What do I believe?

I get asked this a lot. I mentioned before that I have no dogmatic beliefs. What I mean by this is that I don't believe in any of the traditional creeds of mankind, nor do I believe in any of the gods mankind has devised to worship. This means I do not believe in Zeus, Thor, Isis, Shiva, Krishna, Kwan Yin, the Great Mother Goddess, Allah, Elohim, Yahweh, or Jesus.

But this is what I don't believe in. What is it that I DO believe in? After all, we are more defined by what we do believe than what we don't believe.

Let's start with this:

This is a famous image taken by the Hubble Telescope. It's called the Pillars of Creation, and is a formation in the Eagle Nebula. The largest pillar is four light years in length, the little pillars that stream off the ends of the bigger pillars are larger than the Solar System. This is part of a nebula, which is essentially a giant incubator for stars. This formation is a small part of an even smaller part of our galaxy. Our galaxy is only one of billions each containing billions of stars. There are more stars in this universe than their are grains of sand on all the beaches on this earth.

Beyond that, this picture was taken within the past twenty years, but what you are seeing is the formation as it looked 7,000 years ago. It has taken the light from these pillars 7,000 years to travel across space to get to our eye. You are literally looking back in time when you see this image.

This for me is one of the big reasons I don't believe in any of the gods mankind has made. They are all too small in comparison to all of this. A god of such magnitude as to command and create a universe of this scale would not be concerned with our petty squabbles on a pebble like our earth. They wouldn't be interested in human passions and affairs. We do not live long enough nor are we big enough to be of any significance to something that can form dust into stars.

Contrast this with some of the concepts of God floating about in the modern consciousness. Biblical literalism tells us that the earth was formed in six days 6,000 years ago. If that were so, we would never be able to see these gorgeous Pillars of Creation as they are 7,000 light years away from us. The earth appears to be 4.5 billion years old roughly and our universe is around 14.5 billion years old. We have seen galaxies potentially as far away as 13 billion light years. A god of only 6 days of creation 6,000 years ago is far too small compared to what we can see with our own eyes in this amazing universe.

The Gods of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are concerned with what we eat and drink, how we live our lives, who we talk to, what words we say, what we believe, where we go on Sundays, etc. Meanwhile, if the whole human race were to parish, the universe would continue existing without us. We cannot affect even our star with our limited capabilities. Why should these beings be so concerned with us and have the same agendas we do?

I do not say any of this to bash the beliefs of others. These are simply the questions that have led me to believe what I do. If there is a God, then I do not believe that they care what I do with my life, nor what happens on this planet.

When you look at how vast this universe is and how tiny we are, it would seem logical that you would be filled with despair. But the opposite happens in me. In me, I realize that it's incredible that I can know all of this. That I can see this spectacular and wondrous world and universe around me and realize that the same dust that formed these stars also formed everything around me. I am literally stardust. I am the living incarnation of these unliving stars and nebulae, breathing air and fully aware of what I am. God is not out there, not some being to be worshiped and adored. God is inside me and inside of you. You are the living universe, right here, right now.

And when you realize that, you realize that there is no savior coming to save us from destroying ourselves. There is no divine being keeping fingers off the nuclear buttons. There is no messiah coming to deliver us from the darkest and final hour. Instead, it is only us, the children of the stars on this planet. We must save ourselves or parish.

Off to see the other Mormons, the Community of Christ, formerly known as The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

This past weekend, I went to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What people don't often know about are other branches of Mormonism. They often might know about the small polygamy groups like the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). But there is another branch of Mormonism often overlooked by both the media and Mormons alike, the Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

In a previous blog, I mentioned how Joseph Smith Jr. founded a church called the Church of Christ. During Joseph's lifetime, the Church changed it's name several times finally settling on the name The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

After Joseph Smith died, there was a huge problem the community faced. Joseph had not appointed anyone to lead in his place, and there was no prophet to guide the people. A large number of Mormons believed God had chosen Brigham Young to lead the Church and followed him to what is now Utah. However, a number of Mormons stayed behind, not believing Brigham Young was a prophet. Two of these included Joseph Smith's widow, Emma Smith and their son Joseph Smith III. Many believed that Joseph had selected his son to be his successor, but Joseph Smith III was a child at the time. The Mormons who stayed behind were disorganized in several offshoot groups and individuals with no claim to any group.

In 1860, many of the disorganized entities came together and selected Joseph Smith III as their leader who accepted the position after feeling he had received revelation from God to do so. Consequently Emma joined as well. Originally the Church claimed the original name of the Church founded by Joseph Smith Jr., The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but they eventually changed their name to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to distinguish themselves from the Mormons in Utah.

