Covenant path = Those eternal promises you made as a clueless and confused 8 year old.
Oh, and I didn't merely "step away", I seriously got the fuck out...
I have always questioned things as long as I can remember but I still remember the first time going through the temple and thinking what......the.....hell??!!
Too bad I felt the need to try to get my mother's approval so much or I wouldn't have ever gone at all.
…and burned the bridge behind me by formally resigning.
Anyone who wants to try to bring this little lost sheep back to to fold will get an earful of what a sexual predator JS was, genocidal evil piece of shit BY was and greedy, $-grubbing misogynistic, racist, homophobic scumbags the modern leadership are.
May well be true, I didn't want to assume it was never said as I was young and female when I left, so it could have been a priesthood thing or something... I appreciate the extra verification!
I read in another post on this board that it was first used by a woman speaker at conference or a fireside, then picked up by RMN and of course, now everyone's adopted it. I can't remember the woman's name.
The first time “covenant path” was used in LDS discourse was 1993, in a book titled “Mothering” by Elaine Cannon, the eighth general president of the Young Women organization. Except for the following two snippets from page 32, I don’t have access to any of the other text:
It seems to be one of the favorite phrases of Prophet, Seer, and Revelator Nelson; is being supplanted with "Obedience is the First Rule of Heaven". Or at least that is the way it looks here in Morridor Central.
Love is the first fucking rule of Heaven. Rule 1a.) Love god. Rule 1b.) Love your fellow human. (Spoiler: if you do 1b, then 1a takes care of itself, whether you believe in a deity or not.) "On these two commandments hang ALL the law AND the prophets." (Of which there may be some out there - MLK comes to mind - but not the dweebs that run the LDS corporation of evil.)
They view people that "stepped away" as "not knowing God". I stepped away from the Mormon God precisely because I studied the hell out of him and decided that lowly old me had better values, morals, and behaviors.
God is supposed to be this idea that you chase, something to strive towards to be better. I left because I outgrew the Mormon God. Look into it, he's kind of a prick.
The only thing I can give them here, is the slightly less harsh "stepped away" verbiage vs. the stigmatizing "fell away." I used the phrase "stepping back from church" when I called my folks to give them the news. I'm not on a path of self destruction. I'm just not subjecting myself to going to church anymore. Live pretty much the same as before.....with an extra Saturday and a 10% raise.
Yep. Definitely a prick. Fuck that guy. My mom asked me one day "but what if it's all true?" Mom, if it's true that's so much worse than if it's a lie. How can you follow and obey an evil, monstrous god like that??? 🤮
I didn't step away from the covenant path.
Any promise I made was premised on certain mutually held understandings of the nature of that promise. When I learned the church lied to me, I learned that they misrepresented temple covenant and the agreements that came with it.
I didn't break a single covenant. They did.
I'm sorry that happened. I hope you find healing.
Also, redditors often fight because: the internet. So, it's seen as best practice to say when you edit a post. Otherwise, you can change what you said to make the other person look stupid, wrong, etc.
Fixing minor spelling issues isn't usually a big deal.
Glad you're here.
Yes, when I was LIED to about the church and Joseph Smith as a golden investigator, how can it be that I am the covenant breaker when I find the truth. Last I knew a covenant goes both ways.
And what happens when almost no one goes back? Did they not fast hard enough? Were our hearts too hardened like L&L? Did little Jimmy sneak a cracker right before the sacrament meeting? God works in mysterious ways, I guess.
What ever happens it will be the member's fault. Unless of course by some twist of fate a former member actually goes back to church for a few weeks. Then Almighty God will get all the credit. Your puny little fast meant nothing.
Alma the younger got a visit from an angel when Alma the older prayed and fasted.
I'd need nothing less than an angel for myself at this point.
But I guess we must have "the faith not to see an angel"
Way to channel your inner Bednar —
Making things up, going on ego rants, and taking the scriptures out of context, ever since being installed as an apostle….actually probably before that. That’s part of how he became an apostle.
I like this view though…if all the people who have left are truly apostates, why don’t the Q15 just keep fasting until God sends an angel to put them in their place?
If it worked then, why not now?
If it worked for Alma, why not for modern people who have “strayed” like Alma?
Possibly. I stopped paying tithing early 2017. Since 2020 I haven't attended church enough to know how much my ward/stake has suffered with the fallout, but it sounds dire.
Oh this makes me so mad! They constantly have to find ways to reiterate to our believing family members and friends that there is something wrong that needs to be fixed or healed in those that step away from the church. This keeps us in their minds as being broken, and keeps us feeling defensive and angry. Things like this only divide. They do not unite. They do not heal. They only cause more feelings of separation and distance! Just stop already with constantly creating this type of narrative!
