Resignation/return

[Jeanne]

Thank you Don.  I do love stories like this!

[cursor]

Maybe they suffered a stupor of thought.

 

Yes, collectively — and for an inexcusably extended period of time.

Fortunately that's now over ... and the thought clearly never even existed for the three of them.

Edited November 14, 2014 by cursor

[cursor]

They may have intended to help, even looked for stuff but did not find anything they felt was of value at first, meant to keep looking but got sidetracked and forgot.

 

While I can forgive ... I was no more than five years younger than any of the three. I was 34-35 at the time. Memory failure was hardly the issue. Thanks for your thoughts, though (as always). 

 

If it were the days of the internet, I could have searched on my own ... but alas, it was not.

[why me]

People who resign can usually return to the church if they have had an unique spiritual experience or a death in the family.People resign for various of reasons. Not all do so with hostility. Some do it because they no longer feel a need for the church. However those who return can be extremely strong members. Much can be learned from them. These members can be very influential in getting others to see the way and the truth.

[why me]

I have know several people who were excommunicated. One has been rebaptized. Another is in jail for a long time and still claims to believe. Two others are working to the point where they will be rebaptized.

none that I know of had an issue with the doctrine.

it seems to me that when you have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true, then plural naariagr resolves itself

Excommunication would be different than resigning. Resigning is more a personal choice. In most cases, excommunication isn't. I can see it being easier for excommunicants to come back. They just need to get their spiritual house in order. But the person who resigns...they would need to have a change of heart or an experience to bring them back to the fold.

[pogi]

So many LDS, I feel, are so wrapped up in their own Mormon world, in their own ward/stake activities and friendships, and in their own LDS communal neighborhood, that thoughtful outreach to the fringe of membership, or to the non-member isn't in their plan (or lack of plan).

 

We only have a four-fold mission in the church.  The less-active and non-members cover two of the four folds.  It is the rare exception to find ward leadership who does not have an outreach plan.   Unfortunately, from your perspective, it sounds like you slipped through the cracks.  It sounds like you hold some resentment about it.  Do you feel like it might have changed things for you if they followed through? 

[Stargazer]

People who resign can usually return to the church if they have had an unique spiritual experience or a death in the family.People resign for various of reasons. Not all do so with hostility. Some do it because they no longer feel a need for the church. However those who return can be extremely strong members. Much can be learned from them. These members can be very influential in getting others to see the way and the truth.

 

There was an elderly couple in my ward that had been "on the books" for years and years, but they had never attended any meetings.  Then suddenly out of the blue our bishop got a resignation letter from the sister.  I happened to know about it because I was the ward clerk at the time.  So she went through that brief process and was no longer a member.  You would have thought, well, that's that, but oddly enough, her leaving prompted her husband to start attending meetings.  So for about a year he attended our meetings, and was active (with a calling, etc), while she attended Mass every week, and was an active Catholic.  Then suddenly she started attending our Church with him; she told the Bishop that she wanted back into the Church.

 

Her story was that she had had what she called bad experiences with local Church leaders, and this explained the long-term inactivity, but then one after another her still-Catholic parents died, and she felt that she needed to honor them by leaving the LDS church and becoming Catholic again.  But she found that although there was this pleasant familiarity about it, she never felt as spiritually in tune with God than she had previously felt in the LDS church.  She gave it a year, but in the end decided that she had made a mistake.

 

So she attended Church for the requisite year, was rebaptized, and then the year after that she and her husband went to the temple and were sealed together.  And you never saw a happier nor a more active couple.

[Calm]

Since my journey and Maxine's have been mentioned, here is a Peggy Stack's Trib article on my journey:

…..

 

Don

If I or a friend PMed you about something, would you be around for awhile?

Edited November 15, 2014 by calmoriah

[Rain]

DonBradley - reading the article makes me wonder if we ever crossed paths on our missions, though your name doesn't ring any bells - my memory is not all that great. I was there from 89-90. I went to the East mission when it split. I was Sister N_________ and I served on Westheimer, Copper something (the name escapes me), Woodlands, Angleton, Kingwood and Moss Bluff LA.