The Church has continued on since then and currently has 250,000 members worldwide. In 2001, the Church officially renamed itself the Community of Christ in an effort to more clearly define the mission of the Church.

Though the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ share the exact same origin, they are quite different churches today.

Differences between the LDS Church and the Community of Christ:

• The LDS Church believes in the Godhead, not the Trinity. That is that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct entities but one in purpose and each Divine. The Community of Christ on the other hand affirms belief in the Trinity like other mainstream Christian Churches.
• The Community of Christ never practiced polygamy nor believed that it was a divine institution as the LDS Church did until 1890.
• The Community of Christ is more socially liberal than the LDS Church. They ordain women, have an open dialogue on gay rights issues, including gay marriage which is allowed in certain areas where it's legal.
• The Community of Christ operates two temples, the first Mormon temple ever built, the Kirtland Temple, now mostly used as a historical site, and their main temple in Independence, Missouri. Unlike the LDS Church, the temples are open to the public and contain no secret ceremonies, but instead are used for common worship, and a prayer for world peace is said every day at their main temple.
• The Community of Christ doesn't believe in eternal marriage.
• The Community of Christ doesn't practice baptism for the dead.
• The Community of Christ uses the cross as a symbol of their faith. The LDS Church views the cross as a symbol of torture and death.
• There is no concept of exaltation (the belief that men will become gods in the afterlife if they are righteous) within the Community of Christ. Instead, they hold to traditional Christian beliefs of salvation. This also excludes the view of multiple kingdoms that people will go to after the Last Judgment like you see in the LDS Church.
• The Community of Christ has no official translation of the Bible it prefers to use like the LDS Church does with the King James Bible.
• The Community of Christ publishes a traditional language Book of Mormon as well as a contemporary language edition.
• The Community of Christ recognizes the Bible, Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants (though a different edition than the LDS version) as scripture. However, they do not accept the Pearl of Great Price.
• The Community of Christ officially engages in ecumenicism and interfaith measures. The Church has abandoned the view that it is the One True Church like the LDS Church claims and instead believes it is a true church and one that receives revelation from God through prophets.

Differences between The Community of Christ and Mainstream Christianity:

• The Community of Christ shares a similar leadership structure to the LDS Church. The Church is run by a prophet who also acts as the president of the Church and assisted by two apostles who advise him, this group is known together as the First Presidency. Below them is the Council of Twelve Apostles, and below them are several other councils and groups.
• The Community of Christ acknowledges two other books as scripture outside of the Bible, The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. They view the Bible as the foundation of scripture and revelation, and The Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants as additional testimonies of Christ.
• They believe in continuous revelation through prophets, but also personal revelation to members of the Church.
• The Community of Christ has a formal priesthood which they trace back to Joseph Smith and in turn Jesus Christ. This Priesthood is made up of two orders, the lower, Aaronic Priesthood, and the higher Melchesidek Priesthood. Both men and women may possess this priesthood and it is seen as essential to the life of the Church.

There are only three Community of Christ churches in Utah that I'm aware of, one in Salt Lake, one in St. George (at the very southern edge of the state) and one here in Ogden. The one in Ogden I'm certain is probably a small and humble church. I emailed the pastor about the times and they seemed happy that I am coming.

This should be an interesting experience for me, and I'm curious to see how different and how similar it is to the church services of my childhood.

Until next time, peace be with you.

Namu Amida Butsu, Hail to the Infinite Light, the Amida Buddha!

This week I went to the Japanese Buddhist Church here in Ogden. Was it the peace inducing experience I thought it would be?

Atmosphere:

The temple is technically not in Ogden, but in Harrisville a little city just North-West of Ogden. The area isn't particularly a pretty area of town. It's most noted for it's Walmart and the adjoining strip mall. So, when you come upon this rather eastern style building, you take notice immediately. Around the perimeter of the property is a wrought iron gate The gardens are beautiful surrounding the building, I can only imagine what they look like in Spring and Summer.

When you walk in through the main door, there is an image of the Wheel of Dharma, an eight-spoke wheel that represents the Eightfold Path to Nirvana, hanging over the doorway.

There's nothing really remarkable about the building when you first walk in. the walls are white and fairly plain. There are a few offices. The only thing that would really give you any indication of being in a Buddhist temple are displays like this one:

However, the atmosphere changes entirely when you enter the sanctuary. The room looks much more Eastern in design, there are windows covered in red curtains, pews (really Western actually), the room is filled with the perfume of spicy incense, and then you see the altar.

The altar is very traditional looking and set upon a stage. There is a main altar piece and two smaller altars on either side of it.

The one to the right of the altar is of the monk who founded this sect of Buddhism. His name was Shinran and he took a form of Buddhism inherited by the Japanese from the Chinese and brought it to the lay folk, at the time, Buddhism was something for the upper crest of society, not something for the common lower casts.

