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 However, I feel like at this point calling it “State of the Apostasy” is outdated since 25% of my life has now been lived outside of the LDS church.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 the Gileriodekel” moving forward.
This is the 7th year! Here’s some of the noteworthy things I’ve done over the last year:
Previous Year’s Review
- I was confirmed into Community of Christ
- I got to be good friends with /u/IHeartToSkate
- My grandmother passed away
- I did a ton of research on CoC history
- Started playing Pokemon Go again, and all of my roommates play it and love it!
- Met Ron and Sue, who were the first CoC folks I met in person
- Actually made $100 from $GME
- Went to Sunstone with my sister where we met a ton of awesome folks!
- I gave a presentation on Sunstone entitled “Joining a Church You’ve Never Been to”
- I spoke several times in my congregation and even gave a sermon!
- I went to the Oregon coast a couple times
- Got back into therapy and on some medication and now my depression and anxiety is manageable again
- I did “man school” with my brother, where I taught him things like yard work, shaving, and talked about drugs and alcohol
- I made a ton of art, most of which is found here
- Got vaccinated 3 times!
- Made a website for “The Book of Mormon: Plain and Precious Truths“
- Helped my cat pass away
- Helped my dog pass away
- Listened to Coldplay’s new album “Music of the Spheres” so much on Spotify that I am within their top 0.001% of listeners. Coldplay has about 60 million monthly listeners, which means there are only about 600 other people on the planet that listened to them as much as I did. Suffice it to say, I really like their singles and their new album “Music of the Spheres”, especially “Colortura”.
- Went on a couple of really cool trips with my wife where we explored Idaho more
- Revamped Gileriodekel.com
- I stepped down as moderator of /r/Mormon
- Wrote a Conference Resolution which I am hoping will pass in 2023
- Made some close connections to friends in Community of Christ
- Processed a lot of feelings regarding The Musket Sermon
- Processed a lot of feelings regarding the Boise shooting
- Ran a business that became the top in its industry in the Treasure Valley
- Got offered a telecommuting job making like $14k more with paid time off, sick leave, and health benefits
- When I told my former employer I was leaving he offered me a 50% stake in the business to stay (which I turned down because the other job is more stable)
- Did a lot of personal introspection and growth (which I’m not quite ready to share publicly yet)
- Started /r/Morm, which is a small currently only invite-only community for folks interested in the Latter Day Saint movement
Next Year’s Goals
- I would LOVE to go to the Independence temple
- Complete the “Songs of the Seekers” project, which is relyricizing some hymns that ExMos love so they can better reflect CoC sensibilities
- Go to Denver to see the ICC and the Convergence Station
- Give another Sunstone presentation on eschatology in Community of Christ through the ages
- Meet John Hamer in person
- Re-landscape my backyard (because I was too depressed to do it last year)
- Continue doing a ton of CoC historical research
- Go to at least one music festival
- Take some theological certification classes that Graceland (CoC’s university) is starting this fall
- Go to the coast with my wife, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law
- Learn the ropes of my new job and accel there
- Exercise more
- Spend more time with my sister