Church #3. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 10761 82 Avenue

STOP. MORMON TIME :P .LOL.  OK, so on the list of churches that I was more nervous going into; this one was deffintly on the list. Partially in the fact that I was worried that being 23, I might walk out with a wedding ring and 3 kids (jokes) . Clearly I did not research the dress code.  As I observed the members of the church; the men were in black jackets and white shirts. All the women were in dresses with their hair done very nicely. What does Alanna walk in with? Jeans, high top sneakers, and back jacket white shirt: P .

I was kind of surprised when I walked into the place, it was 90% full and everyone in there was of the age range between 18-27 years old. This phenomenon was latter explained to me, with the fact that we were right next to the university, and as a Mormon you need to attend your church in your designated area. I also noted that there was no collection plate. I was told that they supplement the lack of monitory donations with a strong wiliness of its congregation to do whatever the church asks of them when called upon. 
One thing that really struck me was how "into" their faith these group of people were. I could literately see the whole room listening at full attention, hanging on every word that they are being fed. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Devout followers are generally something to be desired in a church environment. But needless to say I find this behavior concerning. In this room I felt I might be observing something know as "Blind Faith". One dictionary I found describes this as “belief without true understanding, perception, or discrimination.” This concerns me. Just seeing the people in this room, I was sure that if there was a respected leader at the front of the room, and if he told them the moon was made of Swiss cheese they, would 100% believe it. I kid you not. I am not saying that the person at the front of the room was abusing their authority, or has ever abused their authority. What I am saying, is that if there was a leader in this church that did desire to abuse ones authority, they would have a very easy time getting away with it. In my opinion. In the wise words of Petter Parker's Uncle:

There are endless examples of spiritual abuse in the Christian community and in other spiritual communities. As much as I could go on about it all day, I have found something better. This is a link to a brief article, that describes the sings and symptoms of an abusive spiritual community. Church hunting should be done optimistically, but always with a seed of caution. 

10 Ways to Spot Spiritual Abuse 
 

Random fact, the main speaker at the head of the church....... was a lawyer. Take that as you will.

The service started at 11 but after the first hour, I decided to head home as there Sunday worship is done in multiple parts and lasts till 3 pm. So I decided to book a meeting with one of their missionaries after church so they could answer some of my burning questions…

            I had a panel of 4 that I got to speak to in a private room ( poor people were more nervous than me I think….) I threw them some hardball's such as, continued marriage after death, having a living person baptized in representation for a un-baptized dead person. Etc. however I was nice enough to avoid the whole polygamy topic, As I  could literately write a while blog on that topic itself. They tried to answer my questions the best they could and do believe we enjoyed out discussion (we had a few  laughs) .

But at the end of the day as nice a bunch of people as they are, just don’t buy into the Belief that the Joseph smith as a profit or as the book of Mormon being an authentic ancient text. But like anything spiritual, I suggest you hack that one out for yourselves. Peace Out Peoples!