If you'll notice in the foreground, there is a singing bowl, which they did use in this service. If you want to know a little more about those, check out my Unitarian Universalist blog. The image of Shinran is in the background with the lamps and flowers surrounding him.

On the other side is another important figure of this tradition. For the life of me, I cannot remember his name, but he was explained to me as a man who took the highly learned teachings of Shinran and simplified them so that the laity could follow his teachings more easily, therefore bringing Buddhism even more to the masses.

The high altar is dedicated to the Amida Buddha I mentioned in my pre-service blog. This was explained to me as not a historical person, but as the teachings of the Buddha made manifest. In traditional depictions, it was a scroll in the center of the altar, but over time, with the Western influence of seeing God as a man, the image has taken the form of a man. This image is in the center of this altar, and is hidden by golden medallions. If you look closely, you can see the image of the man standing, though not really clearly in this picture.

On the altar are candles (fake ones), which symbolize eternal light, an offering of rice and fruit, flowers which represent impermanence as flowers begin to die as they start to bloom, and in front is a temporary altar set up with pictures of the pets of loved ones. (More on that in the service section.)

On the ground level directly in front of the altar was a lovely incense burner. The burner had a dragon on either side, one with an opened mouth and one with a closed mouth. The opened mouthed one represented life and the closed mouth one represented death. Our birth has already happened to us, and our death is guaranteed to us. Between the two is a bowl that you place the incense in and the incense waft between the two with highs and lows symbolizing our life, the only thing we have to worry about as our birth and death are already given.

The atmosphere here was spectacular. I felt immediately like I was in a space that was other to my day to day life, and I really love when that happens.

The People:

The people were wonderful. When we first arrived, somebody asked if we were visitors. They found a lovely woman who gave us a rundown of what would happen during the service and then gave us a tour of the sanctuary and explained everything in it.

After the service, they had a reception for the new associate ministers. Everyone was very kind and warm at the reception. The congregation was a mix of many types of people, Japanese, American, a few others as well. We shared what we were doing with a few of them and they were all very intrigued by the idea. I even gave the blog address to the nice lady who gave us the tour of the sanctuary. If you're reading this, for the life of me I cannot remember your name, but I want to say thank you for everything today. One man I met told me that he and his wife had been following my blog and knew we were coming. That was kind of surreal to me knowing that others knew we were coming to their church.

The reception had a lot of traditional Western foods like meatballs, cheese and crackers, lemon bars, etc. but also a few Japanese pastries. One was a pancake sort of turnover stuffed with a sweet black bean paste. There was also a tea that was traditional green tea mixed with brown rice. I have to say that both the pancake with the bean paste and the tea are two things that I feel have been missing from my life way too long and I feel cheated not having had these before.

The Service:

The service was short and sweet. It started with someone chiming a gong to summon everyone to worship, much like church bells in the West. The service began with those who had lost a loved one in the month of February getting up and offering incense in the bowl shown earlier.

Next there was a chant done in Japanese. I understood nothing of this chant, but it really calmed me and did bring a sense of peace. The chant was led by the minister and punctuated periodically by chiming the singing bowl.

After the chant, there was a recitation of a verse called The Golden Chain which talked about having an attitude filled with pure and lovely thoughts and pure and lovely actions. Then we sang a Japanese hymn, which again, was lovely but I didn't understand any of it.

The minister then got up and gave his sermon. See the "Message" portion below for that.

Afterward, everybody got up and offered some incense (myself included) in the incense burner and then the service was over. The whole thing took about a half hour to forty minutes to complete. It was quite lovely and I have nothing negative to say about it at all.

The Message:

The sermon was about loss and death. He explained that today was Nirvana Day and that it celebrated the death of Buddha, but Buddha died 2600 years ago and that his death doesn't have much impact on us today. But today they were memorializing our pets which had passed away. And we are often devastated by the loss of our pets. Indeed our pets are usually the first experience we have with death and loss as a child.

He then played a gorgeous piece of music called Galloping Horses. He then related it to a Mongolian legend of a young man who had a white horse which he loved and shared a close bond. One day, a town governor, took the horse from the boy and kicked the boy out of town. The horse would not behave with the governor, so the horse was ordered to be killed. But the horse ran away and arrows were shot into it as it ran away. Somehow the horse made it back to the boy's home. The boy and his mother tried to save the horse, but his wounds were too great and he died. The boy was devastated and mourned his horse.

