The reopening of these sites has been determined by local conditions, government guidelines, and missionary staffing availability. @Toad, I had the same experience re: penalty oaths. I would actually love to display my grandmas apron (that she made, and wore herself) somewhere in my home as its a beautiful part of my heritage. I really dont mean to be rude, but your explanation sounds like metaphysical mumbo jumbo to me. There are plenty of LDS husbands that dont make their wives full partners. It also creates a two-tiered membership for those who can and cannot or dont want to attend for whatever reason. Taken further, Cains infamous allegorical response Am I my brothers keeper? identifies the breaking of the covenant with refusing responsibility of one another. Thats not to say that the man is absent. I was somewhat surprised over the controversy among some traditional Mormons that this created. What follows is a provisional overview. The temple ceremony changed in 1990 to remove the promise that women were to obey their husbands, and again in early 2019 to jettison the language that they were to hearken to their husbands while their husbands hearkened to God. More recently, first as a widow in 2015, then later remarried, I spent 2 years in the Caribbean on Church missions. Promising to obey my husband doesnt match my values. 2021, 1:00 p.m. | Updated: April 19, 2022, 2:03 p.m. . You can see one example with Pilgrims Progress and the main character Christian, which is a stand in for the reader. LDS Church changes policy about civil ceremonies and temple sealings The Winnipeg Manitoba Temple was dedicated in October, making it the first temple to be dedicated in over a year and a half. it at least places her at the center of creation Why does the women need to be at the center? 2) I havent been to the temple recently enough to have experienced these changes, but it doesnt sound like a net negative. That is our choice in the frames of D&C 132, and often that is how our choices are administered in the framework and culture of the church. The missionary department encouraged all missionaries and prospective missionaries to safeguard themselves by being vaccinated. She passed him unexpectedly on a city street. All of this becomes glaringly clear if we understand the symbolism of the fig tree, fig fruit, and fig leaf. Both their children died on the trip and Mary wrote to her sister Matilda in England (also a recent widow with children), and invited her to come to Utah and marry John as well. The changes made in regards to blacks, LGBTQ, Caffeine at BYU, and even abortion as well as the changes hidden from the public about the temple ceremony make me wonder whos really running the church and makes me suspect that its more men than God. There is less movement as a whole. But I hope to never endure another endowment session. The Conference Center reopened to the public for tours on June 14. that places the woman on a more sacred footing than the man Pedestal much?. Seeing Eve walk around naked and with bare shoulders Im pretty sure caused scores of innocent young men and missionaries to violate the law of chastity through self abuse imagining mother Eve. Other interviews seemed to confirm one presentation or the other, leading me to suspect that there are at least two different versions of this part of the ceremony and that the church is working to depict greater racial diversity. Monrovia, Liberia. First sentence: So say the racists, so say sexists. Jana Riess. At this point I will never go to the temple again. Theyve been announced in General Conference. Its the same with Adam and Eve. 2) Im assuming these Jesus pics are all going to be Nordic Tinder Jesus, but its still an improvement over Supercuts Adam 30 years later I wish I had been emotionally mature enough to realize I was ceding decision-making authority to others. When I get tired of that Ill let yall know. The woman is veiled within the stewardship of the man as a matter of protecting and navigating sacred space. I dont think its fair to automatically equate new and everlasting covenant with polygamy. They werent huge changes; the overall tone was still male-centric (ex the demonstration at the veil was still only Adam), but it was an improvement. (1) While it may be possible to believe that men & women are different in a way that is not negative, that is not the reality in our Church. New Temple Presidents and Matrons for 2021 - The Church of Jesus Christ We were astonished, impressed, gratified with what has been done to hold with the pioneer ancestry of this traditional great temple and house of the Lord to bring it into current technology and needs and configuration of rooms, all of which is essential for it to perform its service for decades to come, said President Oaks. Cant the man and woman embrace each other, so they are both at the center and at the edge at the same time? For a landing place for the awkward penalties presented in the past, consider Jesus and Judas at Gethsemene: the betrayal is represented by an embrace, the setting is the holy place, the veil is implied, and penalties personified thereafter (in Judas variation of death). True informed consent would be along the lines of yes, youre making these 5 covenants but youre also saying that if you dont live up the the letter of the law in every way youll be in Satans power. Changing details about the endowment will not change the fact that it denies that the atonement is all we need to be reconciled to God. I stood there in shock thinking, The book was dead right. The version that was being used when I had my personal endowment experience 20+ years ago? I literally didnt sleep the 24 hours afterwards wondering what I had done but -alas my whole family had been doing this for generations and I thought myself unworthy for questioning. To riff on something