midnight-in-eden

[midnight-in-eden]

Thank you for responding politely, I sincerely appreciate that, but there still seem to be some misunderstandings. For one thing, Joseph Smith Jr. was born in 1805. The Book of Mormon was published and the Mormon church was formally founded in 1830. That is the 19th century. 1800s = 19th century.

Yes, I got out of Mormonism. I left in 2021 and my membership is formally removed and everything. I appreciate the link (though I only see the Wikipedia one) but I really don’t need to do any more research on Mormonism, I know more than enough. I hate Mormonism. I just refuse to hate people who have been lied to and manipulated into being part of it.

I hate that particular group of people who, when they find out you’re exmormon, start going, “HAHA yeah, Mormonism is so stupid! Jesus came to America? More scriptures? How dumb do people have to be to believe that stuff haha?!”

Me. I believed it.

And lots of people I care about still believe it.

It’s a high control religion, it’s manipulative, and if you’d been born into it and all your friends and your family and most of the adults in your life believed it—yeah, you’d probably believe it too, at least for a good while.

And adult converts aren’t stupid either. A lot of them have recently suffered a serious loss, are isolated, struggling, or in some other way vulnerable to a religion that makes them feel loved and gives them lots of shiny promises about their future.

It’s not about stupid.

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If you’re LGBT reblog and tag with your opinion on beer.

#gross #my least favorite species of alcohol

[midnight-in-eden]

1) It was the 19th century, not the 18th.

2) Your point?

Listen, no religion is naturally occurring. No religion “should exist” naturally. All of them, at some point, were created. Someone came along or something happened that spawned a belief, and something about that belief was contagious enough to birth an organized movement. Religion is an extremely human response to ageless questions about the purpose of life, about what happens after we die, etc, and while I think Joseph Smith was a con man, he was clearly a charismatic one who knew how to use those questions.

I do not blame my ancestors—most of whom were uneducated immigrants—for believing in what they thought was the promise of a better life.

I hate that particular group of people who, when they find out you’re exmormon, start going, “HAHA yeah, Mormonism is so stupid! Jesus came to America? More scriptures? How dumb do people have to be to believe that stuff haha?!”

Me. I believed it.

And lots of people I care about still believe it.

It’s a high control religion, it’s manipulative, and if you’d been born into it and all your friends and your family and most of the adults in your life believed it—yeah, you’d probably believe it too, at least for a good while.

And adult converts aren’t stupid either. A lot of them have recently suffered a serious loss, are isolated, struggling, or in some other way vulnerable to a religion that makes them feel loved and gives them lots of shiny promises about their future.

It’s not about stupid.

#also let’s be real: there is nothing weirder in mormonism than the stuff that’s already in mainstream christianity #if someone can accept the bible then the book of mormon is not a particularly big reach

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#raised mormon now agnostic/atheist #at most i would say i am spiritual but not religious #polls #religion

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Have we considered the fact they may be working together?

#missionary jumpscare #hehe #walrus vs fairy

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you can click on this button once daily to help palestine and support other causes in the middle east for free. it takes literally 5 seconds and could help save lives so please take the time to click and share this link.

#free Palestine #humanitarian aid

[midnight-in-eden]

My sister: *getting ready for a date*

My mom, fussing bc it’s a guy none of us knows: are you sure you trust him?

My sister: yeah, he’s in my ward

Me, chiming in from the other room: Ted Bundy was in someone’s ward!

#somebody pls tell mormons to stop treating church membership like a background check #i mean im sure it’s fine. ppl go on dates with new people all the time #I’M JUST SAYING #exmo #exmormon

[midnight-in-eden]

I am not a Currant Bush

There’s a story the church likes to trot out every now and then. It’s originally from a 1973 Hugh B. Brown talk, but I’ve heard it referenced in general conference and Sunday lessons, and there is a YouTube video about it on the church’s channel. It’s called “The Currant Bush.”

The story is that he bought an old farm and at the farm, there was an overgrown currant bush that was no longer producing fruit. So he chopped it down, leaving only tiny stumps. Afterward, he imagined hearing the currant bush ask, “How could you do this to me?” His response was:

Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and some day, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down, for caring enough about me to hurt me. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’

Growing up, I never noticed how seriously abusive this sounds. “I cut you down because you were growing into something other than what I want. Someday, you’ll thank me for caring enough to hurt you.” That was basically the message.

I grew up with this pervasive message—that God had the right to hurt me, because that was how he would mold me into the most righteous version of me, and that was how I’d be worthy to live with him again. That I should be thankful for my trials, because they were all for my own good. And that is a really toxic and abusive way of thinking. Also, I’ve realized that it had infected a lot of my relationships—especially with my parents and other authority figures.

So I wrote a little affirmation to counter this. Feel free to save if it is something you need to remember.

#reblogging bc i need the reminder #deconstruction #exmo #ex christian #ex religious

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Almost impulsively started an argument with this person, then remembered I don’t roll in the mud with pigs. So I blocked them instead.

Remember folks: if you are gay, trans, or otherwise under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, you do not need to feel shame for it. Do not listen to anyone who tells you otherwise, whether it’s some rude internet rando or an old book or your own family member. You deserve to be loved and accepted for who you are, including—especially—by your own self. Even if it takes time to heal enough to reach that point.

