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I’ve been in the Cleveland area this week on business, and I managed to leave an hour early yesterday and drive to Kirtland to check out the temple. The COC have done a great job of renovating it and some of the other historical buildings in the area. They have a 20 minute video presentation before the tour in the visitors center where they explain the origins and construction of the temple, some of the other events going on in Kirtland at the time, and renovation efforts since the main body of saints left. The building itself is amazing. I was impressed with all of the technological innovations the saints employed, as well as how well the building has been restored. One thing that struck me is how honest the COC is with the history. They had no problems admitting to some of the things that have caused cog-dis for me in the past. They were selling copies of Kirtland Safety Society anti-banking company notes in the visitors center. They also discussed the leadership crisis that occurred after the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum, even showing a map where all the leaders went. They even discussed the apostacy of some of the key leaders and others. They did ignore polygamy for the most part, but otherwise I was struck at how honest they are regarding a lot of the things that we don’t usually discover in church.
It made me wonder how much easier things would be if we were more honest in a similar fashion. Sure, we might lose some converts, but perhaps we’d keep more of our own people and not cause so much anguish and cog-dis later on. The history is out there for all to see on the Internet. It’d be nice if our leaders could stop trying to ignore this and follow the COC model.
Quote:It made me wonder how much easier things would be if we were more honest in a similar fashion. Sure, we might lose some converts, but perhaps we’d keep more of our own people and not cause so much anguish and cog-dis later on. The history is out there for all to see on the Internet. It’d be nice if our leaders could stop trying to ignore this and follow the COC model.
There are ways of disclosing the information… I agree that I would like to see something like this, but I think in other ways parts of the CoC have had a tendency to go in for the woollier thinking of Anglicanism… i.e. the so called broad church. On some issues, “erm” and “maybe” aren’t any good.
By the way, I’ve noticed that “cog dis” is something of a buzz phrase just now (I prefer the Orwellian term “doublethink”, myself, much better). Like many concepts thrown around by atheists and skeptics (not saying you’re one BTW) at the moment, I think if it was properly applied it would cause some upsets. They would realize that they themselves carried a good many contradictions within them, and that a lot of their philosophy is riddled with apparent hypocrisies too.
I visited the Kirtland Temple about 16-17 years ago and remember that in the visitors center they had a first edition BoM open to the section condemning polygamy. Subtle but it made the point. I love the Kirtland sites. I love the way the LDS church has put so much into building up all the sites around the temple, including Johnson’s Farm and the stores. I also like the COC honesty, and I like the LDS church inspirational tours.
Kirtland is one of my favorite church historical sites…very moving.
Interesting, I didn’t think we did much in Kirtland. I know we have a fairly large chapel down the road from the temple, but it looks like the COC has taken the lead on a lot of things. Of course, I didn’t see historic Kirtland in the area of the Johnson farm. Do we do tours there? If so, I’m sorry I missed it. Yeah, they do tours at the Johnson farm. They tell about when the Smith’s lived there. The one that sticks out most is the story of Joseph being carried out and tarred and feathered. But the men who took him left the door open and it was cold and a child died. I toured the Independence Temple a few weeks ago in Missouri at the MHA. Like you, I really like the CoC’s honest approach of church history. The LDS church has a different view of church history that isn’t better or worse, but it is different. Steve-hpias wrote:Interesting, I didn’t think we did much in Kirtland. I know we have a fairly large chapel down the road from the temple, but it looks like the COC has taken the lead on a lot of things. Of course, I didn’t see historic Kirtland in the area of the Johnson farm. Do we do tours there? If so, I’m sorry I missed it.
I wouldn’t say the COC has taken the lead, I think they have the rights to the Kirtland temple itself, but that is all. You can tell the LDS tour sites are put together with more resources available…I think Pres Hinckley worked to build up a lot of historic sites in Kirtland, Nauvoo, and Missouri. That has been my experience.SamBee wrote:By the way, I’ve noticed that “cog dis” is something of a buzz phrase just now (I prefer the Orwellian term “doublethink”, myself, much better).
Threadjack alert.
I don’t understand how cognitive dissonance and doublethink are synonyms. What cognitive dissonance refers to is the tormented mind state that exists when we are trying to make sense out of things that just aren’t working for us. Often what characterizes the movement of a person from the traditional/conventional reliance of Fowler Stage 3 to the individuated reliance of Fowler Stage 4 is an epiphany that resolves some troublesome cognitive dissonance in their mind. So when people throw around the abbreviation “cog dis”, I think they are 1) remembering a lot of pre-epiphany pain they suffered or 2) conjecturing similar underlying pain–perhaps suppressed–in others who are enjoying or not enjoying Stage 3 of faith.
Since the phrase “cog dis” may be an expression of deep-seated emotion, I wouldn’t deny people their use of it. But I agree that if it has become tired, misunderstood, and misused, it might be better to use other terms like “my intellectual ‘shelf’ was so overloaded with issues it broke”, “internal conflict”, “conflicting ideas”, “contrast of what I believed with what I saw”, etc.
I would be interested to understand what is the meaning of “doublethink”.
Tom
Okay Tom, thread fork – I put an answer here – We toured Kirtland 8 years ago, and I really enjoyed it. I’ve been there many many times over the years, but only recently has it been more fully restored. While I enjoyed the CoC presentation and always have, to me it almost seemed as though they were reluctant to acknowledge some of the spiritual aspects of the Kirtland temple, instead focusing on history and architecture. This wasn’t the case when I went there years ago (when it was run by the RLDS before they became the CoC). Back in the day, the RLDS focused a lot on the spiritual aspect. Conversely, the guides at the LDS sites were almost exclusively focused on the spiritual aspects (the 9 sightings of the Savior in that area). Our guides were also focused on history, but I think it was because of their personal interest. I had read elsewhere a non-Mormon’s perspective on Kirtland that mentioned being very disappointed in the lack of historical knowledge and the unrelenting perkiness of the clueless young missionaries who were at the Visitor’s Center. I have visited the Kirtland Temple several times, I agree it’s a beautiful piece of architecture no matter what your doctrinal views or position. The hand craftsmanship is remarkable. It’s beautiful with its white stucco (?) coat, and even though it was originally a darker color I’m pleased they didn’t keep to absolute authenticity on that score. The new Nauvoo Temple is beautiful in its own right but it doesn’t quite have the same impact on you as you know it’s a reproduction. Still, I love both of them. I was just there last year and visited the new CoC visitors’ center for the first time. I like the way they put you in this large theater for the video, then at the climactic moment open up the curtains on a huge picture window revealing the actual temple in all its glory across the lawn. Of course, most people do see the temple before they walk into the visitors center so I suspect the big reveal may be anti-climactic for them.
BTW, I have heard several people insist on calling it the “House of the Lord,” not temple, and state that it was not originally called a temple. I haven’t done exhaustive research on this topic so I can’t conclude its accuracy one way or another. I have a feeling that both terms were used from the beginning but I can’t prove it off the cuff. Maybe someone else can enlighten us on this bit of history trivia.
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