Becca at the Jehovah's Witness Church

Hello All!
Sorry for not writing my blog until now, but I was lazy.
Last Sunday, Hannah and I went to TWO churches! The first one was the Roman Catholic Church then after we went to a Jehovah’s Witness Church.

I already know a fair amount of the Catholic faith, so my blog is not really about that one. But we still had a good time. The Father sung very well and it made me feel like I was in Rome, no joke! It was a very nice service though.

The JW (Jehovah’s Witness) church was definitely better than I thought it would be. On the other hand, Hannah and I were both pretty sick and had terribly runny noses, which made the service seem longer than it actually was because I wanted to leave and get better.

The people there were very nice and welcoming to us. I am not sure they get a lot of visitors, but then again, JW’s don’t have the best stereotypes. You know, it takes a lot of guts, sometimes, to say that you are a JW just because some people can’t take that religion seriously. In one way, that links to why Hannah and I are doing this project, so we can expand our knowledge of the different religions and not have a naïve view of them.

Oh, and speaking of sick people, the pastor-dude was sick that day, so they had a modified service. Normally, they would have  someone speak for half, then they would study The Watchtower for the other half, instead they just studied The Watchtower. This study did feel more of just a Sunday School thing and not so much a worship service. I am trying to keep in mind that the pastor-dude was ill so we missed out on that experience. The atmosphere was very friendly and more relaxed than some of the other churches, which was nice.

As we were studying The Watchtower, someone had brought up the very controversial topic of blood transfusions and all that jazz. They don’t do it because it says to abstain from blood in the bible. May I point out that RIGHT AFTER it is mentioned, it says to abstain from fornication too? How many people follow that? It is becoming an accepted practice to have sex before you are married. I disagree with it, but that is the world we live in unfortunately. There are so many things that are also said that we should not do or do, but Hannah already went through that. In my opinion, I think it is kind of ridiculous to not get a blood transfusion, especially if it would save your life. But again, this is just my opinion and is what I believe. They don’t agree with our church and how Joseph Smith saw God and translated the Book of Mormon, and that is their opinion. One thing I quite disliked though was when a JW came to my house, and upon finding out I was Lds, they mentioned that The Watchtower had recently had an article about how Joseph Smith lied and how the Book of Mormon is false. I do find that to be quite offensive. I have done some research and am unable to see if that lady was actually telling the truth because I can’t find any archives on The Watchtower. But still. Honestly? Is bible bashing really necessary in your church publications? I think it’s ridiculous and offensive.

So, what’s with the whole “Jehovah” thing? Were they wanting to be different from all the other religions so they decided to use the name Jehovah? They still use God though. It’s really confusing. Sometimes they will say Jehovah, but others they say Jehovah God. Why not just keep the original one? I get confused by that.

The way we studied The Watchtower is that we went over EVERY single detail in the article, which was like…long. I got pretty bored because I just felt like… I don’t know. It was just kind of boring after a while. I guess it felt like they were teaching their congregation how to be able to better explain their religion so when they go out on their missionary adventure thingy, knocking on people’s doors, they know all about what is happening in The Watchtower. It was like they were being trained rather than being taught actually. If you know what I mean. Everytime they answered a question, it sounded kind of robotic. It was really weird. There was this little kid that answered questions and it sounded as if the answers were programmed into him… but I suppose in some ways, we are all like that. From the time were are little, we are given these answers that are being programmed into us so we will remember it always. People accuse the Lds faith of brainwashing their children, but doesn’t every religion? In some religions, you are taught to hate other ones. Take the Westboro Baptist Church, for example. They teach their children some very extreme views of hatred towards, well the world it seems. Is there anyone (not a part of their religion) that they do like? That’s beside the point. My point is that in every religion, you are pushed to believe what the religion wants you to believe.

Well, after the whole service was done, and there was no sacrament type thing to be found, literature started to come our way. We were handed a ridiculous amount of literature, all explaining the JW faith. It made them seem…desperate. On the flip side, they do seem like… fairly…humble…people, I suppose. They liked to inform us of the good they do. I didn’t mind, but I did want to leave…and they just kept…talking. It wasn’t all bad though. They do still have views that I do not agree with, but you will get that in every religion you go to.

Hannah's Awesome time with some Jehovah's Witnesses !

