So I was raised LDS, and the exmormon community says all Mormons have a “shelf”
Basically everytime you ask a question and the answer is along the lines of “we don’t have the answer to everything, all will be revealed in time” we put that weird thing on out shelf. Eventually, too many things are on the shelf, and it breaks.
Some people who want to stay in the LDS church because it makes them happy have a very strong shelf. Those who want to stay because of fear/social pressure avoid looking at anything that might need to be on their shelves.
Some common shelf items that were on mine:
Book of Mormon describes the natives having very European technology around 0 AD. They have metal swords, horses, chariots, to name a few. Yeah they just didn’t.
Even in a time when it was incredibly common to be anti slavery since the Civil War was around the corner, the idea that black people were inferior to white people and should serve them was heavily recorded in the early church. And black men couldn’t reach full status like a white man until 1978. They preach that God loves all his children equally… but apparently there were a few qualifiers about skin color.
How they treat women is trash.
Prophets supposedly are getting revelation from the same God, but keep contradicting each other. Most famous example is “Adam was God” theory. Most recent high profile example was a previous prophet ran a campaign called “meet the Mormons” trying to sell the idea that being a mormon was super normal. But current prophet says “mormon” is a derogatory term and a win for Satan?
The way they demand super poor people pay tithing, while holding upwards of a hundred billion in reserve for no apparent reason. They could easily end hunger in the US, and maybe even homelessness. And they would if they actually followed the teachings of the loving christ they claim to follow.
They claim that they have magical gifts, like being able to tell if people lie. Given the rapists and worse that have been high ranking members of the church, either they are liars or complicit. But given how often they defend rapists that were obviously guilty, probably just both.
I could go on for awhile… but those were my shelf items. One day it just broke and I was like… huh this is all just nonsense isn’t it.
I was also raised LDS. I was out as soon as I moved out of my parents house. That was over 20 years ago. Last month I was talking with my mom and she was finally starting to question things. I didn’t want to go overboard with support, but I’m so proud of her for finally starting to think more for herself and abandoning the obedient wife mentality.
So I was raised LDS, and the exmormon community says all Mormons have a “shelf”
Basically everytime you ask a question and the answer is along the lines of “we don’t have the answer to everything, all will be revealed in time” we put that weird thing on out shelf. Eventually, too many things are on the shelf, and it breaks.
Some people who want to stay in the LDS church because it makes them happy have a very strong shelf. Those who want to stay because of fear/social pressure avoid looking at anything that might need to be on their shelves.
Some common shelf items that were on mine:
Book of Mormon describes the natives having very European technology around 0 AD. They have metal swords, horses, chariots, to name a few. Yeah they just didn’t.
Even in a time when it was incredibly common to be anti slavery since the Civil War was around the corner, the idea that black people were inferior to white people and should serve them was heavily recorded in the early church. And black men couldn’t reach full status like a white man until 1978. They preach that God loves all his children equally… but apparently there were a few qualifiers about skin color.
How they treat women is trash.
Prophets supposedly are getting revelation from the same God, but keep contradicting each other. Most famous example is “Adam was God” theory. Most recent high profile example was a previous prophet ran a campaign called “meet the Mormons” trying to sell the idea that being a mormon was super normal. But current prophet says “mormon” is a derogatory term and a win for Satan?
The way they demand super poor people pay tithing, while holding upwards of a hundred billion in reserve for no apparent reason. They could easily end hunger in the US, and maybe even homelessness. And they would if they actually followed the teachings of the loving christ they claim to follow.
They claim that they have magical gifts, like being able to tell if people lie. Given the rapists and worse that have been high ranking members of the church, either they are liars or complicit. But given how often they defend rapists that were obviously guilty, probably just both.
I could go on for awhile… but those were my shelf items. One day it just broke and I was like… huh this is all just nonsense isn’t it.
I was also raised LDS. I was out as soon as I moved out of my parents house. That was over 20 years ago. Last month I was talking with my mom and she was finally starting to question things. I didn’t want to go overboard with support, but I’m so proud of her for finally starting to think more for herself and abandoning the obedient wife mentality.