As I was preparing to serve a mission, it was very important to me to be honest in my interviews with my bishop. I did not think I would be able to serve with a clear conscience if I had lied. Despite confessing to occasional masturbation, my bishop said he felt comfortable recommending me for…
Until my worthiness interview prior to becoming a priest at age 16, my father had never so much as mentioned the word “masturbation” to me. But then my father became the bishop of our ward and took on new responsibilities and duties which apparently included teaching his son about sinful sexuality. “Do you know what…
When I was 18 I had my first boyfriend. We went what I thought at the time was ‘too far’ one night and I felt soo guilty. I had been taught all my life that I needed the bishop to fix big mistakes. So I made an appointment. I went in and told my bishop…
My story didn’t start in the Latter-Day Saint church though it did end that way. It started soon after my 9th birthday. As a newly baptised child with a convert mother, I was new to the world of Mormonism and its many facets. My father (divorced from my mother) was an adamant anti-mormon who hated…
I was asked as a young man by my bishop if I had a problem with masturbation. I really didn’t know what it meant and had never done it or even knew it was a thing until I was asked by him, who was also a family friend. As I matured I still did not…
My brother, M, was sexually molested as a child by somebody in our ward. We found out that my brother had been molested when his abuser wrote us a letter – after having confessed to his bishop, who did not report the abuse. My brother’s abuser served no jail time, despite having confessed to molesting…
When I was young, I was abused by a stepfather. Later, as an adult, I came forward with my story and he was disfellowshipped for one year. During that process I learned that my stepfather had confessed to our bishop, a man who later went on to become the stake president, around the time that…
When I was 14, a counselor once asked me if I knew what masturbation was in a region dance interview. I said yes and he made me explain exactly what it was- he said if it made it easier I didn’t have to look at him when I said it. I told him it was…
I had to bring up instances of when I had masturbated during my teenage and pre-mission years to bishops and a stake president. The emotional and psychological toll this took on me was often unbearable while growing up and even while on my mission. The shaming and guilt I suffered for many years could have…
I discovered masturbation at age 11 before I had even heard of it. My parents had given me “the talk” and I knew that a man ejaculates sperm during sexual intercourse, and sex was only supposed to be for marriage. I put two and two together and I began to worry that I had done…