Upon arrival at the Jehovah’s Witnesses meeting place, we were greeted warmly with people shaking our hands and trying their hardest to make us welcome. We received a copy of their bible,  a hymnal, and a copy of the magazine “ The Watchtower” , which anyone who has J.W missionaries stop by their house is familiar with. We sat near the back, and an elderly man informed us that the speaker had fallen ill and that there would be just a lesson during the service. 

The lesson was read out of the magazine, and after each paragraph was read the man who was leading the lesson would ask the congregation questions about it. It was similar to lesson in school were a passage from a text book is read and then the teacher questions the students knowledge.  People would raise their hand, and a microphone was handed to them and they would answer the question.

The lesson it self was on hard decisions, or really just decisions in general, and how to make ones that “honor god”. Through out the lesson people shared personal stories, summed up the paragraphs, and read scripture versus.  The lesson even detailed a step by step process on how to make decisions. I think this is what religion does for people, it allows them to have step by step instructions for life.  In actuality , the advice wasn’t all that bad.  Aside from the “ pray for help” bit, the steps were pretty sound. Do not be presumptuous, do research, and other such pieces of advice, that make sense. I think this process and is what makes the Jehovah’s Witness religion appealing.  However, I believe one doesn’t need a religion to follow such pieces of advice , nor to talk about your issues with your friends and community.

Now, time to get into some controversy.  When talking about decisions and looking to god for answers rather than others the topic of blood transfusions was brought up. I am very opinionated on this subject firstly because both my parents are doctors, secondly I am an atheist, and thirdly I have been in a position before in my life were I have needed a blood transfusion.  I would like to say once again I have tremendous respect for religion and religious people, however this belief is absurd.  It puts people’s lives in danger, which is worth no amount of faith. Furthermore, biblical evidence for such an assertion is also haphazard.  Jehovah’s witnesses point to Leviticus, and Genesis as evidence against blood transfusions, however, the amount of absurd things said in both those books which are not followed by modern day Christians are endless. Leviticus says interesting things about menstruating women ( Lev. 15, 19-31), and how adulterers shall be put to death (Lev. 20, 10) I could continue but I won’t. All this evidence is if I believed in the bible at all, which I don’t making the idea that blood transfusions are wrong to be even more ridiculous.

After the lesson was concluded, some very kind people came up to us, asking our names and why we were there. We received so literature that consisted of, a small book called “ What does the bible really teach” and another one directed at young people, as well as two brochures that were titled “ The Origin of Life” and “ Was life Created” ( I will return to said brochures in a second). A very kind women showed me were they receive donations, and told me none of the Jehovah’s Witness pastors or speakers were paid. She said that if a person feels as if they should they can make a donation, but there is no pressure to do so.  I must say I appreciate that part of the religion.  Some religions I feel take advantage of their congregation finically and it was nice to see some differentiation.

Now for those brochures. I believe in evolution, not because I am an atheist, but I believe in it for the same reason I believe in gravity. It is fact.  After thoroughly reading the brochures, I have come up with a summery of what they said, as well as other creationist arguments.  I will attempt to repudiate them all, keep in mind I have a grade 11 biology education and I am by no means a scientist.

-       Design in nature is so similar to that of design by man

-       Physical evidence for evolution , such as fossils and genetic coding, is invalid because it shows no real connections between species

-       Genetic mutations cannot bring rise to new species

-       The earth and nature are so beautiful  and complex, they must have been a product of some intelligent designer .

-       How can the earth and life have been created from nothing?

The first point is that human made products are similar to processes used in the natural world.  This disproves evolution? How?  Yes spiders make a kind of thread, as do humans, hence forth evolution by natural selection does not exist?  Humans and dragonflies both use compound lenses is an example given. Dragonflies have compound lenses has a way of seeing, and have developed said lenses as a means of survival.  Humans have developed compound lenses to use in motion detectors.  Just because something can be retrospectively designed, doesn’t mean it was designed in the first place. It just means that  modern day man has taken inspiration from nature

The second point is that some how physical evidence for evolution is invalid because it shows no connection between organisms. Well this is just wrong , there is no other way to say it. The brochures state that because fossils are taken from periods of time that differ between millions of years, that connections cannot be made and that any similarities are merely speculation. Morphological similarities between species, and the development of these species are evident in the fossil record. One can see with the development between different kinds of jaw shapes in early hominids. Early hominids had jaws with larger teeth for ripping meat, and as agriculture became apparent humans developed grinding molars suitable for chewing vegetation. This is one of the many examples I can pull from to show there is in fact evidence for evolution in the fossil record.

