Introduction

I have friends and family who are LDS who find it difficult to understand how I could lose my belief in Joseph Smith and the LDS church after having been a missionary, Elder’s Quorum President, and having lived and believed in it all my life.  I have had some requests to discuss my beliefs with others.  I thought that a blog might be a better Idea since it takes a lot of effort to get my thoughts written out.  If I just got my thoughts out on a blog where it can be viewed by whoever wants to see it I could just do it once. 

The truth is that I like discussing theology.  It was a fairly traumatic for me to lose my faith.  I find it helps me to discuss things with others.  I do like having respectful discussions about faith issues, even with people with whom I completely disagree.  I think when we have those discussions, we all end up better.  We understand each other better even if we don’t change anyone’s mind. 

My goal is to be non-confrontational and simply state my reasons for thinking the way I do.  I like to hear what others think and how they make sense of life as well.  I apologize in advance if anything I say comes off as judgmental or disparaging.  That is not my intention.