Here's the crux, Chris: It doesn't matter whether or not the LDS Church is correct or incorrect. By the Church's own standards, it is always legitimate for someone to leave it. Why? Because of free agency.
If people don't have the choice to leave, and if the choice is not a comprehensible one, then choosing to stay in the Church is really no choice at all. If you can't imagine anything different, or any reason for wanting a different lifestyle, then I don't find the choice to stay to have much grounding.
I find that, in general, Mormons (and this goes for most conservative religions as well) only believe in free agency as far as they agree with the choices free agents make. The same goes for American Mormons and freedom of speech. They're happy to exercise the freedom to promote their own beliefs, but woe to the person who says a word against them.
I think you've probably made one of the more honest decisions about your religion of people I know. And I get the feeling you understand the choices I've made better than you let on.
Re: Wow
If people don't have the choice to leave, and if the choice is not a comprehensible one, then choosing to stay in the Church is really no choice at all. If you can't imagine anything different, or any reason for wanting a different lifestyle, then I don't find the choice to stay to have much grounding.
I find that, in general, Mormons (and this goes for most conservative religions as well) only believe in free agency as far as they agree with the choices free agents make. The same goes for American Mormons and freedom of speech. They're happy to exercise the freedom to promote their own beliefs, but woe to the person who says a word against them.
I think you've probably made one of the more honest decisions about your religion of people I know. And I get the feeling you understand the choices I've made better than you let on.