The third point concerns genetic mutations, and the brochure postulates that macroevolution relies on the concept that mutations make brand new species. This, once again, is very wrong. Mutations’ role in natural selection is that when a trait which is favorable occurs it remains prominent among a population because said organism reproduces and passes along this trait, where as when a negative mutation occur said organism dies out and does not reproduce making this trait disappear from the gene pool. No one has ever said that one single genetic mutation has led to the rise of an entirely new species. It is think like this that has led to statements by creationist such as “ how can a dog give birth to a cat?” It is a sad argument of the willfully ignorant.

One of the most common argument that creationist  always use is that the nature and life is so complex that there must have been a designer.  I heard once a great analogy to disprove this assertion, and I will link the video if I can find it.  Let us look at a car. It appears as if it has been designed, it has complex processes such an engine that could not have just sprung up willy-nilly .  Yes at the surface a car has been designed, but really it has been base on  previous innovation starting with the invention of the wheel. At one point someone realized that  you can move objects more easily if you roll them on logs or other circular objects,  after that the innovation of the axel allowed for even easy transport, that evolved into some kind of cabin being added , then horses to drawn carriages, then is really took of with invention of the combustion engine.  So yes a car is designed, but it also based on previous innovation. The same is accurate in biology, organisms adapt to their environment over long amounts of time giving the appearance of design.

How can the earth and life been created from nothing? This question infuriates atheists because firstly it combines both biology and physics to entirely different fields, and it is an over simplistic questions that trivializes one of larger questions in science. I am about to enter metaphysics land, I hope I can get you to follow, it makes my mind explode as well.  This argument was also taken from another atheist thinker who I will link.  So there are two types of creation, ex materia, and ex nihlo.  Ex materia is creation from previously existing materials, this kind of creation is the only kind we have seen on earth, where as ex nihlo is creation from nothing. In order for something to exist it needs a creator with the intent to create,  materials in which to create said object, as well as the actual action of creation. Theists will say that atheists say that the universe was created ex nihlo, but in actuality they are saying this themselves. Though there is a creator in their theory, the neglect what god mad the universe out of, there was no previous material in which created the universe , hence theists are also arguing for the “ something out of nothing”  fallacy. We do not know how the first matter on earth came about, physics hasn’t gotten there yet. I am content in saying “ I don’t know” rather than  just saying the magical words that take the mystery out of everything “ god did it”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRn-mVPIl60

I hadn’t planned on going on that rant, but I knew it was going to come up eventually, and with the brochures that were given to me I just couldn’t help myself.

I know I will be hearing form these people soon, which I actually look forward to. I learned a lot today about a religion I knew very little about,  and I enjoyed it very much

Hannah's Fun Times at Oceanside Baptist Church

So on a barely relevant side note, what a beautiful day! It’s is so sunny and wonderful! It’s the kind of day that makes you happy to live in such a beautiful place.

Becca and I headed off to the Baptist church that is held at our town’s Christian school. Upon arriving I noticed just how many people I know go there.  My mother is South African so there were tons of other South African family friends that were attending.  It was really nice to see them all again.  Upon walking into the gym were the service was held, I noticed a band on stage. A straight up rock band, with the drums and the guitars and everything.   All the Christian services I have attended, both in my life and thus far on this adventure, have had traditional hymns and to be honest they kind of a soft spot somewhere in my heart.  The  introduction of modern music into an older world view must be a way to attract and more youthful and modern followers. Well all I can say is that it worked.

The fist song was sung, and already people were getting into it, really into it. One song frequently mentioned “ Jesus the King who reigns “ I have a few things to say about this. Firstly, if Jesus is presently reigning over us, he is doing a pretty poor job of it.  Between AIDS, the recent Japan earthquake and all the other amounts of suffering he seems to be slacking of on his duties a bit.  I understand that this is metaphoric however it seems a little bit incongruent with world events, and I am sure I will continue to have this grievance with every monotheistic church we end up going to.