That night, the horse appeared in the boy's dream and told him not to grieve him, for all things are impermanent. Instead, the boy should take his body and make use of it. So the boy crafted a fiddle from the horse and the fiddle was topped with the carving of a horse head. That day forward the boy went along the countryside playing upon this fiddle. For though the horse had tragically been taken from him, he would live on through the music that touched those who heard it. And to this day, the horse-head fiddle is the national instrument of Mongolia.

The minister then said that when a loved one dies, our relationship with them does not die, it is only transformed. We still hear them in our head talking to us, we still feel their love in our hearts. Death is a part of life and a lesson we must learn, for all things are impermanent.

I loved this message, and no matter what your beliefs or where you are in life, this is a very true message. I feel that we often try to ignore death in our culture, but that does nothing to help us. Instead, we must confront it, better yet, we should embrace it. Our deaths are inevitable as are the deaths of all our family and friends.

Overall Experience:

This was an amazing service and an amazing community. I loved this experience so much. It filled me with peace and a sense of belonging I haven't felt many other places. I will definitely be back sometime soon to this place, though I'm not sure when because of this blog.

Additional Comments:

I am having so much fun doing this. Also, my friend Austin has been accompanying me to all but one of these. He's also blogging about the experiences he's having. There's overlap in our posts, but he does have a slightly different approach to things. You can check out his blog here:

http://52paths.blogspot.com/

I know I said I might be making a video blog last week, but I never got around to it. I will definitely be making one this week, it might even be up tonight. I have many things to talk about, so tune in for that.

Join me next week as I return to where it all began for me: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church).

Until I speak with you next, peace be with you.

What could you endure?

So, I went to the Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall yesterday. It was quite the interesting experience, I must say. There is a new Kingdom Hall out in Roy that is located not far from a friend's house. When we turned in, there was an illuminated sign that welcomed us:

I do have to say that I love that everything there is bilingual (Spanish and English). I welcome diversity and love seeing it everywhere.

Before I get to the main body of the text, I want to have a minor rant.

Churches, temples, Kingdom Halls, synagogues, mosques, what have you, if you post on your website that your services start at a certain time, and then you get there and the sign says the same time, but you walk in 15 minutes before that time and the service is going, that's not cool. Their website said that they start at 7:30 PM on Thursdays. When we got there a lovely sign said that their services start at 7:30 PM.

When we walked in at 7:15, they were halfway done with Bible study. I asked one of the members later why this was the case. He said that they had a circuit overseer there and so the meeting was special (more on that later) but then said, "Most Kingdom Halls in the area have meetings at 7:30 on Thursdays, but we meet at 7." Really? Then maybe you should update that on THIS SIGN ON YOUR DOOR:

Okay, rant is over.

Atmosphere:

I wasn't expecting much in the way of atmosphere here. Especially from the exterior we were greeted by. It was very stark and the lighting was very harsh. It wasn't terribly inviting on the outside.

I wanted to snap a picture of the inside of it, but I couldn't because Bible study was in session because their service time sign and website lie to us, and I didn't want to be rude.

Since you didn't get to see the inside I'll do best to describe it for you. When we first walked in, it looked like you were entering the reception area of a hotel or office building. There was a front desk and I couldn't tell where we were supposed to go. A teenage boy came and welcomed us. Then asked if he could find us a seat. After seating us. He showed us the Kingdom Hall which was quite different than I had anticipated. It was decorated in various shades of beige and tan with gold trim. It looked very much like early to mid-90's decor. There was an elevated section at the front, basically a stage that had two faux marble columns, again in beige, on either side of the stage against the wall. On the front of the stage was a podium where there was a man leading the Bible study, three wooden chairs, only one of which was occupied, and a table behind the speaker that wasn't used at all during the service. On the wall on either side of the stage was written (one side English, one side Spanish) the famous line from the Lord's Prayer, "Let your Kingdom come."

We were seated in what I call event chairs, which are not quite permanent chairs, but they're far more comfortable than fold out chairs being that they're covered in more plush and better material and do not fold. These particular ones were grey and interlocked with one another forming rows that vaguely resembled pews.

Overall, the inside was less plain than I had anticipated, but the ugly 90's decor I found atrocious. Especially considering this congregation is new (2 months they said). So there is no excuse for the building being decorated like that.

The People:

I didn't get a chance to meet with or talk to people prior to the service because again, the service time sign and website lie to us. Of what I observed, the group was a mixed group. A lot of white/elderly folk, but many of other age groups and people of multiple ethnic and racial backgrounds. Everybody was well dressed and groomed.

Apparently, in these meetings, you need their literature, their hymnal, and their Bible. None of which is available at the entrance or on the seats. Luckily this nice lady named Heidi let us borrow her Bible study guide and her hymnal. Afterward, she and her extremely well dressed and articulate husband came and talked to us. They were nice, seemed to have mixed feelings about us when we explained who we were and why we were there. I think they were equal parts curious and suspicious. But they were very polite to us. Aside from them, nobody else really talked to us.

