Introduction

     The purpose of this blog is for me to be able to collect all of my thoughts describing why I left the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. Not only do I want to be able to share my thoughts with others but I think this will be helpful to myself as well. I have a hard time collecting my thoughts and there is no better way to do just that then to write it all down. 

    Leaving the LDS (Latter Day Saints) church was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make. Being raised in a certain environment really shapes how you think and the type of person you become. Deciding later in life that you want to do something different can be terrifying. For me I felt like I was losing a piece of who I was because being a member of the church was all I had ever known. But as I have learned more and progressed with life I have realized that not that much has actually changed. I am still the same person and simply no longer go to church on Sunday. It took time to realize that my personality was in me, not in the church.

    Whenever someone asks why I left the church it's like an alarm is set off and my brain is filled with so many thoughts and emotions "what do I say first?", "am I going to offend this person if I say what I truly feel?", "there are so many pieces to why I left, how can I possibly explain it in an organized manner?". I have avoided talking to certain family members and friends because of the emotional toll behind someone asking me the question "do you still go to church?". I have had so many years of questions and countless hours of research and pondering that have gone into my decision to leave the church. It seems such a daunting task to try to describe that to someone without spending hours rambling and switching between subjects as all of it comes flooding back into my mind. That is part of the reason I wanted to write it all down somewhere. I think that if I can put it all in one place and put deep thought into every aspect of it, it will become easier to explain to others in a short, concise, and non pushy way, my reasoning for making the decision I made. And even better if I can have someone come here and read this all for themselves because I'm sure it will still be better put together than any speech or conversation I could have with someone. 

    The way I would like to start is by going over the beginning of the church since that really is where it all began. Then I would like to go over the progression of how the church went from its origins to where it is today. Then how the church is in the modern world. Then after all the facts and logistics I will tell my story and how things were for me and how learning about church history changed my thoughts about everything I thought I knew. There is a high likelihood I will add things later on as I think of them but I hope that with these guidelines for myself I can have a direction for where this entire blog goes. 

    Not only do I hope that I can learn more about myself from this blog and progress in my spiritual journey, I hope that it can reach others and possibly even help someone else out there learn something about themselves. Who knows they could even just find it a good read. I will strive to tell the fullest and most accurate story and bring everything I know into one place where anyone can come and find my truth.