I know the term "I was offended" is over-used today, but looking back on my (L.A. temple) experience, I can say with assurance that, looking back, the temple ordinance certainly DO offend me.

When I first went, my husband-to-be and I were to be married there. Neither of us knew anything about temple weddings, and we had no family members--or even friends--to give us a clue, besides our being naive enough not to believe what we were being taught.

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My experience: First, we were all put in a side lecture room, where we were initiated as to what was about to occur--however, we learned next to nothing. Also, the women and men were separated by an isle.

When we left the lecture, we filed out by walking with whoever was across the isle from us, which meant, to me, any man could have been my soon-to-be spouse. After the talk we had just been given, I thought I had just been married to a total stranger.

Skipping ahead, in the 'holy' marriage room--with mirrors all around to indicate it was a "forever" marriage--we all sat in a circle in the room until it came our turn to be married, at which point we presented our self in front of a man who was sitting in a chair. We were expected to bow on our knees before this man--What the heck!!?? Who was he that we should all bow before him!?

Another shock: We were expected to wear that d-m green apron over our wedding cloths. And, of course, afterward--upon our exit--there was nobody to greet and congratulate us, nor take pictures of us on the temple grounds.

I was also offended by the woman having to bow their head and cover their faces with a veil. However, to counter this, the men had to don their silly "baker" hats.

While waiting for us to start on this trike, we sat on benches (separated from the men--who were no where in site), with plenty of Books of Mormon supplied for us to read while waiting, but not even ONE bible. I walked over to the counter to see if I could get one, but only one existed, and I doubt that it was ever read.

At one point (when I was "working" at the exit counter where people left, which really met my just sitting quietly there), a little circle of men nearby me were chatting with each other--which met they would make the next session late. So, I indicated this to them, and BOY, did I get a dirty look! Who did I think I was, for me to tell a man what he should do?
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That was a lot of years ago, and I don't know if the same procedures are still going on. But I DO know that I have no intention of ever being there again.

Nothing is as creepy and secretive and socially evil & weird as LDS temple principles & practices - to speak little, if any, of "temple preparation" - which are the pinnacle of the 'heavenly climb' of Mormonism, eternally up towards the bottom of the top of hell.

I went to a temple prep class that did not prepare me for the extreme weirdness I encountered in the temple. I don't know why the teacher couldn't just give us a hint about what we would encounter. It wasn't at all sacred - just plain weird.

I saw the Rocky Horror Picture show about 5 years before I went through the temple for the first time. The Rocky Horror Picture Show was easier to swallow than the temple. And the movie, Rosemary's Baby, that totally freaked me out, was less scary than my first temple experience.

So I guess I'm also offended that there was zero preparation for my truly bizarre and frightening temple experience. I was totally speechless when it was over with. WTF was that??? I still can't process it

I tried watching Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was horribly boring. I feel asleep. Total waste of time.

My dad who was inactive was the only one who warned me that there was some pretty wierd sh1t going to happen.

I was offended that this supposedly sacred, higher glory place consisted of a video/or as in Utah, a dramatized recreation of the book of Abraham and book of Moses pre-existence, creation, and Eden stories.

I was offended by having to put on strange clothing items that are not mentioned anywhere else. Twice per session.

I was offended to learn that my special name, the one I supposedly had in premortal life that my Heavenly Father knew me by, was actually just an indication of the date I attended the temple for my own endowment and not actually special for me at all. They might as well have given me the date for how much relevance and secrecy it has.

One of the big issues was that my new name was Lucy. I waited all my life to find out my god-given name and it was Lucy? They set you up. Take you into the house of god and cross almost every social boundary they can, but we were just expected to go along with it. And we did. Not very often for me. It didn't take me long to refuse to ever go again.

I feel the same way: I didn't like my temple name: Victoria.

I was really uncomfortable doing the oaths and penalties; I thought that if there were anything resembling the Gadianton Robbers or the Mafia, this was it. But I convinced myself that this must have been some ancient ritual in Solomon's temple; at least that what our neighbor told us before our first time in the temple.

You know what the church thinks of you when your new temple name given is Nimrod.

That should have been my first clue.

Wasn't Nimrod a "bad guy?" He was a descendant of Cain which in Mormonism should mean he was evil.

The names and signs were fairly straight forward. Even if you had slept through the film you could figure out what was required. The very last one is given spoken/whispered into your ear at the veil. You were told (at least I was) that you would only be helped ONCE.

I had no idea what was being whispered into my ear. It sounded like pig-latin to me. They don't ever say it slowly so you can learn it and they don't dare print it or have it displayed anywhere in the room.

The funny thing is that I prefer to learn as an auditory learner, yet I couldn't figure out anything beyond "Health in the navel."

On my 2nd time through the veil, I stumbled and couldn't repeat that exact phrase that I had failed to learn. Sure enough, nobody was there to assist me and the worker on the other side of the tacky curtain became angry and flustered. He actually left his spot and I was standing there by myself.

-I didn't know what to do so I looked around and realized that I was the last person at the veil. So I figured that I would walk the long way around the curtain to enter the celestial room. Then I spotted a wide opening and decided to step through--big mistake!

A hand grabbed my wrist and he pinched my skin about the part of the sure-sign of the nail. "Where do you think you're going. You can't come through without proper presentation."

So I waited while a group of workers decided what they should do. They came back and told me to go back out and one of them helped "the retard" go through. Yes, they called me that on my 2nd time through the endowment.

***TL DR (didn't read my babble)

I hated the temple. It was never paradise on earth and something always went wrong there.

-I was seen by six men as I was naked during the initiatory ceremony
-Somebody took my Dad's sash and was denied entry to celestial room
-My Dad and I were assisted by temple workers and were told that our robes/sashes were on wrong shoulder- entire ceremony was voided
-Had a case of diarrhea and was told that I could not return if I left the room (Hint I left instead of crappin' in my pants)
-I left the chapel area to drink water and they wouldn't let me return to my spot to sit next to my Dad (also tried to catch up while walking in and had my arm grabbed/restrained)