Lynn Wilder - 7 Reasons We Left Mormonism

By Michael Wilder and Dr. Lynn Wilder

Published by ATRI Publishing

Copyright 2012, 2020

ISBN 9781937136901

License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to otherpeople. Thank you for respecting the hard work of theseauthors.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is takenfrom:

The Holy Bible, New International Version . NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rightsreserved.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV).Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of GoodNews Publishers

Background

In 2005 we thought our life was perfect. We hadbeen peacefully marriedat least we had survived ourmarriagealmost 31 years. We had been members of the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) for 28 years,ever since the LDS missionaries knocked on the door of ourfour-room home in Indiana in the late 1970s. The church had had aprofound influence on us throughout these years. Nearly everythingwe did or said hearkened back to what we learned at the knee of thechurch. After joining, we were blessed with four amazing childrenborn under the covenant, as Mormons say.

As a family, we were all active in the LDSChurch; it was the very center of our lives together. The kids heldleadership positions in their various church programs, includingScouts, Young Men and Young Women, Priesthood, and Seminary.Eventually all three sons served voluntary two-year missions insuits and nametags to spread the Mormon gospelone to Russia, oneto Denmark, and one to Florida. Our youngest, a daughter, was alsoactive in the church.

The entire family held numerous leadershippositions over the years in what we believed was the only truechurch on earth, the one with which the Lord was wellpleased.1 Michael was a high priest; Lynn was atenured associate professor at the Mormon Church-owned BrighamYoung University (BYU) where she had to maintain ecclesiasticalclearance from her church leaders in order to keep her job. But inthe spring of 2008, we parents made the difficult decision toofficially resign our membership in the LDS Church.

What happened? In short, we read the NewTestament with an earnest desire to know the truth from the wordsof Jesus Himself. To our surprise, we discovered Christ JesusHimself was anti-Mormon doctrine in a number of cases. As we read,we discovered one by one the contradictions between what we hadbeen taught in Mormonism and what the Bible said. Eachcontradiction created a crisis of faith and necessitated a choice.Do we believe Mormon doctrine from Mormon scriptures and Mormonleaders, past and present, or do we believe Gods own words in theBible?

Leaving Mormonism was, for us, much like a deathin the family. We loved the Mormon people, their culture, theirpeculiar ways. We loved that our children were raised to bemorally clean and to hang out with their morally clean andworthy LDS youth peers. We loved the emotional monthly testimonymeetings, the camaraderie of serving shoulder-to-shoulder withothers with the same beliefs, and the fact that we had churchfamily wherever we went in the world learning the same lessons onthe same Sundays. To help the reader understand our authenticity inthe faith, we give a momentary description of some callings inwhich we served the Mormon Church. We were everyday soldiers, butfaithful ones.

We want to emphasize throughout this book thatalthough finding the truth led us out of the Mormon Church, wecontinue to love Mormon people and hope they will consider thereasons we present. Our intent for biblical Christians is that theywill learn some of what they need to know in order to have honestdialogue with their Mormon friends and family.

Callings

The following is a brief description of some ofthe Mormon Church callings (lay leader jobs) held by us over our 30years in Mormonism. We list them simply as an indication of thelevel of dedication we had to the Mormon Church and as evidencethat we know the Mormon gospel, because we taught others forseveral years.

Michael

Within about a year of becoming members,Michaels first given leadership position was to serve as a wardclerk, an administrative position that allowed him to see the innerworkings of a Mormon bishopric. A bishopric consists of a bishop(local pastor) and two counselors (assistant pastors). A ward clerkserves the bishopric. In his role as ward clerk, he took notesduring Sacrament meeting (church), oversaw ward membership records,baptismal records and certificates, and met with the bishop and histwo counselors routinely as they made decisions for acongregationtypically about 500 people. Mormons are assigned bythe LDS Church to attend a specific ward according to thegeographical area in which they live. As Mormons, we did not get tochoose our congregation or our bishop. At Brigham Young University(BYU), we used to remind each other, Remember, this is atheocracy, not a democracy.

Michael received his ward clerk calling from amember of the stake (regional) presidency who told him he wouldhave to shave his beard or he could not serve in this capacity.Mormon priesthood authority is exclusively male and absolute.Mormon scripture teaches the following about the higher,Melchizedek priesthood:

And this greater priesthood administereth the gospeland holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the keyof the knowledge of God. Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, thepower of godliness is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof,and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is notmanifest unto men in the flesh. For without this no man can see theface of God, even the Father, and live.2

Over the years, Michael served in variousleadership positions, a high priest in the Melchizedek Priesthoodhimself from the age of 36 on, including bishopric counselor(assistant pastor), Sunday School President (superintendent), YoungMens President (young men ages 12-18), stake (regional) and ward(local) missionary and mission leader, temple ordinance worker, andHigh Counselor (regional ruling body of twelve that helps the stakepresidency to oversee several congregations in a region).

He had the experience of sitting on numerouschurch courts where a ruling body of men determined a disciplinaryprocedure for a church member who was reported in a serious sinsuch as adultery or who had confessed a serious sin to the bishopor stake president. As the result of a church court, a member couldbe ex-communicated and their baptism revoked, or they might bedisfellowshipped, a less severe punishment. He also held numerousteaching positions: seminary teacher, Gospel Doctrine teacher,Gospel Essentials teacher, home teacher, temple prep teacher, highpriest group teacher, and others. He worked in the temple where heoften played the role of the Lord at the veil. We were neverwithout callings in the Mormon Church during our 30 years ofmembership.

Lynn

Over the years, Lynn served as a Young WomensPresident (young women ages 12-18), Primary President (ages birthto 12 yearschildrens church), Stake Primary President (directed12 Primaries in the region), Relief Society President (femalecounterpart to a bishop over the women in the ward under thesupervision of priesthood authority), seminary teacher (high schoolyouth), Gospel Essentials teacher (new members), and visitingteacher. She worked in the temple as well, rotating through everyrole a female temple worker could fill.

Faithful Mormons serve untold hours in laypositions within the LDS Church. This service sometimes requiredfor Lynn as many as 20 hours a week in addition to child raising,home managing, caring for elderly family, and part-time employment.Mike coached his sons ball teams, worked, maintained the yard andhome repairs, and helped take care of his parents. He was ahusband, father, caregiver, and spiritual leader, and also oftenspent another 20 hours a week in lay church work.