#cesletter

Today two historic things happened in the Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). I want to take a look at them individually and discuss both the pros and cons of these statements and changes. For most of my life, I lived by the rule that you don’t criticize what the leaders of the church do or say. I’ve seen a lot of good and bad done by the church I was born into, so I think it’s fair to look at both the good and bad of these new pieces of information.

First, we need background for those unfamiliar with the church. The authority the church is led by is called the priesthood. The belief is that this priesthood came directly from God to His prophets on earth. Mormons believe that there is a prophet on earth today, and twelve apostles just as in Christ’s time. These are the leaders who give direction and guidance for the church and the world.

Individual congregations around the world are also led by men who hold the priesthood (women can not hold the priesthood) and all of the ordinances performed in the church are done by the priesthood. Women have protested and attempted to ask the church leadership to pray about a change. Not make a change, just pray about it. The leaders excommunicated them instead. 

Today, the leadership announced a change that will be great for women. Now women are allowed to witness baptisms. A witness watches and confirms that the person being baptized is completely immersed. Before today only men who hold the priesthood could be considered official witnesses (there are two witnesses in addition to the priesthood holder performing the baptism). I applaud the church for giving women more rights. I know many wonderful women who are feeling God’s love because of this change. That’s the good. 

Now the bad. This change didn’t just include women but anyone who is a baptized member of the church. This means that women AND children can witness. In my opinion, this is demeaning. It’s like they’re saying, “God wants to give you something so you can be a witness. No, you can’t baptize. No you can’t hold the priesthood. You can do the same thing as an eight year old child though!” It’s disrespectful to the women who came before us and fought for this change and instead were humiliated and pushed away. 

The second big announcement wasn’t a change in how things run but a pronouncement. The second in command (so to speak), Dallin Oaks, made a historically horrible statement about transgender people.  

“The intended meaning of ‘gender’ in the family proclamation and as used in church statements and publications since that time is,” Oaks said, “biological sex at birth.’”

The problem is he’s wrong. Gender is not determined by anatomy and this is something we’ve known for many many years. “The idea that a person’s sex is determined by their anatomy at birth is not true, and we’ve known that it’s not true for decades,” said Dr. Joshua D. Safer, an endocrinologist and executive director of the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System in New York.

Part II- Brain Overload & Trust Issues

  When you start to leave religion, you’re brain feels like it’s going to explode. From my personal experience, I know when I first started looking into mormon history I wasn’t expecting to find anything truly damning about the church. I was wrong.

   I asked my uncle about why he left, and he sent me a link to the CES letter. Some of you may know what that is, but for those of you who don’t, it’s a letter that Jeremy Runnells wrote to the Church Educational System (CES) director. In this letter, he asked a bunch of questions about the concerns he had with church history. He was promised that he would get answers and his doubts would be resolved, but a response never came. (I’ll link it down below).

  I read this entire letter in one day. I remember staying up till around 1am crying because everything in this letter was so shocking. I felt like everything I had grown up believing was a lie. The fact that Jeremy Runnells never got a reply made it even worse. Why would the CES director not ease Jeremy’s doubts? Is it because everything in that letter was true? 

  I think that was all back in November, but that whole month I was constantly searching for answers. I was tired of turning towards the church for answers because it seemed that it was these phrases, “have faith” and “keep the commandments”, or “answers will come in the Lord’s time.” or “humans aren’t perfect, but the Lord is.” I needed an actual explanation for why the facts didn’t add up. 

  When you’re leaving religion, you start to develop trust issues.  All my life I was told that people who spoke of anti-mormon ideas are of the devil. That I shouldn’t listen to them. But those exmormons are the only people that seemed to listen to my concerns and provide reasonable explanations. They told me to use my brain instead of rely on and blindly follow with faith. They helped me cope. 

Below I will post some links of websites, podcasts, videos, etc. that helped me cope and continue to help me. 

Aftermath: 

  I know now that it’s okay and it’s completely normal to rely on other sources that aren’t church approved. With any big decision, you have to look at both sides of the story and determine for yourself which one you want to believe. If you agree with the church, then choose the church’s story. If you don’t, then leave.

  In the United States, Freedom of Religion is a thing for a reason. You have a right to believe in whatever the hell you want. It’s okay. Experience both sides. How will you ever learn and form your own ideas of the world if you stay in a bubble? 

LINKS: 

https://cesletter.org/

http://www.mormonthink.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/mormonstories

https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/

Podcasts:

How to Heretic 

Naked Mormonism