Why the temple ceremony was changed in 1990 - LDS-Mormon

Mormonism and the LDS Church ^ | unknown | anonymous

[delacoert]

Background surrounding the 1990 changes to the Mormon temple ceremony

As noted on page 218 of their recent book Mormon America, Richard and Joan Ostling point out that the main source of Mormon converts comes from people already familiar with some sort of Christian background or belief system:

"Mormonism succeeds by building on a preexisting Christian culture and by being seen as an add-on, drawing converts through a form of syncretism. Mormonism flourishes best in settings with some prior Christianization."

Syncretism means "the combination of different forms of belief or practice" and also "to unite and harmonize especially without critical examination or logical unity."

Since most Mormon converts in the 1970's and 1980's were coming from a Christian background, it was becoming apparent to LDS leaders in the 1980's that ridiculing the Protestant minister in the temple film was offensive to many new converts. There were even some reports of converts attending the temple once, and vowing to never return -- sometimes even refusing to return to any LDS meetings.

In 1987, David John Buerger (an active but liberal Mormon), published an article in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, a liberal Mormon publication which is not controlled by the LDS church. In the article, Buerger suggested that LDS church leaders needed to seriously consider making changes in the temple endowment ceremony to counter declining rates of attendance.

Although possibly just a coincidence, the Mormon Church issued a survey to about 3,400 members in Canada and the U.S. to determine members' opinions concerning temple work and various other topics only a few months after the 1987 Buerger article.

Soon after the 1988 survey, plans were underway to change the endowment ceremony again (the ceremony had been modified many times since its introduction in Nauvoo, Illinois in the early 1840's). In 1990, the revised ceremony became effective, and the Protestant minister was eliminated from the film.

Some of the key changes were:
1. Protestant minister paid by Lucifer to preach false doctrine was eliminated.
2. All penalties (and gestures like throat slashing, chest slashing and bowel slashing) were eliminated.
3. Women's promise to be obedient to husbands was modified.
4. The intimate position at the veil (foot to foot, knee to knee, breast to breast, hand on shoulder and mouth to ear) was eliminated.
5. The strange words "Pay Lay Ale" (meaning "Oh God hear the words of my mouth") were eliminated.

Without question, most faithful Mormons would stand firm in their faith that any decision to change temple ceremonies would have to come by direct revelation from God. It's likely that few LDS members are even aware of the 1987 Dialogue article or the 1988 survey. Many endowed members first attended the temple after 1990 and have no idea about the old version of the ceremony. I've even heard reliable reports of members refusing to believe that older versions included the ridicule of a Protestant minister and bloody oaths. Of course, these people would avoid any information about older versions of the ceremonies in books or on the internet.

Critics and skeptical members might speculate that the 1987 article was one catalyst for the 1988 survey which was a catalyst for the 1990 changes. It's probable that the survey results indicated that a significant number of people were offended by various parts of the ceremony. In particular, many converts with a Christian background were highly offended by the part of the minister accepting employment from Satan ("Lucifer"), not to mention the bloody oaths and other things.

 

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Quotes from David John Buerger's 1987 article:

Buerger acknowledged that there were "strong indications that Joseph Smith drew on the Masonic rites in shaping the temple endowment, and specifically borrowed the tokens, signs, and penalties."

"The number of operating temples has increased dramatically... An analysis of ordinance data, however, suggests that rates of temple work have remained relatively constant over the last fifteen years.... Members of my own stake made 2,671 visits to the Oakland Temple in 1985, versus 3,340 visits in 1984 - a 20 percent drop in activity.... Without comparing the policies of stakes in other temple districts, it is impossible to say how characteristic my stake might be."

"These declining rates suggest that many Latter-day Saints apparently do not participate extensively in either vicarious or living endowments. The need for reevaluation can at least be discussed. As the history of the endowment shows, specific content and procedural alterations were made in 1845, 1877, 1883, 1893, 1919-27, the early 1960s, and 1968-72…"

"The feelings contemporary Saints have for the temple certainly merit a careful quantitative analysis by professional social scientists. I have heard a number of themes from people who feel discomfort in one degree or another with elements of the temple ceremony.... Probably in no other settings except college organizations, with their attendant associations of youthfulness and possibly immaturity, do most Mormons encounter 'secret' ceremonies with code handshakes, clothing that has particular significance, and, perhaps most disturbing to some, the implied violence of the penalties. Various individuals have commented on their difficulty in seeing these elements as 'religious' or 'inspirational,' originating in the desires of a loving Father for his children.... some are also uncomfortable at the portrayal of a Christian minister as the hireling of Satan..."

"Sixth, the endowment ceremony still depicts women as subservient to men, not as equals in relating to God. For example, women covenant to obey their husbands in righteousness, while he is the one who acts as intermediary to God... Some find the temple irrelevant to the deeper currents of their Christian service and worship of God. Some admit to boredom. Others describe their motivations for continued and regular temple attendance as feelings of hope and patience - the faith that by continuing to participate they will develop more positive feelings... Often they feel unworthy or guilty because of these feelings since the temple is so unanimously presented as the pinnacle of spiritual experience for sincere Latter-day Saints.... The endowment has changed a great deal in response to community needs over time. Obviously it has the capability of changing still further if the need arises.... From a strictly functional perspective, the amount of time required to complete a vicarious endowment seems excessive." (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Winter 1987)

 

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Survey of Adult Members in the United States and Canada

Instructions: "...we have developed this survey to help us understand your thoughts, feelings, and experiences relating to temple and genealogy activities.... along with you, approximately 3,400 other members in the United States and Canada are being asked to participate in this project.... We hope that you will feel you can be candid and open in your answers.... what you write will be anonymous. We will not be able to associate your name with the questionnaire you complete…This survey should be returned in the mail by March 30th, 1988…"

Survey question 28:
For a person who had been through the endowment ritual, "did you feel spiritually uplifted by the experience?" and "was the experience unpleasant?" and "were you confused by what happened?"