I got the impression that I was being sized up the whole time, or people were wondering why we were there. An interesting thing for people who proselytize a lot.

The Service:

I didn't get to see the first part of the service because the service time sign and website lie to us.

I got to see the last 20 minutes of Bible study, which luckily I got to borrow the book for from that lovely young lady. The name of the study guide was called Draw Close to Jehovah. The lesson was on how much Jehovah loves us as mankind and was done in Q&A style. When I say Q&A, I don't mean that someone asked questions and they answered with their opinions or thoughts on the matters. Instead, the man at the pulpit would read a paragraph, ask a question from the book, then they would pass a microphone to someone who had raised their hand. That person would then then repeat, often verbatim, the next sentence in the book. They were then told by the person leading the discussion, "That's very true," or "Thank you for that insight." There was no individual thought in the matter at all which I found quite interesting and wasn't expecting. I thought it was going to be much more of a discussion based Bible study like others I've been to in my life.

After Bible study, they sang a song from their hymnal called Sing to Jehovah. I didn't recognize a single hymn in the book, so I'm assuming they're all unique to the Jehovah's Witnesses. The name of the song we sang was called "Stay Awake, Stand Firm, Grow Mighty." I could make a seventh grade joke about that, but I'm just going to let it be. The song was pretty. Very basic tune. Both songs we sang had a very basic piano tune without any real frills or inspiration to it. But they were very short and sweet. I did like the hymns overall.

Next came the sermon delivered by one of the elders, the details of which are below. The service finished with another song, this one called, Enduring to the End.

The Message:

The sermon was about endurance and how much we can endure as humans. It had a very doomsday feel to it, which is not surprising considering Jehovah's Witnesses are historically a doomsday religion. They believe that the destruction of the world by Jesus Christ is imminent. They talked about things like, suppose the world changed and people began persecuting them and sending them to concentration camps. (Which the Nazis did to them. Jehovah's Witnesses were declared enemies of the state and sent to the death camps just like the Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and other people and groups deemed less than by society.) He told a story of this tough as nails woman who wouldn't slow down in her work. He asked her how she was able to keep going. She replied something I actually really enjoyed, "As long as I keep moving, they can't bury me." In a brief, one sentence summary, the whole message was, endure to the end.

Overall Experience:

We chose a very good time to go. They kept saying that the Circuit Overseer was there. Indeed he was sitting directly in front of me with all his paperwork and everything. I guess they pull out all of the stops when he comes to town. I didn't know who this guy was, so I looked that term up when I got home. Apparently, they are men who are personally appointed by the Governing Body (the 8 most powerful men in the Watchtower Society that runs the Jehovah's Witnesses) to go and oversee the conditions of individual congregations. We basically went when they were getting evaluated by the highest authorities, so I feel I saw them at their finest.

Overall, this was an interesting service. The hour and a half we were there flew by, I actually enjoyed myself while I was there. However, there was also a very weird vibe in that place. It had a very strong sense that they were involved in almost every aspect of each other's lives. I know that many of them work full time going door to door teaching about their religion, without pay. They call the most dedicated of these people "pioneers" and they devote up to 120 hours or more a month to that. Their website actually encourages them to often give up their full time jobs so they can do so if their means allow. This is an insane notion to me and is exploitation at its finest.

I would say the Jehovah's Witnesses' Kingdom Hall was a fun and educational experience. It was more fun and entertaining than expected, but I wouldn't be back anytime soon.

Additional Comments:

Tomorrow, I will be putting my pre-service blog up for Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church. I'm actually really excited to go back to the Greek church. It's an experience unlike any other you will find.

Until then, peace be with you.

Vlog of the experience so far

I have included a video to supplement the blog so far. I talk about some things that I didn't mention in my previous blogs and show you some goodies you didn't get to see in the blog.

Let me know how you are enjoying everything.

Enjoy!

Where the Spirit lives (inside us) and where my demons hide (Cuba apparently)

This week, I checked out Hope Resurrected Church here in Ogden. Hope Resurrected is a member of the Pentecostal Church of God. I realized in my last blog, I didn't really share much of what Pentecostals were nor did I explain what they believe. Sorry about that. Here's a quick rundown:

• Pentecostals are Trinitarian and Evangelical Protestants. This means that they believe in the Trinity (one God in three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and that they believe that salvation comes through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Salvation is a gift from God given freely by the Grace of God to man through faith alone.
• But what really separates them apart from other Evangelical Christians is their heavy focus on Baptism in the Spirit. They believe that the Holy Spirit washes over them and they become endowed with various spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues (incoherent babbling they believe is a manifestation of God through them), prophecy, spiritual and physical healing, etc.

