I'm one of those lifelong members who always loathed going to the temple. Yes a few times i felt like i was closer to God but with more attendance i started to dislike it more and more and felt like i was in a cult. Especially the chanting in the prayer circle.
My ward was regularly pushing temple night once a month and many younger couples were regularly going and making it date night. My wife got caught up in this and wanted to go a lot. I did not, but what can you do? Happy wife, happy life i guess, so i went without having any real desire. I'd much rather go on an actual date with my wife then spend 2.5 hours at the temple.
Please comment your approximate age and gender and indicate if you loathed temple attendance. My guess is a lot of people feel this way but are not inclined to share it.
For example, in 2010 I asked my parents to watch our children for the day so my wife and I could celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. My parents said yes, but the condition was that we would have to attend the temple that day. I told them not to bother watching the children if they attached this condition. My parents eventually conceded, so we spent the day at Kings Island in Ohio. It was time well spent versus a day in the Louisville temple. Is celebrating a wedding anniversary to be wasted on the dead?
We were fully active members for 16 years of our marriage but only attended the temple three times, although we always had a temple recommend.
That's how much I loathed it. Once the barcodes were printed on the back of the temple recommend, I was turned off toward temple attendance. I knew they were keeping track of attendance for important callings.
Hated it. Didn't grin and bear it. Wouldn't go. I think my total is 11 or 12 times and that includes 8 weeks in the MTC where you're supposed to go weekly. I didn't go weekly there either. 1 for my endowments, 1 for my marriage. So yeah. The temple sucked.
All I could think of was that it was ridiculous and stupid and is this really what all the fuss was about? I wanted to laugh out loud at the clown costumes and the tieing and retieing of this and that with everyone so concerned that they were doing it right.
This is really what the most spiritual experience in the church was?
I thought it so very strange the first time, it was very disturbing. I think it became easier after but still didn't care to go. All the crazy chanting, tying this and that, whispering at the veil.....so creepy....
Other than the first time, where I really felt like I was becoming part of something bigger, I have always felt it was weird. Two years ago my wife told me she had always hated going to the temple too.
for those who tolerated it due to family/social pressure, it's a 'Sure Sign' of how intimidating the MoCult actually is, 'and they're loving it'....
O Yeah, that's about all the 'love' there is in MoCulture, it doesn't include Honesty, Kindnehss or things Buddhists, Muslims, Shinto, Sikhs, Baptists, Mennonites, Catholics, Hindu...
Well, U have the picture; I think ALL those followers have surpassed LDS, Inc. in Christ-Like love, regardless of what they call it, who it's named after, etc.
yorkie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Always makes me laugh when I hear of couples going > to the temple for date night.....You don't even > get to sit together!
As a neverMo, this blows my mind. I know some pretty devout Catholics, and I can't imagine any of them choosing to, say, attend Mass as part of a romantic excursion.
I can't imagine people of any other faith doing that, either: "Hey honey, my mom says she'll watch the kids for a few hours! Let's get to the church/synagogue/mosque...as a bonus, we won't even get to sit together!"
I went the first time. Then, oh, a dozen times or so while at the MTC.
Then one last time, sneaking into the SLC temple without a recommend for my brother's wedding.
No temple on my mission (thank Elohim there were, back then, no temples in the France-Paris mission they could drag us to!).
I didn't always smile, though.
About the fourth time we went from the MTC, we got up early, and our big group gathered to walk up the hill. I complained out loud that I'd much rather be back in bed. A couple of others agreed. One guy chimed in, "...or learning French!" And somewhere from the back of the pack, "...or anything else!"
Then we let our moment of rebellion pass, we bowed our heads, and marched up the hill to put on our silly robes and hats...
I went 4 or 5 times total. I had 2 temple recommends. I hated it. I was going to be a really good temple attender. That is how I felt all my life, but it became even more important when I was trying to save my husband. Never had a positive experience. The prayer circle the first time was horrible. The old bitchy women were always nitpicking me and everyone else. My bow on my sash wasn't perfect. My robe was "inside-out." Now tell me how they knew!!
My husband was ex.sec. and I just recently found out that the bishopric had a temple night once a month. I didn't realize it was that often!!!!! I never went to bishopric temple night. He said he made up some excuse for me.
I got a new recommend and went one last time just after 1990 as my husband wanted me to see the new movie, etc., and they pulled me aside to do sealings with a total stranger. That was the last straw. I sat in the foyer waiting for my husband to finish the endowment session and thought about things. Never went back. Never got to sit down in the CR. I always thought if I could meditate in the CR, I'd find answers for my life. So much for that.
The temple was one of the biggest disappointments of my life, if not the biggest disappointment. I guess the end of my marriage was the biggest disappointment. Oh well.
My super special name is Lucy. Still find that extremely funny.