Lyrics also talked about how Jesus’ blood washed away our sins. Well, this is assertion has always seemed strange to me.  God sent his son (or himself depending on your views on the trinity) so that he can die for the sins god created in the first place, to save you from a hell he created in the first place, and he did this all because he loves you.  Further more,  “sins” (which I believe have a very wide definition) are a part of life. I do not know if they are referring to sins in the biblical sense, or thing that modern society believes are immoral either way one mistakes are part of ones life.  To be forgiven from sin from an all powerful god seems strange to me, if you feel you have done something wrong you must feel bad about it and try to make it right. To forgive yourself and have the people you have affected seems more important to me then absolution from god. 

NOW for the thing in the whole service I found most interesting! At some point during the service the pastor put up this quote “ Every man lives by faith, the non believer as well as the saint; the one by faith in natural laws; and the other by faith in God.  Every man through out his life constantly accepts without understanding” –A.W Tozer. This would offend the pants of most atheists, naturalists, antitheists, humanists or what ever you want to call us. Let me just lay out why.  So atheists reject blind faith that is faith in something without evidence. Most religions are built upon the idea of blind faith that your selected deity tests you by  seeing weather or not you will believe him/she/it unconditionally.  Now atheists reject that by saying belief must be given after physical evidence is presented, and that if god is loving he would probably test you on your morality, not on your ability to ignore the fact that some things are impossible.  We do not put the same kind of faith in scientific theory as a Christian would put in god, because said theory can be tested, retested and is highly evident to be fact. For example ( let’s pick something a wee bit controversial) evolution. Evolution is scientific fact based on genetic evidence showing the relationships between species , speciation ( divergent evolution where in a species may become two species because of adaptation to different environments),  and the direct physical evidence of fossils.  People have the “ faith” that Tozer was speaking of earlier in evolution because it is fact that is backed up copious amount of physical evidence. Creationism, and intelligent design rely on blind faith, the kind of faith that people like me reject. To call these kinds of faith one in the same is highly inaccurate.

 The pastor mentioned how hard it must be going through hard times in life without having god to guide you. If I am going to be entirely honest he absolutely correct in that, one thing an atheist is forced to do is accept the miserable and stark nature of the universe  because we do not have the rose coloured glasses of faith.  Believing that though times are hard now, but god loves me so it will get better is a very comforting idea that helps a lot of people.  I think that there are other means of making your way through hard times though, without an imaginary friend who tells you it’s going to be ok. Family and friends and the beauty in the cosmos are all things that are there  religion or no religion , being a nonbeliever just makes harsh realities random and not placed there to punish you.

There is so much more I could write about that is I will stop now to save you further boredom! A special thanks to Nik Authier ( the amazing projector man) who let me copy quotes down arfter the service, and thanks so all the wonderful people, and old friends who were so welcoming 

Becca's adventure at Oceanside Baptist Church

Oh what a beautiful sunny day today was. Hannah and I got to go to the Oceanside Baptist Church! Oh man, there is just so much energy when it comes to the worship service; it was quite….interesting.

Upon walking in, almost late, we noticed that there were a fair number of people that come here. The service was held in a school gym, but I think that coincides with one quote that the Pastor said which was, “Church is not a building or a Cathedral, we are the church.” I quite liked this quote because I agree with it. It shouldn’t matter where a sermon is held, as long as the people are there, that’s where the church is. As soon as we got to the door, we were handed a pamphlet which said, “Taste and See that the Lord is good. From Psalm 34:8” With it, there was a lovely picture of 3 beer bottles with different coloured liquid, with the name of the church on them. I was kind of weirded out that it was on an alcoholic beverage, but hey! If what they think tastes good is beer, then so be it. Hannah and I seated ourselves closer to the front of the stage, still wondering why there was alcohol on the cover.

The sermon started with a lady welcoming everyone, and then the songs began. The first song we sang was a good song, repetitive at the end though. Then another song started up, and again, was repetitive. EXCEPT this one seemed to go on FOR EVER. Each song was at least 5 minutes long and we were standing to sing them. I was getting tired from standing. It felt like we were singing for 15 minutes. The whole song bit was weird for me because I feel like I am not being as respectful when I sing a rock song in place of a hymn. Call me old fashioned. It is just different. Yeah, different. After the first…half hour or hour, the little children are taken away, probably to do arts and crafts and whatnot, and the real sermon begins.

