Just saw on Pisco’s page that Jerry Falwell is dead.Â? Duuuuude…
Not sure if I should be happy because he made the lives of a lot of people unnecessarily miserable or if I should be properly sad because he’s dead.
Author Archives: Jen
More Reflections on SLC
It’s interesting that I should get back from Salt Lake City and see this post on my Bloglines.
I was actually asked by one of the women on my tour if I thought Mormons were Christians when I was at the LDS Conference Center. My answer: “yes”, mostly because a.) I was in the LDS Conference Center surrounded by about 20 people, b.) I was in SLC which is the Mormon Mecca, and c.) we were on the roof and I didn’t think I’d be fond of the sudden stop that would happen 4 stories down if I were to be thrown off. 🙂 (No… I don’t believe anyone would have thrown me off but I didn’t really want to rock the boat when I was on their turf.)
So what is actually my true answer? Well… I hate to say that my answer would be “no” and it would be explained that they deviate from historical Christianity in their doctrinal understanding of salvation, the nature of God, and Scripture. It’s a painful answer because I had good friends while growing up who were Mormon and they were definitely more “Christian” than many of the people I knew who claimed to be Christians. I just find the LDS Church leadership to be incredibly deceptive and dishonest about doctrine in that they don’t let a lot of their laity know everything about the teachings of the faith — if I was going to stake my life on something, I’d want to know EVERYTHING about it and not just what the leadership of my particular church wanted me to know. There’s also the supercessionist attitude of the people toward regular Christian groups — they believe that we’re not Christian and seriously inferior because we don’t believe in Joseph Smith and all the stuff he did.
Temple worship is based on Masonic rituals, not Scripture. If you don’t believe me, go look at the temple worship script online. It’s linked off of ExMormon.Org and if you know anything about Masonry, it’s copied from it. I also just wonder how a faith can deny 70% of its membership the ability to do something so necessary to their salvation as only 30% of Mormons hold a temple recommend. It just doesn’t add up for me. Oh… and only requiring 6 lessons on doctrine before baptism? Not enough information to make that kind of choice.
So why do I go to Temple Square when I visit Salt Lake City and go through all the exhibits??? Well… it’s a beautiful place, very peaceful, and it is very necessary for me to understand the teachings of the LDS people because I live in the Intermountain West where they’re fairly numerous. (We have 4 missionaries splitting their time over my county and the next one over — apparently we’re important enough to warrant that many people so there must be some Mormons up here.) There are at least 4 temples within 6 hours of driving (Billings, Idaho Falls, Edmonton, and Cardston, Alberta) and the nearest city over the Canadian border (Lethbridge) has a MASSIVE Mormon community.
I think the next time I’m there I’ll probably spend an afternoon at the various visitor’s centers on the square, if for no other reason than to gather ammo for dealing with the Mormons in my midst (who ironically enough keep to themselves).Â? If nothing else, it’s interesting and the little missionary girls from all over the world are very nice.
Home… With Some News
We got home about an hour ago after being on the road for about… 13 1/2 hours.Â? (Take out some of the time for a nice lunch at Olive Garden in Idaho Falls and stops for gas in various places and dinner in Great Falls and you get about 10+ hours of driving)
I’m headachey and tired from getting only 4 hours of sleep as well as about 60 miles of catnapping in the car.Â? (No worries… Jon was driving.)
The concert was amazing.Â? Well worth the 10 hour drive.Â? She played a couple pieces from An Ancient Muse as well as much of Book of Secrets and some pieces from earlier albums.Â? Two encores and some lovely stories.Â? Her musicians were so cool.
Meeting Loreena McKennitt after the show, telling her I’d been a fan for 15 years, and getting her autograph?Â? Let’s just say that I get seriously verklempt when talking about it.
I seriously *have* been a fan since 1992 when “The Lady of Shallott” was played on NPR and my mom got a tape of The Visit.Â? In the last 15 years, I’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs in life and I’ve literally been to hell and back several times.Â? Through all that time, her music was a unifying factor in my family (my brother and I have replaced my mom’s CD’s several times because they keep “disappearing”) and it was what I listened to when I needed to be pensive and ponder my life.Â? in addition, her research on the Celts (which translates into her music) has been part of my quest to figure out who I am and the poems she has set to music are among my favorites.
So… after reading that she occasionally signs autographs at the stage door, I decided to something incredibly un-Jenlike and try and get one.Â? (I’m actually really shy in person and I also feel really guilty about invading the space of others which includes waiting at stage doors after concerts for artists who really deserve to get a breather after a concert.Â? It comes from living in a fishbowl myself.)
I ended up being the first person she went to when she came out and seriously… I’m still just in awe that I actually got to meet her.Â? She was so congenial and put up with me trying to be articulate despite being a complete fan girl.Â? (She’s also not much taller than me which was kind of cool.)
I’m still honestly very tongue-tied about the whole thing (believe it or not) and although I know she abhors the “cult of celebrity”, I still felt so unworthy in her presence.
So off to bed with me… though I have one thing to say:
For I am thoroughly convinced that Montana is the most beautiful state in the nation and I have no desire to be anywhere else because no other state can compare in terms of sky, land, and water.
Concert Tonight!!!!!!!! Oh Yeah… Also SLC Schtuff!
