2015-12-26

【Aiden in English】

        As the weekend of Christmas rolls around, many churches are having their festivals and performances during this time. Even if you were Jewish, Hanukah just ended a few days ago. For everyone else, the holidays are here. The Mormon or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), one of the largest sub-divisions in Christianity, is having a blast.

        In Maryland, the third largest church in America was built here. It was the Washington DC Temple. This kind of Mormon Church is related to Christianity, where the lord is Jesus and all that, but what’s different is how Mormon puts family as a priority. When people are married, they are married for eternity. No, seriously, even the room they are married in has the mirror effect of staring out into infinity, as there are infinite reflections of the couple. This is sort of a ritual because the married couple will be together forever even after death. Children are also baptized at the age of eight like it.

        The Washington DC Temple itself looked as if it was just pulled out of a Hollywood movie Lord of the Rings or something. Six pillars acted as the main structure, and spires rose from each pillar. Wavy walls connected the pillars together, and the words “the House of the Lord” were engraved on the white Alabama marble wall. On one spire sat the Angel Moroni holding the gold plates in his left hand and playing the trumpet in his right. The church began when the people who practiced their beliefs were prosecuted and killed. Mormon took all the teachings written down on bronze and metal tablets and buried them in the Hill of Cumorah. Six hundred years later, Saint Joseph Smith had a message about the place where the sacred records were buried from the Prophet Moroni who returned as a resurrected being. From there, the first Book of Mormon was made after the translation of the tablets, which contained the fullness of the gospel as delivered by the Savior to ancient inhabitants of the American continent.

        The people who practiced this religion were killed everywhere they went in the past. Therefore, Mormons traveled to one place where no one cared. Salt Lake City in UT was perfect since it was so close to the deserts of Nevada. The largest church in the USA was made there. The practice was spread around the country, the continent, and finally, the world. This particular church could maybe have a few thousand people come through a Sunday. And so even in places of Asia and Africa, you can find temples and sacred gathering areas for people who follow Mormon. The Book of Mormon is quite similar to the Jesus storyline, so people that practiced Christianity could easily adopt it.

        At a young age, all children are bonded with their families for eternity. Therefore, it prevents even death from getting among family-members. Mormon, after surviving prosecution, realizes that all successes can’t compensate for the loss of family members and provides these qualities to their followers, creating peace and harmony for life and beyond.

【红霞译文】

        圣诞节周末，许多教堂张灯结彩纷纷展开各种庆祝活动。假如你是犹太教徒，那么前几天才过完光明节；对于其他人来说，节日恰好开始，摩门教即耶稣基督后期圣徒教会──基督教最大的分支之一正在举行声势浩大的节日庆典。

        在马里兰州，有一座规模壮观跃居全美第三大教堂，那就是华盛顿特区摩门教圣殿，摩门教与基督教一脉相承，信奉圣主耶稣以及相关宗教信条，与其它教派不同的是，摩门教着重以家族为核心，人们只要结婚，必须保持婚姻永恒不变。不无严肃地说，摩门教婚礼殿堂均设有一面镜子，它能把新婚燕尔彼此的身影折射至无穷远处。这类仪式常用来表示夫妻双方长久相伴直至天荒地老，同时也出现在孩童们八岁接受洗礼的时候。

        华盛顿特区摩门教圣殿本身看起来极像好莱坞电影“魔戒”中某些画面，六根擎天柱是主建筑的一部分，从房顶上揭竿而起。波浪纹墙壁与柱子交相呼应，“圣主殿堂”醒目地镌刻在白色阿拉巴马大理石墙壁。一根柱子顶端伫立着天使莫罗乃雕像，他左手捧着《摩门经》，右手握住小号。摩门教形成初期，信徒们历经异教迫害乃至惨遭被杀，教会把诸如此类的生平事迹全部打造到铜碑和金属叶片上并埋藏在克谟拉山里。六百年过去，圣徒约瑟·史密斯从复活重返世间的先知莫罗乃那里得知先人珍藏神圣纪录的地方，由此以后，第一本记载着救主赐给美洲大陆古代居民的福音约书《摩门经》诞生了。

        从前，摩门教徒无论走到哪里都难免招惹杀身之祸，因此他们只好来到人烟罕至的地方栖身，犹他州盐湖城接近内华达沙漠，地理位置十分理想，美国最大的摩门教堂就建在那里。现在摩门教犹如星星之火，终于从美利坚本土、美洲大陆燎原到世界各个角落。华盛顿特区摩门教圣殿每个星期天都有上千名教徒到此做礼拜，即使远在亚洲非洲，你同样能感受到摩门教堂的气息。《摩门经》与《圣经》的故事有些雷同，因此基督徒比较容易接纳它的思想。

        青少年时期，所有孩子始终与各自的家庭密不可分，这样大大减少了家庭成员意外伤亡，摩门教在经历残酷迫害之后，深知任何成功都无法弥补家庭损失，为后辈们树立了榜样，使生活多一份温馨，让社会多一点和谐。