Pre-1990 Endowment-scared To Attend Temple

[TNShorty]

Hi, i am a new member of just a few months. i have had a couple of beautiful opportunities to do baptisms in my local Temple- wonderful experiences!!

recently, i have found out that the Endowment has changed in the last year or so and that previous to the latest changes, it was changed prior to 1990. The 1990 included "death penalties", which frankly, scared me and traumatized me when i found this out. i have been having nightmares.

i have past domestic violence and other abuse issues and the idea of anything related to violence in the Temple...well, i am just totally confused as to why something like this would be there.

were these penalties removed b/c members objected? i mean no disrespect at all. i am just really scared and don't know what to expect. i don't know who to talk to and am seeking answers. i am feeling overwhelmed.

thanks.

Pressing Forward....mostly with faith, sometimes with a little fear!

[Brother Dorsey]

Hi, i am a new member of just a few months. i have had a couple of beautiful opportunities to do baptisms in my local Temple- wonderful experiences!!

recently, i have found out that the Endowment has changed in the last year or so and that previous to the latest changes, it was changed prior to 1990. The 1990 included "death penalties", which frankly, scared me and traumatized me when i found this out. i have been having nightmares.

i have past domestic violence and other abuse issues and the idea of anything related to violence in the Temple...well, i am just totally confused as to why something like this would be there.

were these penalties removed b/c members objected? i mean no disrespect at all. i am just really scared and don't know what to expect. i don't know who to talk to and am seeking answers. i am feeling overwhelmed.

thanks.

Pressing Forward....mostly with faith, sometimes with a little fear!

The endowment has not changed in the last year or so and I can assure you that there are no "blood oaths" or "death penalties" or anything of the sort in the endowment.

[TNShorty]

that's good....however, i'd like to know why they used to be there before.

i want an answer to this question....i know its not comfortable, but i want to know.

[StrawberryFields]

that's good....however, i'd like to know why they used to be there before.

i want an answer to this question....i know its not comfortable, but i want to know.

Talk to your bishop then. :)

[Gwen]

when my mother was endowed, well before 1990 lol, she said it was twice as long. her personal feelings for the changes is one, the time it takes to do the work, two it did include penalties (never heard anything so extream though) we have never been a chruch of fire and brimstone to get ppl to do right. the focus is on the positive the blessings, right things for the right reason, not out of fear. the temple should be the same. she told me she felt it was to keep that focus. all her personal opinion of course. the temple does include a warning for not keeping your covenents, but it isn't the focus and not a death penalty.

i love the temple, it has always been a positive place for me to visit, it has always felt safe, i can't imagine someone saying things (especially to one that has not been) that would make them afraid and have nightmares about it. i'm so sorry you have had this experiance. the temple is a wonderful place, base your assumptions on what you've experianced thus far.

[Brother Dorsey]

that's good....however, i'd like to know why they used to be there before.

i want an answer to this question....i know its not comfortable, but i want to know.

I can't answer that question for you....but maybe your Bishop can.....

Here's something I found on the endowmwnt that might help you understand a little more:

The Endowment

The esoteric rites in Mormonism are associated with the Temple, and especially with the ritual known as the "Endowment." And yet, the temple rites are not unknown, because Latter-day Saint authors have spoken about them in general terms and because some disaffected Latter-day Saints have revealed some of the more esoteric aspects to the public. Why do Latter-day Saints refuse to speak openly about certain aspects of the temple rites? The main reason is that those who enter the temple make covenants not to speak about temple worship and ordinances outside the temple. Also, the rites of the Temple are conveyed in symbolic forms so that only those who are spiritually prepared can discern their sacred meanings. Thus, one may know something of the form of the ritual but be completely in the dark as to its meaning. LDS scholar Hugh Nibley makes exactly this point:

Even though everyone may discover what goes on in the temple, and many have already revealed it, the important thing is that I do not reveal these things; they must remain sacred to me. I must preserve a zone of sanctity which cannot be violated whether or not anyone else in the room has the remotest idea what the situation really is . . . . No matter what happens, it will, then, always remain secret: only I know exactly the weight and force of the covenants I have made--I and the Lord with whom I have made them--unless I choose to reveal them. If I do not, then they are secret and sacred no matter what others may say or do. Anyone who would reveal these things has not understood them, and therefore that person has not given them away. You cannot reveal what you do not know!5

In keeping with the sacred nature of the Temple we will give an explanation of the temple Endowment which will consist exclusively of the information available in publicly published statements of various Latter-day Saint general authorities. I will neither go beyond the substance of these statements in my commentary nor comment very much on those parts of ancient ceremonies presented which parallel the Endowment. That is, certain aspects of the ancient ceremonies I will present are very similar to the temple ceremony, and certain aspects are not. (Very little doctrine or practice was transmitted through the apostasy without changes or corruptions, and given their esoteric nature the temple ceremonies would probably have been among the first ordinances to become corrupted or lost.)

