"You know it's true" ( I do? Well then let me bear my testimony!)

One of the problems I have discussing the LDS Church with it's members is that they usually want to know the story of why I left. I usually decline to go into any detail now because I find that they really don't want to know why I left.

The just want to argue with me about my decision to leave.

You see, in Mormonism, you start with the answer and mold the question to fit it. Therefore it's inconceivable to them that a person would leave Mormonism because they discovered that Joseph Smith was a con man and a sexual predator who made up the entire story of the First Vision. To them it's not that Mormonism isn't true, it's that Mormonism simply can't be false. You can question it, you can study all about it, you can read up on both sides of the issue. But at the end of the day there is only one conclusion: The Church is true!

There is no other option for a True Believing Mormon.

So if you leave the LDS Church, there must be some other reason why you did so.

The LDS Church seems to have an unofficial reason why members leave: Questioning and finding fault with church leaders.

The membership is a little different. People who leave the LDS Church are "weak" or"sinners who didn't want to live the commandments". No matter what you tell them, no matter what you show them, it comes down to two things:

1. "You know it's true deep down"

2."You never really had a testimony"

To me these two responses say one thing: the Mormon arguing with you doesn't want to know and really does not care where you have been and the struggles you have been through in your life with their religion. They simply want to make sure that you don't reveal their own insecurities about Mormonism and that, at the close of the conversation, a testimony of The Truth™ prevails over all. That's one reason that when logic, reason and all else fail in a conversation about the LDS Church it's members are encourage to "bear their testimonies" of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, etc.

"You can't argue with a testimony" they tell you. No, and you can't argue with a mental patient who sincerely believes that he had dinner last night with George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein. A delusion is a delusion.

To set the record straight, deep down I know it's all a charade and that Joseph Smith was never a prophet. I once had a very strong testimony that he was until I was able to gather all the facts and look at them without blinders on.

That's my testimony.