the illustrious RBG said, I ask no sacred space for my sex. The Creation Room room in the Idaho Falls Temple. Hopefully these regular changes are getting us all ready to accept the kinds of larger changes necessary for our community to become more Christ like and a Zion community. Informed consent. But I havent been since pre-Covid so I dont know. Im overjoyed, James Sutherland, a choir member and committee member who helped organize the choirs safe return to singing, told Deseret News. About men, and the hierarchy, no man is dependent upon a woman over him in the church, to allow him to receive ordinances essential to his salvation. Ditto to the changes they had already made to the initiatory. As for the hearken: it has been removed from the endowment since 2019. But aside from being weird in a high church way, Im not sure its fundamentally objectionable in other ways (e.g. Announced Open Houses and Dedications. Senior service missionaries live at home and serve for a minimum of six months for eight to 40 hours a week. Recall the meat offering in the court of the Israelite temple: it goes before the herb offering at the veil. None are excluded from accessing heaven vis-a-vis the ordinances. I appreciate President Nelsons efforts, but I hope this is just a beginning to correcting the churchs misogyny. Conversely, when a man gets baptized, he has all the Priesthood authority he needs to go to the bathroom. True story, my MTC district compared which Eves were hotter and how many wet dreams they caused. Even so, thats not to say that the precept of offering sacrifice is evil in and of itself. I like Jesus, so why not have more of him on screen? In the past, there was a point in the ceremony when anyone not willing to make those covenants was invited to leave (though I have never seen anyone in the temple actually depart at that point). The script now seems to include reminders to attend the temple often. There is no hand-to-hand touching until the end, when individuals pass through the veil. You may also like:3 lessons one young mother was reminded of while watching the Friend to Friend event. We truly are a worldwide church now. Maybe you object to the term sexism because you think its a benevolent kind of sexism. But the substance of the feelings expressed in my post (concern that changing norms in the word are what drives the changes in the church) still stands. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. That depends: what do you consider the temple ceremony? I renewed my TR last year only so that I could attend a family wedding and felt totally coerced and manipulated by the questions because it was almost impossible for me to answer them honestly. I love a good discussion where every angle of a problem is honestly and openly examined. You make some points that polygamy was used by some families in a positive way. The broadcast concluded with a message from President Nelson. If you are uncomfortable with our discussion with various points of view discussed, please dont log on. She only had one interaction with him. I remain steadfastly on my side, but Ive learned a lot and developed some respect for other view points by hanging around a bit here at W and T. Travis, And to be clear, Ive had experiences, as well: for example, I met the love of my life in high school, and we wanted to get married right after my mission. At one point I felt a little faint, I was dehydrated and my head pounded. No more waiting. I wanted to ask about it but realized my parents were probably not equipped to talk about it, and my bishophe had effectively disqualified himself as someone I couldnt trust. Temple Square in Salt Lake City before the Saturday morning session of October 2021 general conference. If anything, I anticipate this being weird, as it will make Adam and Eve look even more modern (or at least 19th century). Many of the changes make explicit how central Christ is in the faith and this rite. I still do not believe in a God of tokens and signs. I may find myself in the temple again one day for a wedding. And it is those important differences those things that make the cosmos go around that are reflected in the ordinances having to do with celestial marriage. Hence all the excitement. Thank you for sharing. A womans psyche can be harmed by her husbands poor choices (as can a husband by his wifes), but there are pros and cons to any situation. Getting signs and tokens to pass by the angels and get you into heaven is kind of the opposite of accepting Christ, repenting, and getting to Heaven through the atonement. The motions of how my life would be taken if I revealed anything was just so cultish. As for polygamy, I think there are a lot of serious misunderstandings about it. The Lord gave us mortal bodies and a temporal salvation as an escape from the telestial fig fruit trap. By wearing the fig emblem of Satan/Cain throughout the entirety of the presentation of the endowment, we symbolically reject the sacrifice the Lord made in order to give us earth, embodiment, and resurrection. Kristi, I just looked up misandrist. I do think the General Authorities tended to be misandrist for a long time, but perhaps the men of the Church really were, by and large, that bad. 4. Still, a three-hour round trip is a lot better than 12, which is what it was when I was growing up; or even nine, which is what it was, a decade ago. It was not a comfortable experience. Read more about the announcement at Church News. It appears that Leah Remini has written a book and produced a show on leaving Scientology. They appear in an indoor setting that one person described to me as a temple altar but another said was nondescript. They are wearing temple clothing and receiving the tokens from the biblical Peter, who is also a character on the screen rather than being represented by a live officiant as in