A bit of Q and A, if you will.

In my Ward paying more I assume was not frowned upon but paying less certainly was.

 

But you said yourself you wanted to point out what your faith has that others do not. The prophet thing is troublesome if you are planting the LDS flag in the middle of Christianity as you would be indicating that the LDS prophets are adding the Revelation when the Bible itself says Revelations (or the Bible, depending on one's interpretation) is not to be added to or taken away from.

 

So a poor person is not considered pure enough to enter the temple? Is that correct?

 

I do not want to speak in an absolute term here as frankly the absolute requirements of entry into the Temple were not made known to me. I do know that one has to be in good standing with their tithe record, but even I could have paid my tithe and just received most of my food from the Bishop Storehouse (I was living off Section 8 housing and $600 a month circa 1999). So if there is a financial barrier to being allowed entry into the Temple the bar is set very low. But also there may be an exception to the rule as I just cannot see the Church denying those poorer than I entry into the Temple.

What are the absolute rules of entry to the LDS Temple? Top secret stuff that you would have to find out from a former member who made it into the Temple and is willing to speak of it publicly.

 

Yeah I guess Ill wait for the OP to answer.

 

I am betting the OP has never been inside the Temple. If the OP has they will not speak of it to those who do not have a Temple Recommend (Basically deemed as pure which allows entry into the Temple).

 

If he has but wont answer then that will tell me just as much about what I want to know as well.

 

Yes, you did. Your parents are Christians, you are a Christian. Checking out a few churches is not test driving different gods, it's presupposing Christianity is the one true faith, then just shopping around for a flavour you like. Which ... again, turned out to be the flavour your parents chose. If you were genuinely interested in getting it right, why didn't you test drive Hinduism, or Islam, or Buddhism?

And once again, if you're as critically minded as you say you are, how are you able to resolve the extreme unlikelihood (so unlikely that it's effectively impossible) that the very first god you tried just happens to be the creator of everything?

 

I am not at all surprised that the basic structure of the Abrahamic religions were preserved in LDS. Mohammed did much the same thing. And ALL drew on pagan structures and rituals to one degree or another in development of their dogma.