Now with that out of the way, lets begin. Was my time at Hope Resurrected an experience that filled me with the life giving Spirit of God?

Atmosphere:

For some reason, I didn't expect the service to be held in a corner meeting room for a Christian architecture firm, but that's exactly what I found. The exterior of the building gave no clues that this might be the case. I thought that they would be meeting in a larger, more permanent facility as the sign outside makes it seem as though it's the most prominent establishment in this complex:

But, as the sermon I heard last week at St. Joseph's said, sometimes we find great things in the most unexpected places. The outside of the complex has a certain Bauhaus simplicity to it. Again, the exterior gave me no clue as to how the inside would be.

As we entered the building, the sign posted over the entry made me realize we were entering the architecture firm and not a business suite as I had thought.

After a bit of confusion over where we were supposed to go, we finally found the corner conference room that they use and went in. the room had a cross that they could wheel into the room up at the front, a projector to project the words of the songs to sing along, a bunch of chairs lined up, and a bench to be used for the altar call later on.

I snapped a picture as best I could of the room, but it was hard with the cramped space and all the people inside.

I have to say though, my favorite part of the atmosphere was the two red solo cups on the ceiling. It was quite a surreal thing to see, so I asked one of the members what they were for. I guess they're keeping the motion detectors in the conference room from going off or something like that. In any case, entertaining as hell to me.

Overall, the atmosphere was very ghetto to me, but I'm not one to judge a church based on where they meet. It's the service itself, the message, and the culture of the faith that gives it its meaning, not the place of worship. I've been to moving Catholic Masses in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and under a gazebo in an amusement park. In the end atmosphere can be completely looked over.

 The People:

The people were very warm and welcoming to us. One of the pastors came over and personally greeted us. He was very warm, put his hand on my shoulder and just chatted with us. I asked him a question about his necklace. It's a love poem from the bible which was fractured by the jeweler and one piece went to him and one to his wife on their 55th wedding anniversary. I thought that was a cute little sentiment. He later presented us with goody bags. Others came over and introduced themselves to us. One man talked to us for a few minutes about the church and how Jesus had given him meaning in his life.

I got the distinct impression from a number of people there that there was a large part of the congregation that many were down on their luck. Many seemed like they were recovering from drugs or ex-convicts for whom their faith in Jesus had given them strength and meaning. To all that, I say, good for them. This was especially true of a man who gave his testimony at the service. He had a strong speech impediment, was missing a lot of teeth, and just had the classic look of someone who had lived very hard with drugs. He kept alluding to his past and how he had changed so much. I'm glad to see when people find meaning in their lives and it helps them live happier and better quality lives.

Before the service, I heard the man who had come over and talked to us about the church and his relationship to Jesus explaining to other members why there was strange weather lately. He said that because there were a couple big earth quakes in the past few years, it caused the Earth's tilt to change and the Earth to spin faster. So that's why there was a polar front that came down into the Midwest and why the weather has been off. A lot of the people listening to him said, "Really? That's very interesting," and sucked it all right in. Now, I am not a meteorologist, I don't pretend to be an expert in any scientific field. But I have had several university level science classes including a physics class and a meteorology class, the latter of which I got an "A-" in and did some tutoring for. Therefore, I can say with a fairly reasonable level of confidence that that entire line of thought is complete horse shit. I really don't know how this even sounded remotely right to them, and it was an indication to me of how scientifically illiterate of a group I was dealing with.

The Service:

Let me just start with the obvious question all of you have. Nobody spoke in tongues. There was a woman up in the front at the very beginning of the service who may have been speaking in tongues, but her utterings weren't loud enough for me to determine if they were English or not.

There was a woman who began the service by welcoming everybody and then giving a special welcome to the Holy Spirit. She then got the crowd fired up with talking about the Spirit eliciting amens and hallelujahs from the congregation.

They then began playing audio recordings of Christian rock songs while they projected the words on screen. 3 young women led the congregation in song. These young women really got into it. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that these people love Jesus. Almost on a disturbing level. These girls between songs and verses were closing their eyes and raising their hands up to the Lord shouting, "Jesus. Lord Jesus we love you. We are in your hands." They looked to be nearly to a state of orgasm with their level of worship. These people would do anything for Jesus.

They sang a lot of songs in a row. Not nearly as many as Berean Baptist did, but still a lot of them right in a row with no breathing room in between. It did get a little monotonous after a bit and I was just wanting to sit down because they had us standing the whole time.

While the singing was going on, people were all doing their own thing. Some people were in tears crying, many had their hands raised up to or pointing to Heaven. Some were holding their chests and rocking back and forth muttering things to themselves. Nobody seemed to care what others were doing. It all seemed like personal time with Jesus to them.