the past. Certainly the Prophet Jacob had to deal with that, in the Book of Mormon. That said, what we forget sometimes is that in spite of the complementary-ness of the relationship between the two it wont work unless they are one. I most enjoyed seeing familiar and strange faceseverybody seemed like angels, and I thought that was the best part. A woman alone cant stand at the center of creation any more than a man can do. (I remember being super bummed that they finally made a change but didnt bother addressing sexism.). What I cant see is how they can be coregents while one presides. Questioning the terms of this discussion. My parents have a marriage based on equality and my mother worked for the YWCA at a safe house for battered women and told me all about her job. I was more shocked that I had to covenant to OBEY my husband. More diverse racial representation. New members of the Presidency of the Seventy, eight new General Authorities, and 77 new area seventies were announced during the Saturday afternoon session of the April 2021 general conference. (I am not sure whether that language is the same now but thats what it was 16 yrs ago when I got married: I gave myself to my husband and he received me; he didnt give himself to me because he cant: he may be sealed to multiple women so cannot give himself to any one of them.). It is exclusively about plural marriage. Omission: no reply to specific questions directly addressed to your claims. I really appreciate it! In the past there have been times when Ive been distracted, frustrated, and questioned all sorts of things with the temple ceremony. Nothing in our actual doctrine says women are more sacred than men, except these sort of statements leaders put out to tell us to quit complaining about our status. (Hey 2019 bloggers, update your posts, THE TEMPLE IS STILL SEXIST.). Women are irrelevant to whats necessary for church structure. Heck, even the First Vision falls into that category! Jul 12, 2021, 12:21pm PDT SHARE Latter-day Saints reminded of new ceremonial clothing as temples resume operations Flipboard A view of the Ogden Utah Temple on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. Abraham did it, and it will come back someday, so stay tuned. The 2019 slide show was gone and no movie replaced it. President Russell M. Nelson recently celebrated the reopening of every temple that isnt under construction or undergoing renovations. The Tribune articlewhich, sorry Trib, I usually love you but that piece reads more like a puff piece than journalismalso says the changes increase gender equity in the temple ceremony, but I have yet to hear anything that supports that conclusion. On the tragically funny theme, when I was a 19 year old virgin on my mission, not having been around girls for a long time, I found the endowment movie strangely erotic. @decay, the symbols and conduit metaphors for the temple are Hermetic in nature, and Josephs temple motifs run far closer to Rosicrucianism and especially Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) than to Freemasonry. It felt about the same. I know this because my non-heathen spouse is teaching the course in our ward at the moment and is constantly looking for better material. The church wants women to believe women are equal, but I dont think the church or church leaders believe it or even want to believe it. Over the last 45+ years I have tolerated the temple. My thoughts on the 7 changes: We just dont understand that North America, for many, many millions of people, is NOT the center of the universe! 2021, 4:00 p.m. . You also state that there are plenty of LDS husbands that dont make their wives full partners, and youre absolutely right! No more live endowment sessions in Mormon temples - Religion News Service I had initially thought some changes were designed to shorten the ceremony to encourage more people to comeif my stake and regional communications are any indication, I think temple attendance is still way down and nowhere near pre-pandemic levelsbut apparently thats not the case as some are reporting it is now 13 minutes longer. I applaud the changes and know they personally helped me gain a better understanding of the purpose of life and the plan for us to be able to return to the presence of the Father. Today's announcement means 12 temples will move from Phase 1 to Phase 2 which includes individuals receiving living child-to-parent sealings and own-endowment ordinances. Making amends in an unapologetic world: No forgiveness for institutions incapable of public repentance. And one more thing: Exchanging money transaction in the temple (renting clothes) is a mockery and a contamination of the sacred space, full stop. We obey commandment. My earlier response and appreciation was for you. Traveler, Anddenex, zil2 and 2 others. Cain sought to skip the order and go right to the veil (an echo of Lucifers rebellion). .. For example, it talked about how the veil symbolizes Christ, one person reported, and how we have to go through Christ in order to get to God. She said that segment drew upon a passage in the Book of Hebrews. I could also say that now where is it proclaimed in our doctrine that only women are to bear children. Some didnt know where my homeland of Canada was. That first experience is seared on my memory. Maybe if they decommissioned the use in the temple . So much yes to that. To learn more about why and how the ceremonial clothing was redesigned and information about purchasing, altering, discarding and donating temple clothing, see Ceremonial Clothing FAQs on store.churchofjesuschrist.org. Like many of you, my first time through, pre-1988 changes, was extremely negative. (I still have some hope that if you replace the church with Jesus that Jesus actually does think women are equal, but thats probably not what Elder Hamilton had in mind). Say