Jim Spencer had turned from the emptiness of the world to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where he found meaning and purpose. He became the pillar of a good Mormon family, a missionary who taught Gospel Doctrine classes and a respected Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood. Then Spence began facing a series of troubling Despite the lovely image of a typical Mormon family, why were divorce and suicide and child abuse so rampant, and why did no one really get close to one another?: What were the real reasons behind three different Mormon organizations, each claiming to be the one True Church and each declaring the others to be apostate?; Why was his church-affiliated college so isolationist, so unable to converse honestly with students about relationships and problems?; Why did he continue to feel so troubled by the secret ceremony at the temple that was to be the height of his spiritual experience as a Mormon? Worst of all, if he entered the inner circle of God's True Church, why did he begin to feel again a nagging sense of emptiness? To leave the Church would mean social rejection by the community in which Spencer was not only a member but a leader. "My daughter's father is a Mormon Elder," his wife told him. "If you leave the church you leave your family." So when Spencer began finding some surprising answers beyond Mormonism, he had to ask Was he willing to pay that high price - and for what return?
