Yahweh vs. other gods

Throughout the Old Testament Jehovah worries incessantly that his people will turn to other gods. As I made my way through the entire Bible for the first time it became increasingly clear that to Jehovah and the Israelites the gods of other nations were taken pretty seriously. Jehovah & Co. weren't so much about converting other people to the one true god as much as defeating the other gods and decimating their followers in a show of strength. A few quick examples of Jehovah out to annihilate might include Moses freeing the Israelites from the Egyptians, the Israelites taking over the land of Canaan, and the story of Elijah calling fire down from the sky to burn his offering.

The Elijah story's a little odd, if you ask me, because Jehovah and Elijah behave so badly. First Elijah insults the prophets of Baal, suggesting that Baal might be busy taking a shit because Baal isn't igniting the wood under their sacrifice. That's when Elijah gets showy and orders people to dowse his alter with water so it would be especially hard to light. And Jehovah's totally cool with this sort of braggart showmanship. He sends down his divine flame to consume the offering, and Elijah gathers all the prophets of Baal and kills them despite their recognition that Jehovah was the true god.

What the hell, right? What about baptizing people and accepting them into your midst after they have seen the truth of your words and have confessed belief in God?

Once again I found myself doubting my beliefs in Jehovah/Jesus the more I read the texts that were supposed to convince me.

The temple - True Order of Prayer

I couldn't believe that after a lifetime in the Church as an active and fully believing member I hadn't been taught the "true order of prayer", or rather the True Order of Prayer.

Towards the end of the temple endowment the officiator calls up couples from the audience to stand in a circle to pray. That's not all that strange, really (Mormons pray in circles fairly regularly as family and Sunday School classes, etc.), but this was not your typical prayer. The prayer circles in the temple gather around the alter (anyone feeling any animosity towards someone in the group is invited to leave the circle), review all of the Freemasonry they've just performed, raise their hands in the air and chant in unison "Oh, God, hear the words from my mouth!" three times, and repeat a prayer sentence by sentence as someone says it. It's weird and you can watch it on YouTube.

If the word cult hadn't come to my mind before this, it certainly hit me hard now. Like many first timers through the temple I found myself wondering if I had just joined a cult. I had no idea how this was supposed to be holy or spiritual. It just felt silly. And slightly spooky too, I guess. 

No, no, it can't be a cult. It's not that weird. This is where God wants me. It'll make sense the more I come to the temple... Oh, what's that? They used to speak Adamic as part of the True Order of Prayer? ... Um... Awesome? ...