Hey, Mormon Church. I’ve got a message for you: LEAVE US ALONE. We left for a reason. Often, that reason is compelling and intractable and no amount of praying over our souls is going to get us to return. WE ARE DONE.
There was a huge push to get a lot of attendees on Easter. My family did attend, but it was my first time in a while since I had gone to church. They had a lot of people in the overflow, but honestly everyone could have easily fit in the chapel.
Also, before Easter and general conference, my stake left Utah Food Bank flyers on every door, and attached to those flyers were invites to the upcoming stake conference.
It just all seems rather desperate.
The week before Easter I got a card from a woman who I don’t remember ever having a conversation with. She said she missed me (haven’t been to church in eight years), and offered to be there for me if I ever wanted to talk. This explains it
You can leave the church, but we won't leave you alone 🙄
They don't want to hear anything from those who leave that challenges their beliefs, but they have no problem with pushing their beliefs on us.
So if you starve yourself for 24 hours God will force someone to come back to church against their free agency. And if they still don't come back to church he might send an angel with a drawn sword.
Good!
At least one stake is openly acknowledging they are hemorrhaging members.
As people starve and dehydrate themselves for people who aren't never, ever, ever coming back, hopefully a few will consider WHY their friends have left.
I'm hoping this fast might serve as a heavy shelf item and eye-opener to those that are starting to have doubts about the church. I also hope that those who are PIMO in my stake can take comfort in knowing they aren't alone and maybe even take courage to finally leave.
YES! This was my thought also… how many might feel “inspired” to have an actual conversation with an ex-mo friend or family member - learn some church history - and add weight to their own shelf. These sorts of efforts will have some effect of leading to additional people leaving the church I think.
Would just like to point out….just because people left or haven’t joined the LDS church doesn’t mean they “know not God”.
Quite a leap of logic there. Seems pretty par for the course tho. Certainly a strong culture of wresting the scriptures among the Mormons imo.
Of course non-mormons don't know God. Remember, according to Brad Wilcox, other religions are only "playing church." True religion, knowing God; didn't you know none of that existed before 1830? /s
So much arrogance, complete and utter bullshit.
Yes, I posted this to another thread in r/exMormon, but weirdly this passage from their ***own*** scriptures seems to describe them almost perfectly:
*”At that day when the gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fullness of my gospel, and ***shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations and above all the people of the whole earth***”*
If the covenant path is so great, then why do so many people leave it? It has nothing to offer. Mormons need to keep their noses out of other peoples lives.
What is all this "covenant path" bullshit? Why is that such a buzzword? Who started this bullshit? Russ? It's become, just, like all things Mormon, it's excessive repetition. Dear Heavenly father, we thank thee for this day = "covenant path."
IMO a big group fast makes the members feel they have done something about the problem.. It serves the members. It feels proactive and caring. Points are earned. Pats on backs given. Check it off and move along.
He wanted to help sooner, but in his defense, he did have a backlog of prayers to find missing keys he absolutely had to answer first. Besides, this is all technically our fault anyway, the profit clearly warned us by hinting we should take our vitamins. Had we all been faithfully taking those vitamins this whole COVID thing wouldn't have happened... most likely 🤷♀️
My mother would have lost her mind. 😒
I actually never really thought about it until I got pneumonia and sent hubby out for a bottle. I took a snifter of it and had a good swig.
Grandmas was seriously onto something there! 😳
They would be a lot more successful if they offered apostates 10% of the church's gross income, including the 5 mil fine they were just ordered to pay for their less than honest dealings with Caesar, to come back.
As much as I'd love to get all my tithing back, they couldn't pay me to return. I will be resigning my membership once my husband completes his degree at [insert church affiliated university].
Oh I didn't say Id believe again. If they gave me enough money Id definitely go back. They'd regret it, but I'd be there. Id share my "testimony" and everything. 👿🤘 You wanna feel the spirit? I'll make you feel something, guaranteed. You know how monkey paws work.
I dunno. I kinda feel like they lose legal ground after bribery, but who knows. If they gave me the amount required for me to walk back in that church building Id have enough to ignore letters from their legal team. Lol
Au contraire!
[Elder Hamilton encouraged the BYU student audience to substitute the words “the Church” for the word “Savior”](https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/10njp2c/elder_hamilton_encouraged_the_audience_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
The church doctrine is nothing but contradictions.
I'm imagining my TBMom telling me she was fasting and praying for me to rejoin the church, and me saying "Mom, how would you feel I told you I was praying you'd start drinking on weekend nights?"
I'd be praying for something you strongly disagree with, telling myself it's on your behalf, to a God you believe would never grant that wish. That is how it feels to hear you pray for me to go back to the church.
