Hello. Yes, I'm talking to you, person who was going to skip this post solely because of the title. Is there a particular reason you were going to do this? "The church has said that we shouldn't read negative material." is what you might be thinking. Let me ease your fears. This post isn't about the details but simply the steps, and with that reassurance, let me begin.
1. Get baptized.
This step is key in the process of losing a testimony because it allows you to gain one (or so you think.) It is very easy to do, usually you won't be asked whether or not you want to be, it will just be an accepted thing, like going on a mission (if you are male), going to BYU, getting married in the temple, and paying 10% of your income for the rest of your life. Simply, a step towards staying forever.
2. Attempt to get a testimony.
Alright, now you are officially a member! Woohoo! Now that that is out of the way, it's time to actually try and gain a testimony of the church. The first thing you will want to do is depend on your parents for their testimony. They are adults right? They always know what is true. After piggybacking your parents for a while, you feel the need to find out for yourself, so you begin to read the Book of Mormon. This is a daunting task for young people and old people alike simply because, lets be honest, its really boring. Well, push forward and ignore the anachronisms of horses, chariots, and steel and pray every night to know whether or not it is true. You know eventually you will get an answer, even if it takes 5 years, you know that eventually you will know, so continue to pray. Not feeling anything still? This takes us to step 3.
3. Share your "testimony" with others
Well you might not have gotten an answer, but that doesn't mean that the church isn't true right? You have heard that the best way to get a testimony is to share one, so with this knowledge, you begin to share every chance you can. Fast Sunday? Share your testimony. FHE? Share your testimony. Ward outings? Share your testimony. Continue to share every possible moment in order to convince yourself that this whole thing is true. Eventually, you will begin to believe that you know what you are saying is true. Now you think you have a testimony.
4. Begin to dislike going to church
This is the first step for anyone losing their testimony because you begin to realize how much time you have spent. Church, youth activities, callings all take up time and eventually you start to get sick of going to church. At first you will be angry at yourself for being on your phone the whole time out of boredom, but eventually you say, "It's ok, I'm still attending." Now you will start feeling the urge to skip 2nd and 3rd hour, and soon, you do! "I went to sacrament meeting, so it's ok." You think to yourself. Continue doing this until..
5. Become interested in Church history
Ok, now we have reached a critical step in this whole process. You have begun experiencing doubts or have seen things on the internet that confuse you. " Joseph Smith didn't marry a 14 year old!" you say to yourself, " Well, maybe I should just look it up." After looking it up, you find "claims" that it is true. "These are just the anti-church materials I have been warned my whole life about" you tell yourself. But then you find Joseph Smith's page on familysearch.com and now it says that he had 34 wifes. WHAT? "But he loved Emma..." you think, "maybe the internet does have some truth to it."
6. Find the cesletter and mormonthink.com
After some scouring the internet, you stumble across the either one of these websites, and you read them. You are stunned at what you find, and try to console yourself. But as you read, you realize that you can no longer justify what you have read. You have come to the conclusion that you no longer believe. Now what? Well now that you have essentially killed and buried your testimony with truth, you probably want to leave the church. This is all good and fine, but the real problems come when your family and friends find out that you no longer believe. You may be ostracized and you might be kicked out because you don't want to go to church any longer. This is going to be tough, but if you can make it through this stage you will be free forever.
7. Live life.
Now that you have found new friends, and have officially left the church, you are able to make your own decisions and live life how you see fit. Still want to abstain from drugs and alcohol? Go ahead, you set your own course. Don't want to have pre-marital sex? No one cares, its your decision. Now that you are out, you can make your own morals and values.
You can finally make your own choices.