional "drink" with my friends and it's okay! I feel absolutely no guilt at all!
8) Sexuality; I can look at porn and masturbate and guess what?!?! It's not only okay, but it's normal and natural. No more guilt for thinking I have this sexual "problem".
7) Missionary work; I now realize that people don't want me shoving my religion down their throats. The belief that I will suffer for their sins if I don't manipulate them into Mormonism is extremely wrong and unhealthy. In fact, it's a load of shit! If there is a god, he doesn't care what religion you are as long as you are a good person. Yep, I no longer have to be a recruiter for the lord; what a relief!
6) Temple worthiness and attendance; it is such a comfort knowing that I never have to go into that temple and go through that creepy ceremony ever again. Even as a TBM, I seriously felt creeped out, especially during the "prayer circle" and "conversing with the lord through the vail."
5) Repentance. The church tries to make people hate themselves for being human. If you have a sexual urge or thought, you need to repent. I committed some "sins" that literally haunted me for years. Yet I was so afraid to go confess because I didn't know what the bishop would do to punish me. What if he made me stop taking the sacrament? Then everyone would know I sinned! Eventally I did confess and surprisingly, I didn't feel any better about it. The guilt finally disappeared the day that I realized the church is not true.
4) Superstition. I used to believe that Jesus was the ultimate superhero who died for all our sins and will save us if we follow him. I now live with the knowledge that Jesus is a myth and there is no such thing as sin. I don't have to hate myself just because I am human. I've ditched all those rediculous superstitions and my life and self esteem have never been better.
3) Church. I can honestly say that I liked (and still do) the members of my local ward. That was the only highlight of going to church. It's too damn long! Three hours! Plus if you have a calling like I did, then it usually required me to go to church early for stupid meetings and stay after to see to ward business. I thought the Sabbath day was for resting... not if you're Mormon.
2) No more home teaching. Lets face it, no one wants to do it. My ward had horrible statistics each month for home teaching (and probably still does). We sat in Elders Quorum meeting Sunday after Sunday getting HT drilled into our heads. And I also believe that no one really wants HT's to come over. It's inconvenient! It's funny... as soon as I stopped going to church the EQ president was assigned as my HT. He was faithful about it for the first few months but then it slowed and eventally stopped. Even the EQP doesn't want to do it!
1) No more damn tithing! As a TBM, I reluctantly paid tithing, but it was not because I loved the lord; it was because I was afraid of burning in the big fire. My tithe was not always full and, of course, I felt extremely guilty for that. However, I and my family were not exactly making a lot of money and some months we barely made it by. But LDS, Inc. doesn't care about that. They will guilt trip you for a full and honest tithe even if it means you have to either starve or foreclose your home.
That's my top ten, but believe me, there's lots more! I know it's not true...
Just another evil apostate...
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