Posted by:
drjekyll
(
)
Date: February 23, 2012 12:56AM
Well, if the Morg is truly inspired, then they should be carrying out "fantasy BBQ sauce endowments" as described in my "KFC Temple open for business, finger-lickin' good in so many ways! ;)" post.
WARNING/DISCLAIMER ON MY PART, I realize that you are not an adult, however, I also am not stupid enough to believe that anyone at 15 is totally naive, so I do want to say that my post, although it is kinda risque, does point out a similar mentality to what Joseph Smith must have had in devising his plan for polygamy which allowed him to marry women younger than you!
If my post leads you to imagine some crazy stuff that could have been going on in the early temples, (which IMHO, probably did, given the fact that they were like Joseph Smith's private clubhouses and he was running around with so many women) then please don't blame me too much for it! Ok, with that, I'm washing my hands of this situation, BBQ sauce and all.
As far as what currently goes on in the temples: Your parents and other TBMs who have temple recommends go there to watch either a movie or a play with live actors (depending on what is available at each particular temple, the live actors version is called a "live endowment") which depicts God creating the universe and planet earth and is kind of like a play based on the creation story and life and times of Adam and Eve as described in Genesis, but with tons of additions and modifications made up by Joseph Smith to tell the story of the Creation and what he thought Adam and Eve were up to both while living in the Garden of Eden and after being sent out to the "Lone and Dreary World". They run into a lot of characters during the story, including Satan and Peter, James, and John. Satan tries to tempt them and scare them while they are going about there business building altars and worshipping God, and the 3 apostles show up kind of like heros to save the day by telling Satan to get the heck outta there. Then they deliver messages and teach Adam and Eve stuff that they are supposed to know, which is kind of where the attention turns to the people in the audience and they are told that they are being taught the same stuff that Peter, James, and John, as angelic messengers, taught Adam and Eve while they were living on Earth. Basically what the audience is taught is how to put on these aprons, robes, sashes, and hats in different ways as if they were specific uniforms worn by priests and priestesses of different levels in the priesthood. They are also taught some secret handshakes that are supposed to be used when a person dies and tries to get into Heaven. It's taught that there will literally be some guards on the way who you'll have to give the secret handshakes to otherwise you'll be turned away and not be allowed to enter into the Celestial kingdom. Specifically, there are four different secret handshakes that you need to now. Also, you are taught secret "signs" that you need to know, which are kind of like different cheerleading poses (that's how I kind of think about it) that you need to strike. Each secret handshake is related to a secret sign (or chearleading pose) and is also specific name that goes along with these handshakes (also called tokens) and signs. Now when they talk about temple covenants, they are referring to the fact that in the ceremony, it is explained that you have to make specific promises/covenants and swear to keep/obey them before you are allowed to be taught each of the name/handshake/sign combinations that you'll need to know in order to answer all the questions that angels guarding the entrance to the Celestial Kingdom will test you on. The covenants are things like: keeping the commandments, dedicating your life and belongings to the church, keeping the law of chastity, etc. While watching the movie or play, people are just sitting down in their chairs in white clothing (at the beginning and as the meeting progresses they start to put on the other temple clothing: apron, robe, sash, hat), but when they are making the covenants and being taught the name/token/sign combinations, they stand up and make the promise by putting their right arm to the square, bowing their head and saying "YES". Once they do that a temple worker walks around and gives each of them the handshake and another worker talks about its name and shows them the sign/cheerleading pose. Once they have gone through all of the covenants (and everyone has bowed their heads and said "YES" while holding their arm to the square) and the four sets of handshakes/names/signs combinations, then they are also taught what is called "The true order of prayer". When they do this, some of the audience are invited to gather in a circle around the altar in alternating boy-girl fasion and they make all the signs and then each couple join hands with one hand using the last handshake they were taught (its called "the patriarchal grip", and BTW that's the handshake you hold your fiance with while the temple marriage ceremony is performed, so it kind of has a powerful mystique surrounding it and is thought of being a particularly important secret handshake) and they put their other arm to the square and rest it on their neighbor's shoulder. Then a temple worker kneels at the altar and says a prayer is pretty standard, although I don't think it has to be word for word like the rest of the ceremony is. He asks for blessings on the prophet and other GAs, missionaries, members and especially for people whose names have been submitted to the temple on little pieces of paper that he has in a little sachel that sitting directly on the altar. The prayer ends with "Amen" as usual. The main difference between regular prayers given at church meetings and this one is the fact that people are in a circle, around an altar, joining hands and raising their arm to the square in this big connected circle while someone kneels at the altar and offers the prayer.
I skipped past the "initiatories" which are ceremonial cleansing and anointings that are done before you ever go see the movie/play, but you only have to do that one time, unless you are doing it vicariously for dead people. Most TBMs go to the temple for the movie/endowment session that I just talked about rather than bothering with doing the initiatories. The initiatories are the ceremonies where you would get naked and just have a sheet on, like a sarape, with just a hole in the middle for your head and then it drapes over your shoulders and they "wash" you by wiping some water on various parts of your body while reciting some instructions/blessings to you and then repeat the same thing except they wipe you with consecrated olive oil on the same parts of your body and recite some similar instructions/blessings. The initiatories are done in an area near the locker room so you don't have to walk very far while just wearing the sheet and they are done in this little cubicle where you actually do move around with a temple worker from spot to spot while they do the various "washings" and "anointings".
If you really want detail, there are transcripts of what is said and done for all of the different ceremonies available online, although the GAs are not happy about that, since all of this stuff is supposed to be kept secret.
The important thing to know is that the temple is not like sacrament meeting. All of the ceremonies are word-for-word the same every time you go, unless the GAs make official changes to the ceremonies. You won't hear talks or testimonies, just word-for-word ceremonies. That's why the movie version of the endowment became so popular over the live play version, because people didn't have to worry about memorizing lines and stuff. So they just use a movie and a recored voice for some of the other parts that plays over the speakers and the temple workers only have to memorize a few parts that deal with them interacting directly with each audience of temple goers.
Some other interesting tidbits about the temple are: if you don't have your own white suit or dress, slippers and the temple apron, robe, sash and hat, you can rent them inside and they have a little laundry room window that you go up to and ask for your stuff and they ring you up on a little cash register. If you get hungry there is usually a cafeteria inside to buy a meal at and eat in (I don't know if the smaller temples have cafeterias, but all of the ones I've been to did as far as I can remember). And at the entrance you do have to show your temple recommend at kind of a security checkpoint and they do have "security personnel" assigned who would escort you out if you're a troublemaker trying to get in without a recommend.
Well, that's my best crack at describing what they do in the temple.