Oh! Today I found out that the Baptist faith believes in the trinity. Interesting, in my opinion. I can see why they might think that, but they are three separate beings, at least to me. Yes, the scriptures are confusing, especially if you look at John 17:21-23. But throughout the scriptures, you hear Jesus referring to God as his Father. If they were one person, that wouldn’t make sense. Why would they use 3 different names for one person then? If they were one person, then just use God rather than giving multiple names. It’s too confusing. Also, they did talk about the Holy Sprit as if it was a separate being, so that just made it worse.

You can tell that the people that go there are pretty intense when it comes to their worship service. Already in the first song, people were jumping up and down and waving one or two hands in the air. It was…interesting. At the same time that we had these worship songs, I felt like we were at a rock concert for people who didn’t want to listen to rock with cruder language. At any rate, if that is how they worship, so be it. I use hymns, they use rock music and I should respect the difference.

There were many quotes mentioned by one man named A. W. Tozer. I had no idea who he was and after searching him up on wikipedia, I still didn’t have a very good idea of who he was. From what I can guess, he was very interested in religion and the “good word”. Did you know Baptists say that? I didn’t. I didn’t know what faith uses “the Good Word”, I guess baptist does. Other’s probably do too… either way. They quoted the Bible as well, using two versions, or something like that. If you are going to use a “translated” version (which over simplifies things) at least be consistent with which one you use. I think they used two different translations, but I am not completely sure because I had no idea what the Acronym stood for, for one of them. They used the NIV bible and the AMP bible. I had heard of the NIV one before, but never the AMP, whatever it is.

One thing I found to be quite interesting was that they changed the name of John the Baptist to John the Baptizer, because he DID the baptizing. Lot’s of people laughed when this was said, but I was not sure why and now am not sure if he was joking or not…

The Pastor himself was a pretty cool dude. I thought he was funny and he seemed to work well with a  crowd. He gives a lot of praise to God, which I like. It means that he is humble and not prideful. I guess the people in the crowd enjoyed his sermon because every once in a while, you would hear a couple people saying “Amen” as if to agree to what the Pastor has just stated. He said a couple of interesting things, in my opinion, but I did agree with the things he said, for the most part. He did make reference to how some churches have so many requirements and how they want you to conform. Also, how they have so many rules. Then he said that we have a hard enough time keeping the 10 commandments. I am not sure what he completely meant by that, but to me, it sounded as if he was saying that there were too many rules and that we needed a break from them, or at least less of them. For me, I disagree. Then again, I come from a church with many guidelines (I say guidelines because they are not rules. You still have a choice whether or not you want to keep them). As an example, you can choose whether or not you will refrain from drinking alcohol. Whatever you do is your choice and our church just advises against it. It just felt like we were being treated as children, not able to deal with a couple rules or guidelines.

After he was finished preaching, it was time to start the sacrament process. I think what they call it is “Breaking Bread” or something like that. I am not completely sure. For this, we got up and sang the SAME song AGAIN, before we could get to the bread and wine. After that song was finally over, some members of the congregation were up at the front and ready for people to take the bread and wine from them. It was quite a nice experience, even if Hannah and I didn’t go up and have it. They even had stuff for people that couldn’t have wheat or gluten, which was very thoughtful. As Hannah and I watched the people take their bread and wine back to their seat, I wondered why they didn’t take it right away. Then I saw that some people get together with their families and have a small little prayer session, which seemed pretty intense, so I didn’t want to stare for too long. After they were done, then they would take the bread and wine.

When that whole bit was over, they sang the SAME song again. This time, I refused to stand; I was too tired. Then the church ended. Hannah and I stayed a little while after so she could grab something from one of our friends that goes there and so I could ask the Pastor some questions. He was very kind to me, and when he found out I was Lds, he was very nice about it and mentioned he knew some Lds people and they were very nice. I asked him some questions about the sermon and he ended up giving me his notes that he had for the sermon. I thought that was quite nice of him.

