Mormon Temple Worker Loses Faith - Michelle Clyde | Ep. 1949

Maternal is the same as identical twins

I'm a Never-Mormon, and my mom is an Ex-Mormon. While we don't welcome the missionaries that come trying to get mom to come back to church, but we do welcome her Relief Society/Traveling teachers because they are respectful of how our family is. We just have nice conversations and they bring mom something for every month (bread, candy, hand towels, ect) and mom has started putting little things together for them as well. As long as they are nice and respectful, I have no issues with Mormons, and the judgmental one can go suck rocks in Outer Darkness.

Michelle, you are so smart, beautiful and articulate. I’m so sorry you were body shamed as a model. That’s so sick and wrong! 5’10” and 120 is not healthy at all! I wish you all the best in your future! The world needs women like you.

So much of this episode resonated with me but the part where she talked about body acceptance after leaving the church hit me HARD because I too had the same experience. I had an eating disorder as a member. After leaving the church I just…exist in my body. I’m not trying to change it or demean it. It’s my home and I love it and accept it. There is definitely something there with manipulating and changing bodies as a woman in the church. One example of many is how the church has said to women on missions something like “If you’ve put on one pound, take it off!” And then there’s Elder Ballard who said to “Don’t wander around looking like men. Put on a little lipstick.” Appealing to men is a teaching in the church and it’s very demeaning, objectifying and diminishes a lot of girls and women’s self esteem. It’s one of many reasons I think the church is not a healthy place for women.

Congratulations to this woman for finally grasping the most important thing - what we have, experience, share here and now. Because when we are dead, we are gone forever. We will never have life again.

michelle was so relatable. i’m also an artist with adhd, i left the church much earlier but i was one of those kids who was not mormon enough for some kids and too mormon for others. i noticed what she said about liking the mission rules bc they made sense and struggling with authority. that was really relatable too. rules can be helpful, but we shouldn’t be blindly following rules that don’t make sense to us in my opinion

Also, Brother Sweat was my seminary teacher and I took a class from him at BYU too. I remember him talking about the BoM translation process and Smith's treasure digging and somehow being like "Huh. Never heard of that before. Ok :)" because it was from his mouth.

Thank you so much for interviewing a zilennial. My story mirrors hers in so many ways.

My mascot in HS was the red devil too! We also had the subject to potential change the mascot every so many years.

This is definitely one of my favorites! What a healthy example of deconstructing your faith. I love what she said about doing what is going to serve yourself and her thoughts on living based on fear. I would love to see her more! ❤❤

Yes! We pretend we know more than we do! Love it!

This is irrelevant and probably a little shallow but I am feeling very gay today and Michelle is so pretty ❤

Good message John! Religion is failing if it separates families. I will continue to remind myself of this truth.

I enjoy your shows. I’m from a high demand Christian church. The type that does not permit musical instruments and females are forbidden from speaking in Church. Most of the families that grew up in church stick with it and of course, they believe they are the only church that is saved. I definitely learned a ton of scriptures and I read the Bible from start to finish every year for 8 years. The church avoids very much discussion of the Old Testament.

Thank you for such a brilliant authentic interview, so validating and hopeful x

Choosing sativa as your kids middle name is wild

Commenting to help.

We can turn to the Savior for the strength and healing that will enable us to do all that we were sent here to do (By Susan H. Portor)

Temples are literally houses of the Lord. They are holy places of worship where individuals make sacred covenants with God. Because making covenants with God is such a solemn responsibility, individuals cannot ennter the temple to receive their endowment or be sealed in marriage for eternity until they have fully prepared themselves and been members of the church for at least a year. Throughout history, the Lord has commanded His people to build temples. The church is working to build temples all over the world to make temple blessings more available for a greater number of Heavenly Father's children.

Temples are places of learning. Their principal purpose is to provide ordinances necessary for the children of God to enable them to return to dwell with Him. Temple ordinances lead to the greatest blessings available through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Everything in the church - the meetings and activities, the missionary efforts, the lessons taught, and the hymns - all lead to the work done in holy temples.

I would like to invite people to pray and ask God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ his Son, to know if the church is true and to know if the Temples a truly a place of God, a Holy House as well as the House of the Lord. It is a place where heaven meets earth and we can not connect to him on a whole different level in these temples. I wish this guy could make a better living then to create rumors of rumors about the church, and I hope he can find away to repent and to change and have God's spirit to be with him.

I know this church is true, and I know that all those seek to find the truth will be able to and that as you read the book of Mormon and the bible you will gain a greater understand of the temple and what we do there, and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I worked in the Temple for 3 years and had a 20-hour TATTOO piece while working there following my reconstructions from a double mastectomy. No one I worked with had a clue, it was very personal and did not show. However, my TBM hubby's response was "what would the Bishop think?" I responded with, "The day I talk to my Bishop about my nipples I will let you know."

