Posted by:
exminion
(
)
Date: April 09, 2019 11:52AM
I think saying nothing is the best way to stay neutral. Like, when you see a movie, and I want my daughter to see the same movie, I don't tell her anything about the plot, because I want her to be surprised, and form her own opinions about the movie.
Likewise, I obeyed the Mormon orders, and said nothing to her about the temple. I had to endure paying tithing and attending church for 5 months, to see her married. She wanted me to go through with her for the first time. I hadn't been in years, and we always took the longest with the switching around of the robes, sashes, aprons, veils, etc, with the rest of the audience sitting there waiting for us to finish. Throughout, I remained steadfast, calm, and silent. We never talked about it afterwards, either. After her wedding ceremony--and too much time spent photographing the temple with everybody posed in front of it--was over, and we were back in the sweaty, crowded "Brides' Room" locker room, rushing like crazy to get to the reception on time, she started to cry, and she said, "This is not what I imagined my wedding to be like."
I was glad I had not forced my opinion onto her. I only reassured her that her "Real Wedding" was yet to happen. We were going to enjoy the reception of her dreams, just as she had planned it, with all of her family and friends, and everyone was going to have a great time. It was wonderful, and so was the honeymoon. They never went to the temple again, and that was 15 years ago. They're still active Mormons, but my daughter does not wear the underwear.
Bednar is right that if parents want their kids to go to the temple, they should talk it up, make it seem less creepy, and "sell it" to the kids. However, I doubt if that would do much good. Why not threaten and bully the kids, instead? Yeah, tell the kids that if they don't go to the temple, in the hereafter they will have a "meager roof" over their heads, be separated from their families, or be in outer darkness! Try that! Oh, the Mormons have tried that for years. Nelson isn't trying anything new.
Oh yeah, it is definitely the temple itself and its secret-combination rituals for the Dead, the nakedness, the dressing and undressing, the whispers, the creepy oaths, symbols, hand-shakes, chanting, separation of men and women, the silly costumes and the costly entrance fee that turn people off! LOL, the parents have no control over all of that.
Sorry--I'm going to stop ranting, and go to work, now.