I was out at a restaurant the other day with some nevermos and one of them said that they had been to the pre-dedication, non-LDS walk-through of the Los Angeles temple and said that they remember on the tour being shown “Consummation Rooms” in which after a couple had been married that they go and have intercourse for the first time, and that in the room was a one sided mirror on the other side of which, in another room, would sit a priesthood holder to confirm that the deed was indeed accomplished.

I was shocked at hearing this. Can anyone on the board here confirm that these consummation rooms actually existed?

That's just silly. They're either lying or mistaken.

If it were an FLDS temple that would be a different story...

The FLDS temple did have beds for in it for "consummation". Who knows what went down in the first ceremonies of old Joe and Briggy, the widest stuff in the temple is always being removed.

Yeah, agreed with kolobian. I think we would have heard about that. I was married in a temple, no such thing as a consumation room.

I have heard of suites within temples though, where sometimes couples can stay. But I've never heard anything about it being called a consummation room, or that they ask newly weds to consummate right then and there.

I was married in a temple, about a 2 hour drive from home. So after the photo session, I sped all the way home with my wife so I could lose my virginity as quickly as possible. A consummation room would have been awesome and prevented some blue balls.

I don't buy this. We here would know about it. And they wouldn't have shown it to outsiders in any case.

My guess is that your friends have conflated the FLDS temple bed that was in the news.

People love to spread crazy rumors just to see how many people will believe the absolute nonsense! This falls in that category.

This gentleman I spoke with was quite old, and looking up temple information, the Los Angeles temple opened over 50 years ago in 1956. Hopefully, someone who knows about this particular temple or was around then might confirm the existence of this room or this practice.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2013 11:40AM by olympia.

This would never, ever occur in an LDS temple. It is not, not, not part of their Covenants.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2013 04:54PM by Susan I/S.

This is the kind of thing mormons point at and say, "see? See how they lie about us? Don't listen to those anti-mormons. They'll tell any lie to lead us astray."

Your "quite old" friend isn't doing anyone any favors with these kinds of silly claims.

Urban legend

If'in I were a bett'in man, I'd bet ol Joe had a consummation room in the Kirtland and Navauvo temples.

Oh, I'd say ol' Joe did his consummatin' jest 'bout anywhere which was handy...

The funny thing is...the *other* things that occur in the temples (and used to go on, such as blood oaths) are just as wacky & unbelievable!

No, he's referring to a "sealing" room. The mirror is part of the ceremony, and there are two of them on opposite walls. They pull the curtains across the mirror and use this symbolism to show that the "sealing" (marriage) is eternal.

There has been some talk of consummation in the Nauvoo temple that may have gone on in the 1840s, but in the LA temple in the 1950s? No way.

There are rumors that some "inappropriate" behavior may have taken place in the early temple, around the time of Joseph Smith in the Navou temple, possibly with Brigham Young in the Salt Lake temple, but I've never heard of anything like this in modern times (the last 100 years).

It's possible that they misheard "consecration", thought they heard "consummation" and filled in the blanks themselves, maybe they embellished with the mirrors from the sealing rooms and made some baseless assumptions.

If this had ever really happened in "modern times", there would be a lot more information out there.

For historical perspective for the hi-jinks in the early temples, Steve Benson posted the information below and it was turned into an archived article:

http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon525.htm

The church does enough bad stuff, we don't need to make up things to try and make it worse, that only damages our credibility.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2013 11:54AM by Finally Free!.

and I respond that I doubt it, at least in the big SLC version of mormonism I was a part of. I think the people asking are disappointed, and/or not wanting to believe me. I don't argue too much, considering Nauvoo and early Utah. Who knows....

I heard that 'rumor' when I was a kid back in the early 80s.
Of course it was by non-mormons.

Although it was 29 years ago, I don't remember a consummation room. I was such a TBM at the time, I actually held off consummating our marriage until we said our vows. I tried to do things right. I will admit, I was no virgin, but I was brainwashed at that point. My 'ex's' marriage and I was consummated at a place called the Pelican Inn in Marin County, a nice place near Muir Beach right on the ocean. Your 'sources' were making up the whole thing, probably to fit their 'world view.'

On a side note, when the temple in Folsom, CA, was open to visitors, several friends from my church that knew my background, wanted me to give them a 'guided tour' I figured that would be just too painful, I told them so and I declined. I could care less if a new temple was being built any more than a new strip club or a ceramic shop.

I disagree with you on one small point. A new strip shop is far more exciting then a Mormon temple. Even if you don't go to one, the firestorm that always accompanies them in the media is fun to watch. Plus at some point, there is going to be some major scandal where a local prominent personality gets caught on film walking out of a club. Strip clubs are way more fun for everyone.

