Sorry but this sounds a bit over the top even for a church. Do you have a source?
I think it might be difficult to get an online source, but my source is the words of my prof in my College "contemporary Religious Movements" class. Mind you, this was ~12 years ago now. He himself had been to several of these tours himself, and I think spoken personally to some ex-mormons.
I said "most of the interior", but I may be overstating what I was told. Thinking further, it might just have been that they ripped up the carpets, or some of the carpets (perhaps anything that has been touched by the public - which could be limited during the tours to just the carpets.
They would do this just for the temples, not the individual churches.
(I don't think this source can be held legitimate enough for a pube bet, but for myself I find no reason to not trust it.)
Here's online sources (ligitimateness up for discussion):
Quote:
Just before the structure is dedicated, all the brand new carpeting will actually be ripped out and replaced (to "cleanse" the temple of the "gentiles")
Interesting little tidbit that many of you may not know. The reason that Cardston, Magrath and Raymond are around and LDS hotbeds is because the Mormons actually dug the irrigation canels in the area in exchange for land grants from the Canadian government for more Mormon settlers
As in the St. Mary's Irrigation district was 'created' by Mormons?
Work takes me to Cardston quite often and as strange as the religion is too me - the people are fantastic, caring, polite and always seem happy.
I went to U of L and there is a big mormon population there as well. I reflect your sentiments on how polite and happy they are with one exception - sports. Watch out if you ever have to play the mormon team in intramurals. They tend to be athletically talented and in shape (no smoking or drinking could have something to do with that), but will show no mercy. They ran up the score on us in soccer and celebrated their 10th, 11th, etc goal as if each was the world cup winning tally. Extremely heightened aggressive tendencies in basketball were present as well. Our theory was that all their suppressed emotions and urges found an outlet in sport, to everyone else's misfortune.
As in the St. Mary's Irrigation district was 'created' by Mormons?
I don't think it was necessarily "created" by mormons but they aided in the construction of many of the canals including the main canal
Quote:
Town of Magrath History
Under arrangement with the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
(Mormon) in Salt Lake City, immigrants
were advised that they could come to
Canada and that work would be
provided digging the “Main Canal”
(mostly by hand) from the US Border to
Lethbridge. Half the pay that they would
receive would be in money and the other
half in land.
This massive irrigation project
produced a flood of immigration from
Utah and Idaho as the Mormon church
strongly promoted settlement in
southern Alberta
__________________
Thanks to Halifax Drunk for the sweet Avatar
I went on a tour last night. Very interesting - you'd think there's one big congregation space, but there's not - it's a bunch of rather small rooms with different purposes - like the "instruction room", "sealing room" (marriages - only family and very close friends are apparently actually at the religious ceremony), and the "celestial room" which is a reflective/spiritual space meant to represent heaven.
I'm not a religious guy, but I find Mormons to be good people - they are really good at taking care of one another and are strong community-minded people.
__________________
Trust the snake.
The Following User Says Thank You to Bunk For This Useful Post:
Thanks for posting this -- anyone that wants to go can sign up online for a time slot (in the link Cecil provided in the second post). I know there has been a lot of work preparing for the public open house, and that as many as 100,000 people will be attending over the three weeks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed
I said "most of the interior", but I may be overstating what I was told. Thinking further, it might just have been that they ripped up the carpets, or some of the carpets (perhaps anything that has been touched by the public - which could be limited during the tours to just the carpets.
My understanding is that visitors to the open house will be given covers for their shoes, to prevent damage to the interior (i.e. carpets). I suppose it's possible they may have actually replaced some of the carpeting back in the day, but if they did, it was probably just to keep the interior looking immaculate (to match the exterior, as someone mentioned above).
A person is supposed to give willingly, not forced to give a certain amount. God asks for a cheerful giver (which can be difficult)
As noble as that sounds, the church came to my grandma's family during the great depression to "rearrange their finances" so they could contribute more to the church. They couldn't afford to properly nourish their children at the time. Thus ends my family's affiliation with this faith...
As noble as that sounds, the church came to my grandma's family during the great depression to "rearrange their finances" so they could contribute more to the church. They couldn't afford to properly nourish their children at the time. Thus ends my family's affiliation with this faith...
I went on a tour last night. Very interesting - you'd think there's one big congregation space, but there's not - it's a bunch of rather small rooms with different purposes - like the "instruction room", "sealing room" (marriages - only family and very close friends are apparently actually at the religious ceremony), and the "celestial room" which is a reflective/spiritual space meant to represent heaven.
I'm not a religious guy, but I find Mormons to be good people - they are really good at taking care of one another and are strong community-minded people.
While I have not been through the new Calgary facility (nor do I plan to) the Cardston temple would likely be much more impressive.
As the nature of the church's endowment ceremony has changed over the past hundred years, the layout of the temples has become more utilitarian. While certainly not modest, the newer facilities lack much of the ornateness and symbolic elements that were designed into the earlier ones (such as SLC, Cardston and some others).
__________________
"Teach a man to reason, and he'll think for a lifetime"
I thought about doing the tour.... somehow I think I'll be getting calls and door bells forever hounding me to join.... declined after that.
When you register online you just need an email address -- also, given the amount of people going through the building, I don't think they'll be taking down any of your personal info. Maybe Bunk can verify since he's already done the tour?
I've always wondered how they know you're Mormon if you show up and want to enter. Is there a secret tattoo, handshake or something. Is there a membership card?
I've always wondered how they know you're Mormon if you show up and want to enter. Is there a secret tattoo, handshake or something. Is there a membership card?