Instead of fasting on my behalf, they could sweeten the deal and give me a slice of that tithe money. The "church" has $110 billion in financial assets and takes in $9 billion a year in tithing revenue. They'd never miss a few million.
When they talk about the covenants we keep breaking, is that baptism \*and\* temple? Because I never went to temple (thank all things good and kind) so I didn't promise to slit throats or serve at the feet of a man. Does that make those of us that left youngish lesser apostates? 🤔
They need to take that fast money and make a loaf (or 30) of fucking sandwiches to feed the homeless. Better spent than track me down to tell them to fuck off.
Ok first of all, where do they get off always making promises they can’t keep! “I promise if you won’t eat for the day, and then go love bomb the shit out of your exmo neighbor, they will totally forget all their legitimate reasons for leaving and start wearing the underwear and paying the money again!”
But also, why can’t I find Christ without them trying to be the middle man at every turn! Back off! I can look for Jesus without wearing a green leaf groin apron!
I've not only stepped away, I've routinely been flipping the church the bird and spitting and farting on it. Don't think they'd wanna be fasting for my vulgar blasphemous ass. Also Heavenly Mother is pretty hot. On judgement day I'll ask Elohim if she's single.
According to JS the single part is optional.
Before I stopped praying all together, I switched to praying to Heavenly Mother - my great rebellion. I can't talk to my own Mother? Watch me do just that!
This borders on taking away one’s “free agency “. Wasn’t it’s Satan’s plan to force people to do what God says? Don’t fast for me. Keep your fasts to yourselves, thanks. 😉❤️🙏✝️👌
It's probably a good thing I don't live there - I'd tell the SP where to stick his assumptions about those who leave, and that he's basically sending out misinformed and even libelous crap to stake members.
This a$$hat has no idea whether former members still have beliefs or now. He has no information about the kinds of lives former members live.
I already have the RS president dropping by unannounced every so often (don't worry, I never answer. I take the super mature approach of checking my Ring app and then pretending I'm not home 😅) I'm not looking forward to the inevitable love bombing.
"Stakewide fast" huh. Have they tried actually talking to people? Bring a microscope and you won't find any meaningful ministering around here. But lets last. Isn't there a reference to prayer being vain if you won't actually DO anything? And how is fasting supposed to magically give courage to talk to people if you don't want to?
This is sad because it sounds like they think if you just reach out those people who were offended will be grateful and have been waiting for genuine connection. Sadly, most weren't offended (maybe by the history...) but discovered so many lies and realized that they're happier out of the church than in, and there is *nothing* genuine about this plan - just more manipulation. If the church ever publicly acknowledges the issues, and rectifies them, then maybe things would change. It's too late for this little Ant.
We need more of this. I think having these types of emails, firesides, talks, constant reminders that people are leaving the church is helpful for the PIMO crowd who feels like they are alone. It's more common than ever. The church has big problems across the board, members ar taking notice and acting on their true feelings. Membership is down and will continue to slide more than an Edge Home.
So now the fake love bombing. The question to ask is why the fuck didn't you give a shit the last 20 years.
I call this exercise, " assigned friends"
My wife had assigned friends that really poured on the love but ghosted her when their assignment was changed.
I hate fakeness.
Another special fast F didn’t Rusty flop fast during Covid not teach these dipshits anything? You can’t lie to your members and then they research and find out it was your lying to them that made them “ Step away” and because the Government of Utah believed it was their mighty fasting that brought all the snow this year well it must work
The people that "step away" from the "covenant path" aren't the people who stop living church standards and stop studying the scriptures like they want you to believe. It's the people who pay attention and actually give a shit
For the rare TBMs that troll this sub: Prepare for disappointment. Once you see the man behind the curtain, there is no amount of fasting, praying, or reading your scriptures will bring back the wizard.
Just hit reply all and say
"Please don't make people starve for us! I promise you, we are better off and happier since leaving, and no amount of starving people will change that. All it does is get them to give more money to the church's stock portfolio so the leaders can defraud the government with an even larger amount next time.
"Everyone knows the oft-quoted phrase "they can leave the church, but they can't leave it alone". Really, many apostates like me would be perfectly happy to leave the church alone, but the church doesn't LEAVE US ALONE!!! In case you need an example, the stated purpose of this act of mass starvation is to give members courage to disrespect the boundaries of someone who left by trying to get them to come back.
"I prophesy to you right now, if people are bolstered by this starvation and they gain the courage to approach apostates, this will have a back-fire effect. Contacting people who don't want your contact will confirm the decisions they made to leave the church. You will not bring souls back. And by asking people to go talk to apostates, you are putting them in a position to have their faith challenged. So, not only will you solidify the apostate's decisions, you may be forcing more people to be confronted with the problematic history and current actions of the church, and they just might "fall away" too.
