Just got endowment and feeling weird about it


starrynight
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Okay I'm freshly baptized, confirmed, and have been to the Temple once already (last night) and find this thread a bit scary. Just saying. Are you saying you go to the Temple for endowments and have no clue what the ritual is or what it symbolizes???

Speaking of the endowment specifically I believe many people have a "clue". However, the full import of that ordinance does not come the first time a person recieves the endowment. It is so full of symbolisim that it takes many, many times of going to unravel. However, just to be fair, I think few members (I might include myself here) understand the full import of even the first ordinances of baptisim and the sacrament. Do they understand Nephi's statement in 2 Ne 32:6 or D&C 84:20-21?

President McKay one time remarked, "There are few, even temple workers, who comprehend the full meaning and power of the temple endowment. Seen for what it is, it is the step-by-step ascent into the Eternal Presence." Then he added, "If our young people could but glimpse it, it would be the most powerful spiritual motivation of their lives!"

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Speaking of the endowment specifically I believe many people have a "clue". However, the full import of that ordinance does not come the first time a person receives the endowment. It is so full of symbolism that it takes many, many times of going to unravel. However, just to be fair, I think few members (I might include myself here) understand the full import of even the first ordinances of baptism and the sacrament. Do they understand Nephi's statement in 2 Ne 32:6 or D&C 84:20-21?

President McKay one time remarked, "There are few, even temple workers, who comprehend the full meaning and power of the temple endowment. Seen for what it is, it is the step-by-step ascent into the Eternal Presence." Then he added, "If our young people could but glimpse it, it would be the most powerful spiritual motivation of their lives!"

I guess my thought is, shouldn't it be explained at least, even if one may not fully comprehend it? Or put this way, wouldn't they be more apt to see what it is if they're told what they're seeing?

That's all I'm getting at - I have this mental image of people going through these rituals and ending up feeling like they don't want to go back because they're not sure what they just did, LOL!!!

I've studied symbolism both in and out of the scriptures, so I'm not terribly concerned about eventually sorting it out, but some might be. For me, I've determined that I'm willing to put in the time and experience to figure it out. :popcorn:

-LeKook

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Okay I'm freshly baptized, confirmed, and have been to the Temple once already (last night) and find this thread a bit scary. Just saying. Are you saying you go to the Temple for endowments and have no clue what the ritual is or what it symbolizes???

No, it is just LDS, on the whole, do not have rituals. The closest we come out of the temple is the sacrament--the prayer must be recited exactly or the priest must start over. But even then, other than the prayer, how the sacrament is given varies from ward to ward.

The temple, on the other hand, is very ritualistic. I, personally, didn't have an issue with it. But, others have. Everything is a symbol for something else. Some symbols are obvious but many are not obvious. It takes being patient, prayerful, and thoughtful (with lots of time added) to understand what the symbols are as well as the many layers of teachings behind the symbols.

I recommend to anyone receiving their own endowment the first time, to sit the night before with their escort and have their escort tell them as much as possble of what to expect. It is a great relief to get a step by step guide on what to expect (and nothing needs to be said about the sacred parts unspoken out of the temple).

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Okay I'm freshly baptized, confirmed, and have been to the Temple once already (last night) and find this thread a bit scary. Just saying. Are you saying you go to the Temple for endowments and have no clue what the ritual is or what it symbolizes???

no theres symbolisms on all levels, if you've been studying the scriptures and other rituals such as baptism and sacrament you will see some of the symbolism. I think the overwhelming part is that symbolism is everywhere in just about everything in the temple, which is in contrast to what we are generally used to, which is just a little bit- namely the sacrament, the occasional baptism, and prayers/blessings.

And i suppose not exactly knowing whats going to happen can also add to the apprehension.... luckily most of the time you can follow the example of the others who are there.

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OK, I have not read all the answers, so someone may have covered this.

1. about the garment, you can get them special ordered to your exact sizes, I do this myself as I am not a 'standard' size - you will need to call the distribution center and they will tell you which measurements they need and then it does take about 6 weeks to get them. They keep the measurements on file for 2 years so if your measurments don't change you can just call them for a re-order.

2. About the weirdness -- I felt the exact thing the first times I went through. Why? because no one told me how symbolic the endowment is. To this day I personally feel the symbolism should be updated. Remember though the symbolism is not the endowment, the Covenants are the endowment.

I think the reason that the symbolism throws some people is that in the Church we use very little symbolism and in fact we tend to at least superficially be against symbolism and then all of a sudden you get 99% symbolism in the Temple.

My advice is to continue to go through the Temple as often as you can, really listen to what is said and done, and then pray about it, search the scriptures, read about symbolism.

