What Would it Take To Get You Back?

I was pondering the other night the reasons people leave active participation in the LDS Church. It seems a lot of the reasons can be put into two categories: Historical/foundational issues, and current social/administrative issues. Under historical claims you could put the Book of Mormon historicity, Book of Abraham Translation, Polygamy, First Vision, etc. For Current issues the list contains the Church’s wealth and trying to hide it, LGBTQ exclusion, Gay marriage, Women’s rights, and more.

What I was wondering was if one of those categories was resolved, would that be enough to get you to come back to Church, or not leave in the first place?

Let’s set this up. A magical wand is waved, and all the historical/foundational issue are gone and never happened. DNA of Native Americans contains large amounts of Hebrew ancestor. Bones of horses are found dating to 600 BCE to 400 CE. There is only one version of the First Vision. Joseph Smith never practiced polygamy, and thus it was never part of the Church. The facsimiles in the BofA are found to be translated correctly. In total, all the issues from the past are gone. Is that enough to make you stay in the Church? The current social issues are still here.

Or lets switch, and all the foundational issues are still there, but the Church spends most of its money on the poor, and is recognized as a major world-wide charity in solving world hunger. LGBTQ people are fully accepted in the Church, Gay marriage is recognized, woman hold leadership callings with equivalent power as men. The Church is quite popular on the world stage with these stances. Do you stay?

Each scenario holds a different underlying basis to stay. For the first, with the historical issues solved, this might be the easier one to stay/go back. The indications are the Church is what it says it is, the One True Church, and the way back to God. You might stay because all evidence points to the Church being true, and then you could work to change the current issue from within. Pascal’s wager would play a big part here: Better to wager the Church is true, as all indication are it is, than to risk eternal life and reject it.

For the second scenario, all the current “Latter-Day” social issues are solved, but the underlying foundational issue are still there. This may be a little harder to justify staying. One reason for staying may be the social or family connection the Church offers. You could stay knowing the Church is doing good in the world, raising your kids in the Church gives them a good moral underpinning, even if the foundation may be problematic. You could be in and not be a true believer, given how good the Church is enhancing your life.

I know this is just a silly thought experiment, but is any one side’s problems (historical or current) easier to live with than the other?

For myself, I don’t think either would get me back. Too many problems with both scenarios.

Would you go back/stay engaged with either of the above scenarios?