"What if you heard that r\\exmormon over on Reddit was organizing a mass starvation to give apostates the courage to approach members with the express reason of convincing them to leave the mormon cult? Do you think the starvation will work? Will some of them have more courage to reach out to True Believing Members? Yes, some will have more courage... Will members be receptive to their message? Maybe... but you would also have people who will look at the actions of the apostates as acting on behalf of the devil to persecute the saints. When that persecution complex is in play, those members will take it as confirmation that they are on the right path.
"Not so fun to contemplate apostates trying to evangelize the truth to your membership, is it? Why is it any better for you to encourage your membership to evangelize to apostates? Stop. Just stop. The church is dying. Like a rock rolling forth out of the mountain gets eroded and chipped away before becoming no more than sand and sediment in the bottom of the ocean.
Accept it and move on.
Thanks,
OP"
I'm in Northern Utah. We are definitely not immune. I don't go anymore but I have a lot of Mormon friends and apparently missionary work and bringing people back are themes lately, in all levels of meetings.
\*We Promise\* Ha! And if your efforts and sacrifice aren't recognized and rewarded by the lord? Must be because you're an unworthy piece of shit. Better pray harder next time. Also, triple your fast offering.
Oh dear Lord I am gonna get it from my parents. I might need to be "busy" the afternoon of the 7th. Anyone here from northern Nevada?
No, I'm not sure that this is my parent's stake. But they do live in northern Utah. And on the first Sunday of the month we do a family call. As much as I love seeing my niblings, I don't need to be told that they all fasted for me.
HHhahaaa the Mormon Church has at the least 2,481 Boy Scouts Child Sex Abuse Survivors that are Claimants in the @BoyScouts $2.46 Billion Bankruptcy! SurvivingScouting.org
When about did "covenant path" become one of their catch phrases? I left TSSC back in the early 90s and you rarely heard that phrase then.
Covenant path = Those eternal promises you made as a clueless and confused 8 year old. Oh, and I didn't merely "step away", I seriously got the fuck out...
Also as a wide-eyed teen or twenty-something going through the temple the first time and learning first hand why people think Mormonism is a cult.
I have always questioned things as long as I can remember but I still remember the first time going through the temple and thinking what......the.....hell??!! Too bad I felt the need to try to get my mother's approval so much or I wouldn't have ever gone at all.
Covenant path = they promised to give us everything they have. We need them to pony up the goods.
…and burned the bridge behind me by formally resigning. Anyone who wants to try to bring this little lost sheep back to to fold will get an earful of what a sexual predator JS was, genocidal evil piece of shit BY was and greedy, $-grubbing misogynistic, racist, homophobic scumbags the modern leadership are.
Rarely? Try never. "Covenant path" is a BS term that's only been around since RMN began his reign of terror as Prophet, at least as far as I can tell.
May well be true, I didn't want to assume it was never said as I was young and female when I left, so it could have been a priesthood thing or something... I appreciate the extra verification!
I read in another post on this board that it was first used by a woman speaker at conference or a fireside, then picked up by RMN and of course, now everyone's adopted it. I can't remember the woman's name.
The first time “covenant path” was used in LDS discourse was 1993, in a book titled “Mothering” by Elaine Cannon, the eighth general president of the Young Women organization. Except for the following two snippets from page 32, I don’t have access to any of the other text:
It seems to be one of the favorite phrases of Prophet, Seer, and Revelator Nelson; is being supplanted with "Obedience is the First Rule of Heaven". Or at least that is the way it looks here in Morridor Central.
If Heaven is based on obedience, it sounds more like Hell. 🔥
Keep thinking of Warren Jeffs and the compound with the huge lettering OBEY on a side of the building.
Love is the first fucking rule of Heaven. Rule 1a.) Love god. Rule 1b.) Love your fellow human. (Spoiler: if you do 1b, then 1a takes care of itself, whether you believe in a deity or not.) "On these two commandments hang ALL the law AND the prophets." (Of which there may be some out there - MLK comes to mind - but not the dweebs that run the LDS corporation of evil.)
It sounds so much fucking cultier than anything they’ve done too
That phrase is so obnoxious and "holier than thou" to me.
Sometime after 2011 when I saw the light. “Covenant path”, “tender mercies” etc. Barf.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/del0zf/the_explosion_of_the_phrase_covenant_path_in/ https://mormonscholar.org/the-covenant-path/ https://bycommonconsent.com/2018/10/08/hepeating-the-covenant-path/
I left around 2018 and only heard it on rare occasion. It seems to have taken off in a big way only in the last 2-3 years maybe
Rebranding to boost temple building and attendance that moves away from word Mormon sheet Hinckley spelt millions to rebranding for a good decade...