My husband and I were converts and were sealed in early 1970s. We flew from Nashville to Los Angeles as there were few temples back then. It was a big production as we had 2 children and no one we knew in LA. It was a long trip just to get naked and pretend to slit your throat. Silly us,we thought once was all we had to go. As time passed more temples and more pressure to attend. I went maybe a dozen times in several different temples. I hated every second. I have always had low hearing so all that whispering at the end was torture for me.
I went through for my own endowments, and also my two brothers when they went on missions. I also went three or four times with my neighbor and her husband. So that's approximately 6-7 times in the twelve years I had a recommend. My husband, on the other hand, only went once, which was when he took out his endowments. He felt silly wearing the hat and robes. I don't blame him. I couldn't stand them either. I don't think most people enjoy going to the temple, especially men. I think that's why they have ward temple nights once a month, so they can keep the temples busy. Otherwise, they probably wouldn't get much use.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2018 04:18PM by primarypianist.
I was given the impression that the temple endowment would be some sort of transcendent experience that included some kind of divine manifestation. AFter what really happened, I am SICK knowing that I still went on a FOOL time MORmON mission to sell that literally unmentionable crap for LD$ inc, instead of telling my MORmON parents that I was utterly appalled over what had happened in the MORmON temple and then refusing to go on a mission over it. SICK! SICK!! SICK!!!
Boy, what a let down! I thought my super secret special name was going to be straight from God. I looked forward to it for years and years. It was one of the reasons I wanted to go through. I don't think Lucy was from God. My name is Colleen in real life. I'm not sure I ever really liked the name, but my parents did a much better job of giving me a name than God did.
I never liked it. I thought it was bizarre and anything but uplifting. I think I went a total of five times in 23 years before I left the church.
When they started barcoding recommends and obviously keeping track of temple attendance, my TBM husband started giving me flak about never going. He had a calling at the time where he went to bishopric meetings and they discussed a list of people who didn't go to the temple. It was embarrassing for him that I was on the list. Although I never followed through, I devised a plan to go to the temple just to have the barcode on my recommend scanned and then leave. I came to my senses about the church before I wasted my time doing that.
I went fairly often, mostly because during all the years I had young, noisy children, it was one of the few places I could go (without kids in tow!) that was clean, quiet, and fairly nice-looking.
So boring and silly, though! I constantly struggled to stay awake and to not laugh at the ridiculousness of the strange clothing, the ritual futzing around with said clothing during the endowment, and weirdness at the veil. However, being able to zone out in the celestial room (while pretending to be in deep prayer) for a few minutes was worth it.
Driving 2 days and over a thousand miles to be dunked a thousand times for useless invisible dead people's names ruins quite a WOULD-BE 'vacation', as well as passes for, or is the excuse for (the drive/ trip) one.
They should pay for that. I NEVER SAW PAST THE OXEN Tank.
Thank God (for inactivity, knowledge, wisdom, learning, excommunication, resignation, apostasy/ truth [whatever])... I didn't do temples after teenager or as adult. I (felt) [thought] {prayed} knew it was a cult.
I have always seen LDSCultURE-mormonSOME-temples as opulence. Idol worship. A money drain. A [stupid] brain game (where you ALWAYS loose). A buzz kill. A facade.
I did baptisms for the dead as a teen. Hated that because it was pervy having old men dunk you and your clothing becoming invisible.
I got sealed on my first wedding anniversary. That's the first time I heard the penalties and mimed my own gruesome death. I was appalled and angry that I was manipulated like that and felt it was anything but spiritual.
I went one time after that in over a decade of remaining a member.
It was my wedding day when I went for the first time many Years ago. It was horrible and I hated every minute. I was told I should have gone before my wedding,however, if I had I would never have gone back.
I don’t know why I stayed as long as I did. I could never figure Out which was worse, that experience or the unspeakable arrogance Of some of the members (especially those in leadership Positions)
To this day I have PTSD whenever I drive past any Mormon temple
I'm going to be the odd duck here and admit I loved it.
Got my endowments in the late 90s at the DC temple which was a few hour drive for me. So when I moved to Utah for a while, I took every chance I could get to go. I mean, back east, you don't have a temple on every street corner, so why not take advantage, nawmean?
It was such a drug. The buzz wore off, though, and I left the cult a few years later.
I thought it was boring for the most part. The creation story was too damn long. Fortunately I only had to go through three times prior to my missionary experience. There were no temples in the Dakotas so I got a two year break. Post mission, to make it interesting, I memorized the lines at the veil as quickly as I could to make it more of a challenge. At BYU the counsel from BKP was to attend the temple no more than once a month so as not to detract from studying so we could pay more tithing. That was fine as I didn’t even attend that much.
One part I liked was the Satan and the minister section in the film version. The minister was played by my ward’s high councilman. I always laughed when Satan asked Adam if he had any money...don’t know why...just found it funny.
I hated it!!! I never felt comfortable and thankfully my husband was never big on going. We would joke about how we never knew how long we should stay in the celestial room. He always wanted to immediately walk out, but I would sit for a few minutes cause I felt it would get people's attention if we just walked out.