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11th Article Of Faith

Hmmm. What to say.

I do believe that the United States, with its Constitution which guarantees religious liberty, was founded and supported by God for the express purpose of providing a (somewhat) safe place for the restoration.

The United States was the only place in the entire world where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could have been established in the early 19th Century. Even today, it would probably have been crushed in most places, including the United States.

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I was always under the impression that it is very difficult to attend an LDS church ie, off the street, unless there was some formal invitation or reasoning. I remember driving by the LDS church in Orlando and hearing stories about locked gates, and key cards to get in. I am sure they were just that; stories, but is the LDS church as easy to attend as most other churches out there? Sorry if this is an ignorant question!

11th Article Of Faith Studies Doctrine Mormon

No problem. This is one of those myths that go around.

Visitors are always welcome to any of our Sunday meetings. There are also regular meetings on a weeknight primarily for youth. There are boy scout meetings and cub scout meetings, as well as organized meetings and activities for younger girls. Once a month, there is an Enrichment meeting for adult women.

We also have regular conferences, where everyone within a geographic unit will meet together for instruction and edification. These are open to anyone.

There are, of course, meetings such as presidency meetings, or council meetings that are restricted, but those are mainly administrative or planning meetings for specific organizations.

The Temples are NOT open for public worship. Whenever a new Temple is built, or an existing one is renovated, there is a period of time when there is an "Open House", where everyone is welcome to visit and tour the building. I have attended a couple of these. Once the Temple is dedicated, a person must get a recommend from their local ecclesiastical leaders, which signifies that they are a member in good standing, meeting certain minimal requirement, in order attend the special services within the Temple. The special services are actually ordinances wherein we make specific covenants with God. One of these ordinances is "Sealing", which is a marriage that is "sealed" for eternity, not just until death.

Since we DO keep the Temples reserved for active members of the Church, that is what the myths arise about. Despite the fact that millions of people have born witness that what goes on in the Temple is sacred, holy, and righteous, there are still those who are paranoid, filled with hatred, or who get involved with all sorts of conspiracy theories that spread sensational rumors about the Temple.

I hope this answers your questions clearly enough.

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I am still a bit confused.

Yet mention is made of the Temple not being open to public use. Are the Sunday meetings held elsewhere then? If so, do LDS members attend both the Sunday meetings and the Temple services?

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Regular Sunday services are held in local meetinghouses. For example, where I live, in Ann Arbor, there is a chapel about 2 miles from where I live, and another in a smaller town about 15 miles away from where I live. Between the two chapels, 4 different congregations are served.

There are, I believe, 4 stakes around Detroit (could be 5), with several others in Ohio, the rest of Michigan, Indiana, and even in parts of Ontario, that are all served by a single Temple, located in Bloomfield Hills, MI. The Temple is not open on Sundays.

The Temple, as I said before, is primarily meant to be a place where we perform certain ordinances. Not even a very high percentage of LDS members visit a Temple more than once in their lives. A very small percentage attend on a regular basis, performing the ordinances as proxies for people who have passed on.

I have heard various statistics indicating that only about 1/4 to 1/2 of the members even have recommends to be able to attend the Temple.

So, to answer your question succinctly: Yes, members DO attend both Sunday meetings and the Temple.

11th Article Of Faith

Is this the reason that you don't generally see LDS members "pushing" their faith on others so much? Of all the different sects, the LDS church members I meet have always been the most accepting of who I am. I more enjoy being around people who are willing to accept that worshiping and serving god still lies between me and my god, not anyone else. This article of faith seems to indicate that this is by design and not just a natural tendency of members.

11th Article Faith

I have been told that we are pushy!

We believe in being a missionary church, taking our message of the restoration of the Priesthood and the restoration of all the Gospel principles to all the world, including Christianity. However, we are taught to do this gently, by example and by soft words.

So, if I invite you to attend a church activity with me, it is just that, an invitation. I won't get annoyed with you, or tell you that you are lost if you refuse what I have to say. Our full-time missionaries will graciously accept either a positive or negative response to their request to share our basic principles with someone.

Anyway, I think this IS why we aren't really pushy about it. Frequently, there are stories of an LDS congregation gathering together to help another Christian congregation when their church is damaged or destroyed due to fire, flood, or whatever. When I was in Utah, local LDS congregations participated in fund raisers to provide a new roof for an historic Catholic church located in Provo, UT. Other congregations helped raise money to help a very small Buddhist group build a temple to worship in.

We not only allow others to worship according to their beliefs, we are willing to help them do so. Religious liberty is very important to us.

(One caveat - there is one belief that the vast majority of LDS will not tolerate, but that is a subject for a different thread. I must bring this up, as I feel that it is a huge injustice among my fellow members.)