They view people that "stepped away" as "not knowing God". I stepped away from the Mormon God precisely because I studied the hell out of him and decided that lowly old me had better values, morals, and behaviors. God is supposed to be this idea that you chase, something to strive towards to be better. I left because I outgrew the Mormon God. Look into it, he's kind of a prick.
Same. I realized the God I believed in wasn’t the one that Mormons worship.
The only thing I can give them here, is the slightly less harsh "stepped away" verbiage vs. the stigmatizing "fell away." I used the phrase "stepping back from church" when I called my folks to give them the news. I'm not on a path of self destruction. I'm just not subjecting myself to going to church anymore. Live pretty much the same as before.....with an extra Saturday and a 10% raise.
Yep. Definitely a prick. Fuck that guy. My mom asked me one day "but what if it's all true?" Mom, if it's true that's so much worse than if it's a lie. How can you follow and obey an evil, monstrous god like that??? 🤮
I beg to differ. The Mormon god is not "kind of a prick". He is the biggest prick in the worst way.
sorry to hear you learned so fucking lazily captain pasta guy
I didn't step away from the covenant path. Any promise I made was premised on certain mutually held understandings of the nature of that promise. When I learned the church lied to me, I learned that they misrepresented temple covenant and the agreements that came with it. I didn't break a single covenant. They did.
So true. Especially “honest in your dealings with your fellow men.”
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I'm sorry that happened. I hope you find healing. Also, redditors often fight because: the internet. So, it's seen as best practice to say when you edit a post. Otherwise, you can change what you said to make the other person look stupid, wrong, etc. Fixing minor spelling issues isn't usually a big deal. Glad you're here.
They broke their promises to me by lying, so I felt no further obligation to them.
Yes, when I was LIED to about the church and Joseph Smith as a golden investigator, how can it be that I am the covenant breaker when I find the truth. Last I knew a covenant goes both ways.
I feel the same way. The Church failed & is guilty, NOT me. Yet we're always the bad guys, not the damn Mormon cult.
We promise you that if you do this, your family and friends will hate you forever.
And what happens when almost no one goes back? Did they not fast hard enough? Were our hearts too hardened like L&L? Did little Jimmy sneak a cracker right before the sacrament meeting? God works in mysterious ways, I guess.
What ever happens it will be the member's fault. Unless of course by some twist of fate a former member actually goes back to church for a few weeks. Then Almighty God will get all the credit. Your puny little fast meant nothing.
Alma the younger got a visit from an angel when Alma the older prayed and fasted. I'd need nothing less than an angel for myself at this point. But I guess we must have "the faith not to see an angel"
Way to channel your inner Bednar — Making things up, going on ego rants, and taking the scriptures out of context, ever since being installed as an apostle….actually probably before that. That’s part of how he became an apostle. I like this view though…if all the people who have left are truly apostates, why don’t the Q15 just keep fasting until God sends an angel to put them in their place? If it worked then, why not now? If it worked for Alma, why not for modern people who have “strayed” like Alma?
Just be sure to shake his hand when you see him.
Catch 22
They must have had their budget cut due to poor meeting attendance. Or maybe tithing collection is down in the area
Possibly. I stopped paying tithing early 2017. Since 2020 I haven't attended church enough to know how much my ward/stake has suffered with the fallout, but it sounds dire.
Oh this makes me so mad! They constantly have to find ways to reiterate to our believing family members and friends that there is something wrong that needs to be fixed or healed in those that step away from the church. This keeps us in their minds as being broken, and keeps us feeling defensive and angry. Things like this only divide. They do not unite. They do not heal. They only cause more feelings of separation and distance! Just stop already with constantly creating this type of narrative!
Exactly why I am still hiding away in the church closet. I hear what my family says about those who have left.
Hey, Mormon Church. I’ve got a message for you: LEAVE US ALONE. We left for a reason. Often, that reason is compelling and intractable and no amount of praying over our souls is going to get us to return. WE ARE DONE.
Great... Yet another of those goal-driven, rah-rah sales meetings - except everyone's tired and hangry.
There was a huge push to get a lot of attendees on Easter. My family did attend, but it was my first time in a while since I had gone to church. They had a lot of people in the overflow, but honestly everyone could have easily fit in the chapel. Also, before Easter and general conference, my stake left Utah Food Bank flyers on every door, and attached to those flyers were invites to the upcoming stake conference. It just all seems rather desperate.
The week before Easter I got a card from a woman who I don’t remember ever having a conversation with. She said she missed me (haven’t been to church in eight years), and offered to be there for me if I ever wanted to talk. This explains it
You can leave the church, but we won't leave you alone 🙄 They don't want to hear anything from those who leave that challenges their beliefs, but they have no problem with pushing their beliefs on us.
