Comments on: TMI Friday – Back When I Was Tight With Jesus

By: The Story of 2009 |

The Story of 2009 | — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:34:55 +0000

[...] my oldest and dearest friend, Zach. *Deep breath*I finally got the courage to write about my lost relationship with Jesus and why I left the LDS church which prompted me to start a new feature on my blog called [...]

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:54:33 +0000

Summer, Just thought that I’d say I was thinking of you. This blog seems to have come with some thought. I’d love to talk philosophy, life and scriptures with you sometime. It’s been too long. And just in case you were wondering, Jesus and I are still really tight.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:54:04 +0000

Summer…………. I have always loved your writting and I tell you that often. This story is of particular intrest to me because having grown up in the same home with you for some years, I know how this feels. I for one lost my faith in any kind of god at a very young age. My mother and I did not participate in church on a regular basis growing up and when she passed away, any little faith I may have had went away. People told me that “God took her because he wanted her to be with him.” Or ” god had better plans for her”. But if this god everyone around me spoke so highly of was so great, then why the “F” did he take my mother from me so young. There is no way this man could have just plotted a car accident for her to die in just because. Those answers were not good enoguh for me. I am getting carried away…….
Summer thank you for sharing your feelings on this subject.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:58:34 +0000

It was interesting reading this post from the perspective of being the only other girl our year in the ward. We spent a lot of time discussing spiritual topics, fears, and temptations together in those formative teen years. I probably know things about you in that time that most people didn’t, just from our “spiritual discussions.” Remember when we’d go to that tree (where the JR parkway now is) and talk for hours? I remember being part of one of those “interventions” (yeah, sorry about that!)I get you on the guilt…seems that it was way out of check with the seriousness of my actions. I felt like I was in the bishop’s office constantly, having a hard time reconciling why there were so many consequences for my actions.

I’ve wavered through my adulthood on how I feel about the church…like I know a lot of it is true, but the culture part gets to me. How people can be so hypocritical in their words and actions, and still dress up in their Sunday best and take the sacrament. There are official stances the church has taken on some issues, and I have a hard time supporting them. I’ve had times where I wasn’t temple-worthy, and wasn’t sure I wanted to do anything about it. I know what I believe, but sometimes it’s just hard to do it the church’s way. But for me the saving grace has been the sense of community I feel when I do participate in a ward. I’ve moved to so many states in the last few years, and sometimes the only people I know for months are the ones I see on Sunday.

Just so you know….I’ve always thought you were awesome…and you may be just a little more awesome as a alcohol-swiggin’ fornicating blogger

By: kel

kel — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:18:19 +0000

Haha, I love the part where they just tell to pray. I never bought that shit…

By: jebro

jebro — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:43:16 +0000

I don’t think it’s antagonistic, I think it’s honest. And to write it publicly definitely takes courage. This has been a common subject among the people I’ve been talking with lately, and it’s fascinating to hear the stories.

Losing one’s religion is a difficult transition; religion is very integral to your sense of self when you’re raised in an environment like that.

One point that really sticks out to me: the relativism between sex and alcohol (“if I was going to go to hell for having sex, then what did it matter if I threw one more sin on the fire?”). When all sins are nearly equal it’s very easy to think this way – and that can be dangerous. Take me, for example: When I saw my friends having a great time after smoking weed, I tried it. And I didn’t die. And I even had a good time! Hell, a GREAT time. And this realization was a lesson in cognitive dissonance: I had been lied to this whole time about how bad and dangerous drugs were. But to my mind (since this had been what I was taught), because weed was so mild, the harder drugs were probably filled with lies too. The only thing stopping me from moving on to harder drugs was the fact that I couldn’t get them.

And this example isn’t necessarily a religious thing, but the idea is the same. It’s probably not a good example of what I’m trying to convey, but I think you get the idea. There are things that are genuinely bad things to do, and then there are those that are just being human, which you’ve been taught to be ashamed of, i.e. sex. They shouldn’t all be put on the same level.

And I’m rambling because I’m drunk (and probably going to hell). Anyway, thanks for sharing this.