So I had dinner with a catholic coworker last night that is from NYC but was visiting family in Gilbert. They decided to attend the temple open house, because their momo neighbor invited them to tour "one of the most beautiful buildings in the world."

This is her report:

"Mormons seems to have two modes when you ask them about their church: NEVER talk about it or sales mode."

"As my grandmother's living room kept going on and on, we asked where the chapel or basilica was, we expected a cathedral, with stained glass windows, it turns out this giant doubletree lobby with white carpet WAS the temple"

"My mom blurted out: this is like the nicest conference room ever"

"as went went up the stairs your eyes meet the most homoerotic picture of Jesus I have ever imagined, he has a man kneeling down in front of him and his eyes are closed and he is leaning back slightly, it was the most sacrilegious thing
I have ever seen"

"We looked at all the art and there was not one woman depicted, no wonder people feel mormon women are underrepresented, I mean not even a woman in the crowd? are they so clueless as so ignore 50% of their membership?"

"They could tell that we were not mormons, they greeted us very seriously and they treated the Xanax-blonde mormon women with huge smiles."

"They asked us if we had questions, I asked if/why women were not allowed to be in the artwork, I got the coldest stare I have ever seen and they ignored my question"

"They mentioned the temple clothes and that there was a video we could watch, I went home and watched it and laughed: how can they be so sacred and secret and NOW, SUDDENLY they are like -oh yeah lets make a youtube about it, it reeked of an inferiority complex"

"They can't seriously think that educated people will join them?! I had a lower opinion of them after, they now there with scientologists and Jehovah Witnesses "



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2014 01:44PM by sb.

A friend of mine went to the Nauvoo temple open house. (Her family on both her parent's sides lived in the Carthage/Nauvoo area years before the mormons ever arrived. We like to joke that her ancestors drove my ancestors out of the state.)

When she went through the open house she was told that the Celestial room is what mormons think heaven is like. So as soon as she got home from the tour she called to ask me if mormons really believe heaven is full of Ethan Allen knockoff furniture.

+1

"They can't seriously think that educated people will join them?! I had a lower opinion of them after, they now there with scientologists and Jehovah Witnesses "

When I was in the cult I would laugh at the thought that people would join such obvious cults as scientology or jehovah witnesses, we had this idea that we were superior to them because we had the truth. Once you are out, once you are no longer drinking the kool-aid you can see it all clearly. Mormons are just like them, they are a cult but it's hard to see when you are in it. I don't know why people join but most people that join are missing something in their lives, normal, happy healthy people don't join.

"Mormons seems to have two modes when you ask them about their church: NERVER talk about it or sales mode."

Sweet. I'm keeping this one. I'm gonna incorporate it in some kind of future comment I make about Mormonism.

It's always interesting to me to hear how these things that are so praised among Mormons are really viewed by non-Mormons. Your friends aren't anti-Mormon or they would not have gone to the temple tour in the first place. The fact they went shows that they are relatively positive and curious about the church. Yet they came away with a clear, unbiased impression that it's a weird, cultish, man-dominated, taste deficient religious path. Mormons are SO sure that anyone who knows them, their missionaries, their temples and their lifestyles better will be impressed with them but unfortunately, the truth is that the more people know Mormons and Mormonism, the less impressed they are. Thanks for the account of your friend's impressions.

I know exactly what your mean.

They think that people just have not a chance to taste the delight of Mormonism and that the second they do, they will be hooked for life.

What hey are really saying is this:

I have a crazy view of the world and God. In my world view, facts are optional, this helps me to cope with life's challenges. If you promise to give all that you have to the church, you too can adapt to live in my alternative reality.I don't personally care about you, but I will get a lot of recognition, should you join.

Aside from the pretend beliefs, we also have pretend temples, pretend doctrine, pretend revelation and pretend covenants with God. We also have pretend service, if you still have doubts you can speak to one of our pretend missionaries and discuss our pretend history and pretend scriptures, surprisingly they almost back up what what say.

So please, join us, leave the cares of logic and reality at the door, come be made to feel special by our lies. Come and believe that God is racist, homophobic and chauvinistic, come worship a pedophile, come jump the mental hoops with us and enjoy our faux luxurious buildings and clean the toilets, only then you will experience the joy that comes from ignoring life's challenges.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2014 02:31PM by sb.

Good post. It is refreshing to get an outsiders view of the temple. Most mormons have never been to a church with stained glass windows so they think the temple is magnificant. The only room I ever liked was the celestial room. Mostly because it was the only place in the building that wasn't frightening.

The average cathedral in any city in France makes the LDS temple look new and vulgar. Having served my mission in France, even the SLC temple is not that spectacular.

The comparison to a hotel lobby is apt. The temple looks like a Marriott down in pure white. It wouldn't surprise me if they use the same architects.

axeldc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The comparison to a hotel lobby is apt. The
> temple looks like a Marriott down in pure white.
> It wouldn't surprise me if they use the same
> architects.

I was thinking something similar, but more along the lines of the same interior design firm. Makes you wonder if the Interior Design degree (that they have recently discontinued) at BYU-I had a semester on "Celestial Interiors", Lol.

http://www.utcotm.org/panorama/Madeleine_swf.html

This at least rivals or beats the Mormons most interesting temple, the SLC temple.

sb Wrote:
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> "They asked us if we had questions, I asked if/why women were not allowed to be in the artwork, I got the coldest stare I have ever seen and they ignored my question"

What a defensive answer! The guide could have just laughed off the question or responded that the people who picked out the artwork may have made an inadvertent oversight.