Letter to Abraham

Dear Abraham,

I wouldn’t have done it,

And that’s all I’m going to say.

I would have screamed

I would have rebelled

I would have chased God away throwing stones at his back

I would never have even thought of hurting my child

I wouldn’t have done it,

And that’s all I’m going to say.

Do you know how many parents have followed your lead?

Setting their gay children,

Their trans children,

Their beautiful innocent children

Down on an altar because you, monster, did it first?

I wouldn’t have done it,

And that’s all I’m going to say.

Why couldn’t you see what an evil it was?

Don’t you know what a parent is for? To love, to protect?

I’d have stood between God and my child like a lioness protecting my lamb from slaughter,

I’d have roared at him for daring even to ask,

I would never have relied on the mercy of an evil thing that demanded child-blood spilt in its honor

I wouldn’t have done it,

And that’s all I’m going to say.

#if you are having trouble with self love & self acceptance: self reparenting my inner child has helped a lot with this #i can share more about it if anyone would like me to #tw homophobia #tw queerphobia #tw christian rhetoric #tw christianity #but yeah this comment enraged me lol #this poem is basically an exposed nerve for me and this felt like it got graffitied #which may have been the intention 🤷‍♀️

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From what I can tell the SEX isn’t part of her shirt, it’s a tank top and she literally just has SEX tattooed on her shoulder. Which honestly makes it even better.

me and the gang

#also shoutout to the DRUGS guy for having incredibly sick lightning patterned pants and enviable boots #anyway this is basically what mormonism taught me The World (TM) was like

[midnight-in-eden]

Fun fact Zionism is an inherent aspect of the Mormon belief system and trying to debate a Mormon about Palestine will get you absolutely nowhere, even if they never bring up Zion as a concept or they claim they don't support Israel. Source? I just had an exhausting argument with my Mormon mother and I want to scream 👍

#they manage to be antisemitic AND pro zionist! #shoutout to mormonism for always having the worst takes possible

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My brother: *walking around the house shirtless*

My mom, jokingly: should I take my shirt off too?

Brother: ew, no, you’re a woman

Me: *suddenly has the strong urge to be topless around my family for the first time in my life*

#im not gonna do it but im telling myself its bc they aren’t privileged enough to see my magnificent tits #why does my only exmo sibling have to be a fucking sexist conservative man 😭🤬 #modesty culture

[midnight-in-eden]

The God I met at church said…

Trust what I tell you. Don’t trust your own understanding of things. (Proverbs 3:5)

You will be miserable without me.

Without me, you face misery and death. (2 Nephi 2:27)

If you think you know things for yourself, you’re a fool and you will die. Learning is only good for you if you obey what I tell you. (2 Nephi 9:28-29)

You are expected to try your best. But nothing you can do would ever be enough to save you—you have to rely on my mercy for that. (2 Nephi 25:23)

Listen to what I will tell you. I will tell you exactly what to do. (2 Nephi 32:3)

You are naturally my enemy. The only way to access redemption is to submit to whatever I choose to do to you. (Mosiah 3:19)

I expect you to be perfect. (3 Nephi 12:48)

I am the only source of true happiness.

I know better than you.

Be thankful for your suffering.

Someday you’ll thank me for hurting you. (Currant bush talk)

Your suffering will make you into someone I can accept living with me.

You are inherently flawed and unworthy of me.

Be grateful I’ve found a way for you not to get the punishment you deserve.

I demand your obedience.

If you don’t obey me, you don’t love me.

Your chastity is what makes you valuable.

These are not obscure verses and quotes! These are scripture mastery verses we memorized and recited in seminary, these are verses and talks that became the basis of whole Sunday lessons, these are talks given to the entire church.

[midnight-in-eden]

“There aren’t that many orcs here,” says local man, as we report live from Mordor,

had someone tell me that salt lake isnt super mormon as if there weren't at least three mormons in the room and as if everyone else there hadn't met more than five mormons in their time living there, you know how wild that is? in other places ive lived i knew exactly zero mormons outside of my stake, and no one else ever knew anything about us

#i also live in Mordor and Mormons here are genuinely so unaware of what a tiny speck Mormonism is outside its hotspots

[midnight-in-eden]

Bruh I told my mom I hadn't been doing great mental health-wise and she suggested I come back to church 💀

#it is so funny to me when ppl suggest this #‘have u considered doing more of the thing that fucked u up in the first place? surely that will help’

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#choose the right!

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Saw a photo of one of my extended relatives on Facebook today, a young teen girl. She had “daily repentance is the pathway to purity” written in pen on her arm with cute flowers drawn around it. It’s a Russell Nelson quote from April 2019 general conference, and it made me sad. I know how intensely I pressured myself, and got pressured by teachers and leaders, when it came to repentance and purity as a teenager. I don’t think it’s healthy for a kid to be so focused on it that she needed to write it onto her own body :(

For fucks’ sake can the church stop relentlessly reminding children of the “importance” and “necessity” of repentance? It’s like those parents who relentlessly nag their teen about healthy eating and watching their weight and the kid ends up with an eating disorder. The point of childhood is not constant self-improvement and worrying about things like repenting and being “pure.” Let them be kids.

#honestly that whole mindset is super fucked up even for adults #but kids??? Jesus H Christ stop inflicting guilt complexes on kids #tw eating disorder mention #exmormon #exmo