{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "mormon kids under the age of 18 being told their church is a cult\n mormons 18-24 after they go through their endowment ceremony...", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/667198953076457472/", "html": "
mormon kids under the age of 18 being told their church is a cult
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mormons 18-24 after they go through their endowment ceremony and receive their new name and secret clothing and learn the secret handshakes and passwords and realize everyone around them has been secretly doing this the whole time and now theyre going to be sent away from their family for 2 years where they will literally not be allowed to be alone for 1 second of the day except to go to the bathroom and they have no idea how to get out of what they just got into
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one of the only perks of being a mormon woman is that i didn\u2019t get my endowment at age 19 and i had a little extra time to mature and be out on my own. that\u2019s all i needed to make a clean break and i got out at 21 before i wouldve gotten my endowment.\u00a0
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wait what? can anyone elaborate on this? because I had no idea this was a thing
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basically when youre a mormon kid growing up you realize your church is a little strict but you\u2019re like whatever. i have friends at church because i go to church 6 days a week and everyone around me is affirming that this is the right thing to do and we have special knowledge no one else has otherwise everyone would be like this. so youve gotta go teach them & it\u2019s the greatest thing in the world to be a missionary. also the temple is beautiful and amazing and spiritual and holy and everyone wants to go there. but it\u2019s a secret! :) because it\u2019s holy and sacred
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then if youre a boy and u turn 18 they\u2019re like wow amazing!!! you get to go on a mission and be like all the great men around you!! and now you get to go through the temple! so #blessed!
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and then you go through the temple and all the above mentioned SECRET CULTY SHIT happens (EXPLANATION HERE\u00a0http://mormoncurtain.infymus.com/topic_templeceremonies.html) and youre shipped off to a strange place where everything you eat, wear, go, listen to and do is controlled, and you\u2019re not allowed to talk to your family or friends (except through a once-a-week email) and you literally are being watched by your companion at all. times.\u00a0
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some might say \u201cyou can leave at any time\u201d but consider that i never went on a mission and i never went through the temple and i still consider leaving the mormon church the hardest thing i ever did. you have no social network outside the church. you are lacking major knowledge and skills. you have to grapple with the fact that you may never see your family again.
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I\u2019m reblogging this again bc I have Thoughts.
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Leaving is such an isolating experience. No one inside wants anything to do with you anymore and no one outside understands the scale of messed up that Mormonism is. Like it\u2019s easy to point and laugh at the ridiculousness, but it\u2019s literally a cult. There\u2019s so much trauma involved and there\u2019s trauma in leaving.
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People on the outside don\u2019t understand how hard it is to leave. I grew up where all my friends were catholic and are no longer religious and they\u2019re like \u201cwell everyone hates church, you just stop going\u201d but Mormonism isn\u2019t like that at all. For starters I had to get a lawyer involved to leave and then the ostracization from the entire community that nurtured me growing up was just the cherry on top. It\u2019s effectively being shunned. Everyone you were forced to call sister and brother growing up no longer wants anything to do with you. And you deserve it, because you shouldn\u2019t have fallen for the anti-Mormon lies.
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Leaving The Church was the hardest thing I ever did and my family accepts me so I\u2019m a lucky one. But they still ardently adhere to the institution that hurt me and has resulted in the deaths of people I love. I will never understand.
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\u201cThere\u2019s so much trauma involved and there\u2019s trauma in leaving.\u201d\n
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It\u2019s easy for people looking in from the outside to forget this. Thank you for the reminder. Can anyone recommend resources for young Mormons looking to explore their options?
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Please note: this post will be directly addressed to those hypothetical young Mormons
If you know you\u2019re ready to leave, use quitmormon.com. It\u2019s run by the guy from reddit who is now famous in exmormon circles for offering absolutely free legal services to anybody who needs help leaving. You can give your church id number if you know it, but it\u2019s not required (I never memorized mine, and I sure wasn\u2019t going to ask for it). He takes care of everything. This keeps TSCC (the so-called church) from getting all your latest info and keeps them from hassling you or harassing you. They have to talk to your lawyer instead. Pre 2015, it felt almost impossible to try to leave, but it\u2019s a lot easier now! The years of picketing General Conference to force an excommunication trial are over!