Enjoyed this, and thank you Michelle! ...from a very deconstructed evangelical...but just gotta say...I really want eternal life. I am 64 and really living my life to the full, but even 100 good years is not enough. I am terrified of the cessation of my consciousness. I imagine poor health, pain, etc could mute this desire but as long as I feel this good, how could I possibly want to cease...I always WANT a new morning!

FYI I've been a Mormon stories subscriber for 2-3 years but haven't watched for a couple months due to getting busy with life but I came across the short to this video with Michelle's journal entry about the temple and just had to watch while mopping my house 😊. Loved hearing her story ❤.

My daughter was diagnosed with ADD at the beginning of her Sophomore year in college. Her symptoms and copeing skills are the same.

I connected to this episode so incredibly much. Many of the same feelings going through it in a similar timeline. I wasnt a temple worker but I was a temple architect. Michelle thank you for being brave enough to do this.

This is a crazy amazing story! I love you’ve found yourself open minded! Watching this channel and Cults to consciousness. I’ve learned and strengthened my faith. I refuse to be connected to a church or religion. I’m a follower of Jesus. Keep exploring, but check out the New Testament of the Bible. Listen to what Jesus says and did❤. Do not listen to what a religion or church tells you to believe

Where did Freemasonry come from? God’s covenants preceded Freemasonry. It’s interesting that people don’t dig deeper into freemasonry, they just make the assumption the Joseph Smith copied it. Study ancient ritual and clothing from Old Testament. The temple isn’t “weird and culty”. It’s ancient and ceremonial… something our modern minds can’t grasp. These podcasts are misleading, and speak in absolutes, when there is so much more depth to the temple than podcasts like these will admit.

I loved the interview so much!!

❤❤❤

When michelle was trying to think of a mormon stories episode that stuck out to her, my mind immediately went to Liz Lambson! That was an awesome episode!

Loved this interview 🙌 ❤

Just FYI: I bought SEVERAL of my friends basic sex books in the early 2000s, along with condoms, before they got married😂 I’m still single btw and now an exmo but I had zero shame. Props to Michelle for being so cool!

This is the first video I’ve been able to watch thoroughly, and I absolutely loved it. As a deaf person, it’s often hard for me to sit and watch entire videos because I can’t just listen while doing other things—I rely entirely on my eyes. But this was so relatable and worth every moment. Thank you, Michelle! Hearing someone close to my age, who has felt many of the same things I’ve felt throughout my years in the church, means so much to me. I really appreciate your perspective

really lovely interview i wish Michelle and her loved ones peace and happiness

Loved this episode! Very validating for me also. 😊

Michelle is so well spoken and has so much insight. I love when Margie joins the podcast. Both John and Margie give non-judgmental vibes and this feeling of, "supportive parents," while listening and discussing with their guests. As always- great episode 🙂

It has been 40 years since I reached my crisis point and subsequently walked away, but I am STILL trying to figure what to do.....!

Rhett and Link's stories really felt so relatable to my deconstruction story!

This was a great interview! Thank you, Michelle, for sharing your story with us

Thank you for such an amazing interview, Michelle! I related to you on so many aspects of your life, and it’s empowering to hear your experiences and how kind you are not only to everyone around you but to yourself. I’d hope that most people, in the church or not, would strive to be as kind and generous.

Michelle needs to read Awaking the Buddha Within.

I loved hearing Michelle's story. Thanks for sharing. She's so wise and brave to share. She's so charming and lovely I hope she can find friends outside the church- i bet tons of women outside of it would love to be a community with her.

I’m not Mormon & from Australia, why is it that Utah fascinates me as a traveller. I’ve never been there.

This is a great interview.

I did the same thing about the temple - I will go to get used to it if I go, so I was a temple worker as a YSA. Just made it banal and still just as culty.

Great interview!!!

I see SOOO much of myself and my story in Michelle! This is so validating, and even helped me process a lot about my high school years & mission I haven't thought about in a while! Thank you for this!! I also SOOOO resonate with the love and adoption of several Buddhist principles since leaving. 🫶🫶

My husband and i had been trying for years to have a baby and were doing everything "righteous". We found a camera that my husbands mormon best friend put in our sons bathroom. After that we found out him and his wife had randomly gotten pregnant after having to do ivf to get all their children. I thought jeez I have been begging God for years for a baby and ive been doing everything im "supposed" to and yet instead this loser and his terrible and mean wife get a blessing not us. That was the straw that broke the camels back for me. I could no longer believe that doing all these good things (keeping covenants) will get you blessings.

As a guy in his mid-30’s I identify with so much of this, though I was a total conservative bastard as a teen prior to my mission. My mission really is what changed my political identity, especially when 2016 dropped and the racism started dialing up.