Excellent Book From An "Insider's" Point Of View

books:


	• Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith Martha Beck Three Rivers Press, 2006 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 195 reviews view larger image
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Excellent Book From An "Insider's" Point Of View

I am an active member of the Mormon Church, come from good old pioneer stock, was married in the temple and my Father is a former Bishop and Stake President.
I absolutely LOVED this book. I grew up in Provo and Martha Beck has older siblings who were my age. How she described living in Utah, getting married in the temple and other aspects of being a Mormon couldn't be more accurate.
I have also read much about SRA (satanic ritual abuse) and what Beck described in her book is identical to many other victim's memories who grew up in the Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses and other religions.
I have read John Beck's review and find it to be extremely bitter, distasteful and misleading. Martha is very kind, gracious, and complimentary to him and his parents in the book. Someone in the church (along with someone in the Nibley family) must have gotten to him. His review must have hurt Martha a great deal which I'm sure was John's intent.

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saints

I found Martha Beck's book very healing. Having grown up near Provo Utah, I could really understand and identify with the situations and challenges she talked about. Seeing Mormonism from a more objective viewpoint I could let go of some of the guilt I have felt and understand why some of the beliefs just didn't feel good.
Thank you Martha, I can't believe you really said that.

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Wow, this woman is smart!

I'm always intimidated to write a review for a really good book because I'm afraid I won't do it justice. This woman is one hell of a writer. If her father had one half of her talent for language I can understand how, through the "apologies" he wrote, he would be able to keep people faithful to a religion that is KOOKY at best. I'm sure this story of Martha's successful journey through her dark night of the soul into true spiritual peace and understanding will be a beacon for others who have experienced any kind of personal tragedy or challenge. The insider's view of the history and workings of the Mormon Church is enough of a reason to read it.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

As ?Mormon royalty? within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Martha Beck was raised in a home frequented by the Church?s high elders in an existence framed by the strictest code of conduct. As an adult, she moved to the east coast, outside of her Mormon enclave for the first time in her life. When her son was born with Down syndrome, Martha and her husband left their graduate programs at Harvard to return to Utah, where they knew the supportive Mormon community would embrace them.

But when she was hired to teach at Brigham Young University, Martha was troubled by the way the Church?s elders silenced dissidents and masked truths that contradicted its published beliefs. Most troubling of all, she was forced to face her history of sexual abuse by one of the Church?s most prominent authorities. The New York Times bestseller Leaving the Saints chronicles Martha?s decision to sever her relationship with the faith that had cradled her for so long and to confront and forgive the person who betrayed her so deeply.

Leaving the Saints offers a rare glimpse inside one of the world?s most secretive religions while telling a profoundly moving story of personal courage, survival, and the transformative power of spirituality.

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