Post by elalacran on Apr 26, 2012 11:12:47 GMT -5
See www.huffingtonpost.com/danielle-tumminio/inside-a-mormon-temple-a-female-episcopal-priest-visits_b_1430206.html for a look at a Mormon temple during the open house prior to dedication.
Back 2-3 months ago when I was tracing out some of my genealogy, it looked like I might be distantly related to Joseph Smith; distantly, not in any direct ancestral line. Not a thing I would be particularly proud of, but neither would I be ashamed.
The Mormonism is to me at like any other religion: an institution, founded by men, that has evolved over time.
Mormonism has the disadvantage of being founded recently in our own country rather in the mists of antiquity, and so signs of its human manufacture are more patent than is the case with other religions. We unfortunately know more of Joseph Smith in an objective, historical way than Mohammed or Jesus or Moses or Abraham. And this is like catching a glimpse of the man behind the curtain, sexual pecadillos and all. In that regard, he is not unlike the man who called himself David Koresh, who died near Waco.
But as is the case with all religions, none of this matters to true believers. Belief is held in spite of facts, not because of them, and all religions flirt with the absurd.
Back 2-3 months ago when I was tracing out some of my genealogy, it looked like I might be distantly related to Joseph Smith; distantly, not in any direct ancestral line. Not a thing I would be particularly proud of, but neither would I be ashamed.
The Mormonism is to me at like any other religion: an institution, founded by men, that has evolved over time.
Mormonism has the disadvantage of being founded recently in our own country rather in the mists of antiquity, and so signs of its human manufacture are more patent than is the case with other religions. We unfortunately know more of Joseph Smith in an objective, historical way than Mohammed or Jesus or Moses or Abraham. And this is like catching a glimpse of the man behind the curtain, sexual pecadillos and all. In that regard, he is not unlike the man who called himself David Koresh, who died near Waco.
But as is the case with all religions, none of this matters to true believers. Belief is held in spite of facts, not because of them, and all religions flirt with the absurd.