Church history is an oft-cited reason for why people leave the faith, but is that really the whole story? Why do some people leave and others stay among those who are most knowledgeable about Mormon history? What are acceptable reasons to leave or to stay?
Happiness and joy aren’t different emotions that are exclusively available to select people. There isn’t some hierarchy where some people are truly joyful whereas others are merely happy.
The key to navigating faith crisis, I believe, is to trust that honestly pursuing the truth will ultimately lead you to a better place, even if it’s not the place you initially imagined.
The LDS teachings regarding the Gift of the Holy Ghost invoke the Spirit in establishing the church—and the men who lead it—as the mediator of one’s relationship with the Divine.
In both the temple endowment narrative and in real life, a willingness to access the knowledge forbidden by a threatening authority figure is the key to spiritual growth and liberation from a contrived paradise that is actually an intellectual prison.