Survey question 29:
"Briefly describe how you felt after receiving your own endowment."

Survey question 37-k:
"Did you find it hard to go to the temple?"

Survey question 39-b:
"have you ever fallen asleep during sessions?"

Survey questions 70-a and 70-b:
"Do you believe the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a prophet of God?"
"Do you believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the earth?"

Survey question 77-g:
"Do you have any doubts about specific LDS doctrines and teachings?"

A page at the end of the Survey was left blank in case the person had "any additional things to write about your feelings or activities in temple or genealogical work..."

[reaganaut]

(raising right arm to the square) AYE!!

[reaganaut]

Yes.

[reaganaut]

Ping to #20. Worth a read at the link.

[greyfoxx39]

The mormon church wouldn't send out a survey NOW! Especially one asking if a member had any doubts!

In any case, members are presently so well-trained that instead of asking for members' opinions, this kind of message is sent out.

"The church has made the decision that ALL the cleaning responsibilities will be done by members of the church". This is necessary to "fell the Spirit in abundance."

[colorcountry]

Oh my, they are sooooo blessed to feel the Spirit in abundance.

But that brings to mind a question....are they feeling the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost?

[delacoert]

Thanks for that ping to #20.

That link is eye-opening to say the least.

[Vendome]

Thanks for pinging me. I forgot to read this thread and it’s important.

[greyfoxx39]

Fell should be “feel”...but on second thought, “Felling the Spirit” works too.

[Vendome]

What kind of effluence is that?

I go the lds-mormon page and get a pop up?

[MarkBsnr]

"The church has made the decision that ALL the cleaning responsibilities will be done by members of the church". This is necessary to "[feel] the Spirit in abundance."

Does this mean that there are now keg parties during church cleaning?

[MHGinTN]

I read it ... feel like I need a shower!

[delacoert]

I apologize if it's an unsafe webpage. I just followed the links again after reading your warning and go right to the article withou pop-up or warning so I don't know wat's going on.

Again, I am sorry if it's not a safe link.

[reaganaut]

I lived in Utah at the time this came out. It was topic of newscasts every night for quite awhile. Even the state got involved in the investigation.

It is also the first time we heard publicly about the ‘strengthening the members committee’.

Eye opening is a bit of an understatement for some of us.

[Vendome]

Oh! No problem. I haven’t read the article yet but thought it was part of the LDS and thought it weird. LOL

Thank you again for pinging me.

[Vendome]

And the link is safe, don’t worry.

[caww]

In what way are they using to hide this?

From the readings here it remains absolutely amazing Mormon leadership spends more time covering “hiding” what is done and what they plan to do then letting their own memebership know what is going on and why. But then they do have much to hide which would never be acceptable to people if they were told from the beginning.

[caww]

Thanks for the ping...

[Godzilla]

absolutely creepy

[caww]

Having an understanding of ritual abuse I found the Glen pace Memo is pretty much accurate in regards to the dissociation issue...... Many occult members go thru a “desensitization” to the natural fear and discomfort they experience in the rituals performed though are not aware it is desensitization because it's presented from the perspective that to “gain” what is ahead for them they must “push past the fear”. They are pre-programmed to believe their “fear” is the problem.

What new members rarely understand is that the fear they experience is an inner warning designed by God within us and should not be pushed past..rather heeded that what they are doing or about to do is wrong and most often dangerous to their very soul.

In Mormonism the person is very slowly mislead...inf fact just as in the occults they are told to decide for themselves...read for themselves, (of course it's Mormon literature, same as the occults offer their literature to initiates), the patterns used by Mormonism are the same to entice and deceive the initiate. Who unfortunately has already been encouraged to get in touch with “feeling” they have them convinced need to be expressed. Same with occults...they lock on to the “feeling” aspects.

I could go on about the similarities...but the dissociative aspect does occur as one goes thru the rituals...that includes those who go thru the Freemasonry Rituals. Most experience some pretty strong negatives about what they are doing and what is being done to them as they go thru the rites. ..but most also have an inner debate that they can “get thru this” to the other side and just get the membership they desire. Further they know others have gone thru these as well, and since a predominately male organization it isn't very macho to resist or show that discomfort in the presence of powerful men in society.

We are designed with the ability to disassociate...it is Gods way of helping us get thru trama and traumatic experiences and why people can't remember well the details. Be it a car accident or enduring war camps. The human psychic can only handle so much and when that is reached,( and varies for individuals), the mind will indeed “leave” the situation.

[caww]

I actually had an opportunity to work as an assistant to a young woman who had gone thru childhood satanic ritual abuse from the time she was three years old. Later her parents renounced satanic worship and went the other extreme in a extreme Charismatic Church...where if the child even sneezed they attempted to cast out demons in her.
It was no wonder this young woman eventually burned down her parents home! No one could imagine the confusion in this kids head.

God works in very real ways and I spent hours and hours with her. What she went thru would curl any ones hair. There was so much fed her she trusted no one at all. But in time her defenses came down and on her own she went to a local church by herself and gave her live to Christ...You cannot imagine the joy when she shared this and she knew the Love and forgiveness of Christ. Breath taking moment to be sure.