[Kenngo1969]

Although she doesn't post here, a close friend of Don Bradley, Maxine Hanks, is another well-known personality who was excommunicated and who returned to the Church in 2012.  The anti-Mormons were particularly angry at her return.  I have known several others who have returned to the Church and find their testimonies quite remarkable.  This ought to give us pause when discussing or condemning excommunicants.  For we never know when or if they will return to the fold.

 

And not only that, it ought to give anyone pause who believes that he sees the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its leaders, its history, or its doctrines, not as he is, but rather as they are.  The repentant Paul was a pretty insightful dude, yet if even he saw "through a glass, darkly" (1 Corinthians 13:12), I'm hesitant to say I can do any better.  With due respect to them and not wishing to be unduly judgmental of anyone who thinks he knows enough to draw such definitive conclusions about leaders, history, and doctrine that leaving is justified, I'm hesitant to say that I know more than Paul or that I can draw definitive conclusions in the negative about these things.

[Robert F. Smith]

There was an elderly couple in my ward that had been "on the books" for years and years, but they had never attended any meetings.  Then suddenly out of the blue our bishop got a resignation letter from the sister.  I happened to know about it because I was the ward clerk at the time.  So she went through that brief process and was no longer a member.  You would have thought, well, that's that, but oddly enough, her leaving prompted her husband to start attending meetings.  So for about a year he attended our meetings, and was active (with a calling, etc), while she attended Mass every week, and was an active Catholic.  Then suddenly she started attending our Church with him; she told the Bishop that she wanted back into the Church.

 

Her story was that she had had what she called bad experiences with local Church leaders, and this explained the long-term inactivity, but then one after another her still-Catholic parents died, and she felt that she needed to honor them by leaving the LDS church and becoming Catholic again.  But she found that although there was this pleasant familiarity about it, she never felt as spiritually in tune with God than she had previously felt in the LDS church.  She gave it a year, but in the end decided that she had made a mistake.

 

So she attended Church for the requisite year, was rebaptized, and then the year after that she and her husband went to the temple and were sealed together.  And you never saw a happier nor a more active couple.

I had a bishop who at one time was more or less an inactive Mormon.  He married a very nice Roman Catholic woman and began attending Mass with her regularly  and was on friendly terms with the parish priest, but would not convert.  Eventually his wife told him that he needed to decide whether he wanted to be Mormon or Catholic.  He decided to be Mormon, so both began attending the local ward.  When he told me the story, he was the bishop of that ward.  He said that his old parish priest commented good-naturedly to him that he had wanted to oneday become a Catholic bishop, but that my bishop had beat him to it.  There are many such offbeat stories of people leaving and coming back to the Church.

Edited November 17, 2014 by Robert F. Smith

[DonBradley]

Thanks, Garden Girl, for mentioning my experience.

 

Tacenda, what you said was just fine. Charles's death was a catalyst to my return to belief in Christ. There was still much more I needed to work out after that in order to return to the church. But it was one of the big steps on that path.

 

Jeanne--you're welcome!

[DonBradley]

Rain:

 

Interesting! I'll message you more about this offlist.

[Garden Girl]

Thanks, Garden Girl, for mentioning my experience.

 

Tacenda, what you said was just fine. Charles's death was a catalyst to my return to belief in Christ. There was still much more I needed to work out after that in order to return to the church. But it was one of the big steps on that path.

 

Jeanne--you're welcome!

 

Hello Don... I'm sorry about your brother...

The sudden death of my mom was the catalyst that sent me running back to the Church, and I too had to work things out starting at square one because it was over 30 years...

My experience was that my husband and I were traveling with my folks, bringing them up to Oregon for a vacaton.   The first night out we were in Ukiah, CA when my mom had a massive heart attack.  When Dad called me and I went to their room I found mom... I cradled her and I saw the light go out of her eyes and I knew she had passed through the veil... that, and the next few days that followed, whipped me around, and I've never looked back...

 

GG