I lost my faith in the LDS church on 02/06/2015. In 2019 I decided to start doing a “State of the Apostasy”, which serves as kind of a yearly review and where I lay out my goals for the next year. Initially I did this to show people that life moves on after you leave the LDS church. Its been interesting being able to see how my life has changed every year. However, I feel like at this point calling it “State of the Apostasy” is outdated since over 25% of my life has now been lived outside of the LDS church. In that time I have taken active measures to discover what I want from life and fill it with things that bring me joy. Instead of focusing on one part of my life (my apostasy from the LDS church) I would rather have the focus me in general. That is why I have renamed this tradition “State of Gileriodekel” moving forward.
This is the 8th year! This year it totally snuck up on me, and the only reason that I remembered was because of a google alert on my calendar.
Here’s some of the noteworthy things I’ve done over the last year:
- My dad passed away
- Started my new job, and have done so well in it that I got promoted to another department. I have been formalizing a lot of the procedures on how we do certain parts of the job, which is something I’ve done in nearly all of my jobs.
- Gave my 2022 Sunstone presentation “Eschatology in Community of Christ Through the Ages“
- Met a whole bunch of CoC friends for the first time (or again)
- Finished renovating my yard!
- Went to the coast with my wife and saw some friends
- My grandpa passed away
- Developed a couple crushes on a couple of different folks and went on a couple dates, but none really panned out
- Spoke 5 times in the Toronto congregation (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and once in the Grand Rapids congregation
- Actually got a gym membership and have been using it
- After a polyamorous woman was discriminated against in the SLC congregation, I wrote to my own apostle begging him to help give us equal rights. Ultimately he said he would do his best and suggested I write to the First Presidency as well. I did so, and have yet to hear back from them.
- I became irritated at the neo-liberal virtue signaling that’s done in Community of Christ, so created Heart of Discernment to actually advocate for progressive theology and policies (FB Page | FB Group | Website)
- Did a communion service with the “Universal Priesthood” which was so controversial that it spawned over 20 pages of dialogue and I talked to 2/3 of my Mission Center presidency. Ultimately this service was described as “unusually ordinary”, but it signaled another shift away from the “One True Church” mentality.
- Started writing a book on my views regarding Universal Priesthood
- Began asking the Temple archivist such specific questions that neither she nor the church have record of the things I was asking (church membership)
- Went to the Scorps Are Choice festival as well as the New Year’s Trinity Hot Springs event
- And the big one (which I alluded to last year but wasn’t ready to talk about): I came out to my friends and family as transgender and started hormone replacement therapy
Goals for the Next Year
- Go to World Conference, meet people from my mission center (including John and Leandro), and successfully debate the merits of my Resolution
- Go to the Half Alive SLC concert and the Big Wild Boise concert with my wife
- Come out to my brother (last close family member I have to tell)
- Get a first draft of my book on Universal Priesthood done
- Go to the Konnexion and Oasis Music Festivals with my wife
- Create a document which shows the membership numbers of the church over time, and figure out current activity rates
- Go to Arizona for a work conference
- Go on a couple more dates and (hopefully) find a romantic interest
- Be the best woman in my best friends’ wedding
- Speak more in Toronto
- Hopefully help start a theological renaissance era in Community of Christ
- Continue saving money for the move to Oregon in a couple years
- Look into laser hair removal for my face and chest