This was definitely…a more interesting experience that I have had. Definitely not a faith that is the same as the rest minus a few opinions. It is more a faith for people who want to be “saved” and who want to be at a place where they can worship and not feel judged,  or do not have to adhere to the more strict or conservative ways of other religions. We did not have as many people rushing to us to say hello, but it didn’t matter, as we had arrived almost late anyways. The Pastor was very kind and a cool dude. There are some things in the Baptist faith that I do disagree with, but I tried not to be too harsh with voicing my opinion of said things. Hannah and I couldn’t have asked for a better day to go to the Baptist church, and I am very glad we did go.

Becca The LDS adventure at Hope Lutheran Church

So today, Hannah and I went to the Hope Lutheran Church. Going into the service, I did not have any expectations, as I am not familiar with the Lutheran faith. When we first arrived, it did not appear that there would be many people there, and there wasn’t. This was kind of a nice change though, it makes it more comfortable and more of a one-on-one kind of thing. When we got to the “Sanctuary” (the room in which they hold the worship service) we were promptly greeted by the Pastor of the church. He was a very nice man and was very welcoming. He introduced us to another man who proceeded to get us a paper that gave information on what to expect during a church service; it was very helpful. The view from the bay windows gave a beautiful lookout to Departure Bay and the surrounding area: it was quite breathtaking, especially at such an early hour.

There were only about 12 people there, as this was the early morning church service. This service differs from the late morning in a couple of ways. Firstly, there was no music. I thought it was different, but it helped with the aesthetic of the service, which was nice. The early service is also more of a time to come and talk with people while having a sermon and Eucharist (their word for communion, I believe) at the same time.

The service started by two candles on a table being lit. Then there was a prayer, which was outlined in the program that was on the chair. Some scriptures were read by some members of the congregation, which is good because it lets everyone get involved. For me, it was a bit weird not to have a song, even though I just said that not having a song added to the aesthetic of the meeting, which was good. For me and my beliefs, it is nice to have a song when opening because it helps to invite the spirit into the lesson for the day. Without a song, it feels just a little bit off. One thing that did confuse me throughout the whole time was that there were some callbacks that Hannah and I did not know. It would have been nice if someone had told us, “Hey, when the Pastor says this, you say this.” But no one did, so we just stayed silent, kind of awkwardly at times.

More prayers were read and then the Pastor started to give a lesson. The lesson was on love; a topic I do enjoy. The main message I got from it was to love anyone who is standing in front of you, no matter what their age, race or religion might be. As a way to illustrate this, the Pastor told us of when he was a Pastor in a jail. I thought that was pretty awesome. It was a nice lesson. Oh, and I call it a lesson, but it may have a different name that I don’t know about. There was time for the people in the congregation to speak about things that were important to them, which happened to tie in with our lesson theme. At this point, I was still super tired and was trying to pay attention, but my mind wandered a bit a couple of times.

It was now time for Eucharist (if I am using that phrase correctly). They said the Lord’s Prayer as a prayer on their bread and wine. Hannah and I were fortunate to know it, so we could join in. The wording was different from the traditional theme though. Instead of using the word “thy” they used “your”. I do prefer the “thy” as I think it gives more of a respectful tone to it. Plus, when you have it translated as close as possible from the original language that the bible was written in, “thy” was used. I don’t get why people change it. Do people not understand the language enough? It’s not that difficult. When you have someone, namely a “scholar” that goes through the bible and writes what he thinks the verses means in “modern day language”, then you are only getting his opinion from those scriptures. You are supposed to take your own meaning out of the scriptures, which is harder to do in this case. That is the biggest annoyance I have with the New Revised Standard Version. Why does it have to be revised? That’s something I don’t understand. My belief is that we should all be using the King James Version because it is the closest possible literal translation from Hebrew. Now, that was a bit off topic. Getting back to Eucharist. So Hannah and I said the Lord’s Prayer, except where we got confused at the end because they had changed it.

As Hannah already stated, we didn’t plan on taking Eucharist, but ended up doing so because we felt bad if we were to deny the Pastor. I remembered that he said they had grape juice for people that couldn’t drink alcohol so I know I would have to have that. Luckily Hannah had a sip first because I looked at her and asked if it had alcohol. She then told the Pastor I couldn’t have alcohol, so I got grape juice. I thank Hannah for saying that I couldn’t drink it!

