Open House
I have had Mormon friends, Mormon roommates, even dated a Mormon. I lived in Utah for two years, and have lived within walking distance of a temple for a total of five years. Right now, if I go up to the top of our building and look west, I can see Moroni. I've even been to two baptisms, one of which was a rare one in Utah. But I'm NOT Mormon. I've never had any serious interest in becoming one, and that won't change.
But in all my experiences and travels, I've never seen the inside of a temple. That's because unlike churches, cathedrals, sanctuaries, synagogues, and mosques, the Mormons won't permit anyone who's not a "good" LDS member to enter the temples after they've been dedicated (this requires a temple recommend, which is not as easy to get as a driver's license). You can go to their usual Sunday services, you can be indoctrinated by the missionaries, you can certainly read the Book of Mormon and their other holy books all you want, but the temples are for the baptized devout only. The one exception is after the construction of a new temple, when the building is open to the public for viewing. Afterwards, the temple is dedicated, and once sealed, is then off-limits to all but card-carrying Mormons.
There never was a potential temple for me to visit until recently. In Orange County, a temple was being constructed at Newport Beach, and last month it entered the public viewing stage. We decided to go to the open house out of curiosity.
Newport Beach isn't exactly next door; it took us a little over an hour to get there. It's just south of UC Irvine, deep in the heart of Orange County. A nearby church was gracious enough to let its parking lot be used, so we found a spot in the shade and left our car. We trundled over to the shuttle buses. On the way, out of curiosity, I looked at the license plates-- a good 1/3 were from Utah, with the remainder mostly California plates, with a smattering of Arizona and Nevada here and there.
We boarded the bus, and found ourselves among some very well-dressed folks, considering the weather. It was mid-August, and rather warm, but most of the men were in long-sleeved shirts and full-length pants, and the women in modest dresses or slacks. We were dressed casually but comfortably, but not in anything loud (no Daisy Dukes or wifebeaters). Less than a quarter-mile away, the bus pulled into the parking lot and we exited onto the grouds of the stake meetinghouse, where non-temple church activities take place. We entered the line, which moved fairly smoothly, if not rapidly. Once we entered the building, I approached a large female volunteer and asked for interpreting services (I had requested this beforehand). After a short interval, the "interpreters" were located: two female missionaries, one deaf and one hearing. They accompanied us to a small room where a group of visitors sat, ready to watch an introductory video. Initially the hearing missionary interpreted the tape, but once the subtitles were located, we sat back to watch the presentation.
It was a very slick production piece, a PR missive which gave a broad overview. But half of it was about the generalities of the religion, and half of it was shots of elderly white men talking about the holiness and the rapture they were going to experience and the sanctity of the temples and their family, and how they were all going to experience eternity forever. These rhapsodizations conveniently left out the Mormon concept of three heavens, and the fact that while a man may be sealed to all of his wives, a woman can only be sealed to her first husband; just that once. The brief film stressed the word "family" and the concept of "family" over and over again, but beyond a couple of minutes of a glossed over history lesson, there was nothing really substantive about the Mormons or the LDS religion in general. It left me disappointed. For example, there was nothing about how long it took to build the temple, its dimensions, why the site was chosen, the history of temples, precious little in the way of the history of Mormonism, and certainly nothing that would allow any outsider to understand more about this purely American religion. It was, as I said, a nice example of mindless PR, produced for mindless viewing. Perfect for the short attention spans of today's Americans.
After the film, we were ushered back out into the hall, down the corridor, and outside the building, where we followed our guide to the temple grounds and the temple itself. One thing I will say: the temple grounds I've seen (and I've seen quite a few) are very beautiful, nicely maintained, and lend a certain beauty to the temple itself. But this is also true of Catholic churches, Protestant houses of worship, and other holy houses of worship.
We approached the temple doors, where we were told we would need to put on plastic slippers before we could go inside. I don't know if it's part of keeping things "pure," but it made sense from a general housekeeping perspective: less dirt, dust, and other detritus. So we went up to the LDS volunteers, mostly fresh-faced high-schoolers, and had the slippers placed on our feet. We then entered the sanctuary itself.
On the way, our "interpreters" kept saying we were going to find it the "most beautiful" building we'd ever seen and that it would totally blow us away. They kept on talking about the various temples they'd gone into, and both practically orgasmed over the prospect of someday going into the Salt Lake City temple. I expected to see a nice building, but knew the build-up would probably leave me underwhelmed at the end, and I was correct.
The entrance lobby was very nice - I especially liked the ceiling, and it was all very clean and in many places, very white. We were taken through to the baptismal room, the sealing room, past the changing rooms, into the celestial room (a place to commune with God and a place where we weren't supposed to talk. We stayed in that room the longest, for some reason). While it was all very nice, I find quite a few other houses of worship to be far more beautiful. While I have yet to visit Europe or go outside the Western Hemisphere, I think the Catholics and the Muslims have set the standards. The Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. is also a good example.
Before long, the tour was over, and we were guided back to the meetinghouse, where questions were now permitted, and cookies and water were available. We availed ourselves of refreshments, left a little memory of ourselves in the restrooms, and left. All in all, there was nothing particularly different or special about the temple, nothing that made me feel that it needed to be off-limits, but there was also nothing that attracted me to the religion at all. Aside from a informational postcard and a brochure, there was nothing at all about the church's history, its goals, or any real information about the building itself. It was merely an Open House, but at least I satisfied my curiosity.
