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I saw this note from Greg Prince on my Facebook feed and wanted to post it here. Greg is an awesome Mormon Historian who has written books on David O. McKay, and the evolution of Mormon Priesthood. He has also been on Mormon Stories a few times and is definitely an active, unorthodox Mormon. Here’s his message. Quote:A group of friends and I are attempting to understand what is commonly referred to as the “faith crisis” in relation to the Mormon church. We have designed the following survey to help us gather personal narratives of people who have experienced or are currently experiencing a faith crisis.
https://faithcrisis.wufoo.com/forms/faith-crisis-stories/ As the survey notes, all responses are anonymous and no personally identifiable information will be captured in this survey. Simply put, we are looking for personal stories of people who have experienced or are experiencing a crisis of their Mormon faith.
If you know anyone who fits this category, we would appreciate your forwarding this message and link to them.
Thanks for sharing who started this survey. I sent mine in earlier and posted a link to it in the General Discussion area, but I wasn’t clear who was looking for the information. I liked the survey because it doesn’t ask for your name, email or residence (such as US or Europe). There really are no questions, there is some boxes to click on, then a spot for a 700 word explanation about your crisis, where you are now, and could anything have been done to prevent this from happening. I hope they get good responses and can use the information in a healing format. It could be very helpful. Would anyone here mind if our Introductions section was mined for stories? I think it would be a valuable resource for this project, especially since it represents a lot of people who are trying to stay actively involved in the Church, not just those who left. I’m thinking anyone here could opt of such story mining and we could allow the stories to be compiled for anyone who doesn’t opt out, but I would never authorize that without positive feedback and permission.
What does everyone think?
It’s a public forum Ray. The stories are in the public domain so are already available for mining if someone wanted to. They are generally anonymous. In other words, I’ve no issue with it. But it’s kind of you to ask.
I know, mackay11, that they already can be mined – but I’m talking about reaching out to the people organizing this project proactively and suggesting they use our introduction stories. I don’t want to do that if people here don’t want that done. I like that idea Ray. I love the idea, Ray. I immediately thought of our group when I received the offer. I was in a hurry to get out to church and didn’t put my thoughts on it. I have concluded that in our black and white thinking lives we only address the standard active or the inactive. The road of staying and growing doesn’t get much air time. It would be great if we could. :thumbup: Thanks Ray, like I said, I appreciate the courtesy. I’ve recently given a talk in Sacrament which I’ll share later. It was largely a statement of ‘where I’m at’ but in positive, faith promoting language. I’m going to share it later. I was very fortunate to go through my initial FC with both local and online friends (you guys included) to hold my hand. The kinds of things I share in my talk are the kinds of things I wish were more proactively spoken of.
mackay11 wrote:Thanks Ray, like I said, I appreciate the courtesy.
I’ve recently given a talk in Sacrament which I’ll share later. It was largely a statement of ‘where I’m at’ but in positive, faith promoting language. I’m going to share it later. I was very fortunate to go through my initial FC with both local and online friends (you guys included) to hold my hand. The kinds of things I share in my talk are the kinds of things I wish were more proactively spoken of.
Please do share that with us. I wish someone would have done that when I first started having serious doubts.
Ray, please count me in.
I think that’s a good idea Ray, and would have no problem with my own intorduction being used. My only concern is that for a lot of these stories, time has passed and things change, some for the better and others for the worse, so these introductions are unlikely to paint a current picture. Great point, krismace – but I’m not sure the project is focused on anything but what causes the crisis / transition in the first place. If we do this, we could ask them if they would be interested in any updates.
I think even my perspective of what caused the original FC has changed with time. At the outset, it was the messy history and church coverup. After nearly 1 year I can reflect on the broader influences that affected me. Also, self evaluation is always going to be a little skewed. But it’s the best we can do I guess
Just got round to it. 700 words was just about ok to be limited to. I likewise posted my story. The need to be heard is not as strong in me as it once was but I reason that this study might help decision makers to make improvements that benefit all. Like Roy I don’t need to be understood as much as I used to, but I do hope to help change the tide of trauma in the future. My comments FWIW (Written in a rush):
I come from deep pioneer stock. From my earliest memory I can’t remember seriously questioning the church in any way, or even that anyone’s questions could ever have validity. The source of doubt was clearly Satan and even entertaining the possibility that some question may have validity was way off my radar. My early life was typical, youth programs, mission, temple marriage, full church activity. I have always enjoyed my life in the church.
My questions started with the age of the earth, the flood, and other literal interpretations of bible stories conflicting with what science demonstrates. I then ran into different accounts of the first vision. These came from the most faithful sources but everything didn’t line up with what I had always pictured. From there I started studying church history and became seriously shocked at what I found.
Davis Bitton got it right when he said that the problem is with expectations not lining up with reality. I am still active in the church, and have re-formed my views and beliefs but most of my trauma could have been avoided if I had grown up with a more realistic view of several topics:
1) The nature of revelation. I didn’t understand what it meant that God can only work with man in his own understanding. Revelation will always come through an imperfect human filter. This explains so much beginning with how bible stories don’t always line up with modern scientific knowledge.
2) it is okay and even important to question. Today I understand the purpose of earth life differently from how I used to. I was so deathly afraid to let anyone know of my questions, and that fact was a huge complication to the whole process. Today I realize true learning comes from real questioning, and one of our primary purposes on earth is to learn as deeply and broadly as possible. This type of learning cannot come when we’re afraid to question or doubt.
3) Doctrinal understanding will always vary from person to person. I was under the false impression that all top church leaders agreed on all points of doctrine. I thought the truth should be plain and easy to understand, so after you received the knowledge you had the picture burned into your mind. Today I realize the human condition is far messier and it is this messiness that helps us ultimately learn in the way that we need to.
The whole process was extremely difficult to go through. The moment I realized my faith had just crumbled I became physically sick, I had to leave my work and go to my bed. Family members did not handle it well, they viewed me as broken and in need of fixing. Ultimately I did visit with some understanding church leaders that helped me understand it is right and important to ask the hard questions. Had they not been there I probably would not be in the church today.
In my opinion it all could have been averted if I had grown up with more realistic expectations more in line with the imperfect human condition. The people are not perfect, we hear that all the time. The church is not perfect either. How could it be when it is made up of imperfect people?? The Gospel is perfect, but our understanding of it is not so we must always be ready to be open to new revelation and concepts and be ready to reform our old ideas.
The problem is a false sense of certainty. Misplaced certainty is the greatest enemy to truth. If I had grown up with a greater sense of and tolerance of ambiguity I wouldn’t have crashed as hard as I did. I now love the concept of agency. We cannot be made to obey (Satan’s plan), compelled to obey, strongly influenced through authority to obey, etc. We must be free to choose while sharing stories of our personal experience and the value of spiritual lessons. I love many Teachings of Joseph Smith. I don’t always love what I hear in church.
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