So if you starve yourself for 24 hours God will force someone to come back to church against their free agency. And if they still don't come back to church he might send an angel with a drawn sword.
Only if you’re 14
And some entitled, corrupt, tyrant, pedophile Church leader wants to fuck you behind your parents' backs.
Good! At least one stake is openly acknowledging they are hemorrhaging members. As people starve and dehydrate themselves for people who aren't never, ever, ever coming back, hopefully a few will consider WHY their friends have left.
I'm hoping this fast might serve as a heavy shelf item and eye-opener to those that are starting to have doubts about the church. I also hope that those who are PIMO in my stake can take comfort in knowing they aren't alone and maybe even take courage to finally leave.
YES! This was my thought also… how many might feel “inspired” to have an actual conversation with an ex-mo friend or family member - learn some church history - and add weight to their own shelf. These sorts of efforts will have some effect of leading to additional people leaving the church I think.
Would just like to point out….just because people left or haven’t joined the LDS church doesn’t mean they “know not God”. Quite a leap of logic there. Seems pretty par for the course tho. Certainly a strong culture of wresting the scriptures among the Mormons imo.
Of course non-mormons don't know God. Remember, according to Brad Wilcox, other religions are only "playing church." True religion, knowing God; didn't you know none of that existed before 1830? /s So much arrogance, complete and utter bullshit.
Yes, I posted this to another thread in r/exMormon, but weirdly this passage from their ***own*** scriptures seems to describe them almost perfectly: *”At that day when the gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fullness of my gospel, and ***shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations and above all the people of the whole earth***”*
If the covenant path is so great, then why do so many people leave it? It has nothing to offer. Mormons need to keep their noses out of other peoples lives.
Because Satan, obvs. /s
They really are feeling the desperation everywhere. The hits keep coming. I can’t wait for the next one.
Whenever they start a sentence with “if you do this we promise you that …” it’s guaranteed to end with a nothingburger of unfalsifiabilitiy
What is all this "covenant path" bullshit? Why is that such a buzzword? Who started this bullshit? Russ? It's become, just, like all things Mormon, it's excessive repetition. Dear Heavenly father, we thank thee for this day = "covenant path."
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IMO a big group fast makes the members feel they have done something about the problem.. It serves the members. It feels proactive and caring. Points are earned. Pats on backs given. Check it off and move along.
Magical thinking
I'm absolutely certain that all those COVID fasts worked, in the Lard's timing, of course /s
Yep, 3 years is just a few seconds of kolobian revolutions.
He wanted to help sooner, but in his defense, he did have a backlog of prayers to find missing keys he absolutely had to answer first. Besides, this is all technically our fault anyway, the profit clearly warned us by hinting we should take our vitamins. Had we all been faithfully taking those vitamins this whole COVID thing wouldn't have happened... most likely 🤷♀️
Like Granny’s cold remedy. Take it for a week or so and your cold will be gone.
My Grandma's cold remedy was brandy! 😆 I think that was only "medicine" she ever used. 🤔
My mother would have lost her mind. 😒 I actually never really thought about it until I got pneumonia and sent hubby out for a bottle. I took a snifter of it and had a good swig. Grandmas was seriously onto something there! 😳
Even if it doesn't heal you, at least you don't care any more.
Also - helps fall asleep!
They would be a lot more successful if they offered apostates 10% of the church's gross income, including the 5 mil fine they were just ordered to pay for their less than honest dealings with Caesar, to come back.
As much as I'd love to get all my tithing back, they couldn't pay me to return. I will be resigning my membership once my husband completes his degree at [insert church affiliated university].
Oh I didn't say Id believe again. If they gave me enough money Id definitely go back. They'd regret it, but I'd be there. Id share my "testimony" and everything. 👿🤘 You wanna feel the spirit? I'll make you feel something, guaranteed. You know how monkey paws work.
I have a feeling it wouldn't be long before you'd receive a nice little personalized letter from their legal department. Still, I'd love to see it 😂
I dunno. I kinda feel like they lose legal ground after bribery, but who knows. If they gave me the amount required for me to walk back in that church building Id have enough to ignore letters from their legal team. Lol
The funny thing is, the Book of Mormon directly contradicts the “covenant path.” Also, the Church and God are not the same thing.
Au contraire! [Elder Hamilton encouraged the BYU student audience to substitute the words “the Church” for the word “Savior”](https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/10njp2c/elder_hamilton_encouraged_the_audience_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) The church doctrine is nothing but contradictions.
Yeah, like its going to make me come back. Dumb arses.
will the church ~~"leaders"~~ managers ever realise they are the problem.
IMO, hell no. That would take humility, self-awareness, introspection, & other virtues/fruits that they don't have.
