The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Admission/Application Essay Example

I attended the Sabbath day services for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members of this church are more commonly known as Mormons.I was interested in attending the worship services of this church for several reasons. First of all, I have always been under the impression that this church was not Christian in the traditional sense. I was curious about what their actual teachings and practices were like. I also was interested in attending this church because they have a very organized and expansive missionary program. Apparently, there are thousands of voluntary missionaries all over the world that teach people about the Mormon religion. I had seen pairs of these missionaries near my home. I had never met with them, but their presence in the community made me wonder about their real goals and purposes. I also wanted to visit the Mormon Church because nearly everything I had ever heard about this church was negative. The Sabbath for Mormons is on a Sunday, so I attended the first service at 9:00 on a Sunday morning. The building was very simply decorated with very little ornamentation. There were pictures on the walls depicting scenes from the Bible, including images of Christ. I did notice that nowhere in the structure or on the outside of the structure was the most recognized symbol of Christianity, namely the cross. I felt apprehensive as I entered the sanctuary. I did not know anyone and apparently had arrived earlier than most of the other worshipers because the sanctuary was only about half full. The clock on the wall showed 8:50. Over the next ten minutes, a steady stream of people filed into the sanctuary. Many were families with lots of small children. One family appeared to have eight children. The noise level increased as these people entered because they spent a lot of time greeting one another and shaking hands. All during this time, prelude music played quietly from an organ. At times it was difficult to hear the prelude music over the greetings of these people. One individual introduced herself as Sister James and asked if I was new in the area or just visiting. I replied that I was just visiting and that this was my first visit to a Mormon church. She welcomed me and departed, returning with two missionaries. They introduced themselves and offered to answer any questions I might have. The meeting started with a man standing at the podium reading announcements. He introduced himself as Bishop Johnson. He said that he was presiding over the meeting, so I assumed he was the minister. The meeting progressed with an invocation and the offering of communion. I was surprised to see that communion consisted of bread and water, not wine. And the bread was simply torn pieces of white sandwich bread, not the wafers offered during communion in other churches. After communion, the Bishop again rose but did not offer a sermon. He introduced the three speakers that would address the congregation that day. The first speaker was a girl of perhaps 13 or 14 years. She spoke for several minutes about the importance of reading scripture daily. She referred to scriptures as the Bible, the Book of Mormon and a book called the Doctrine and Covenants. She said the purpose of learning the scriptures was to live a clean life and to be more like Jesus. The second speaker was also female. This lady was middle aged and spoke for about fifteen minutes on giving service within the Mormon Church through callings. Apparently all members get a "calling" or a specific job to do that helps the church function. She was encouraging the members to do their best at these callings because they helped to "build the kingdom of God." There was an intermediate hymn, which I did recognize as one we sing in the Baptist church as well. There was a final speaker that spoke on keeping the commandment Mormons call the Word of Wisdom. This is a belief that they have that says they are not to use alcohol, tobacco, coffee or tea. It also prohibits illegal drugs. The final speaker was a man. He was a good speaker because he told lots of humorous stories that made the congregation laugh a lot. After the closing hymn and prayer I got up to leave. The missionaries stopped me to see if I had any questions. By speaking with them, I learned that the speakers were just regular congregation members and that there was no paid minister in the Mormon Church. People took turns teaching each other. I also learned that there were two more hours of meetings following the first meeting. I was invited to stay but I had made other plans so I had to leave. My impressions of my visit to the Mormon Church are mostly positive. I am a Baptist so all I can do is compare their meetings to my own. I would say that some things were very different. The idea of not having a paid minister is interesting to me. The meeting almost felt more like a classroom, where people were gathering to learn and be instructed, than to worship. I am used to a very quiet service in the sanctuary, but the sanctuary in this church was a noisy meeting place, at least until the meeting started. I was surprised to see paintings of Jesus and to have had teachings about Christ be a part of the meeting because I had always understood that Mormons were not Christians. They may believe in Jesus different than the way Baptists believe, but they appear to have some sort of strong faith in Christ. I do have questions about the Mormon scriptures. The missionaries gave me a free copy of the Book of Mormon but I have not read it. I find it hard to accept that there are other scriptures than those in the Bible. I do plan on reading their book at some point. I feel that the Mormons were a very welcoming people. They seemed very open to my visit. I think it may take a while for me to really understand their religion. My visit to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made them seem less mysterious than before. I dont know if I will visit again, but I do want to learn more about them. Read More