Now it’s down to only an hour.

If I were a TBM, I’d be having a fit.

They cut out 33.33% of the enjoyment.

That’s a lot.

Remember back then:

"The more you go to the temple the more knowledge you will gain about the unusual nature of the temple" blah blah--. Every time you go another small piece of knowledge will fit into place.

Right....... That must be why they shortened it.

But now the internet makes a much better source of light and knowledge concerning the temple ceremony. Why go at all?

Money wise the church just needs a member to go once every two years in order to get their tithing money.

Or maybe the same people were going too often and the costs were greater than the moneys allowed for running a temple. .

The Saints have progressed enough that they no longer need such detailed instructions.

Is that good spin, or what? :)

Well, that kinda kills the whole every generation is a chosen generation thing and it does away with much guilt ammo.

It was never wonderful. It was probably shortened because of declining attendance and short attention spans.

I don't recall how long the temple ceremony was when I last went through (late 1980s), but I do remember it seemed to go on and on and I fought the urge to doze off. Not even the blood oaths livened it up, or lifting up my arms and saying "pay, lay, ale." I couldn't wait till the secret password/handshake/groping(ick!) part finally came so I could get out of there. And that was when I was still TBM.

I think the longer temple ceremony was an excuse for TBMs to attend less frequently. Now that it's only one hour long they don't have much of and excuse not to do a session, other than it's just silly.

The two hour sessions resulted in too many impacted farts getting stuck in the seat cushions. This required replacing the seats every 15 years. With more time to air out, the seats last 25 years.

It was a cost-cutting measure!

Brother Of Jerry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The two hour sessions resulted in too many
> impacted farts getting stuck in the seat cushions.

It would have been easier just to ban EOD from attendance.

I assume it's because when you are older, you need to go to the bathroom more frequently. :p

I'm guessing that church staff did several 'focus groups' with recommend holders about the temple experience and shortly thereafter inspiration was received to shorten the sessions.

I can think of one possible 'reason': with saints waiting in line to attend & 'serve the dead who are waiting for exaltation,
more folks can attend in a given time window.
Aren't temples more busy on weekends for employed members but the retired attend mid-days, mid-weeks?

Are temple visits reported to one's BP / SP?


If they are, BIG BROTHER is alive and well!!!

Since the endowment session isn't for you, save the very first time I always thought the whole thing could be said in 5 to 10 minutes.

I won't bore anyone with my UNREALISTIC expectations of learning something at the temple. I'm the sap who thought there were rooms with special books about life. Silly me believing idiot members with their testibrags - I just learned something special at the temple. What a wonderful feeling knowing this special knowledge. The temple is such a neat place.

Yuck, puke.

They've been shortening it for decades.

Getting rid of the live action play, moving from room to room.

Going to the movie theater version.

Shortening the movie, cutting out the preacher among other things.

No more shaking hands four times with the attendants.

No movie, now s power point!

My thing is changing the eternal everlasting immutable covenants every few years, then claiming they apply retroactively.

The Eleusinian mysteries took two whole weeks for the entire process. It was essentially unchanged for about a thousand years, and people loved it.

But then, it was not tied to any particular theology per se, nor to a particular religious organization. Maybe the old Greeks were on to something.

Make SM a power-point presentation, have sacrament available pre-blessed & available as an aside.



Have a cheerios dispenser where needed, recliners for those who request; virtual sight & sound goggles also available!

STRICT NO! to the suggestion of a drive-up service however...

They went from multi meetings spread across the entire day to a 3 hour block. Then they reduced it 2 hours with ph/rs alternating every other Sunday with Sunday School.

I think eventually it will move to 60 min to 75 min. Instead of Sacrament talks, they will break into their auxiliaries. Just my opinion as people are BORED with the high demanding, overly structured church meetings.

before that it was separate meetings on different days, at least for youth (MIA, YM-YW); wasn't the relief society on mid-week also?

oops for my hair-trigger 'puter (bashful says)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/2023 02:12PM by GNPE.

Correct.

I think primary, RS and mutual activities were during the week.

Sign of the times. Hurry up with your dead. Jesus is coming to see how his talents are doing with the hedge fund.

As an alumnus from the old 4-hour endowment sessions, I can tell you that was too much for almost anyone. Due to the fact that even the best members could not do more than 2 sessions a day. So the church had this wild-ass idea that if they shortened it, they could pack a lot more action into a smaller temple session. Even that's changed: First, people have been throwing the towel in vis-a-vis Mormonism. Second, the church was facing so much pressure from even good members about the whole rude treatment of the woman as portrayed in the older sessions. So once again, they regroup and have a session in a way as to elevate the woman in a way that the brethren didn't like much, but it kept more women from leaving the fold.

That's all I can tell you. They want to keep as many members engaged as possible in order to keep them down on the farm, I guess, so are throwing ideas against the walls to see what sticks.

In generations past, for much of the world, going to the temple once a year could have been considered regular attendance. If you only attended a few times in a lifetime, a long session probably felt appropriate. Now that temples are as rare as Starbucks, more people can attend regularly. The old marathon sessions would be a hard sell now.