I mean besides the secret handshakes and passwords. When I was a TBM, I was always taught that the prophet learned something new everytime he went to the temple. So I would go and try to figure out what I was missing. Mostly I just got frustrated and felt like a moron for not learning anything. Anyone else go through this

My mission president told me he'd been attending the temple for nearly 40 years, and he was confident that the most important message in the temple ceremony was that we must return and report.

I left the church before going through the temple, and this is something I haven't heard about. I *sort of* wish I had gone through just so I could know exactly what happens there.

Lol! That part was so boring, it was painful to watch

Is people standing up in priesthood meeting and saying, "I learn so much in the temple!" I'd say they're forcing a feeling. We all know that it's a hollow knock-off of a Masonic ceremony. We all know that its original purpose was to initiate people into polygamy and to have a secret organization to protect polygamists from scrutiny.

To keep cult secrets. Plain and simple.

Believe me, any similarity to the Masonic ritual which can be found in a Morg temple ceremony is purely coincidental. The only thing I can see which are vaguely Masonic are the secret handshakes, just the idea of having secret handshakes, not the handshakes, signs, & tokens that they profess are of God.

The Masonic story of the Jewes (Ju-ways), as told to me by my dad just before he died, & from what I've learned over the years in research, make up a much more coherent story line than that repetitive drivel to which one is subjected in a Morg temple. That constant return and report rubbish is tiresome.

Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.
Repetition is the key to learning.

Bobcat are you serious? Similarities between the masonic ceremony and the mormon temple ceremony are coincidental? There are plenty more similarities then just the handshakes...

You are either delusional or purposely trying to distort. (Are you a Mason?) The similarities are not vague at all but in many cases word for wor (certainly handshake-for-handhake) copies.

out

That's exactly what I was going to say. When I read the masonic/lds temple rituals side by side I was shocked at how similar they actually were.

It's easy to say you have learned a lot when you KNOW that you won't be given a test on it.

"I've learned so much going through the temple over the years."

"really, like what?"

"Oh, it's too sacred to talk about. But I have learned a lot, really."

Another part of claiming to have learned so much is that you KNOW others are not "learning" anything new so YOU will appear to have more spiritual insight and worthiness.

and that you aren't allowed to leave until you get the answers right.

I was so petrified by having been told this that when they got to that question-and-answer part, I realized, "this must be it," and I laser-focused on the responses. When I got up to the curtain, the old geezer saw that I was a first-timer and he droned, "Repeat after me. . ." I was so hyper with anxiety that I cut him off and said, "No. Let me do this. I can do it." He said that first-timers aren't allowed to "try" on their own, they are only allowed to repeat. This made me angry because I was sure I had the answers down pat and I wanted to be allowed to show him.

A friend who had come with me touched my arm and whispered, "You aren't supposed to argue with the temple workers! Just do what he says!"

Years later, I would laugh about this over a glass of wine with the mish who had told me this whopper. But it wasn't funny at the time. I had been scared to death about the "test," and then when I was ready to go for it, they wouldn't let me!

You probably figured from the "glass of wine" reference that both of us have now left the church.

baura, you said that well. Everything you stated is so true.

You're supposed to learn how to lie and keep a secret, didn't you know?

Seriously though, I never could figure it out either. My mom repeats the dribble that "the temple is where we go to learn about Christ". Yeeeaaaah, what a bunch of hooey. I guess people pick up a lot about the atonement from his cameo in the endowment movie, right? (cough cough) She also says that there's nothing in the endowment that isn't in the scriptures. Like where in the scriptures, Mom? She must have a different set than I did. (rolls eyes) And/Or they must have skipped those parts when I was in seminary......

I was told I would better understand who I was and what God's plan was. I imagined I would be taught the finer mechanics of the atonement, or maybe be given some insight regarding life in the celestial kingdom.

Of course, the atonement isn't mentioned, and Christ plays a bit part in the whole mess.

I, too, felt very frustrated and humiliated that I had learned nothing from the endowment session, even after 7 weekly visits at the MTC (surely the most spiritual place on earth!). I thought I had truly "prepared" myself. How could some of the people who I went with, who seemed to take things so lightly, come out saying what a spiritual experience it was?

(Embarrassing confession: I believed that me being the last to get everything tied up and in its proper place somehow reflected on my spiritual worthiness. Is it apron first, cummerbund, and then robe? If I were worthy, this would all come naturally. Like God cares if you can tie a fluffy knot with a sash . . . )

Looking back, I realize it doesn't matter what is "taught" in the temple, be it Masonic handshakes or a sneak peek at the Wizard of Oz (the lion, the tiger, the bear). What's important is that there is an "inner circle" with conditions you have to meet to obtain, an exclusive reward for showing your subservience to the church.

I had forgotten the part about how confusing all those layers of clothing are, and how they get shuffled around, but have to wind up just so, and how people look at you like you are dumb as a rock if you don't "get" it perfect right off the bat.

Just added to the stress of the "final exam" that I was certain still lay ahead.

It didn't occur to me until after I was outside the building to wonder why I felt frazzled rather than "spayshul" and enlightened. Of course, it had to be MY fault, no other explanation possible.

Yeah, I got that look A LOT. Until my wife started going. Then she got the mean looks. She may be the only one as slow as me! This is probably evidence that in the pre-mortal existence we promised to find each other so we could carry this burden of tardiness together.

