Ausborne Blog

The Bend Stake has had a new stake center built and it’s really beautiful. I got to walk through it this evening and I’m just amazed at how nice it is. One other item of note is that it’s REALLY big, especially when you consider the two other church buildings we have here in Bend. The one that my ward meets at is down on the corner of Tekampe and Knott roads, and it’s only half a building. Apparently, there was a bunch of local opposition when we were trying to build that building, so we couldn’t build it as big as we were hoping.  In fact, it looks like it’s only half of the building that it was designed to be. I honestly don’t mind because we now have three buildings in Bend to support our four wards and one branch, which is more than enough real estate to last us another 15 years.

One relatively local building that I’ve seen that is pretty unique is the one that houses the Sisters Branch, which is part of the Redmond Stake. While my church building is about half the normal size, the Sisters Branch building is only half of THAT. In fact, it’s probably only about 75 to 100 feet long. It’s tiny! Melanie and I were thinking that it would be kind of fun to move into such a small ward/branch, and increase the membership by 6-7 people in one fell swoop. We already have some friends in that branch who moved there with their 6 kids, so it would be kind of fun going there.

This morning, as I was getting ready to head to my non-job job (the construction stuff I do in the mornings before work) a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses stopped by the house.  Melanie wasn’t the least bit interested in answering the door, but did anyways after I promised that I’d speak with them.

I went out onto the porch and ended up talking with them for about 20 minutes.  You know, these guys sure weren’t very personable.  They were a couple of older men and they kind of looked at me like I was stupid, especially after I told them I’m LDS.  You know that look that people get when they think that they know something that you don’t, and that they’re going to trap you with your words?  Yeah, that’s the look.  They had these misconceptions about our religion, which I guess most other religions have, but they thought that they’d trap me with the misconceptions.  When they asked me about them, I explained what we really believe, and they proceeded to tell me that that wasn’t what they had been told by other LDS people.  In fact, one of the first questions they asked me was how could Jesus and the Father be one?  When I said that they were One in purpose, spirit and of one mind, they seemed kind of surprised, as it’s the same thing that they believe.  Almost as if it were some sort of test, they asked me if we believe in the Trinity, as if it were some sort of follow-up question to check my work.  I answered that we believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and that they are three separate and distinct entities, to which they were also surprised.  This was also followed up by another question, along the lines of, “Who was Jesus praying to when he was on Earth?”  Well, the Father, of course. It wouldn’t exactly be very fruitful for Him to pray to Himself, would it!?

Anyways, to make a long story short, they seemed borderline argumentative.  It wasn’t overwhelming, the sense of displeasure in talking to them, but it was noticible by me.  Rather than being genuinely interested in having a conversation with me about the nature of God, they just seemed to be more interested in trying to catch me in a verbal mis-step or the likes.

I was taught a long time ago not to engage in argument or Bible-bashing with those who wish to argue, as it does nothing to pursuade those who believe differently to have any interest in the message I’m presenting.  When I was a missionary, I was taught to offer and invite with humility, not condemn or belittle those who believe differently.  I pray that the missionaries from my church don’t come across in such a manner when they are introducing our beliefs to strangers as these two men came across to me today.

UPDATE: One other thing that they did when talking to me was to point out the American flag that was on my shirt (it’s an Old Navy shirt).  They made a point of telling me that having allegiances to nations and governments set up by men was false, and that doing so is an abomination before God.  I explained that, while I understand that the kingdom of God is first and foremost, I am also an American, and I firmly believe in American policies of helping to spread good will and democracy throughout the world.  They didn’t seem to want to argue with me on that.

UPDATE 2: The funniest thing I noticed when they were on my doorstep, is that 5 other women and their kids showed up at my house for a big playgroup.  In all, I think there were 13 kids and 6 women in the house.  While I did mention that only two of those kids were mine, I kept wondering if they were going to go telling their friends in church that they met a Mormon with 6 wives while they were out knocking doors.

I’ve read today that a California school district has cancelled a course on “intelligent design.” First things first, let’s mention that this was an elective course, and I’m all for people learning about religion.

BUT, in all honesty, do you really want your kids to be learning about religion in a public school? One can reasonably presume that if you want your kids to learn about religion in school you probably belong to a certain church or denomination. By virtue of the fact that there are different denominations, one can also reasonably presume that the teachings of the denominations are different.

This leads to some interesting questions (or more appropriately, “some questions that are interesting to me”): Who would determine what the instructor teaches, with regards to intelligent design? Who would determine which theories of the “First Parents” would be taught? Would Lillith be mentioned? What theories regarding the name of the Lord would be taught? Would only Christian prophets be mentioned? What about Christian denominations that are not splits off of the Catholic Church?

I’ll be completely honest here. I don’t want my child going to school only to learn religious teachings that are contrary to what they learn at home. If I wanted my child to be taught religion at school, I’d send them to a religious school. If I were Lutheran, would I want my child being taught religion by a Baptist minister’s wife? Most likely, no.

Let’s just keep public school and religious instruction separated.

UPDATE: It’s not that I don’t like people of other religions, or that I don’t think that they have anything to offer. Most assuredly, I believe that they do. The problem is that I just wouldn’t want somebody teaching my child doctrine that I firmly believe to be wrong.

A lawsuit in Italy pits an atheist against a Roman Catholic priest. Apparently, the atheist is claiming that it’s illegal to teach that Jesus even existed 2000 years ago. What I find absurd is that this thing has even made it to trial.  Perhaps they expect that they can call God the Father to the stand to testify as to the existence of His Son.  I’m pretty sure that’s the Holy Ghost’s job.