it.. Project manager Joshua Rich told Newsroom, Our hope is that this app provides an opportunity for kids to really step up and be able to learn and explore, and in some instances, even teach their families. There are certain prerequisites that need to be met in order for us to successfully navigate sacred space. I want a re-do on my wedding! Is there a decibel limit? What is certain is that the temple ceremony has evolved significantly in the past (see this important Dialogue article for a history of those shifts, like dropping blood oaths and the law of retribution in 1927 to incorporating the lava scene from the Disney movie Fantasia in the 1950s as part of the creation story). Read more about the dedication at Newsroom. Nope. Measures that were introduced during COVID-19 to reduce touching seem to have been made permanent. They are a vigorous exercise for the mind and spirit. People sometimes confuse the ordinance of the endowment with the presentation of the endowment. Maybe thats true, maybe it isnt, but it really seems to be the case, I just dont think we should be denigrating men for needing training we dont! Responsibility is to Covenant as Obedience is to Commandment. The experience has given me a peaceful, joyful nudges. @fred if its any comfort to you, I have asked multiple people and none have any clue what that Trib article is referring to. I dont need someone in authority to tell me what to think. Im sorry you think Im not being honest with myself, that Im not allowing myself to see, but I think I see quite clearly. And Carol Lynn Pearsons book goes into the problems with current spiritual polygamy practices: I also loved Jennifer Finlayson-Fife LDS marriage & family therapist thoughts on polygamy: https://finlayson-fife.com/blog/post/jennifers-thoughts-polygamy. I spent about an hour with 1st time recommends. Over the past few days, Ive been interviewing people off the record about their impressions of the changes. I still think that most Mormons secretly dislike going to the temple. So I guess what this leaves me with is a series of questions Ill leave it to our insightful readers to discuss. The Primary General Presidency was released during April 2021 general conference. We all can enter the celestial glory despite our sins. Thank you for educating me. Listing the 5 covenants made while youre sitting down with your family right before a wedding or mission is not informed consent. Read more about the temple announcements at LDS Living. Some clarification about that would help. A First Presidency letter announced opportunities for senior service missionaries around the world. Do you have any resources or references supporting your claims about the symbolism concerning figs? It depends on what the fig leaf is symbolic of to you as an individual in different circumstances. Individuals are responsible to make their own decisions about vaccination. He said no. Yes, The World, not the Church, is leading the way yet again. Prior to the open house, media and invited guests toured the building, including 15 members of other faiths. (And I suppose if we were to get nit-picky about that arrangement we could argue that that places the woman on a more sacred footing than the man.) Learn more about senior service missionary opportunities at Newsroom. Instead you can say Yeah, some things are great about the church and the members and leaders, others not so much. and stay in the church and do what you can to make it a safe welcoming place for everyone. Re: the adversarys symbol: come now, brother. To say otherwise sounds like toxic positivity to me. But Im very happy with how its going now. The apron resonates with the idea of agency. Do I care if the Grinch is green or blue? This so-called covenant, which obligates the ego to obey obedience, is a neurocognitive construct for mind-washing. In 2019, the Church also launched an online training course for all adults interacting with children and youth. Because they were initially instructed by the adversary to wear the apronthat shouldnt be taken to mean that its forever wrong to wear it. In my mind I was thinking how can you not know?!? . And why are we promising to give everything to the institutional church and not to God? They have completed or are no longer attending high school, secondary school, or the equivalent. And in so doing she received knowledge that she was not able to live up toknowledge having to do with the mystery of Godliness (IMO). I dont know how anyone could take a tour of this temple and not be moved by the presence of God in Christ. They also had their own room in the temple to perform special ordinances for women about to give birth. Why not work to build something, anything, up, as opposed to dismantling what was not fulfilling for you? If these had been included with the changes in 2019 it would have made sense. 30 45 minutes would be even better! The main officiants role has also been reduced in favor of video and prerecorded audio. While the Lord does most of the work involved with the creation of life in this sphere he allows us to participate in the process in such a way that we feel a deep sense of stewardship and kinship even ownership if you will with those whom we birth and nurture. I dont think I ever learnt anything from the film I didnt already know or it has left me equally baffled, I love praying for my sisters and brethren in the circle. The 94-year-old temple had been extensively renovated over the past few years. I have to remind myself constantly to breathe and be kind to myself. That delay meant we married six months later, and due to health problems that came on shortly after our marriage, our childbearing was delayed by some 7 years. No man has to confess his sins to a woman over him in the hierarchy to be forgiven. A Big problem. For both of us, attending the temple was not