The other night I was listening to Coast to Coast radio and George Noory had a guest by the name of Peter Levenda who talked a bit about the "occult origins" of Mormonism. I fell in and out of sleep during the interview so I missed most of it, but I was awake for the Q&A call-in part. Toward the end there was a sweet female voice on the phone that I immediately identified as Mormon. I suspected it even more as she right-off-the-bat protested that Mormonism was not "a cult" like the guest was saying. Noory interrupted her and explained the difference between "a cult" and "occult". Then she went on to confirm my suspision by explaining that what goes on inside the temples is not secret -- just sacred......

When it was the guest's turn to respond to her he basically said, "Well, I am sure that to you and other Mormons it is very sacred and I am not trying to belittle that. But to those who are not allowed to witness the proceedings -- unlike virtually every other religion -- it is VERY secret."

I am paraphrasing a bit, but he really did shut her down - but with grace and deftness. Nahhh, lady -- when other people can't know what is going on, then it is SECRET!

It was a nice moment.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2012 11:57PM by Laban's Head.

When the usenet newsgroup soc.religion.mormon was proposed the
charter had the provision that anything that was in the temple
ceremony or had been in the temple ceremony would not be
allowed to be discussed. Someone rightly pointed out that this
would be the first time in the history of usenet (on the order
of 10,000 groups) that something ON TOPIC was not allowed to be
discussed.

It's one thing to forbid profanity, spam or name-calling, but
to forbid a discussion of a core aspect of Mormonism in a group
that is supposed to discuss Mormonism is mind-boggling.

Often Mormons will say silly things like, "we don't expose the
secret ceremonies of other religions." What other religions
have secret ceremonies like the Endowment? Please name one
other religion which has a part of its core worship ceremonies
that are not allowed to be quoted even by the membership
outside of the ceremony itself.

Mormonism stands out from all other religions in that a
fundamental, core part of its worship services are forbidden
even to many of its own members. How many other Churches do
not allow someone's younger siblings to attend their wedding?

And then to say "it's not secret" shows how much in denial
these people are.

I remember when I was in YW that this phrse would get used a lot. The women would read it out the manuel, from some quote, then repeat it to themselves nodding. They would repeat it to eachother and nod like they all understood some secre- I mean, sacred message that only Mormons could understand.

I remember thinking how crazy they all looked and the only word that came to mind was "brain washed cultists". For gods sake, they just read a quote out of a manuel and swallowed it whole, adopting it into their own belief systems without a backward glance or relization that it made absolutely no sense.

Anything can be "sacred" yet not "secret", such as cemetery's, public mueseums, ancient holy grounds, various temples and churches around the world of all different religions, etc. Its ridiculous that just because something is considered "sacred" to someone it has to be absolutely hidden from everyone else who isn't "worthy". I guess that means they wouldnt relize the sacredness of it and therefore not treat it with the amount of "reverence" it deserves or something. :P

However, the level of "sacredness" is personal and depends on the viewpoint on the individual. The Mormon temple/ritual IS secret because they are withheld from everyone who doesn't meet their set "standards". It is a cult because the only way they can maintain that feeling of specialness is to make access to their sacred secrets exclusive. You make a profit off of it by charging this exclusive access to eternal salvation for the small price of 10% of all the deluded's incomes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2012 01:03AM by missguided.

Unless I totally misunderstood all of my years of being a female teenager and being told "a secret, and not to tell or we won't be friends anymore..."


In the temple you make a promise not to reveal what goes on, your given name, the rituals, or to show anyone garments, or temple clothes, unless you be punished....

This, is the definition of a secret.. I was actually SO scared of the threat of telling, I didn't tell anyone my temple name, or "say it aloud" until YEARS after I was atheist... it was that powerfully engrained in my psyche.

Mormons are so delusional. Renaming it doesn't make it better... it just shows how much more crazy you are...

"This is a TREE!"

"That's a rock..."

"No, it's a TREE that just looks like a rock."

"Let me know when you get that fire going with your tree rock..."



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2012 01:07AM by intjsegry.

I shall now lift my skirt... My name is Moses.

That is funny. Belly-laugh funny.

"Let me know when you get that fire going with your tree rock"

But I suppose, given past Mormon history, that some Heartsell tm Mormon church dude, paid by the church to use that LDS method of selling their BS, is going to turn that around and say. "Does it matter if it is called a tree or a rock, if it lights the fire you wanted?"

Our bishop told us the other night that it doesn't matter to him how the BOM was translated, just that it was. I asked, "What if it wasn't?" I wanted to know how one can take the church's word for something so vital to one's existence and happiness when they have been shown over and over to lie about many things. He had no answer to that.

Isn't taking the Sacrament a sacred ritual or Catholic Holy Communion a sacred ritual also.

What can be more sacred than that in Christian religions and yet neither are kept secret.

Yes Temple rituals are sacred to Mormons but they keep them 'secret'.