Reason #127: LDS teachings about prayer

Joseph Smith taught that all forms of prayer were ineffective if they were not couched in the format of the LDS Prayer Circle in a Mormon temple.  Explore the evidences for this claim, as well as the contention that this practice was Gnostic as well.  My...

Reason #126: A fictional account of losing faith in Mormonism

In the previous item on the “365 Reasons” blog I described the situation that caused me to lose faith in Mormonism.  I have tried to describe this in a fictional account, too:  my novel, Latter-day Cipher. In this passage, an LDS man who is a...

Reason #125: The Point of No Return in Deciding to Leave

The previous post used an analogy to describe the feelings that many have when discovering that Mormonism's claims of divine origin are false. I'll use a quote from my book, The Mormon Mirage, that describes the end of that process for me, when I was confronted with a...

Reason #124: Emotional Impact of Discovery

When I spoke last fall at the Ex-Mormon Foundation's annual conference, I compared the shock of discovery that Mormonism was composed of lies to pornography.  (Though that was not the theme of my speech, you can see the entire video: Out of the Mormon Mirage here.)...

Reason #123: Eternal truth is…always true

About two months ago I sat at a restaurant with a college student who had grown up Mormon as she recounted to me her growing doubts about Mormonism. I shared that when I was an LDS college student, I also had to make some decisions about Mormonism. But things were...

Reason #122: Because LDS history has been continually whitewashed

When I was a Mormon, the first of Joseph Smith's dozens of wives, Emma, was portrayed as his only wife. Not only that, their relationship was always depicted as loyal and loving — though LDS scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants showed that Emma had difficulty...