Posted by:
Chicken N. Backpacks
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Date: November 08, 2018 01:58PM
Didn't really want to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center, but it was on the wife's schedule; lots of Hawaiian shirts with garments underneath in hot tropical weather and "modest" unauthentic costumes.
We ended up with about 45 minutes to kill before the big evening show and a senior missionary pointed out the tram to the temple so we figured "What the hell"; there very few people on board so two young sisters missionaries glommed on to us when we arrived, an Okinawan and a South Korean. I didn't have the guts to tell them that their church was hogwash (it would have made for an uncomfortable visit) but when they realized I knew a LOT about TSCC they wondered why I wasn't a member and asked what I felt when I read the BoM. I simply said it "just wasn't a good fit for me". I did turn the tables and asked what they felt reading it and got the usual rote testimony.
Bottom line: they were so young and so naive I couldn't put the hammer down.
After we left I told my wife that I had failed to have something up my sleeve that might plant a seed to crack their shelf (in a nice way) and realized that I should asked something like why, if all Polynesians are actually "Israelites", then why do they celebrate their culture at the PCC? It certainly has nothing to do with ancient Jewish traditions or beliefs, and they obviously are descended from Asia, not only from DNA, but just by looking them.
I'm sure I would have gotten more rote testimony.
P.S. The fire dancers were terrific.