After Eucharist, everyone shakes each others hand and says “Peace be with you.” I thought that was quite nice. It makes people have contact with everyone in the group, which creates a sense of unity towards your church group. When it was time to go, the Pastor moved his hand in the shape of the cross and said, “May the peace of the Lord be with you” and we were dismissed.

All in all, it was quite a nice experience. I had a good time and felt very welcomed by everyone. The Pastor seemed like a pretty cool dude. Next time Hannah and I need to try the later service. That was way too early.

Hannah's Exprience at Hope Lutheran Church

So Becca and I had a full day planned ahead of us this Sunday, so we thought we would catch an early service. With the help of three alarm clocks we managed to get up, get ready, and make it to the Hope Lutheran Church on the south side of town before 8:30. We arrived to a group of mostly seniors, all mingling in the lobby. The pastor was very friendly to us and shook our hands then asked us for our names, all before handing us a laminated sheet outlining the events. An elderly man, who eventually read out the scriptures for the service, told us we must sit in the first row and that there would be no one sitting near the back. Becca and I were a bit apprehensive, and entered the sanctuary and sat beside some elderly women. We were handed a programme with the bible verses that were used for the service. After reading some psalms, there was a quiet prayer and then the sermon began. The pastor was not standing behind the podium as one might be used to; instead, he was on the far side of a semicircle of chairs that were formed around the altar. This added to the already very inclusive and comforting mood of the service.

The sermon was very focused on love, and how it relates to spirituality, that god is in the interconnectedness of people. I think I will take this opportunity to outline my beliefs (or lack thereof) as an atheist. I do not believe there is a god, no I cannot prove that there isn’t a god, however I feel as if it is very unlikely. The evidence that is given in holy books, in my opinion is not valid for they were written thousands of years ago by an ancient desert people, and scriptures have been changed throughout history to fit the political and ideological goals of the people in power at the time. This being said, though I am not overly so, I am spiritual to a certain extent and I understand why people feel as though their perception of god is what holds the universe together, and that love is a manifestation of that. I am not an atheist who believes that religion must be destroyed in the name of social and scientific progress. As the pastor talked about love to all people and mankind, even about helping reintegrate sex offenders in to society as an exercise in loving all people, I reassure my belief that some people need religion to justify and to strengthen their sense of humanity.

That being said, I find the assertion that god is loving to be... incongruent. If anyone has ever read the Old Testament, they will know what I mean when I see the god described there hardly...loves. Furthermore how can one say good is merciful and loving when thousands of children are without parents because of an AIDS pandemic that has killed millions? Please do not think that I mean to demonize or frown upon these Lutherans in any way for saying their god loves, it is both a noble and wonderful to have enough faith to share the love of your god with others, and I just find it a wee bit hard to swallow is all. My belief is that one must be honorable and help others whether or not you do it for god, either way the outcome is positive and makes the world a better place.

There was a group discussion, where the congregation spoke a lot about isolation and loneliness. There was talk about the pros and cons of isolation, that occasionally isolation is good to help figure things out for yourself, however this tied in with the sermon about how god is in love between people, and how loneliness can be spiritually draining. I do not think that loneliness can be as much spiritually draining as just draining in general, from an evolutionary stand point this makes sense for human beings are social animals that must stay in groups to survive. Love, in my opinion, is a reward through endorphins that is given to us for fulfilling biological imperatives. This I understand is a very... not poetic and dry way of phrasing things. However I believe strongly that just because something is not supernatural doesn’t mean it lacks beauty. The beautiful uniformity of the universe does not necessarily equal god in my opinion. I think events like the big bang are awe inspiring and beautiful because we don’t fully understand them yet and the shear complexness and enormity of the universe is what I call my version of “spirituality”

 Becca and I both had no intentions of taking communion. However... when the time came and the pastor was in front of me with the communion wafer I couldn’t bring myself to turn down his smiley face. When the wine came to Becca, I could tell she was having issues denying him the alcoholic wine so I interjected “Becca can’t drink alcohol” he smiled politely and grabbed some grape juice. Communion is just so sacred to so many, that it didn’t feel appropriate to take it. After that, Our Father was said, Becca and I were okay aside from saying “thy” instead of “your” and fumbling at the last few lines which neither of us had heard before, it might be a continuation of psalm, either way we struggled.

