dinner with the mormons.

oct 10, 2006

so about a week ago (and yes, i will start almost every blog with 'so') i ran into some mormons on the street. this was exciting as they were two young women from utah and ohio. yay, gaijin! to which they said the same thing about me. we traded contact information and they invited me to their church for clam chowder and corn bread--which i eventually declined. they called, later, to get together and 'teach' me things. ideally i just saw them as potential friends outside of JET, which can hopefully still happen. tonight we had dinner, tried out the okonomiyaki restaurant i've been eyeing next to my eki. it was great to meet new people, eat good food and learn about their histories, plus the bonus of photos from home. after dinner they wanted to 'teach' me, so i offered my place and mochi. we headed back, a little more casual talking, and then they jumped into their shpeal. so, as many of you know i am not a religious person at all. i am a strident atheist and have been that way since middle school. this was a curiosity thing for me, at least so i can feel better about making fun of mormons (okay, there's a little guilt with that last sentence--omg! atheists feel guilt!) anywho, they gave their little christian background--mormons are christians apparently, just SPECIAL christians--and i already knew all the answers to their questions, what profits are, who jesus is and so on--nothing special, yet. through this i kept feeling reassured in my position. i am really happy that i don't have to depend on this abstract 'god' guy to make my decisions and be happy with who i am. then they went into the mormon-shpeal. to answer all you curious people out there, joseph smith lived in new york. he was a normal confused christian until omg! god and jesus came to him, at age fourteen--this seemed important--and told him he would be a prophet, ending the time with no prophets, hence all the shitty religions. so this is one thing that makes mormons SPECIAL. the other is the an angel told little joe where the prophets from america kept their gospels. yup, there were prophets in america. they came BEFORE the american indians and they were just as cool as the prophets in israel--see look at their shiny book! they had GOLDEN tablets, and they buried them so they wouldn't get screwed up in translation, since all the 'good' people were being killed off. by good, i assume, is meant NOT native americans. soo, basically what makes mormons different from other christians is they have both the bible AND the book of mormon, so they can compare and decide what sounds good. that and they had a prophet telling them how to think. it sounds like any other crazy religion, but it was rather sweet to see the way these girls talk about it. they were just so passionate, aww. but it was interesting how they spoke about prayer and knowing and how it let's them trust what they believe. all of which basically sounded like eastern meditation and trusting your gut. i know i'm an atheist because in my gut some abstract male guy up in the sky is ridiculous and insane and not for me. but hey, if thats how you can find peace and find confidence go for it. personally i like to be dependent on my own internal confidence and trusting my strength to get through a hard day rather than looking to some 'god' who also imposes restrictions on how i desire to live my life. i know what i need to be happy (i made a list!), i need to look to 'god' for that happiness. it kinda makes me sad that these women have to be part of a religion who puts them second to men--they can't even stop men on the street to talk to them in japan. there is enough sexism in this world without joining a faith that tells me that i am inferior.