A Brief Overview of My Mormon Heresy

I grew up as a faithful Mormon, but my faith is not what it used to be. There are a number of important doctrines of the Church which I no longer believe. However, I am still active and trying to work through these difficulties. I'm Mormon through-and-through, and I don't want to give up on my religion, because it's a very important part of my heritage and my identity.

So, here is a list of issues I have with the Church:

1. The Book of Abraham is supposedly a literal translation from Egyptian papyrus. Modern Egyptologists have translated the original text and come up with totally different results than Joseph Smith did. This suggests that Joseph Smith probably just made it up. And if he did, then maybe he made up much of the rest of his revelations, too.
   
2. There is strong evidence in favor of human descent via the Theory of Evolution. While this does not disprove the existence of God (an impossible feat), it does present a plausible alternative to the Mormon creation myth. It also disproves a number of theological points, including the age of the earth, the Bible's genealogy, Adam and Eve, etc.
3. Our doctrine keeps evolving. It's not the same as it was 100 years ago. The Church has changed her beliefs about polygamy, blacks and the priesthood, etc. If past doctrines were wrong, and changed later because of further light and knowledge, then present doctrines may also be wrong.
   
4. Church leaders aren't perfect. The Church doesn't officially say they are perfect. However, talks on obedience to Priesthood authority imply that we should follow our leaders as if they were perfect. So, in practice, we have a doctrine of prophetic infallability. This makes the Church membership vulnerable to being led astray when a Church leader is wrong.
   
5. Wilford Woodruff, as the prophet, said in very strong words that polygamy was an everlasting principle and that the Church would never give it up--even going so far as to say that if the Church did give up the principle, then the priesthood would be taken away from the Church and given to a more righteous people. A few years later, he capitulated and the Church gave up the doctrine of polygamy. So he was obviously wrong. Thus, a prophet's strong, prophetic statements can't be relied on as truth, and therefore the office of Prophet, Seer, and Revelator does not warrant the great amount of deference we show it.
   
6. As scientific knowledge grows, more and more phenomena are explained by natural, rational means. I believe that all of our physical and personal characteristics can be explained by our biology and our environment. I think that our doctrine of spirit-body dualism is not supported by evidence, and that we probably don't have spirits, but only bodies. If we do have spirits, why do people have skitzophrenia or Down's syndrome? If their spiritual intelligence and personality are completely limited by their physical weaknesses, then how do we know that a spiritual intelligence and personality actually exist? There is little or no evidence to support the existance of a spirit, and therefore an afterlife.