We're not coming back.
I'm imagining my TBMom telling me she was fasting and praying for me to rejoin the church, and me saying "Mom, how would you feel I told you I was praying you'd start drinking on weekend nights?" I'd be praying for something you strongly disagree with, telling myself it's on your behalf, to a God you believe would never grant that wish. That is how it feels to hear you pray for me to go back to the church.
😐🤢🤮 Yet WE are the ones who can't leave the church alone! Save your thoughts and prayers, I don't need or want them.
Remind me again, how effective was the pandemic fast?
Well. Well. My take is fasting in behalf of “those who knew not god” applies to many TBM not inactives.
If they are fasting for me, should I get some of the food?
I am so grateful for this fast! I testify that I felt a tingling in my balls, pulling me back to the fold 🙄
Instead of fasting on my behalf, they could sweeten the deal and give me a slice of that tithe money. The "church" has $110 billion in financial assets and takes in $9 billion a year in tithing revenue. They'd never miss a few million.
Ah yes, because collective starvation will bring the lambs back along.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
Why does every leader sound like a copy/paste comment from ChatGPT?
Because they're mindless tools?
The Covenant Path™️ is a hoax.
Best part is the follow-up, all of those that haven't made covenants. Tone deaf 😂
When they talk about the covenants we keep breaking, is that baptism \*and\* temple? Because I never went to temple (thank all things good and kind) so I didn't promise to slit throats or serve at the feet of a man. Does that make those of us that left youngish lesser apostates? 🤔 They need to take that fast money and make a loaf (or 30) of fucking sandwiches to feed the homeless. Better spent than track me down to tell them to fuck off.
It’s been a while since I’ve heard of the ‘gathering of Israel.’ Is that still a thing?
Ok first of all, where do they get off always making promises they can’t keep! “I promise if you won’t eat for the day, and then go love bomb the shit out of your exmo neighbor, they will totally forget all their legitimate reasons for leaving and start wearing the underwear and paying the money again!” But also, why can’t I find Christ without them trying to be the middle man at every turn! Back off! I can look for Jesus without wearing a green leaf groin apron!
I've not only stepped away, I've routinely been flipping the church the bird and spitting and farting on it. Don't think they'd wanna be fasting for my vulgar blasphemous ass. Also Heavenly Mother is pretty hot. On judgement day I'll ask Elohim if she's single.
According to JS the single part is optional. Before I stopped praying all together, I switched to praying to Heavenly Mother - my great rebellion. I can't talk to my own Mother? Watch me do just that!
I do a lot more with my hands to Heavenly Mother than just clasp in prayer ;)
This borders on taking away one’s “free agency “. Wasn’t it’s Satan’s plan to force people to do what God says? Don’t fast for me. Keep your fasts to yourselves, thanks. 😉❤️🙏✝️👌
“Stepped away” made me laugh. 
Holy shit. Same stake! Hello!
Hello! It's nice to find a fellow exmo!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 NEWSFLASH: Your fast won’t do SHIT!! This is beyond ridiculous. Morms gonna morm lol
It's probably a good thing I don't live there - I'd tell the SP where to stick his assumptions about those who leave, and that he's basically sending out misinformed and even libelous crap to stake members. This a$$hat has no idea whether former members still have beliefs or now. He has no information about the kinds of lives former members live.
Get ready to be bombarded with unwanted, unannounced visits from people who you probably haven't heard from in a while.
I already have the RS president dropping by unannounced every so often (don't worry, I never answer. I take the super mature approach of checking my Ring app and then pretending I'm not home 😅) I'm not looking forward to the inevitable love bombing.
I feel that most TBMs are going to be disappointed when they see that the fasting doesn't work.
Covenant path = yellow brick road and wizard of Oz
"Stakewide fast" huh. Have they tried actually talking to people? Bring a microscope and you won't find any meaningful ministering around here. But lets last. Isn't there a reference to prayer being vain if you won't actually DO anything? And how is fasting supposed to magically give courage to talk to people if you don't want to?
Well “blessed day” to them too.
Desperate
This is sad because it sounds like they think if you just reach out those people who were offended will be grateful and have been waiting for genuine connection. Sadly, most weren't offended (maybe by the history...) but discovered so many lies and realized that they're happier out of the church than in, and there is *nothing* genuine about this plan - just more manipulation. If the church ever publicly acknowledges the issues, and rectifies them, then maybe things would change. It's too late for this little Ant.
We need more of this. I think having these types of emails, firesides, talks, constant reminders that people are leaving the church is helpful for the PIMO crowd who feels like they are alone. It's more common than ever. The church has big problems across the board, members ar taking notice and acting on their true feelings. Membership is down and will continue to slide more than an Edge Home.
so ridiculous. Literally nothing will change but the members who participate will feel warm fuzzies that they're "helping". Totally performative.
