My Resignation

I haven't heard anything back about my resignation, so I called the membership records office to see if it had been processed.  No, the young man who sounded about 18 said, it is in the process, and usually takes about 30 days. They've got another week or so, and they should have it processed, regardless of the fact that I stated my resignation was effective immediately.

Here's my letter, in case anyone's interested:

My full name is aintnomonomo; my date of birth is [redacted].
I was baptized on 4/3/1981. 

My residence address is [redacted], in the [redacted] ward/stake.

 

I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, effective immediately, and request you to remove my name permanently from your membership records. I wish no further contact from representatives of your church except to confirm VIA EMAIL ONLY that my name has been removed from your records. I expect to receive that confirmation within a reasonably short time.

 

Please note that I do NOT wish my husband nor anyone else in my family to be contacted about this, whether by phone, mail, or email. Should such contact take place, I will pursue legal action. 

 

I have not come to this decision lightly. I have spent hours and hours intently studying church history, and am absolutely appalled by the things I've learned, specifically including but not limited to,

 

• the practice of polygamy and polyandry in the early church,
• the policy of "lying for the Lord,"
• Brigham Young's Adam-God teachings that were later denied as having been taught,
• the treatment of homosexuals and transgendered persons by the church,
• the fact that women are subjugated to a substandard place, always having to report to a man
• the complete lack of any historical or archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon
• the many changes that have been made to the Book of Mormon that whitewash previous teachings
• the fact that the temple ceremonies which Joseph Smith professed to have been restored by the Lord have been altered from their original format multiple times and that were taken straight from Masonic ceremonies to begin with
• the fact that DNA evidence has proven that there is no connection between native Americans and Israelites, but that in fact that majority of native Americans share commonalities with Asians rather than Israelites
• the fact that instead of clothing the naked and feeding the hungry, the church is building multi-billion dollar malls and luxury condominiums.
• The fact that the church does not report out its finances to the members who pay their tithes and offerings

 

When I was a practicing member of the church, I always felt like nothing I could ever do would make me be good enough. I was terrified of the thought of dying, because I knew that I would have disappointed Heavenly Father and the Saviour so severely that there would never be any hope for me. I can honestly tell you that the thought of death no longer frightens me. I know that I have a good heart, and I trust that if there is a God, and he is a just God, he will know what is in my heart.

 

There was also an incident that caused my family incredible pain; my nephew was placed for adoption with our home teacher's family, and no one thought it important enough to tell us what was happening when our home teacher knew--because I had told him--that initially my sister was planning on placing the child with us. My anger and sorrow was not over the changed plans, because I felt that my sister needed to place her baby with the best possible family for him, but over the way that we were completely shoved aside and our feelings mattered nothing.

 

I see my stepfather practicing his priesthood in a way that has beaten my mother down to a pathetic shell of her former self, believing--since he and his first wife do not have a temple divorce--that she is his second wife, and of far less importance to him than his first wife. He tells her how to wear her hair, and how to dress, and what to do, and he is horrible to her, but it's all acceptable because he has the priesthood and she does not.

 

In short, there is nothing I can find in this church to make me believe that there is a just God above and a loving Saviour in the person of Jesus Christ.  In the words of Marcus Aurelius, “Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” 

 

I strive to live a noble life, to serve my companions here on the earth, and make the world a better place.