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I guess my thought is, shouldn't it be explained at least, even if one may not fully comprehend it? Or put this way, wouldn't they be more apt to see what it is if they're told what they're seeing?

I agree with beefche, some of what one does can be explained in advance and should be. It would definitely help a person who is going through the endowment for the first time. I remember when I first went through. I had grown up in the LDS culture and so was surprised by all of the "ritual" and active participation. An explanation of the process would have been helpful.

But as to the meaning of the symbols, that is another matter. On its face there is not much special about a symbol. If I take the symbol of the sacrament at face value I might explain it in these terms, "Pretend bread represents a dead body, after someone says a prayer, eat it." Based on such an explanation I can imagine someone thinking, "that is strange and weird." However, the sacredness of the sacrament, the value and meaning of it is wrapped up in what the symbol represents and my commitment to the covenant made. The temple is very similar.

I might explain it another way. Has the spirit ever touched you so profoundly that words are inadequate? It has me, and in fact I have a few times in the past tried to explain the depth of what I felt. Usually this ends up in a little bit of a disappointment for me because either they were not in the right frame of mind or I am unable to communicate the feeling. This is the problem of trying to describe temple ordinances. In fact, there are so many symbols of this nature and their meanings are so profound that explanation through words is inadequate at best and blaspheme at worst.

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My first time in the temple was WAY overwhelming. I was getting married and was just 6 months out of high school. I was not well acquainted with scripture, though I did have faith in Christ. The garments were hard for me to adjust to also. I felt like I was getting too much information too many ways too fast. I had no idea what so much of it meant and no one explained stuff to me either.

When I went years later with a dear friend that asked me to be with her, I decided if she wanted, I'd explain as we went along (even that can be hard to do as everything keeps at a steady pace). She had the good fortune of being older when she went and was well acquainted with scripture.

I'd say just: please hang in there, go back often, pray for lots of help to understand and for patience to wait for each step of understanding to come to your soul slowly.

Remember this: when we take the sacrament, we promise to be WILLING to take upon us the name of Christ. When we go to the temple, we ARE taking upon us His Name....becoming a part of His family. We are learning celestial laws so we can eventually live a celestial life with Heavenly Father and our Savior.

Now years later, I love going to the temple....oh, I still don't understand a lot of it, but going there has been the place where I've received many dear/personal revelations, and answers to needed personal questions. I love serving my eternal sisters while there. I love the peace there. The more spiritual growth I have in my daily life, the more the temple means to me. I want to be there knowing Christ walks those halls. The more I go to the temple, the more I look forward to celestial life.

Today at church, one of the high councilmen in his talk said: "going to the temple is like understanding Isaiah.....it has a lot of symbolism". Then I thought how Christ has told us to study Isaiah.

I do know this: as we progress in our spiritual knowledge and testimony, God will be there to open up the next step and to open the eyes of our understanding......His mysteries are: spiritual knowledge......so He is going to be there to help us learn and to understand IF we will commit to hanging in there while we learn line upon line and precept upon precept.

Edited by shine7
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I know it's at the end of the thread but I really get Starrynight's feelings and felt I had to comment. If there was a temple prep class at the time I went, I didn't know about it and I couldn't get a word out of my parents before I went. Even after 20 years of faithful activity in the church and what I thought was a pretty good understanding of the gospel, my first endowment experience made me question my testimony of the Gospel and the correctness of the mission I was preparing for. I am still upset at those who could have told me things -- ANYTHING -- about what to expect.

I have only had the opportunity to teach one lesson as a sub for a temple prep teacher so I don't know all that is taught but I am frustrated by the lack of information provided .

I know there are things not to be revealed outside of the temple but (and correct me if I am wrong) these things are VERY few and are specified in the endowment. I agree we should be careful, prayerful and follow the spirit in order to honor the sacredness of the temple and activities therein but sometimes I think we overdo the "silence" thing making the sacred simply secret. There are a LARGE number of things that I believe we can speak about in a reverent way in an appropriate place. With continuing gratitude I am happy to say my MTC branch president did just that.

As my children mature, I have spoken of things that occur in the temple in ways that my heart has told me have not disturbed the Spirit of the Lord or violated the sacredness of the temple and have provided my children with answers to their questions about the temple in a way they have felt satisfied.

I have no doubt that the vast majority of people leave their own endowment very overwhelmed. There is just too much for a person to process in one session. Regardless, NO ONE should leave the temple on that day feeling upset by what they just experienced in the way I was or StarryNight and others have been. If people leave their own endowment with those feelings, it is my opinion someone (teacher, bishop, parent friend, etc.) has failed to follow the Spirit in teaching about the temple sufficiently or appropriately.

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