Introduction
...I don’t think we’ll get it like Paul did on the road to, where an angel appeared to him, where Alma the Younger had a startling experience.
The Lord used a few of those kinds of experiences, and they’re recorded in the scriptures to catch our attention and teach us the answer. But I’ve never had an experience like that and I don’t know anyone among the First Presidency or Quorum of the Twelve who’ve had that kind of experience....
— Elder Dallin H. Oaks
For now, this is going to be a personal space where I can attempt to deconstruct the beliefs I've held for most of my life. My goal is to make very clear what things have caused me to go from a "true believing member" of the Mormon church, to no longer believing the truth claims made by the church, starting at Joseph Smith up to the present day.
I'll attempt to follow the progression of my journey, putting things in chronological order. If I remember something that goes earlier in the progression, I'll try to change the order of the posts and modify the narrative to fit the new information.
As a sneak peek, I left the quote above by then Elder Dallin H. Oaks as a hint to a major piece of the start of my deconstruction. The truth claim being shattered by that quote (and a few others) was, apparently, a pillar, or perhaps even foundational, to my testimony. More to come on that, later. To start this journey, we need to go back even further...