Find a support system. Lean on your friends that have never been mormon, any family members who left, anyone you know who left. I\u2019m an exmormon happy to answer any questions, and I\u2019m sure there are plenty others in the notes who would be super willing to be supportive too. Exmormon groups are many and varied now, and it\u2019s best to find the one that vibes for you. There\u2019s a subreddit that\u2019s popular, but I personally used - and I know this sounds weird, since I don\u2019t have kids - a forum called Mormonism & More on the site babycenter.com. It was started several years ago by some mormons who had questions they weren\u2019t allowed to ask on the normal mormon board (because that board required uplifting, mormon-approved answers at all times). It\u2019s since shifted to ex-mormons or people who want to leave but can\u2019t right now because of family situations. Even though the threads were years old, I spent weeks on that forum, reading about what other people had gone through and how they got through it, and to me, that was super helpful.
Research the culty stuff at your own peril. I liked learning about that stuff for a really long time, because I felt learning about all those secrets (I especially liked learning about the truth of the Book of Abraham) \u2026 it helped me feel valid in my choice. It helped me keep in mind that this was something that I had escaped, something that had wanted to hurt me. Missing your abuser doesn\u2019t mean you should go back, it means you should keep moving forward. Missing your cult has the same solution. Lots of people fell for the \u201cwe\u2019re totally not a cult!\u201d line by TSCC. Some of them will not offer sympathy. If you want to watch the hidden camera videos of endowments and other temple stuff, I would super super recommend you have a trusted friend watch them with you. And bring comfort food. You\u2019ll probably need it.
TSCC put out a series of essays on controversial (read: faith-killing, eye-opening, omg how could I have ever supported the people who did this) issues in mormon history. They are the Orthodox LDS pre-approved responses to a lot of the more incriminating accusations that have been leveled at TSCC over the years. They should be hosted on TSCC website somewhere, and would have been posted around or after 2015. They may reaffirm your faith now that you know TSCC\u2019s defense, but they may push you right out the door. (Or break the shelf? Do Mormons still use the shelf analogy, or is that retired now?)
Lots of mormons become atheists after leaving. Many join mainstream xian churches. Some become witches, some study every religion they can get their hands on, some try to go back and realize all the magic (or holy spirit, if you prefer) is gone. Don\u2019t think you have to know right away. Some people throw away or burn all their mormon stuff, some people keep it to show their kids, but again, you don\u2019t have to make that decision right away. Some people call TSCC a cult after they leave, myself included, but you don\u2019t have to if it makes you uncomfortable or it it doesn\u2019t feel true to your experience.
Look up religious trauma syndrome. It\u2019s real. The pain you will probably feel is real, the grief you will probably feel is real, and in many ways, you may have to mourn the death of what you were always told Life Will Be For You.
And learn that the world is not half as evil as TSCC told you. Your coworkers who drink a beer at the end of the day are not evil or abusive. Your friends who wear sleeveless shirts are not evil or promiscuous. You\u2019re allowed to wear short shorts! You\u2019re allowed to drink coffee! You\u2019re allowed to ask questions in a faith community without being silenced or condemned! You\u2019re allowed to not want kids! There\u2019s a lot of unlearning here.
TLDR? You have options. You have freedom. Find nonmormon friends who will support you. Be kind to yourself.
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People joke about Mormons but this is the first time I\u2019ve seen anything at all directed towards people who need to get out.
I had a high school friend turned college roommate who left, moved 4 hrs away, and I had to lie to people who showed up repeatedly that he wasn\u2019t home. That\u2019s just the smallest outside perspective of this. They kept coming.
It is a cult. It operates by manipulating people. My aunt, who also left, converted from Catholicism when she was a single mother in her 20s who needed help. The church gave her a network of tangible support and got her through a vulnerable, scary time in her life\u2013and used that
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Back when Portland was still cheap enough it was the “real big city” everyone in the mountain and desert west could run away to we got a lot of twentysomething ex-Mormons.
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