Kirtland Temple: Basement to Belltower

On our third day, we made the long drive from Toronto to Kirtland, Ohio (passing Buffalo, NY, where Josh saw a building he admired and I spent an hour on Wikipedia trying to figure out what it was called. (Long story short, it was this one).

Josh signed us up for the "backstage tour" of the temple, but first we went on the regular tour with two other families-- one with four teenagers and the other with three kids. Some background: when I got dressed in the morning, I agonized over whether I should wear a dress. "It's a temple," I told myself. "I should show some respect!" But then I reasoned, "It's no longer used as a temple, just as a meeting house. I would wear jeans to the church (not on Sunday)!" Plus we were driving 4 1/2 hours, etc. etc. So we wore jeans. When we saw the other people on the tour, I was convinced there was no way they could be church members because they were practically wearing pajamas (well, basketball shorts, sweatshirts, flip-flops). There were a few other reasons I was embarrassed that these people are church members: 1. One of the teens fell asleep while our guide was talking, 2. One of the other teens asked a very stupid, very judgmental-sounding question about "What makes RLDS different from LDS?", and 3. The mothers of the same family asked whether a hymnbook that the tour guide was passing around was the actual hymnbook that Joseph Smith used. Um, what?

Here are some things, folks: the idea that "there are no stupid questions" no longer applies when you are 45 and in front of actual adults who actually heard what you just said out loud. Further, just because the Community of Christ is no longer affiliated with your church does not mean that they are dumb enough to be passing around priceless, antique artifacts from the 19th century for you to get your Twinkie fingers all over. Also, if you are going to take time out of your life to drive more than 15 minutes to a location of historic significance to your religion, please, PLEASE educate your kids at least a little bit about the organization that maintains it, especially if it's also of historic significance to your own religion!


Also, put on real clothes in public. I mean, seriously, show some respect. Even if you apparently have no knowledge of the Community of Christ church, you must at least be aware that it's a place of significance and reverence, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered to show up. Spend the 30 seconds it takes to put on some pants over your pjs, brush your hair, and be nice. Obviously, this was a subject about which Josh and I spent a lot of time discussing. And now about the temple...

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but you can see some pictures here. It's pretty amazing to be in any historic building, but to know the history of this temple, the sacrifices people made for it to be built, and then to stand inside (and under and on top) of it was an experience that I think every LDS (and RLDS) person should have. During our "behind-the-scenes" tour, Josh and I were able to stand in the basement and touch the tool marks, see where improvements have been made, see where mistakes were made, and know that we were touching materials that the Prophet and other early members touched. Then we climbed into a crawlspace above the first-floor meeting room and saw how the ceiling was constructed to allow maximum air movement during the summer and heat-containment during the winter (among other architecture-related elements). Finally, we went up into the belltower to peek at the bell and look at the roof. We were allowed to take pictures of the roof.

And the view:

Not much going on in Kirtland. (Shocker).

One of the coolest parts of our tour was in the belltower. I noticed that people had scratched their names into the wood and we asked our tour guide about that. He said that they used to just let people roam the temple, unaccompanied, and so people would deface the wood. When we looked closer, we realized that some of the names had dates, and some of those dates were early 20th century. That was pretty cool. (Of course it also means that people were douchebags who defaced temples even in 1903).

The belltower, safely from the ground

Both of us were showered and not wearing sweatshirts.

Because that's how the ShepAlders roll, temple syle.

I need to say, because we also went to RLDS-run sites in Nauvoo, that the tour guides and people who work at these places must deal with a lot of stupid LDS church members who ask a lot of mean, pointed questions, because it happened on both of our tours. There are a few times where I've been embarrassed about the culture of my church and church members (note that I did not say that I was embarrassed about church doctrine or my membership in the church. The culture and the doctrine are very different things), and these interactions were two major ones. Please, PLEASE, if you go to either of these places (Kirtland or Nauvoo) and take tours, be respectful. I can understand that it would be difficult when you are so self-satisfied and smug, but please don't say things like, "How could you possibly believe that?" or laugh derisively when your 60-year-old tour guide tells you that their church members don't believe that Joseph Smith had multiple wives. Don't snottily refer to websites that "prove" otherwise. Don't roll your eyes when the guide is bearing his heartfelt testimony to you about how Joseph Smith's son, not Brigham Young, was a true prophet. Just because you don't feel the same way does not make their feelings any less valid. Shame on you.

After our pleasant tour, we drove to Cleveland, where I immediately fell in love. But that's for a different blog post...

P.S. I'm sorry that this was so ranty, but I was really bothered by the whole thing, and I've had time to stew.