We’re in Salt Lake City (LOREENA MCKENNITT CONCERT AT 7:30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and I spent my afternoon at Temple Square looking at all the museums and exhibits. The Tabernacle is open again and it was interesting to see inside. It was closed for renovations when we were here in October and it was pretty much the only thing I really wanted to see. (Not that I don’t like Temple Square. It’s pretty and the missionary sisters are so nice even after I tell them that I’m not in the market for a new belief system but should I be wanting to change mine, I’ll give them a call.) I didn’t get to confound any of them this time in multiple languages but I know I’ll do that the next time I’m down here.
While seeking out the Tabernacle, I found the Family History Library and the Museum of Church History and Art. Duuuuuuude… history museum. *drools* I walked around and scared the daylights out of the volunteers with my mad history skillz (and the lovely information from the PBS special). I also found out that I’m allowed in the Conference Center (which is a megalithic white building with waterfalls going down the face of it) even though I’m a heathen so I decided to go tour it.
Well… the Conference Center is MASSIVE (seats 21,000 people in a concert hall/theater setting, has a lovely stage, and a nice pulpit) and has lots of open areas to allow for flow of people. The nice elderly gentleman giving me a tour made sure to give me lots of tidbits on Mormon doctrine and one of the other women asked pointedly if I’d read the Book of Mormon. The paintings and all were nice… except not theologically/historically correct (i.e. Jerusalem at the time of Jesus did *NOT* have the Dome of the Rock in the skyline). I also knew a bit about the Mormon historical figures that I saw and could better explain the acoustical architecture of the Tabernacle than our guide could. (I am such a brat when it comes to history.)
I’m back at the motel, leaving Jon to finish and pay for dinner (hopefully he’s not having to wash dishes) and I’m going to go rest my blistered feet (the tourists were all whispering about the sweet little girl walking around Temple Square barefoot) and get my clothes ready for tonight.
LOREENA MCKENNITT CONCERT IN JUST OVER AN HOUR!!!!! *squees excitedly*
Early Morning Ramblings
I couldn’t get back to sleep after I was awakened at 5:30 am by a black cat sitting on my bladder. (She was snuggly so I forgave her.) I tried watching CNN to get back to sleep and ended up being more awake.
So here’s my take on the news today:
Huge twister hammers Kansas town
My heart goes out to y’all. Seriously, it does. I can’t imagine living in a place where 75% of the town is damaged in one tornado. You’ll be in our prayers.
I’m thankful that the story on the tornado was treated with enough importance and that the following didn’t overshadow it…
Paris Hilton sentenced to 45 days in jail
This reminds me of a CSI:Miami/CSI episode where a guy is killing off socialites. When Horatio catches him and tells him he’s going to prison, the guy tells him he’s wrong and says, “Rich people don’t go to jail.” I’m thankful that this is not the case with Paris Hilton. I hate to say that there is some serious schadenfreude going on here because Paris Hilton makes me vomit and it’s so wonderful to see her actually being held accountable for being a ditzy socialite. Her excuse: “I didn’t know it was still suspended — I don’t read my mail.” Uh yeah… and that thing in your glove compartment that you signed saying that you knew you weren’t supposed to drive? Sorry sweetie… not working. My props to Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer for actually holding her accountable.
Reviewing “The Mormons”: The Good, The Bad, and My Rating
Netscape ate my entry.Â? Bad Netscape!
I watched the last 90 minutes of Part I last night and all of Part II today.Â? Part I was the history of the church and Part II was basically the Mormons today.
The Good
-very good narration and commentary on the history of the church including the mindset of Joseph Smith.
-those interviewed were well-spoken
-discussion of how those practicing polygamy actually lived
-they explained the background and events of the Mountain Meadows Massacre
-the discussion of polygamy today
-Part II gave a realistic picture of the Mormon life
-the interview with one of the young women from the family part where she talks about her illness (primary pulmonary arrhythmia or something — it was a heart condition where the prognosis is 2-5 years)
-the showing of the missionary training as well as missionary life
-interviews with students, LDS leadership, and those who were excommunicated for dissenting
The Bad
-the lack of knowledge of Church History (or even just plain American History) outside of anything pertaining to the LDS — they were talking about how they were the most persecuted people in America and I was left wondering if these “historians” knew anything about slavery, Jim Crow laws, internment camps for the Japanese, and other atrocities that have been committed in this country.Â? I also wonder if they realize that Christianity was an outlawed religion until 313 AD — people suffered MUCH worse fates than the first Mormons did and there are countries around the world that persecute Christians today.
My Rating
4.5 out of 5 stars
Mormons and Clothes
While the world was mildly coming to an end outside (translation: a little bit of thunder and lightning), I was watching the PBS special on the Mormons which has been running for the last couple days and I heard one of the Mormon bigwigs (I think he’s a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or something) was talking about how the Mormons were SOOOOOOO persecuted and no other group has ever seen as much persecution in this country as they had. (Apparently this person hasn’t heard of slavery and Jim Crow laws.) OK… I know Mormons are big on their Church History but they seem to be ignoring the first 300 years of Christianity in the Roman Empire. (Do those years not apply to them?)Â? It’s not like people were lit on fire, beheaded, crucified, killed on the wheel, burned alive, or drowned during that time or anything…
Clothes
My in-laws gave me a HUGE gift certificate from THE BESTEST CLOTHING SITE IN THE WORLD (a.k.a. Lands’ End) so I devoured the latest Lands’ End catalog while I was waiting for the lightning to go away (so I could plug my modem back in).Â? I found some stuff that I can use to look nice and professional (at least until I can learn to sew and make my own wannabe-professional suits) as well as some cropped pants so I can have cool stuff to wear during the summer.
OK… off to go crochet and watch more of the PBS special!