| This is one of a series of web pages I created between 2001and 2006. I was angry and frustrated at the LDS Church. Since then I have moved on and calmed down. So please remember, if you read these pages, that they reflect my past and not my present feelings. Thanks for your understanding! - Chris Tolworthy |
Second edition, July 2006
(First edition: 2003)
This web site has a simple message for Mormons: choose the right. I was a Mormon until the age of 34, and I was taught to share whatever truths I learned, and I am doing just that.
There are many web sites on the Internet about the church. The ones made by church members are all positive, portraying the church as good and wonderful thing. But the web sites by formr Mormons like me are usually negative. They focus on all the bad things about the church. I think this is a mistake. We should focus on the good. We should be positive, not negative. This web site is about all the good and noble and moral reasons for leaving the church. It says you can do better!
It is wrong to be too negative about the church. Sure, it has its problems, but the rest of the world is sometimes worse. Members often fear that if they leave the church their lives could be worse. That is true. But your life could also be much better. It is our life, your choice. Say where you are or choose something better. You choose.
My name is Chris Tolworthy. I live in Scotland. I was born into the church in 1968, in England, was active all my life, served a mission and served in various positions including branch president. But I wanted to do better. I deeply believed that the gospel had all the answers to life's problems. I "knew" that if I studied the gospel a little bit more then I would find those answers. I spent many years studying the gospel. I made a thousand page web site, Why Prophets.com, to show how the world needs prophets. I published a book, The Bible Says 1830, to prove that the Bible is a Mormon book. People complemented me on the web site. They bought the book. But the more I studied, the more doubts I had. Until now think that, while the church may contain a tot of good, it also has some serious problems. I wanted to choose the right. And that led me out of the church.
I made the first version of this web site in 2003, now hosted on ZarahemlaCityLimits.com, when I was still a member of the church. I stayed as a member in 2003 because my family wanted me to. The message of the site is that a Mormon lifestyle is better than some other lifestyles, but you can do even better.
A year later, in 2004, the church became aware of this site and local chuch leaders asked me to take the site down. I refused. So they scheduled a church court for September 11th 2004. It would have been an open and shut case, because I openly opposed church teachings and had no intention of changing. To save my family the embarassment of having a excommunicated member, I resigned from the church. Had I attended the court, I would have been in the interesting position of being excommunicated for the crime of telling people to choose the right.
There were various things I wanted to change about the old site, to make the message clearer and more positive. But I was always too busy. And I thought the site had been forgotten, so I was happy to leave it. But lately it has been attracting more visitors, so it seems like a good time for an update. But the main changes are a focus on simple good things like honesty and morality, with less of the confusing, bitter, typo-filled waffle that usually characterises my work. I have less time to spend on graphics so this is just a simple typed document.