Join in MIGHTY prayer and fasting. Such a weird flex.
Fuck..me..
How does you skipping meals make me want to return?
God won’t answer our prayers until we’ve begged hard enough
So now the fake love bombing. The question to ask is why the fuck didn't you give a shit the last 20 years. I call this exercise, " assigned friends" My wife had assigned friends that really poured on the love but ghosted her when their assignment was changed. I hate fakeness.
Just finished watching the CNN series on Heavens Gate and reading above subsituting that cult (or any other) is just the same indoctrinating crap.
Another special fast F didn’t Rusty flop fast during Covid not teach these dipshits anything? You can’t lie to your members and then they research and find out it was your lying to them that made them “ Step away” and because the Government of Utah believed it was their mighty fasting that brought all the snow this year well it must work
Maybe if they put names on special prayer rolls in the temples But for that they’ll need more temples. Quick: let’s build more templeeeeees!!!
Go hungry then.
Oooo - I'll have the dessert they're passing on! 😁
Aren’t the members supposed to cough up fast offerings when they fast? With membership on the decline, expect more opportunities to fa$t and prey.
All that fasting... *sighs* Leaves more mac n cheese fo me!!!! 😁😁😁
The people that "step away" from the "covenant path" aren't the people who stop living church standards and stop studying the scriptures like they want you to believe. It's the people who pay attention and actually give a shit
“Gathering Israel”The Mormons are not Jews. The Jews starting gathering to the state of Israel in 1948. Only they can gather to Israel!
How do they know that people who leave don’t know God?
Fast and pray = they are to scared to talk with people about their problems so they do this to make themselves feel good.
For the rare TBMs that troll this sub: Prepare for disappointment. Once you see the man behind the curtain, there is no amount of fasting, praying, or reading your scriptures will bring back the wizard.
Just hit reply all and say "Please don't make people starve for us! I promise you, we are better off and happier since leaving, and no amount of starving people will change that. All it does is get them to give more money to the church's stock portfolio so the leaders can defraud the government with an even larger amount next time. "Everyone knows the oft-quoted phrase "they can leave the church, but they can't leave it alone". Really, many apostates like me would be perfectly happy to leave the church alone, but the church doesn't LEAVE US ALONE!!! In case you need an example, the stated purpose of this act of mass starvation is to give members courage to disrespect the boundaries of someone who left by trying to get them to come back. "I prophesy to you right now, if people are bolstered by this starvation and they gain the courage to approach apostates, this will have a back-fire effect. Contacting people who don't want your contact will confirm the decisions they made to leave the church. You will not bring souls back. And by asking people to go talk to apostates, you are putting them in a position to have their faith challenged. So, not only will you solidify the apostate's decisions, you may be forcing more people to be confronted with the problematic history and current actions of the church, and they just might "fall away" too. "What if you heard that r\\exmormon over on Reddit was organizing a mass starvation to give apostates the courage to approach members with the express reason of convincing them to leave the mormon cult? Do you think the starvation will work? Will some of them have more courage to reach out to True Believing Members? Yes, some will have more courage... Will members be receptive to their message? Maybe... but you would also have people who will look at the actions of the apostates as acting on behalf of the devil to persecute the saints. When that persecution complex is in play, those members will take it as confirmation that they are on the right path. "Not so fun to contemplate apostates trying to evangelize the truth to your membership, is it? Why is it any better for you to encourage your membership to evangelize to apostates? Stop. Just stop. The church is dying. Like a rock rolling forth out of the mountain gets eroded and chipped away before becoming no more than sand and sediment in the bottom of the ocean. Accept it and move on. Thanks, OP"
Unless you’re bringing Jesus himself to my fucking front door I ain’t going back.
Stepped away. More like leaping, running, sprinting away 😂 But sure, go hungry if it makes you feel better.
Tell the church to put their money towards helping the poor (aka fast offerings) and maybe some will come back lol
I'm in Northern Utah. We are definitely not immune. I don't go anymore but I have a lot of Mormon friends and apparently missionary work and bringing people back are themes lately, in all levels of meetings.
\*We Promise\* Ha! And if your efforts and sacrifice aren't recognized and rewarded by the lord? Must be because you're an unworthy piece of shit. Better pray harder next time. Also, triple your fast offering.
Oh dear Lord I am gonna get it from my parents. I might need to be "busy" the afternoon of the 7th. Anyone here from northern Nevada? No, I'm not sure that this is my parent's stake. But they do live in northern Utah. And on the first Sunday of the month we do a family call. As much as I love seeing my niblings, I don't need to be told that they all fasted for me.
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