Yes it is watered down.

No it doesn't describe the weirdness. Surprise.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/27-temple-ordinances-for-the-living?lang=eng#title_number11

The word endowment means “a gift.” The temple endowment is literally a gift from God through which He blesses His children. The endowment can be received only in holy temples. Some of the gifts that members receive through the temple endowment include:

Greater knowledge of the Lord’s purposes and teachings.

Power to do all that Heavenly Father wants His children to do.

Divine direction when serving the Lord, their families, and others.

Increased hope, comfort, and peace.

All the promised blessings of the endowment are in force both in this life and for eternity. The fulfillment of these blessings depends on faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The endowment is received in two parts. In the first part, a person receives a preliminary ordinance called the initiatory. The initiatory is also known as the washing and anointing (see Exodus 29:4–9). It includes special blessings related to the person’s divine heritage and potential.

During the initiatory, the member is authorized to wear the temple garment. The garment represents his or her personal relationship with God and the commitment to obey covenants made in the temple. When members are faithful to their covenants and wear the garment properly throughout their lives, it also serves as a protection. For information about wearing and caring for the garment, see 38.5.5.

In the second part of the endowment, the plan of salvation is taught, including the Creation, the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the Apostasy, and the Restoration. Members also receive instruction on how to return to the Lord’s presence.

In the endowment, members are invited to make sacred covenants to:
Live the law of obedience and strive to keep Heavenly Father’s commandments.

Obey the law of sacrifice, which means sacrificing to support the Lord’s work and repenting with a broken heart and contrite spirit.

Obey the law of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the higher law that He taught while He was on the earth.

Keep the law of chastity, which means having no sexual activity except with those to whom they are legally and lawfully wedded according to God’s law.

Keep the law of consecration, which means dedicating their time, talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed them to building up Jesus Christ’s Church on the earth.

In return, Heavenly Father promises that those who remain faithful to their temple covenants will be endowed “with power from on high”

I'm still waiting for the party of the second part to deliver on his part of the contract.

Remember doing the initiatories naked with a poncho half covering you? I do.

And oil and water being rubbed on you.

Creepy.

At least they're being a tiny bit more up front.

Do they still do the manipulative thing at the beginning of the ceremony where they give you the "choice" to leave if you want?

Greater knowledge of the Lord’s purposes and teachings.

--> Nope!

Power to do all that Heavenly Father wants His children to do.

--> Nope.

Divine direction when serving the Lord, their families, and others.

--> No again!

Increased hope, comfort, and peace.

--> Maybe, but I never felt that. I always wondered what the heck was wrong with me. I loathed attending.

Spot on, Messy!

Ah, the exquisitely tedious journey from wearing the 'I can't believe I'm naked under this poncho' moment, wondering if the old White guy is going to touch my very scared weiner, then the up-down, die-die-die pledging, and then on to the (for me) silliness at the veil, stumbling through numbingly boring and tedious dialogue...

During the process of getting dressed and out to the parking lot, it occurred to me that what I had just gone through was 100% man-made; that it was 19th Century religious drudgery and that it had NOTHING to do with an Eternal Being who would do practically anything to have me come home to him in Heaven.

At which point mormonism was just a nice way to raise a family, just as long as you didn't take the leadership seriously.

The section immediately above that starts out:

"Members often have questions after receiving temple ordinances."

Mostly questions like "what the hell was that about?"

What a bunch of bullshit. Even if they are telling people more about the temple, they don't even touch on the reality of it all. It is still being built up as this special experience and it was one of the biggest disappointments of my life. I realized that one day as I drove down Sardine Canyon (from Logan to Brigham City) and saw that ugly Brigham City temple.

My daughter KNEW everything as I had told her when she was anti mormon and she still was shocked by it. She had to talk to her dad (as she doesn't dare bring things like this up to me as she has to pretend she is SOOOOOO TBM) about how weird it all was. She thought it would be okay to talk to him about since he had been through. Obviously, she wasn't raised very long in mormonism or she would have known that is a huge NO NO.

LOL! Funny.

I do have to admit, going through the temple for the first time was the CLOSEST I ever came to hearing the "still small voice".

I was holding up O.K. (even though I had about half-a-dozen "WTF!!" moments) until we started Pay-Lay-Ale-ing. Then my dam broke and my brain started screaming at me, "YOU ARE IN A CULT!!!"

I never enjoyed going to the temple. Probably only went 5-6 times in my 40 years as a member. My best time there - Once used the word "fuck" in a sentence with an old man veil worker at the veil. Haaa haaa.

I was told my whole life that Jesus knows what's in your heart. Then in the temple, it's you're not getting in top heaven unless you can remember a new name and throw down some secret handshakes! Yikes.

But to get the power in the priesthood in your loins, you need Jesus' anointing.

> Greater knowledge of the Lord’s purposes and
> teachings.

Nope.

> Power to do all that Heavenly Father wants His
> children to do.

Strength in your loins.

> Divine direction when serving the Lord, their
> families, and others.

Nope.

> Increased hope, comfort, and peace.

Nope.

What a crock of promises holding a stew of broken people.

>"In the second part of the endowment, the plan of salvation is taught, including the Creation, the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Atonement of Jesus Christ,..."

I don't recall anything in the endowment that teaches about the atonement of JC....

If it is there, it isn't emphasized.

I don't know that we don't teach that. I don't know that we don't emphasize that.

Mormons - all about Jesus and what he did for them except in their temples.

OK, "endowed with power from on high." To do what, exactly? Because from where I'm sitting, it seems Mormons' only power is an exceedingly frustrating ability to spout platitudes and avoid actually doing anything to address the myriad problems which a little heavenly power would go a long way toward fixing.

I was sure this is what the CK was supposed to be like and there was no way I wanted to go to the CK after seeing the temple.

I made it through 4 or 5 endowments (1 live at Idaho Falls, which is even more bizarre) and then I did sealings to a stranger. That was the last I could take of the temple. Never went back.

cl2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was sure this is what the CK was supposed to be
> like and there was no way I wanted to go to the CK
> after seeing the temple.
>

My sentiments as well. The more I attended the temple, the more anxiety I felt. If this is what eternity was all about, I wanted to be somewhere else.

I continued to question myself why the everything in the temple made me feel so uncomfortable.

Talking about and doing are totally different. Mormons talk about temple work all the time. Doing it just gets more and more passé the older they get I think. It started to actually sound like that handbook talking about it for them.

Talk about a pastiche over the experience. Who went into it thinking that was what they just did???

I just checked my dictionary and thesaurus. "Invited" (as in "members are invited to make sacred covenants") is not a synonym for "coercion through extreme social pressure."

So true. We were invited to be baptized at 8 by our parents. We were invited to volunteer as missionaries.