Posted by:
Chicken N. Backpacks
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Date: November 10, 2017 11:23AM
Someone asked why their parents had to take the blood oath in the temple but they didn't, and the answer....
"Short and sweet answer? People (members of the Church included!) often confuse the endowment with the presentation of the endowment. The endowment itself never changes, and has not changed, but the presentation of the endowment can be changed as often and wherever, as needed and as circumstances require.
The Endowment is comprised of the signs, tokens, and keywords. President Brigham Young stated of the Endowment:
"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."
Everything else is presentation. I envision a day when the presentation of the endowment will need to be shortened to the bare essentials during the Millennium. If only the Endowment alone were given, it would take around 20 minutes or less.
As to the supposed “blood oaths,” that isn't what they were. They were symbolic penalties expressive of ways you rather would die than to divulge what you learned. They were part of the presentation of the endowment prior to April 1990. Those were the most favorite parts of filmographers who liked to reenact the temple ceremonies for public audiences. But it was felt that they were unnecessary for more modern temple attendees so they were removed so as to boost temple attendance. I miss them and wish they still were there in the ceremony but their presence or lack thereof does not affect my or anyone else’s exaltation one way or the other.
Did God get it wrong the first time? No. Nor is he wrong now."
Once again, while reading this answer, I have to ask: Why would Jesus want anything hidden? Why hide "your light under a bushel"? Are we supposed to believe that these "sentinel angels" are so stupid that they could be fooled by a frikkin' secret handshake!?