something we ever enjoyed or made a priority.). I havent gone to the temple in years, so Im not affected by these changes, but Im extremely skeptical that theyve resolved the sexism. Yall, stop trying to take away the coolest part of temple clothes ;-). @decay, that may be the case. At one point our bishop saw fit to take away our recommends when our daughter was potentially dying, we had a new baby and he felt we were not being obedient in forcing our other errant daughter into his office on a weekly basis. Anyone familiar with LDS doctrine should easily equate Jehovah in the endowment with Jesus, so I dont know what some pictures of Jesus are really going to add. As a wife and a mother of 5 sons I find your comments about men to be denigrating to both men and women. When were were married, my wife had a SP who later became a GA he was the same way with her as my dad was with me. We'll be going over the basics of this ceremony, and some of the exalted meaning that we can draw from it. 3) Minimal effect. You see, its all about life! Its amazing how we condition ourselves to ignore the actual text and context of D&C 132. And to pollinate, a wasp enters the fruit, loosing its heavenly wings upon entrance and unable to escape: the wasps dead body pollinates the flower inside the fruit. Full stop. There is less standing up and sitting down and rearranging the clothing (a good thing for those with physical disabilities). A shorter endowment ceremony would also make it possible to spend some time in the celestial room engaged in prayer, mediation or other spiritual practices for those who need it. And maybe barbecues with the family. Its so wishy-washy and just rehashes things we learn in SS. I appreciate your engagement on this topic. I believe its a continuation of what President Nelson started with the focus on the name of the Church. The ceremony at that time still included the violent death consequence hand motions for disclosing the signs and tokensthat rocked me. This story doesnt really match the family values taught at church. The point isnt how well they treat us. The ordinances will be performed Monday through Saturday by appointment for those in the temple district. 1) No effect. My interviewees said that despite some time-consuming elements being cut, such as the passing of tokens by hand to everyone in the room, the additions mean the endowment is running about the same length it was shortened to in 2019, roughly 90 to 105 minutes. Im not even going there. Women managed all the fast offerings and caring for the poor themselves without male supervision, as Joseph Smith promised in the first RS meeting. More sanitized, more sterile, more boring. If my husband were to exercise control or dominionover me, would that be the Churchs fault? The broadcast included music and activities, with two Primary children hosting and two children as field reporters who learned about covenants from Elder Ulisses Soares. I like the idea of persisting to the end in a journey with a wonderful end, a patient line-upon-line journey. Sorry! Was it kinda weird having someone put stuff on your body? So essentially Cains pattern ruins the order of Creation, while Enochs pattern restores it to a new Creation. We give consent to this, not only because we cant see it (its just the air we breathe) but also because from a young age we are taught to consent to it. That they perform ordinances. It's 2023 and the LDS church still won't even name and own the harm caused by its racist doctrine and practices. To remedy: in the endowment presentation, as we move to a higher spherethe fig leaf apron would be removed, as if traded for a body of flesh (mortality). (Well, OK, I did). To me adding pictures of Jesus to the endowment misses the point when correcting the problem that the endowment has nothing to do with Jesus and the atonement. Photo by Ravell Call, Deseret News. If they had happened 10 years ago, when I was regularly attending each month, they would have had more of a positive impact. Originally planned to have a final run in 2021, the Hill Cumorah Pageant was canceled due to the pandemic. All temples had live actors then. It gets confusing. Disavow and disaffiliate. The revised endowment includes, for what I believe is the first time, a ritual performance of what Latter-day Saints call the War in Heaven. The temple sealing was expressly structured in a way to permit men to be sealed to multiple women but not women to be sealed to multiple men. As COVID-19 restrictions diminish in various areas and temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continue to increase operations, Latter-day Saints are reminded of previously announced adjustments to temple ceremonial clothes and the availability of new styles. In September, The Tabernacle Choir returned to the Conference Center to rehearse for the first time in 18 months. By referring or linking you to this website, we do not endorse or guarantee this content, products, or services offered. Satan has more lines, more screen time and a much more consequential role. (A couple will now come to the alter . Its a scientifically documented technique to control behavior which targets and subordinates the conscience to authoritya manipulating of the mindsomething Jesus would not dobesides its being incongruent. The grounds were also enhanced and renovated. ." The Temple Department in the US and Canada announced new opportunities for service missionaries in a January 29, 2021, notice. LDS Endowment This website provides access to current and historical texts of the endowment, without exposing those few portions of the ceremony that are explicitly reserved for initiates. I wear a tie at the temple. I was saying that thats how some folks might interpret what I was sayingbut thats not what Im saying at all.
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