And I never passed the quiz at the end without help. Once I thought I would finally get it, and this representative of Christ on the other side of the veil expressed (righteous?) anger at me since I kept adding the word "the" where it didn't belong. (That un-sacred article of the English language!) Another sign of my spiritual ineptitude, since I'm usually pretty good at memorizing stuff.

It is a ceremony for the initiate. It doesn't matter what the rituals are, they would all serve the same purpose: to give the inner circle members importance.

What we learn:

1. A bunch of people standing around an altar in white robes chanting pay lay ale is NOT cult like.

2. A Temple worker could kill a moose at 50 yards with their breath.

3. Joe and his buddies had a better idea when they got drunk in the Kirtland Temple.

4. Eve is hot!!!!

5. Eve is very, very hot!!!

6. Men can't just show up in the women's locker room and ask "would you like that washed or just annointed?"

7. When "the Lord" asks at the veil "what is that?", you can't reply "oh god I hope it's not what I think it is!!!"

8. No matter what you might have heard, the Foo Fighters are NOT the featured act in the Celestial Room.

9. Peter, James and John had very happy wives since they were always saying "we will go down".

10. Baptism for the dead=wet t-shirt contest.

Good stuff, jbryan!

You are supposed to learn the proper signs and tokens that will allow you to pass the sentinels which guard the kingdom of God. Yet nobody reminds you of them on your deathbed.

You are not supposed to learn that that means God is not omnipotent. Nor should you realize that if God was all powerful, you would not need handshakes to prove you belong there. Thus you learn that God is not omniscient.

In the end, what you learn is that the Melchizedek Priesthood is more powerful than God, but are you supposed to believe that?
I think so. After all, God got to be a god by being perfectly obedient, and holds the same priesthood that we do.

All things considered the temple has
to be the most obvious proof that
Joseph Smith was a con man.

When I first entered the temple I was
expecting a spiritual
experience. I did not get it.

I was told I would learn sacred things,

I learn nothing sacred but lots of weird handshakes and
funny temple clothes.

I dislike the celestial room becase the furniture are fashion, outdated and uncomfortable.

Overall the temple is ordinary and I learn nothing new from my trips there.

In fact it is one of the reasons why I left the church.

joho, what you said is the exact thing I told my convert daughter when she wrote me an email two days before going to the temple for the first time. I told her she would feel nothing spiritual,would learn secret handshakes, wear funny clothes, and not learn anything sacred. I KNOW she knew nothing before she went and I told her so she would not go there and be disappointed. But of course she most likely was -since others told her what a wonderful experience it would be. I also told her I was sorry she had to endure such a thing.

LDS people who attend the Temple know nothing about what it all means. That is why they never discuss the endowment inside or outside the Temple. The leaders don't have a clue either. Lucifer just loves strict obedience without any questions. Go figure!

For the first 11 years I was attending the temple, I learned how to slit my throat, rip my heart out & disembowel myself.

Slightly different ceremony... but they say the same thing, "every time I go, I learn something new"

My TBM mom always said this after a session at the temple. I always speculated that the temple workers gave different lessons or something along those lines. Little did I know, Mo's do the same ritual everytime. Now how in the world do you learn something new by repeating the same words everytime? Blows my mind.

it's cool to say you've learned something new every time you attended -- but of course, you can't talk about it.
Mostly, I learned to sleep, sitting up! :-)

My dad was a Mason as was my grandfather. Yes, there are many similarities & to anybody who knows about the Masonic rituals, it's obvious that JS used it as the model for the temple ritual, what with the aprons, handshakes, etc. What I meant in the earlier post was that the Masonic ritual is a great deal more interesting, IMO, than the repetitive drivel in a Morg temple. After years of temple attendance before I walked away from all that, after listening to my dad & attending grandpa's funeral which was conducted by his Masonic Lodge members, and after reading just about all of the recommended links found on the RFM board, it seems to me that the Masonic ritual has a much clearer story line & purpose than the promised enlightening knowledge one is supposed to receive in the Morg temple rituals.

I went through when the throat-slashing, etc., was part of the ceremony. I remember thinking at the time how similar it was to a scene from the movie Murder By Decree when Christopher Plummer acted out the slashed throat, ripped out heart, & disembowelment. Of course, by then, it was too late to leave the temple endowment session for me & all of it gave me much to contemplate for many years afterwards, basically, "What the Hell did I get myself into?"

The "we will go down," the "return & report," the bad acting & ridiculous makeup, the "lions & tigers, & bears, oh my," line, & the fact that I never learned anything other than I was bound by a blood oath to a church, has made me realize that the Masonic rituals at least stick to a storyline & isn't half as convoluted as the Morg temple ceremony.

I wasn't trying to spread misinformation nor am I delusional. Neither Dad nor Grandpa ever commented about Masonic initiates falling asleep during their ceremony, but I can sure remember that "Awake & arise" in the Morg temple ceremony was a cue for many male participants to stir themselves from their snoring.

How to hold your breath!

God the father has white hair, a white beard, a white robe and lives an incredible boring life with an identical looking grown son who won't leave the house.

Life seems to be giving orders and getting reports through a chain of idiotic middle men. Kolob seems to be a prison devoid of anything interesting just dealing with idiots all day.