Overall, other than the monotony of it, I enjoyed the singing portion of this service. The music was very pretty and contemporary.

After the singing, there were announcements and a sermon which I will get to in the next section, then afterward they did the altar call. Basically they invite people to come up and accept Jesus as their personal lord and savior. A couple young women went and a few members gathered around them putting their hands on them, some muttering things like, "Minister to them, oh Lord. Minister. Minister!" At the same time, a young man with some problems with his leg came up and knelt before the bench (altar). The pastor and several other members gathered around him and poured oil on his head and began spontaneous prayers for healing and praises to God.

The Message:

The announcements and sermon portion of the service began with a few common announcements about activities, and then an announcement that they were raising money for the pastor to go to Cuba on a mission. I was not terribly surprised by this, as Evangelical Christians are often engaged in missionary work. But then they explained the purpose of this mission. They explained that it was to go and fight the demonic dominion in Cuba. Now, I thought to myself, surely they mean this as a metaphor for the oppressive regime of Cuba and the living conditions of many of their citizens. Nope. They meant real honest to God demons. They told stories of demons manifesting themselves to the people of Cuba as dolls or in visions in water. They talked about demons actually terrorizing the locals with supernatural powers keeping them from sleeping and that the demons and witchcraft there was fighting against the Church of God. So, they are raising 2,000 dollars to have their pastor go and fight these demons in Cuba. I wish I were making that up. I don't think I could make that up if I tried. It's like Pastor Van Helsing. In the Post-Modern, post-industrial United States of America in the year 2014, this church is waging a literal, medieval battle on demons.

The sermon made absolutely no sense. The pastor who had talked to us and given the goody bags gave it. He gave everybody a lot of scripture verses to look over, he didn't really explain why he was using any of these verses, there was no real theme to speak of, a lot of the time he seemed confused and lost. He would bounce from one topic to another. I honestly wondered if he was exhibiting the early symptoms of dementia or Alzheimer's, and I don't mean that as a joke. Some of the things he talked about, in no particular order were, getting saved, the ascension of Jesus, going to Heaven, Noah's arc (presented as a real and literal story with archaeological evidence), the cross of Jesus, the Jews conspiring to kill Jesus, the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., sewing seeds of faith, the day he got saved, an old Pentecostal song about the glory of Jesus, the Jews still being the apple of the eye of God and anyone who messes with them brings God's wrath upon themselves, etc. This incoherent sermon went on for an hour and fifteen minutes and only ended when members reminded him of what time it was. He said he hadn't finished his message and would have to another day. I was very confused about everything at the end of it all.

In the end, I don't even know what I can say about the message because there was no message to speak of.

Overall Experience:

I will say this church was a learning experience for me. I have heard of churches filled with people who believe in just bizarre things like demonic attacks and how scientifically illiterate our populous is. I never expected to see it so clearly as I have. There are a lot of people walking around who are this uneducated in science and do fill the gap with superstition and strange explanations for things. I just don't understand it.

The community of people seemed very nice, but in the end, I just couldn't believe this church experience was real and I did not enjoy myself. In less than a month, I've heard Christians glorifying slavery at one church and another talking about sending their pastor to Cuba to fight literal demons in a spiritual war. I don't know what to think of this! This disturbs me, I won't lie.

Additional Comments:

This next week is going to be a special week. I will be attending two separate services. On Thursday I will be visiting the Jehovah's Witnesses' Kingdom Hall in Roy, Utah, and on Sunday I will be attending Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church in Ogden. Look for two separate pre-service blog entries and two separate blog entries on each church visit.

Also, I may post a video blog tomorrow just summarizing my journey up to this point and highlighting some things that didn't make it into my blogs.

Until my next entry, peace be with you.

Ite Missa est. Deo Gratia.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I went back to the Catholic Church this Sunday to check out a Mass. Was it the homecoming I was hoping for?

Atmosphere:

Nobody in the world can deny that out of all the churches out there, Catholics probably do atmosphere the best. St. Peter's Basilica, Notre Dame Cathedral, etc.

St. Joseph's has a very beautiful and traditional exterior:

The design is somewhere between Spanish Neo-Gothic and Spanish Neo-Romanesque. I managed to snap a pic of both a plaque on the building and of course, the church sign out in front:

But, like many Catholic churches, the inside is where the real beauty shines. Take a look at this side altar piece of St. Joseph:

And of course, check out the splendor of the high altar:

Of course, it wouldn't be a true masterpiece of a church without some stained glass windows, and St. Joseph's has plenty.

If you're wanting a church with stunning atmosphere, St. Joseph's is a good one to check out.