I've seen pictures of the Gilbert, AZ temple, and the chandelier in the "sealing" room looks pretty phallic to me. In general, I think those temple interiors look more like hotel lobbies, especially the celestial room.

I agree that Mormons are indoctrinated to believe that hotel lobby interiors are the most beautiful buildings in the world. They're kept so sheltered that they don't get to visit the cathedrals and other churches with stained glass windows.

Your friend should have known that when they asked for questions, the only acceptable question is "this is all so WONDERFUL...how can I join?!"

when Houston opened i was at least partly tbm, it was obvious even to me at the open house that at least 70 percent of the attendees were already LDS. you could tell cause they were dressed up and SUPER excited. the non-LDS had this "WTH" look on their faces everywhere they went. there were zillions of missionaries, most of whom had nothing to do cause nobody wanted to talk to them.

i love the comment about "NEVER talk about it, or sell it." ROFL that's so true!!

I've been to a couple temple open houses, and I'm amazed at how proud mormons are about them. A couple points:

1. Mormons don't get out much. Save the tithing, give most of it to a real charity, but use some of it for yourselves for a vacation at a nice hotel. They won't swoosh you along, and you don't have to wear funny clothes.

2. How do these million dollar buildings represent WWJD? As I read through the Sermon on the Mount, I'm just not seeing spending millions to save dead people. Quite the contrary, actually.

I love this whole thread!

Dammit! Now everybody at work wants to know why I'm laughing my butt off in a bathroom stall.

Those metaphors were beautiful

Years ago a nevermo friend's daughter went on a tour of the Seattle temple. She sais it was like "motel god."

Interesting thread. Years of conditioning from the pulpit with speakers waxing poetic about the beauties of the temples, the wonderful missionary opportunity the temple open houses provide, the wonderful Plan of Salvation that takes into account those that passed away without having received their endowments and sealing ordinances, the selfless temple patrons who spend their time, energy and money to travel to the temples and perform those saving ordinances--and then to actually go through and receive one's own endowments and come away from that experience thinking WTH but not mentioning the weirdness due to the covenants of secrecy. It's a strange life until one is able to see that it's all a sales pitch.

I thought the Gilbert temple was pretty, aside from the gaudy chandelier that didn't fit the rest of the decor. Mormons seem to have a thing for obnoxious chandeliers. My sister, also a nevermo, said it was such a shame the building is wasted on the dead. The cow font wasn't nearly as creepy as I expected it to be. I'd like to know what brilliant mind thought carpet in the men's toilet area was a good idea. We both wondered if all the Jesus pictures were for the benefit of nonMormons because they were everywhere, and if pictures of the profits would replace the Jesus pictures after they shut the place off. They had a nice little chapel area that could be used for small public weddings and funerals that appeared separate enough from the rest of the temple that unworthies couldn't soil the temple, but why would Mormons do anything to encourage inclusiveness?

One of the seniors that was there to answer questions in the tent actually cracked a joke about the waiting room area and front desk that looks like a hotel check-in counter. Mormons rarely poke fun at themselves, and I enjoyed his humor and was surprised he'd make a jab like that.

The temple in my area looks like a double-wide with a thin sheet of marble attached. The gold plated fiberglass angel Moroni on the top is so special. The celestial room looks like a sleazy lobby of a glitzy hotel in Las vegas right down to the ludicrous chandelier, and there are huge mirrors on opposite walls so you think you are seeing your image forever, a cheap parlor trick from whore houses of the old west. The whole place is cheap and ridiculous. The baptismal area with the white fiberglass bulls holding it up is the clincher, I can still see all those 15 and 16 year old virgins be ducked and re-ducked by those pagan porn addicted middle age men, talk about your wet tee-shirt nights. This is a pure pagan temple from top to bottom nothing about God is in this evil place, and now you know why Jesus weep.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2014 07:33PM by zenith.

My son was 12 when we left and had one chance to do baptisms for the dead. He said he put his hand on a marble pillar inside the temple, only to realize it was plastic painted to look like marble. After that, he thought temples were cheesy and showy, not impressive. A couple years later, he went to Europe and saw really impressive architecture and that totally cemented his opinion of the low-rent nature of temple "beauty."

the Doubletree serves amazing chocolate chip cookies in its lobby!!

They do indeed!

Mormon temples are mediocrity pretending to be excellence.

Kind of a good metaphor for all mormon-related art/architecture.

Wow, I would have loved to see the Blow Job Jesus painting. That might have made going to the temple a little more interesting.

How do I get a copy of THAT painting to put on my wall in the living room when the Home Teachers come over?!

90% + of higher end restaurants, anywhere on the planet likely have decor that is more tasteful and furnishings of better quality than most any temple.

I really dislike the elaborate white, Louis XIV furniture that would look more at home at the Chicken Ranch in Nevada than a house of worship!Tacky best describes it.

Are there temples that are temple-worthy? Most of the new ones are molded in Marriott-hotel style, but are there some of the older ones that have any architectural integrity -- both inside and out? I know that they can't be compared to cathedrals around the world.

The Cathedral of the Madeleine, St Marks and St. Pauls in Salt Lake put temples to shame. Never mind the great cathedrals of Europe.My idea of sacred architecture is not a copy of a hotel lobby however nice it is.

I toured the Bountiful Utah temple years ago. It looked like a furniture close out center. All the same everywhere.