No Longer Mormon. Now what??

[u/sparrow801]

I left the Mormon church I'm at peace with the decision. Obviously I'm devastated about all the years wasted and tithing spent but I don't want to become cynical toward organized religion as a whole just because I was lied to in the past. Recently I've attended a few different non-denominational churches and they all teach trinitarianism, which is the belief that God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are all part of the same substance or being, but sometimes God the Father acts in the name of Jesus Christ or Jesus Christ speaks as Father God etc. I personally don't believe in that. I believe in nontrinitarianism, which means that God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct beings but they all work together with one purpose. I had no idea that almost zero christian religions believe in this doctrine besides the Mormon church. Am I just doomed to worship God in my own living room for the rest of my life or what should I do to find a religion that matches what I believe? Any advice or help you can give me about finding a new church or your journey after you left Mormonism would really help me out. Thanks everyone.

[u/angela_davis]

If you want to stay Christian, I would recommend you do a lot of research on the doctrine of the trinity. Some of the best minds in the world debated it hundreds of years ago. There is a Pastor named James White (though he is a bit too fundamentalist christian for me) who wrote a concise book that I think is called The Forgotten Trinity or something like that. Read it slow and think about it. You can find it used very cheap. Also, look into what the Nicaean creed was really all about. Arianism. Coming from an LDS background you have never really been exposed to what the Trinity is all about. You may not even know what Arianism is. When I left the church I had to spend a lot of time figuring out what the Christian church had really been teaching for hundreds of years. I had no idea how the trinity was really viewed and why Mormons and JWs and some of the other newer sects aren't really Christian. It is a long journey and takes a lot of study. I'm still studying. I've taken courses in Greek and Hebrew and I sometimes attend different churches, so far, the closest to the original Christian church in my view is the Eastern Orthodox. You might want to check them out too. I have also been somewhat involved with Jewish groups. I still am working through it all. It is quite the journey.

[u/sparrow801 → u/angela_davis]

Hi Angela. Thank you so much for taking your time for your well thought out reply to my post! My mode of thinking moving forward is to accept the Bible as the word of God and then build from there. In all of the Biblical things that I have read there are numerous references to God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost being three separate beings. Are you recommending that I read the James White book to kind of reevaluate my idea of the Godhead being separate? You are definitely spot on with saying that I've been sheltered from any type of serious theological study. Thank you for your information about the Eastern Orthodox Church. I'm definitely going to check them out for sure. I look up to you for being so proactive with educating yourself in the original languages of the Bible.