The service was very interesting, and much different from the LDS one I attended last week, the people were welcoming, the sermon and scripture readings were interesting, and it was a different take on Christianity than I had seen before.

Hannah The Atheist experience at a Mormon church

Experience 1, My reaction to an LDS church service

So today marks the first day in Becca and I’s adventure. We went to Becca’s church, which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I do know quite a bit about the Mormon faith for Becca is my one of my best friends, and out of curiosity I read quite a bit about it on the LDS website. So for the most part, I am immune to the stereotypes. Of course my natural apprehension to the conservativeness of the religion made me a bit nervous. I did know the church was very “family values” oriented, that the family unit was definitely one of the main tenants.  My family is not so much what you would call “traditional” and the lifestyle I have lived cannot be characterized as such either. I suppose I was expected a huge emphasis on the nuclear family and demonetization of those who do not confirm, fortunately only the former was proved true. Upon walking in you could see the church was a family church.

We arrived late, and sat at the back were families with young children were seated.  The” talk” ( a.k.a  sermon) was barely audible over the screams and cries of babies and toddlers. In the LDS faith, the talk to said by member of the “ward” (a.k.a congregation) when we arrived a woman, who identified herself as the librarian, was in the middle of talking.  She was using a continual metaphor of a road to describe life, and about her search for faith. She described being on a “bumpy” road, and how her Mormon faith has turn that road into “An even road with a solid red line that leads straight into eternal, celestial paradise”. It is that kind of comfort that religion gives people, you don’t have to deal with life’s troubles or issues head on, believing you have a truth and a father figure looking over you is the kind of comfort most look for and what is most attractive about the LDS faith.  After a hymn was sung, a young woman gave her speech on the topic of “the priesthood”. The most interesting part of the talk was when she spoke about how  fathers carry the priesthood into their own home, that they bring “ a bubble of Christ’s protection over the household”, that they are responsible for keeping the religion in the home. This was interesting to me; I didn’t really see it as misogyny but it certainly reinforcing some amount of gender roles.  The idea that the man is the “head of the household” reminds me of ‘50s sitcoms. In my family my mother is the breadwinner, and my stepfather takes care of us and the home, so this did make me feel a little bit more... apprehensive.  In my opinion the mother, father and children view of the family is old fashioned and just simply unrealistic, however, in the Mormon faith you and your family spend eternity together so emphasis on the traditional family makes sense.   

After the service, it was time for Sunday school. I was Christian at a point in my life so I do know the Bible to a certain extent.  I was quite curious if the bible study would be any different than the bible study I had in the Anglican and Catholic faith, to be honest it really wasn’t. Two girls who were new or visiting the ward were there, and the two of the teenage boys were flirting and showing off as obnoxiously as they could possible manage, making it incredibly hard to pay attention. The lesson itself was very similar to ones I had in the past.  The first verse we read was from Paul , it was about a widow who wanted her husband’s death avenged, she went to a judge who at first denied her but  after she went to again and again he gave in.  The teacher interpreted i it as that you must pray often and sincerely to get your prayer’s answered.   The rest was the same pretty basic stuff I’ve always learned, be inclusive, and pray often. 

 

The last part was “ young women’s” which I suppose would be the equivalent to a youth group in a more mainstream part of Christianity,  however it is  gender segregated and it is more lesson orientated.  This is where the lessons began to greatly differ from what I have learned before. The lesson was on “Temple Marriages”. In the LDS church families are “ sealed” together,  to spend eternity in the afterlife.  These sealing’s can only happen in temples, and when a Mormon couple is married they are sealed.  She read quotes from former Mormon prophets about what will happen in the afterlife if you marry outside of a temple, apparently you become a servant in the afterlife, and separate from your loved ones.  It occurred to me then that this religion is about what happens after you die and less about living for your life now.  If I believed in the doctrines of the faith that idea would be quite frightened by the prospect of being a servant for eternity. I think I enjoy living for my life, I know this is the only life I will get I want to enjoy myself and live for my loved ones and myself as best I can.

  Over all I take from the experience just the shear amount of scarifies one makes by taking part in the church, you need strong faith, commitment and a belief in the reward you will receive after death. It was overall a positive and interesting experience.