Windy Sydney

I knew not to talk about the temple. When I was in young women's classes the leaders would always mention how sacred the temple was, and how you should never talk about the temple when you are not IN the temple. It always struck me as bizarre, because something doesn't need to be secret to be sacred.

I have read many accounts of people's first experiences in the temple and how strange it was for them. Most of them were taken back by the clothing, the strange gestures (promising to slit your throat if you told anyone the secrets), and most of all, they couldn't believe how silly it was. I don't say that to insult Mormons or their beliefs, it's just an honest observation.

First of all, you wear ALL white. White shoes, white pants/skirt/dress, shirt, belt, suspenders if necessary. The church also has a handy-dandy ordering catalogue so you can buy these perfectly white accessories for you and your family. Guess who makes a buck there? Yeah.

Not only do you wear the white clothes, but you also have a green apron. The aprons used to be covered with symbols (they still might be, but I am not sure) that came from Masonry. The person who plays the role as Satan in the ceremony also has an apron that represents his priesthood and power. Satan's apron used to have symbols on it as well, these included an all-seeing eye, beehive, skull and crossbones, compasses, suns, moons, stars, etc.

The men wear a hat of some kind, many people say it looks like a baker's hat. The hat has a ribbon on it that represents the Godhead.

Sounds pretty strange, doesn't it? I mean, why the need for symbolic stuff? Why would that matter to God? In my opinion, if God truly exists, he would know you and what was in your heart. The ceremony is pretty pointless... not to mention the fact that if you wanted to make covenants to God, why do you need to do this in these clothes and in a specific kind of building? Does God really require that kind of stuff? I think not... common sense prevails on this one.

The temple ceremony includes chanting, praying in a circle, and much, much more.

Okay, so picture it... a bunch of people in their white clothes and aprons/hats, praying and chanting. Performing secret ceremonies they believe important to make it to heaven. If you look at it objectively (from the eyes of a person who has never been Mormon or learned about Mormonism) it's really freaking strange.

Mormons get really worked up when you call their religion a cult. Hell, I used to get worked up over it and I never bought the whole thing... but, looking at the big picture you can't help but realize the whole temple thing is cult like.

I honestly do believe the church is a cult, and it is masquerading as a mainstream church. It's exclusionary, it asks much of your time and money. You are asked to follow a prophet without question, believing he gets revelation directly from God. Sounds like a cult to me.

I believe that the church asks it's members to keep the ceremony secret because the church realizes how weird the ceremonies are. If you talk about it with others, and share how weird you think it is, you are more likely to question. On the other hand, if you obey and not talk about the ceremonies, you have no choice but to keep it to yourself and wonder if anyone else found the whole thing strange. If you have no one to talk to, you are much less likely to research things. You might even think there is something wrong with you because you didn't feel the spirit like everyone else.

Lets put the cards on the table here... lets call this for what it is. Bizarre!!!

To end things, I would like to share this list of questions I found on The Mormon Curtain. Destructor wrote these questions, I don't want to take credit for them...

1. Why are the days of creation different than those recorded in the Book of Moses and Genesis? The third and fourth days are backwards in the endowment ceremony.


2. In the Mormon scripture Book of Moses 3:15-25 it says that God commanded the man (Adam) not to eat from the tree of good and evil. God didn't command the woman, because she had not been created yet. So why is the endowment film different than the Mormon scriptural account?


3. How did Peter, James and John get bodies before they were born? Peter shakes Adam's hand, so we know they weren't spirits. According to Joseph Smith's handshake test for discerning evil spirits from good spirits, Peter should have refused to shake Adam's hand (unless he had been resurrected).


4. Satan wears an apron that he says is a symbol of his power and priesthood. Why then does Adam, Eve and the temple congregation moments later obey Satan when he commands them to put on aprons?


5. How could Jesus be on the right hand of God, in physical form looking like his identical twin, when Jesus had not been born or resurrected yet? Jesus says in the Bible and BoM that he wasn't perfected until AFTER the atonement.


6. So was Lucifer a snake as it says in the scriptures, or a man like it shows in the temple?


7. Lucifer picks the apple off the tree and gives it to Eve. But Lucifer doesn't have a body! What's up with that?


8. Where did Lucifer get his preacher that was preaching to Adam and Eve? Was he for real or just a ghost? If just a ghost, why was he dressed as a protestant minister with the collar for Adam and Eve to see?


9. The Book of Abraham as well as the modern prophets have taught us that the earth was created around the star Kolob. It orbited God's solar system until AFTER the fall, when it was hurled through space and placed in this solar system. This scriptural doctrine contradicts the endowment, where we see the creation of the moon and it mentions our sun and the other planets too. (See http://www.i4m.com/think/lists/mormon_science.htm)


10. If the Kolob doctrine is true, why is this not included in the endowment, which is supposed to be the "Lord's University"?


11. Why go through the creation story if it is not true and contradicts Mormon doctrine and the Book of Abraham?


12. If the endowment is actual history, then why was it so radically changed in April 1990? Whole sections were altered and others deleted! If the endowment represented real history, how could it change? Was it not true to the actual events all along? Is the new version "more true to history?" (See: http://www.i4m.com/think/temples/temple_changes.htm)


13. In April 1990 the covenants and penalties of the endowment ceremony also changed dramatically. Didn't Jesus say in the scriptures that a sign of false churches is that they change his covenants?


14. Where do you find a clear description of these "laws' mentioned in the temple?

    1. Law of Obedience
    2. Law of Sacrifice
    3. Law of Elohim
    4. Law of the Lord
    5. Law of the Gospel
    6. Law of Chastity
    7. Law of Consecration
    



15. Some of those laws that temple patrons covenant to obey are never mentioned or explained outside the temple. If they are literal laws of God that must be obeyed, why are they not all clearly identified and expounded upon in church discourse?


16. What is the difference between "legally" and "lawfully" as said in the temple endowment covenant?


17. Adam raises his arms in the "true order of prayer", and who answers his prayer? Satan. Does this mean Satan can answer even prayers given in the "true order" ordained by God? What prayer is safe from not being intercepted by Satan? (See: http://helpingmormons.org/compare.htm)


18. Did God really send Peter, James and John down to earth and give Adam and Eve those silly temple clothes to wear? They didn't have a temple, so when did Adam and Eve wear them?


19. How could Peter, James and John be involved in the whole thing when they hadn't been born yet, hadn't been baptized and had not been through the temple? They weren't wearing garments themselves, so how could they be worthy to participate in the endowment events?


20. Temple workers stand is as proxys for Elohim and Jehovah during the ceremony, which makes it very sacred. But since someone also stands in as a literal proxy for Satan, doesn't that make the temple unholy?


21. What is the purpose of learning the "true order of prayer" if it can never be practiced outside of the temple ceremony?


22. Why does God require secret handshakes, names and passwords to pass through the veil and enter his presence? Can't God look into our hearts and know whether or not we are worthy?


23. Why are temple patrons required to make death oaths, when they are expressly forbidden by God in Mormon scripture? (see: http://www.i4m.com/think/temples/temple_oaths.htm)


24. If the endowment is centered on Jesus Christ, why isn't Christ's two top commandments included in the endowment covenants - love God and love your neighbor? Why isn't there mention of Christ's sermon on the mount or other teachings on charity and compassion?