The People:

As I've come to expect from my years as a Catholic, Catholics can be a bit stand offish towards people who aren't regular members of the parish. Nobody came and introduced themselves to us really. The ladies at the bookstore were friendly as was the priest.

I think a lot this has to do with how Catholics are when they enter a church. Typically, they don't enter and socialize before hand, they go to the chapel and start praying. This I think lends itself to the culture of not really engaging others who come in when entering a church. This, however, does change when you become part of the parish.

The Service:

The Mass is the same as ever. The priest, deacon, and those helping with the Mass processing down the aisle towards the altar; readings from scriptures; prayers back and forth between the congregation and the priest; lots of formal ceremony; chalices and hosts being raised over the altar. No incense though. I love incense. I wish they were used more often in Mass.

The choir was beautiful. They sang acapella from the balcony in the back of the church and their voices echoed throughout the church. Beautiful acoustics in these old churches. The hymns were traditional and gorgeous. I love traditional melodies, though I have to admit, guitar masses do hold a dear place in my heart.

The Message:

The homily (sermon) was given this week by the deacon. He was from Texas as his accent and opening lines gave away. His message was a simple one, that we often expect greatness or divinity to be in some dazzling show or amazing feat. But that it's often in the filth, the grime, the weakest among us that we see greatness truly manifest itself. I actually really loved this message. At the end, he said we would never see God until we learned to see him in those we despise and the lowliest among us.

Overall, it was a message about non-judgment and of seeing beauty where we don't normally want to. Both messages I can get behind.

Overall Experience:

This service reminded me of exactly what I miss about the Catholic Church and why I even joined it in the first place. It was such a moving service. I honestly haven't been to a church service that lovely in a very long time. It was very moving and stirred up a lot of complicated emotions inside me. I felt myself torn wishing I could still be part of this church which spans 2 millennia and in many ways still makes me feel connected to parts of myself nothing else seems to, and my rational mind saying, "You know you could never swallow this and you would never truly be happy here. It would be just like last time."

And so it must be. I will remain a cultural Catholic and a fervent non-believer who could never call themselves Catholic again. It's a complicated duality inside myself. I wish I could explain it better.

Heading home, so to speak.

Well, after last Sunday's adventure to Berean Baptist Church, I decided I wanted to go to something familiar. So, I have decided to go to a Catholic Mass. The parish I have chosen is St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Ogden. St. Joseph's is a traditional, Spanish Neo-Gothic church that is quite beautiful inside and out. (Yes, I have been there before.) You can't miss St. Joseph's Church if you're in Ogden. Next to the LDS Temple in Ogden, it's the most prominent religious building, being both massive and on a hill.

There isn't really a "Who are we?" section of their website, at least that I can find, so I'll talk generally about the Catholic Church. I used to be Roman Catholic. For those of you who don't know me too well, my religious background is a colorful one, but I have officially belonged to two churches in my lifetime: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the Mormons or LDS) and the Roman Catholic Church. I was raised LDS but left that church mentally at age 17 and publicly at age 18. I have spent some time with a few other religious bodies, including the Greek Orthodox Church and the Episcopal Church, but it was the Catholic Church that proved to be my religious home as a young adult.

What is there to say about the Catholic Church that most people wouldn't know? I suppose I'll just state some basics:

1. It is the largest religious sect in the world, and the largest religious sect in all of human history with currently over a billion members worldwide. For those of you playing the numbers game, that's roughly 1/7th of the world's population that belongs to this one church.

2. The Catholic Church is headed by the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the Pope. Currently, Pope Francis holds this position. Catholics believe the Pope is the successor to the priesthood authority of St. Peter whom they believe was head of the apostles and Christ's representative on earth. The Church also teaches that in matters of doctrine, when the pope is speaking for the entire Church in special circumstances he is infallible.

3. The Catholic Church, along with a few other churches, can claim to be the oldest continuously practiced Christian church on earth with roots of it going back to the earliest days of Christianity, and major developments in it's formation happening in the 4th through 11th centuries.

4. The central act of worship, and what they consider to be the highest, is the ceremony of the Mass. In this ceremony, passages from the Bible are read and a sermon is given. The central act of this ceremony; however, is the consecration of bread and wine, which Catholics believe is transformed into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ to be fed to them for spiritual nourishment.

I have to admit, I'm sort of excited to go back to the Catholic Church. Though it's not the church of my childhood, I feel like it is the church that had the most impact on the person that I became in adulthood. For a time, I considered joining the priesthood and I still in many ways have a strong cultural connection to the Church. I do not believe in any of the Church's dogma nor any of the superstitions that go along with it. However, the cultural elements of the Church still draw me in.

I will let you all know how it goes.