The Analogy of the Wall

8/29/17
The following is a analogy example that I found as to why someone left the church. Many leaders try and play it off that those who leave the LDS church are doing so because they want to sin, or something along those lines. This is a very poetic way of showing that is not the case in for MANY people. Copied with permission from the original author.

There are various reasons for my decision to leave the church, and there is not just one thing that I can say was “the breaking point”. Let me use a story as an example.

There is a beautiful wall outside your neighborhood that you look at every day. It stands tall and strong, protecting your house and neighborhood from danger. Your entire life you have always remained inside the borders of the wall. Why leave? It provides you protection and comfort.

One day you notice a small crack in the wall from a distance. You ignore it at first, but after time you can’t help but notice the crack every time you look at the wall. The wall is still beautiful, and it still protects you, but the crack bothers you. So, you decide to take a closer look. Upon inspecting the crack in the wall you notice there are more cracks all over the wall. You follow the cracks and they lead to more, and more cracks. Some parts of the wall are crumbling away, there are even small holes in the wall. The wall doesn’t seem as safe or beautiful anymore. All you can think about now are all the cracks and holes.

Is the neighborhood safe? Is your house safe? You and your family? What is outside the wall? What if it gets in?

Your doubts about the wall and its foundation cannot be ignored, so you ask the builders and maintainers of the wall about the cracks and holes. They tell you to stop looking at them, everything is fine, just go home. But on stormy days the wind blows, and rain comes in the holes, and the wall sways, and more pieces of the wall crumble down. How is this safe? The builders and maintainers tell you it doesn’t matter and to trust them.

How can you trust them when you see the wall crumbling before your very eyes? The builders and maintainers won’t even go out to look at the damages in the wall. What kind of builders and maintainers don’t even look at the damages in their own wall and try to fix them?

Something is wrong. You can feel it. You decide to research how the wall was built. Maybe you can fix it?

While researching how the wall was built you find out that the materials used to build the foundation were cheap and weak; the wall was never meant to last. The builders and maintainers of the wall knew this, but instead of telling people, they kept painting over the cracks, trying to hide the damages and the weak foundation.

This is when you learn the truth; the wall was never intended to keep you safe, it was meant to keep you trapped inside.

No! How is this possible? Your head spins and your heart aches; everything you thought you knew is a lie. There is only one thing to do; leave. Get out. Escape from inside the wall and never turn back. And that is exactly what you do.

You take simple tools, a hammer and a shovel, and go to the point in the wall that is the weakest. It doesn’t take much hammering and digging before that section of the wall comes crumbling down. You stand in awe of the sight before you. A beautiful landscape like you have never seen before.

As you step through the rubble and make it outside the wall you are enveloped in hope and joy; the world outside the wall is more beautiful and full of possibility than you could have ever imagined. And so, you leave the wall, neighborhood, and house behind that you have known your entire life for a truly meaningful and fulfilling journey.

That is why I left the church.

A few comments that were brought up from the first time that this was posted, that I would like to add here as well.

1.      You and your neighbors had set aside a fund to maintain the wall. But as it turns out, there is no accounting for the funds by the builders. When asked about it, they say not to worry about the fund, the fund is safe as it is, and you should continue to pay into the fund.

2.      The current maintenance workers write up a few essays to explain how such poor materials could have been used by their bosses. These bosses signed off on such material because all the other builders of the time were using such material. Not the current maintenance workers' fault. Just have faith that wall is still a true and steady wall.