But in all my experiences and travels, I've never seen the inside of a temple. That's because unlike churches, cathedrals, sanctuaries, synagogues, and mosques, the Mormons won't permit anyone who's not a "good" LDS member to enter the temples after they've been dedicated (this requires a temple recommend, which is not as easy to get as a driver's license). You can go to their usual Sunday services, you can be indoctrinated by the missionaries, you can certainly read the Book of Mormon and their other holy books all you want, but the temples are for the baptized devout only. The one exception is after the construction of a new temple, when the building is open to the public for viewing. Afterwards, the temple is dedicated, and once sealed, is then off-limits to all but card-carrying Mormons.
There never was a potential temple for me to visit until recently. In Orange County, a temple was being constructed at Newport Beach, and last month it entered the public viewing stage. We decided to go to the open house out of curiosity.
Newport Beach isn't exactly next door; it took us a little over an hour to get there. It's just south of UC Irvine, deep in the heart of Orange County. A nearby church was gracious enough to let its parking lot be used, so we found a spot in the shade and left our car. We trundled over to the shuttle buses. On the way, out of curiosity, I looked at the license plates-- a good 1/3 were from Utah, with the remainder mostly California plates, with a smattering of Arizona and Nevada here and there.
We boarded the bus, and found ourselves among some very well-dressed folks, considering the weather. It was mid-August, and rather warm, but most of the men were in long-sleeved shirts and full-length pants, and the women in modest dresses or slacks. We were dressed casually but comfortably, but not in anything loud (no Daisy Dukes or wifebeaters). Less than a quarter-mile away, the bus pulled into the parking lot and we exited onto the grouds of the stake meetinghouse, where non-temple church activities take place. We entered the line, which moved fairly smoothly, if not rapidly. Once we entered the building, I approached a large female volunteer and asked for interpreting services (I had requested this beforehand). After a short interval, the "interpreters" were located: two female missionaries, one deaf and one hearing. They accompanied us to a small room where a group of visitors sat, ready to watch an introductory video. Initially the hearing missionary interpreted the tape, but once the subtitles were located, we sat back to watch the presentation.
It was a very slick production piece, a PR missive which gave a broad overview. But half of it was about the generalities of the religion, and half of it was shots of elderly white men talking about the holiness and the rapture they were going to experience and the sanctity of the temples and their family, and how they were all going to experience eternity forever. These rhapsodizations conveniently left out the Mormon concept of three heavens, and the fact that while a man may be sealed to all of his wives, a woman can only be sealed to her first husband; just that once. The brief film stressed the word "family" and the concept of "family" over and over again, but beyond a couple of minutes of a glossed over history lesson, there was nothing really substantive about the Mormons or the LDS religion in general. It left me disappointed. For example, there was nothing about how long it took to build the temple, its dimensions, why the site was chosen, the history of temples, precious little in the way of the history of Mormonism, and certainly nothing that would allow any outsider to understand more about this purely American religion. It was, as I said, a nice example of mindless PR, produced for mindless viewing. Perfect for the short attention spans of today's Americans.
After the film, we were ushered back out into the hall, down the corridor, and outside the building, where we followed our guide to the temple grounds and the temple itself. One thing I will say: the temple grounds I've seen (and I've seen quite a few) are very beautiful, nicely maintained, and lend a certain beauty to the temple itself. But this is also true of Catholic churches, Protestant houses of worship, and other holy houses of worship.
We approached the temple doors, where we were told we would need to put on plastic slippers before we could go inside. I don't know if it's part of keeping things "pure," but it made sense from a general housekeeping perspective: less dirt, dust, and other detritus. So we went up to the LDS volunteers, mostly fresh-faced high-schoolers, and had the slippers placed on our feet. We then entered the sanctuary itself.
On the way, our "interpreters" kept saying we were going to find it the "most beautiful" building we'd ever seen and that it would totally blow us away. They kept on talking about the various temples they'd gone into, and both practically orgasmed over the prospect of someday going into the Salt Lake City temple. I expected to see a nice building, but knew the build-up would probably leave me underwhelmed at the end, and I was correct.
The entrance lobby was very nice - I especially liked the ceiling, and it was all very clean and in many places, very white. We were taken through to the baptismal room, the sealing room, past the changing rooms, into the celestial room (a place to commune with God and a place where we weren't supposed to talk. We stayed in that room the longest, for some reason). While it was all very nice, I find quite a few other houses of worship to be far more beautiful. While I have yet to visit Europe or go outside the Western Hemisphere, I think the Catholics and the Muslims have set the standards. The Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. is also a good example.
Before long, the tour was over, and we were guided back to the meetinghouse, where questions were now permitted, and cookies and water were available. We availed ourselves of refreshments, left a little memory of ourselves in the restrooms, and left. All in all, there was nothing particularly different or special about the temple, nothing that made me feel that it needed to be off-limits, but there was also nothing that attracted me to the religion at all. Aside from a informational postcard and a brochure, there was nothing at all about the church's history, its goals, or any real information about the building itself. It was merely an Open House, but at least I satisfied my curiosity.
posted by Mr. Sandman | 7:33 PM
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