When you make everything secret, I mean sacred, that is weird and possibly embarrassing, you just open yourself up to even more ridicule and rumor that assumed to be far worse then what really goes on. Mormons are embarrassed about their little bakers hats and game of spiritual hokie-pokie (I'm stealing this term from another poster).

They should feel embarrassed, because the whole thing is really stupid and embarrassing. It's what happens when a bunch of hicks steal someone else's sacred ceremony, hick it all up, then hick it all up some more, because they are too cheap to regularly provide clothing that actually appears somber, but instead go for the cheapest laziest costume they can find instead. I mean Mormons basically dress up looking like kids who are wearing their mother's sheets wrapped around them.

Problem is, by trying to hide how ridiculous and ugly their temple ritual is, they leave a really big blank check for the imaginations of the rest of the world, which are generally more creative and imaginative then their supposedly inspired leaders.

Perhaps the very old time mormon temples had it too. I know they had giant copper communal tubs for nude washing and anointing.

Some of the things I have heard from nevermos, that they think goes on inside the temple.

-Rituals involving sex, this is super common.
-Baptizing of actual corpses, this isn't as common as Mormons try to believe when defending baptisms for the dead, but it is the reason they think everyone is upset.
-Rituals involving hallucinatic drugs, though a lot of us would still go if this were true.
-animal sacrifice
-human sacrifice, but this was a single loan crazy person who had heard about blood oaths and misunderstood them.
-ceremonies involving actual blood, again probably a misunderstanding of blood oaths.
-ceremonies involving nakedness.

All of this and more people commonly associate with Mormons, because Mormons are embarrassed about playing dress up. If they would let non-Mormons attend marriage ceremonies, even in limited numbers, ninety percent of these would disappear.

When I went Thu the washing and anointing was done almost naked with just a little poncho to wear. And there was naked touching when they blessed your loins. This was in the 80's



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2013 12:48PM by Demon of Kolob.

Thanks for educating them.

This was still the case when I went through in '91.

I had no warning, no information ahead of time that I would be standing, all but naked with a complete stranger who would touch me in various locations. I just kept telling myself that I was in the temple, and my parents obviously wanted me to do this, so it must be "OK". I was 18 and scared.

I understand that today, things are changed and you can have at least your garments on and they just touch your forehead... I'm glad it's changed, but it's also telling since these ceremonies are supposedly "unchanging" and have been the same as when Adam did them... So, why didn't God realize that people would be uncomfortable with naked touching...

Yep it's like a regular priesthood blessing now. They wipe the water across your forehead and then put their hands on your head just like a regular blessing. With the oil they just put a drop on your head like anointing in a regular blessing.

I recall hearing that there was a room or two at some temples for someone to lie down if they felt faint or were ill until they could go home, and I recall that being misconstrued as a consummation room in certain discussions. Nothing was said about mirrors and anyone watching. This occurred just after the Texas raid and that bed in their temple, so there was quite a bit of discussion about this.

For the temple go-ers, are there "sick rooms" in temples?

With Joseph dead and Brigham in charge, the Nauvoo Temple was a busy place with people receiving their washings, annointings, endowments and sealings for the first time.

There were many who had already received those ordinances who continued to hang around the Temple uninvited and added confusion to an already hectic situation.

Finally Brigham had enough. He shut down the Temple for a couple days to reorganize and call specific people to officiate and take steps to regulate who belonged in the Temple.

From Heber C. Kimballs diary:

“There was a necessity for a reformation of this sort. For some men were doing things which ought not to be done in the Temple of the Lord. Some three or four men & perhaps more, had introduced women into the Temple, not their wives, and were living in the side rooms, cooking, sleeping, tending babies and toying with their women…”
William Clayton, Diary kept for Heber C. Kimball Friday, December 26, 1845

There is always speculation about “getting to know” your spouse in the temple as part of the early Endowment. It is still speculation, but for a while the Nauvoo Temple was a wild and crazy place.

MYTH: BUSTED

No, there are no "consummations" in the temple, no rooms for that, no suggestion of that.

I was a regular temple-goer for 20 years.

James Talmadge is said to have lived in the Salt Lake temple while finishing his book, Jesus the Christ. Obviously their must have been a bedroom provided.

AnnointedOne told that there are overnight guest quarters associated with the Preston temple in the UK. It was offered to him to stay there when he had his second annointing. I believe he said that it is also offered to newlyweds who travel long distance to take out their endowment as well as their sealing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2013 03:46PM by Devoted Exmo.

The Tokyo temple has some living quarters too, for temple missionaries (senior missionary couples called to work in the temple, not doing normal missionary work).