Most christian churches will post times for Sunday services and invite anyone to come. Has anyone seen this kind of sign outside a mormon chapel? My friend was told that if she attended a different ward than the one assigned, she wouldn't get a temple recommend.

No.

One of the cultish elements of Mormonism is that the meetings are not really "open" to the public.

This makes you realize that there are reasons the public must go through missionaries to be "invited."

What do you think those reasons might be?

Anagrammy

Someone might be horrified to see small children lead to the podium to proclaim the church is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet?

The unwashed or immodestly dressed might show up?

Members won't know to be nice to the person?

Milk before meat. If people just show up to the meetings they might get a taste of the raw beef.

Better to bring them in through the missionaries. That way you can get them hypnotized well before they enter the meetinghouse.

Also I suspect they don't want people to know what they actually believe until that person has committed himself/herself to baptism. Someone might accidentally reveal that HF is literally our HF, that god has a wife and other "sacred" pieces of information.

Not at my local wardhouse. And it's located in a spot which is not very visible to the community at large (I had to go hunting to find it.) However it *is* located in a prime area for reasonably prosperous young couples -- where a professional or skilled trade young couple might be expected to buy their first home.

Yes, I've frequently seen them on LDS chapels round here, under the name of the church it will say open for public worship (or words to that effect) with the meeting times.

Add to that the concept of assignment by geography and the church's desire to prep people beforehand. I mean, holy fink, you wouldn't want to waste time acting all friendly to people who live outside your ward, and you wouldn't want strangers wandering into priesthood meeting or gospel doctrine class or SM when a high councilman is blathering away, would you? Oh no no no. You'd want to escort and guide them to they don't see what really goes on.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2012 08:21AM by Stray Mutt.

"You'd want to escort and guide them to they don't see what really goes on."

Kind of like when North Korean govt offiicals escort the world media around Pyong Yang to show case their "wonderful" city???

I've attended church in two places where the doors were regularly locked during the services to keep undesirables out. One place (outside the US) the door was locked on the inside, too, so you had to find someone with a key if you wanted to leave early.

It made sense at the time; retrospectively, not so much.

I wonder what the fire marshal would have to say about that ?

I have thought about that many times. I actually asked a SP once about that. He informed me, I am not sure about that but I will check. I ran into him later and he told me we just don't do it. He used the geographical reason and said that people could find out by calling the phone numbers in the telephone book.

I think there are many things that do turn off visitors. It doesn't seem friendly, it is very noisy with all of the children, Christ is not talked about much, it is very clicky with groups talking to themselves, the chapel look (in most LDS chapels) is less than spectacular, etc.

in the community/religion sections of the local newspaper or commununtiy billboards, the answer has always been, "Because it's too expensive, and we'd rather spend our money on more worthy causes."

"The chapel look is less thanspectacular."
That's what I thought the first time I attended an LDS service with my convert daughter and her family. I thought it looked like a school auditorium. Didn't put me in a prayerful mood or feel in any way, 'spiritual'.

The local chapel has an 8"x11" paper taped to the front door with mtg times - carbondale illinois

I've never seen any times posted, just the "Visitors Welcome" under the name. Unfortunately, there's no asterisk with fine print saying "only when invited by missionaries or friends." I've even heard of a bishop who was on a power trip threaten someone with excommunication if they didn't start going to their assigned ward.

One other reason why times aren't posted is that someone might find it creepy that during a baby blessing, the mother isn't allowed to participate in the ritual since she doesn't have the right genitalia. My mom saw an 8 year old's baptism, her step grandson, and every man except her husband who is inactive, went up and did the confirmation. She said that she thought it was creepy, and she dreaded the thought of having to sit through another baptism.

According to what my husband told me years ago after I 'invited' him to join me in church just once.

My protestations at the time, that they aren't 'doormen' but just there to welcome folks didn't convince him. He said they look too much like henchmen for his liking. Granted, the big goofy guy, who had the 'calling' of usher, was about 6'5" and looked like Lurch.

Why, oh why, did I not understand?

Briggy

My ward has just recently put up a tacky looking sign that can be changed with the letters - you know the kind I'm talking about? So now they advertise the time of sacrament meeting and they also put up notices about firesides, etc. It looks bad and shouldn't be allowed IMHO, but they think it's good.

Most buildings are shared by two or three congregations and change their meeting times every year.

With three wards meeting in the same building, "services" are all day Sunday

It's a secret don'tchaknow!.....the signs always say "Everyone Welcome", but not WHEN they're welcome...fucking stupid...

I needed a good laugh.

my local chapel keeps their doors locked during sunday sevices. They are afraid of someone coming in like a gunman or some irate pissed off person causing a disturbance. this is out of the morridor. before I moved here, I was told they had some protesters about 6 years ago

Like several other posters have already said, we have three or four congregations sharing the same building out here in my area.


So which ward's meeting times should we post on the sign ?

We do have homeless people show up once in a while. Someone usually befriends them and sits with or near them to keep an eye on them. Over they years, we've had a few tense moments with mentally ill people freaking out. They are just escorted out (by some of the handful of cops who attend) and are helped in any way possible. I accidentally sat next to one of these guys several years ago. He hissed "I am Jesus" as he passed the collection plate! The pastor kept in touch with him and his family and found out he had gone off his meds.

Yea but only here, I live in a tourist town and they have "visitors" all the time (like 20 of them maybe, believe me, no one comes to this place to go to church!).

There are signs at some wards as many have mentioned. However, the church doesn't welcome people like other wards. Sure they obviously want lots of new members to give them money and validate the church. They want to control how the new members join though.

Mormons don't want random visitors showing up for Christian worship services. What they want are potential converts they can control, manipulate, and later stalk in their homes.

Many years ago I attended a mormon SS when a woman off the street happened to show up wanting to participate in a Christian church servies. This caused a flurry on activity. Someone confronted her immediately and asked for her contact information before assigning a "friend" to sit with her, answer her questions and keep her company.

Instead of "Visitors Welcome" signs at mormon wardhouses should read "Potential new tithe payers welcome. Enter at your own risk."

Where I attend, my ward has meeting times posted on the two main foyer doors.