I went through just after the death oaths were removed. Good thing because I thought the whole thing was so f'ed up. One more weird thing would have put me over the edge.
Any idea where the death oaths are in the ceremony? I don't want to listen to the whole things.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2016 03:29PM by Atari.
Thank you for posting this. Many (my sister one of them) deny that death oaths (penalties) were made.
The first time through, I knew they were death oaths because they say, "These are the ways that life can be taken" (Blood Atonements). Like many, I was thinking that it was some sort of ritual suicide and kinda like a Mormon version of Hari Kari. It was the second time through that I realized we were committing to taking the lives of others through slicing their necks, ripping out their hearts and disemboweling the victim. I seriously had to think, "If my Bishop, Stake President and/or GA/Mission President" requested that I and probably others take the life of an apostate or one who had revealed the sacred signs, tokens and penalties. Would I be able to do it? I can understand the underlying fear or disgust that those exmormons who had left and revealed the endowment ceremonies was always in the back of their minds. Do Danites still exist?
Right ... But take it a step further. Who would be taking your life? Surely not Satans minions.......it would have to be a church member who knew what you'd revealed. They are the only ones who'd care. I was the same - I always focused on the guilt and shame they wanted ME to feel so I'd toe the line. But when you dig deeper you realize just how f-ed up it is.
Start about two-thirds of the way through the endowment ceremony. Then go forward or back when you first see where you are in the ceremony. Here is the order: First token of aaronic ptiesthood - slashing of throat. Second token of aaronic priesthood - slashing body open at chest level. First token of Melchesedik priesthood - slashing open body at waist level. Second token of Melchesedik priesthood - no penalty associated (the church chickened out on this one because you violate the oath by not giving the church "all of your time, talents, energy, and resources"). Everyone is guilty of that one.
Within each token's part of the ceremony, there is a secret handshake taught. You sum up each of these four sections by saying something like "... rather than reveal the first token of the aaronic priesthood, along with its accompanying name, sign, and penalty, I would suffer my life to be taken". Everyone acts the scene out at the same time, in unison. As everyone is saying and acting at the same time "... suffer my life to be taken", they using their right arm and are drawing their extended thumb from just beneath their left ear, down accross their throat, and back up to just beneath their right ear, in a throat-slashing motion. How can this fucking be anything other than a cult, or as Joseph Smith and the book of mormon called "a secret combination"? If that ordinance is so sacred and so eternal, why did they abandon it? The combination of the internet and the courts of law killed that ceremony.
Most of this happened before there was an internet. Who then could you talk to about this? Everyone who went through that ceremony was a secret prisoner in an emotional and spiritual prison cell, not knowing they weren't the only one who thought this ceremony was creepy and evil.
It used to be about "tokens". Each token had an "associated name, sign, and penalty". I was out before the new ceremony came along. I hear that now, each token has only a "name and sign", but no penalty.
Each token was a secret handshake, and was a separate covenant. So indirectly, there was a penalty associated with a promise involving that covenant. But the covenant seemed to be only be a part of the token. For example, with the law of chastity covenant, there seemed to be a grusome penalty associated with violating the law of chastity. However if you go by the specific wording, the covenant is quite different. By the exact wording if you violate the law of chastity then, yes, you've violated that temple covenant. Oh well. But if you reveal the secret handshake associated with that covenant, then maybe your throat should be sliced open. But based on how the human psyche works, the church fucks with your mind on this so that you (technically not them) associate chastity violations with having your throat cut open in a grusome way to be killed. In my opinion, this is one way the church controlled people. If you violate the law of chastity (for example), it's not such a big deal. But if you give away the church's secret keys to get in to heaven unauthorized, they believe you should be grusomely murdered. In this way, your obediance to the church becomes far more important than obeying a commandment, supposedly from god. The church knows that many temple-goers are going to violate that covenant and will confess. The church (not necessarily god since he doesn't threaten us with murder) will forgive us, and more tithing dollars will roll in to the church. Not a bad racket if you're the church.
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2016 12:03PM by azsteve.
Just listened to this. It is reprehensible to think that I was brainwashed to the point....that I rationalized that this was what the lord wanted. Always thought it was interesting, but being a Freemason, I was upset it was part of "gods most sacred acts on earth".
Makes me shudder the brain washing. Makes me even more sad my family emprisoned by it...
That's a whole lot a crazy! I received my endowments a week before arriving at the Mission Home in SLC on 3/1/75 and was surprised and confused at the weirdness. My parents and one sister along with some friends from BYU accompanied me which helped me maintain some kind of composure during the ceremony. Then while at the Mission Home we went through live sessions at the SLC temple and the weirdness increased. It took decades before I reached my breaking point and admitted to my husband that it was too creepy and I would not be returning to the temple. That was a couple of years before we left the church.
One thing that hollered weirdness was when my private life intersected with my professional life. It had become customary for me and two good friends to attend an early morning Saturday session once a month. The last time I attended a session, the head of the legal department from work (who was also a member of the stake presidency from another stake in the Bay Area), was in attendance without his wife. He is a really nice guy that I had known for years. And when the prayer circle was gathering, he came over and asked me to stand in it with him. So going through the secret handshakes, veiling the face, having his arm rest on my shoulder, repeating the words of the prayers--all with someone known from my work life freaked me out (although I maintained my composure) but came home and announced to my husband I wouldn't be returning.