#234 Carrie. CS: 1,2,3,7,8,9

The story that has impacted my life the most is my husband’s story. He and I met when he was 28 (I was 25) and it was basically love at first sight. After 3 weeks of dating he told me that he had been addicted to pornography/masturbation since he was 13. He told me about…

#233 Austin B. CS: 1,3,6,7,8

I looked at pornography in high school. My dad got a confession out of me by lying to me and saying that he would drive me to mutual but instead drove into a dark alley. He pinned me in a corner and forced me to confess. When I did confess to my bishop he told…

#232 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,7,8

My bishop asked me if I engaged in masturbation when I was about 12-13. He told me I can’t have the spirit with me if I don’t confess. I denied I ever did and left his office. I had constant guilt for years because “I’m so bad, not even God wants to comfort me.” I…

#230 Heather S. CS: 1,2,3,4,7,8. Other: Belief that sex is evil & next only to murder and that if sexual touch felt good in any way, that meant I was evil.

Trigger Warning: child sex abuse. This is about church teachings being used by my abuser. I grew up in a small Mormon town and was an innocent and naive child. When I was in grade 3, 8 years old, a teenage neighbor boy trapped me in my grandpa’s barn & molested me. I didn’t know…

#229 Sara F. CS: 1,2,3,7,8,9

When I was 17 I slipped with my older boyfriend. I told my parents what had happened and they told me it was bad enough I needed to confess to the bishop. I’d never had an issue talking to a bishop before because luckily my mom and I were close enough she told me when…

#228 Name Hidden. CS: 1,3,4,7. Other: Sexual self indentity..

I hesitate to relate this history, to talk explicitly about matters of a sexual nature, but am compelled to do so because church leaders did not hesitate to invade my young life with explicit words and judgments! My story; Deacon, teacher, priest, elder, mission, 2 temple marriages that ended in divorce, single, approaching retirement.. First…

#227 Alan H. CS: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

One of my first interviews that I can remember happened when I was 12. I felt fine about meeting the bishop. He asked me if I obeyed the law of chastity. Fully believing I had, I answered in the affirmative. He questioned back with ‘are you sure?’ still fully believing in myself, I said Yep!…

#226 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,4,7

I was fifteen lost my virginity to my boyfriend. I felt terrible about attempted baptism for the dead when others work so hard for a temple recommend so I confessed to my bishop. He ask me so many unnecessary details about the act. He asked me about thing I myself didn’t know about. I felt…

#225 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,4,6,7

When I was in high school, I had a serious boyfriend. After about a year of dating, we mutually decided to have sex. Many months passed and my bf felt guilty and that he needed to confess to his bishop so he went and met with him. They met and the following day my bf…

#224 Robin D. CS: 1,2,3,4,7,8

This practice destroyed my self-esteem, caused me to experience nearly relentless anxiety from age 8 on and led me to take desperate actions to “fix” myself of normal adolescent behavior deemed to be amoral. This extreme and relentless psychological distress eventually royally messed up the trajectory of my life as I took desperate measures to…