I totally understand how you feel, I was raised Mormon as well but I never was fully into it, I never felt like going on a mission (I was literally the only one who would never raise his hand when they asked who was planning), never cared to waste 3 hours at church every week, and never really fully believed it
I always thought that the only girls I could date had to be in the church and if I did end up dating outside of the church then I would have to convert them in a sense
That went for my friend group as well, I really only had friends in the church and nowhere else (I was a homebody so that didn't help)
Then once I moved out the first time, I stopped going to church and found one of my former best friends through MeetMe and she lived like 5 minutes from the place I was staying.
She turned out to be the best friend I had and non-judgemental
That's when I realized that Mormons are typically EXTREMELY judgemental, which I have a feeling is a fault of the church because you are always taught to read your scriptures, pray, do your home teaching, go to church, go to mutual, carry out all your tasks (if you were in a higher position). With that said, I started to notice that everyone seemed to be in competition with each other on who is going to reach the highest kingdom in heaven based on what they were doing for the church
One thing that REALLY turned me off was the endownment ceremony when you get married at the temple, such a culty thing, I had no idea it was like that until I saw some youtube vids on it
The temple is a whole other thing, I did the baptisms for the dead a few times and went to the temple a few times, never really had a bad experience or opinion on it, it's just one of the things you did occasionally (even though I hated it)
It was funny too because I realized pretty early on that they never checked how much you tithed, so when you went for the temple recommend interview I always lied lol
I'm now a non-practicing christian, I don't go to church or pray, but I fully believe that god exists (I've had a lot of personal experiences as well) and the secret to getting to heaven is just genuinely being a good persona as best you can
It's always better to realize it later than never, It's going to take some time to undo all the s**t but it will get better and easier over time, there's a lot that was said and a lot that was taught that will filter itself out over time
Oh, one thing that really turned my parents off of it is my Mom found out that our ward (our building had 4 wards in it), but just our Ward alone brought in $3mil in tithing.......but we had to clean the church ourselves and fundraise all of our events/programs (no one in the church got paid unless you were like way up there, even then the church will deny anyone gets paid)
Sorry for the rant, it's been awhile since I've ever talked about it, apparently I still have a lot to say lol
Anyways, live your life, stay positive, and just be yourself :).
I always thought that the only girls I could date had to be in the church and if I did end up dating outside of the church then I would have to convert them in a sense
That went for my friend group as well, I really only had friends in the church and nowhere else (I was a homebody so that didn't help)
Then once I moved out the first time, I stopped going to church and found one of my former best friends through MeetMe and she lived like 5 minutes from the place I was staying.
She turned out to be the best friend I had and non-judgemental
That's when I realized that Mormons are typically EXTREMELY judgemental, which I have a feeling is a fault of the church because you are always taught to read your scriptures, pray, do your home teaching, go to church, go to mutual, carry out all your tasks (if you were in a higher position). With that said, I started to notice that everyone seemed to be in competition with each other on who is going to reach the highest kingdom in heaven based on what they were doing for the church
One thing that REALLY turned me off was the endownment ceremony when you get married at the temple, such a culty thing, I had no idea it was like that until I saw some youtube vids on it
The temple is a whole other thing, I did the baptisms for the dead a few times and went to the temple a few times, never really had a bad experience or opinion on it, it's just one of the things you did occasionally (even though I hated it)
It was funny too because I realized pretty early on that they never checked how much you tithed, so when you went for the temple recommend interview I always lied lol
I'm now a non-practicing christian, I don't go to church or pray, but I fully believe that god exists (I've had a lot of personal experiences as well) and the secret to getting to heaven is just genuinely being a good persona as best you can
It's always better to realize it later than never, It's going to take some time to undo all the s**t but it will get better and easier over time, there's a lot that was said and a lot that was taught that will filter itself out over time
Oh, one thing that really turned my parents off of it is my Mom found out that our ward (our building had 4 wards in it), but just our Ward alone brought in $3mil in tithing.......but we had to clean the church ourselves and fundraise all of our events/programs (no one in the church got paid unless you were like way up there, even then the church will deny anyone gets paid)
Sorry for the rant, it's been awhile since I've ever talked about it, apparently I still have a lot to say lol
Anyways, live your life, stay positive, and just be yourself :).