In large part I will leave it up to the reader to judge the significance of each area of information presented. Thus, those readers who have participated in the Endowment will necessarily be better equipped in their judgment than those who have not. However, much of the information presented will be related to those parts of the temple ceremony which are public knowledge, so even one who is only cursorily familiar with this aspect of Mormonism will be in a position to examine much of the evidence.

The temple Endowment is primarily a vehicle to present greater light and knowledge about the gospel to those who seek them. In the temple, the Plan of Salvation is presented to the participants in symbolic form, reminding them of their covenants before God and the way to eternal life. By gaining this knowledge and living by it one receives the keys one needs to come into the presence of God in the world to come. The public descriptions and explanations of the Endowment by prophets and Apostles of the LDS Church which follow should give the reader some idea of what constitutes this sacred ordinance.

Elder John A. Widtsoe, formerly an Apostle in the Restored Church, outlined the Endowment thus:

The endowment and the temple work as revealed by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith fall clearly into four distinct parts: The preparatory ordinances; the giving of instruction by lectures and representations; covenants; and, finally, tests of knowledge. I doubt that the Prophet Joseph Smith, unlearned and untrained in logic, could of himself have made the thing so logically complete.6

Elder Boyd K. Packer, of the Quorum of the Twelve, explains that the first phase of the Endowment ceremony deals with preparatory or "initiatory" ordinances wherein the participant is washed and anointed. He points out that these ordinances are "mostly symbolic in nature."7

The Lord has said concerning these ordinances: "I say unto you, how shall your washings be acceptable unto me, except ye perform them in a house which you have built to my name?" (D&C 124:37) Also: "I say unto you, that your anointings, and your washings . . . are ordained by the ordinance of my holy house." (D&C 124:39) Elder Packer goes on to explain that in connection with the washings and anointings, candidates are officially clothed in a symbolic white garment and promised certain blessings.8 Indeed, throughout the Endwoment various symbolic white vestments are used.9

The next phase consists of Christ-centered instruction about one's place in the Plan of Salvation. Apostle James E. Talmage gave the following description:

The Temple Endowment, as administered in modern temples, comprises instruction relating to the significance and sequence of past dispensations, and the importance of the present as the greatest and grandest era in human history. This course of instruction includes a recital of the most prominent events of the creative period, the condition of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, their disobedience and consequent expulsion from that blissful abode, their condition in the lone and dreary world when doomed to live by labor and sweat, the plan of redemption by which the great transgression may be atoned, the period of the great apostasy, the restoration of the Gospel with all its ancient powers and privileges, the absolute and indispensable condition of personal purity and devotion to the right in present life, and a strict compliance with Gospel requirements.10

Elder Packer explains that much of the instruction in the temple is given in symbolic fashion. This should come in no surprise, since so much of the teaching in the scriptures is done symbolically as well.11

Associated with this instruction are various covenants the participants make in relation to their daily conduct. Elder Talmage made the following observations about this phase of the ceremony:

The ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the individual, such as covenant and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure; to devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting of the race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King,--the Lord Jesus Christ. With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the conditions.

No jot, iota, or tittle of the temple rites is otherwise than uplifting and sanctifying. In every detail the endowment ceremony contributes to covenants of morality of life, consecration of person to high ideals, devotion to truth, patriotism to nation, and allegiance to God. The blessings of the House of the Lord are restricted to no privileged class; every member of the Church may have admission to the temple with the right to participate in the ordinances thereof, if he comes duly accredited as of worthy life and conduct.12

In relation to the final phase of the endowment, the tests of knowledge, not much can be said beyond the following statement by the prophet Brigham Young:

Let me give you a definition in brief. Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.13

As President Young seems to indicate, the Endowment as a whole symbolizes and prepares one for the celestial ascent, or as President David O. McKay described, the "step-by-step ascent into the eternal presence." Thus, the ceremony also includes a symbolic "prayer circle," which, along with the rest of the Endowment "precedes the symbolic entrance into the celestial world and the presence of God."

[sixpacktr]

FFT,

You should just talk to your Bishop regarding these things. To be honest, we really shouldn't discuss the things that happen in the temple in a public forum anyway, but there are those that have construed what used to be part of the ceremony as blood oaths and violence and the like, and it was nothing of the sort.

Never took it as such. You really don't need to worry about it. Just prepare to go to the temple to receive your endowments and you will be able to learn more thru the spirit there than anywhere else.