Yesterday I watched the entire temple video posted on youtube.
And it got me thinking, about a lot of things. I started to get really emotional, but I stoped myself when I started THINKING! The only reason and thing that I enjoyed about the temple was that my friends and their families were in their also, dressing the same way and doing the same things. Therefore it was easy to convince myself that there was something special or meaningful in those rituals. That is called "group psychology." I converted at 18, and I believed that it would have been the greatest thing in the world to get to go in and be "sealed" to a beatiful "Molly Mormon" girl in there, even if my parents couldnt be there. But I have seen that once I step back from all of that and THINK, I see all of the flaws with the video and the handshake none sense. I will have more to post on the temple, this is only scratching the surface. Did anyone else feel good or "special" being in the temple with friends and family? Did it feel like being in a club???

Best memories for me was the end, when it was finally over and I could see my husband and get the hell out of there.

I fell asleep a lot during the ceremony because it was so boring. I like sleep so I guess that's a good memory.

I have great memories of protesting out side of the SLC temple after prop 8, does that count?

I couldn't wait to get done, because I was newly married, and my wife and I could have sex.

Yes and no.

When my daughter was 5 we had a home teacher who would ask all the spiritual questions at the end of the visit - do you read your scriptures, do you go to the temple, etc.

My daughter totally outed me. She told the home teacher that I hated going to the temple. It was funny and awkward at the same time.

I always loved the movie shots of the different beautiful places on the earth and the animals.

I often got a good nap during the movie part.

At one point I went to the temple every week for about 1 1/2 years. I actually go so that I would enjoy it. I would just turn my brain out, completely tune the session out and relax. It had nothing to do with the ceremony - it just had to do with being forced to sit and think and relax with nothing to do - sort of the advantages of meditation I guess.

I enjoyed making a game of how fast I could fall asleep during the movie and what percentage of time I could sleep during the movie - I probably approached 98% a couple of times - seriously I could sometimes fall asleep before they even got to day 1 of the creation.

That's so funny... I actually loved those shots, too. I'm a sucker for things like that.

I loved the temple myself. I knew I was in a weirdo strange religion and I enjoyed that aspect immensely. I guess if I had been raised in the church with all the "happy happy feelings in the temple" crap, I would have been devastated by it--but I knew the endowment word for word before I got there. I kinda got to just enjoy acting it all out. I LOVE ritual, too. I drove 2 hours to the temple once a week when I'd be home, and I visited TONS of them all over the US and Canada when flying. Kinda sad, huh?

My favorite memory of the temple was a time I was there at the MTC.. with my MTC group of inductees...

At the point where the "pay lay ale" was said in unison... I looked over at one of my buds... and he looked back... His eyes.. were large and full of fear....as he mouthed to me... " oh.. my .. God.." I started to crack up... it was so damn funny.

Later the lucky bastard went home from the MTC just before the rest of us shipped off to Japan.. he on a medical leave..the experience drove the poor guy crazy.

Yes. There were a few.

My MTC district would perform weekly endowments in the Provo Temple. We used to count how many head bobs we would make falling asleep (I counted with my companion because we stayed awake). The best time, though, was when we performed proxy sealings. An elder and I clasped our hands across the alter and barely saved ourselves from laughing our heads off until another elder moved to the side of the alter to be sealed to us as our son. We completely, absolutely, utterly, lost it. We were laughing so hard that we barely finished the sealing while the ordinance worker chided us to stop laughing. I don't believe missionaries are allowed to perform proxy sealings anymore because of our antics (and I'm sure, that others did before us).

Another favorite was the last time in the temple. I stopped believing but still held a temple recommend. I went to the Manti Temple to say goodbye. After the endowment ceremony, where I held my arm to the square while bowing my head and whispering, no, I asked a sweet, elderly gentlemen if he could give me a tour of the temple. I loved the architecture and wanted to hear the history of how it was built. He didn't disappoint. When I left, I said goodbye at the doors but I'm sure the temple workers didn't realize I was really saying goodbye. I walked outside with the biggest smile on my face having received closure for a major chapter in my life (and one I hated when it came to the temple ceremony).

An old man sitting in front of me ripped a voluminous fart. Best Temple moment ever.

A few but mostly confusion.

The day I was sealed to my first husband as a young 18 year old bride with no mother, grandmother, or female friend to guide me through the process.

My parents were divorced when I was very young. Mom saved her wedding and engagement ring and gave them to me the night before my wedding. I remember my whole life until them seeing those rings and knowing someday they'd be mine. They were very special.

So, the morning of my wedding, I put mom's rings on my right hand and headed to the Temple, changed into my dress by myself and went to the waiting room or wherever... Only to be told I had to go back and could not wear my mother's rings. So I went back to the dressing room and put them in my unlocked locker. It was the Temple, right? They should have been safe.

I never saw my mother's rings again. After my sealing, i went to my locker to change and they were just gone. Reported to lost and found, never turned up.

So my for my "perfect" day.

Oh my god, my eyes are tearing up. That's so incredibly horrible.

That is terrible. I feel so sad for you.

I can't believe that happend in the temple- I thought that Satan couldn't get in because it was all holy and sealed, there must have been an apostate who snuck in that day. =)

Yeah, me too. Go figure.

I used to enjoy the peace and quiet, but it was boring as hell and I would often think how i'd love to hop accross to the ladies side and become get to "know" some of them. Then i'd wonder how i could have such a thought in the temple and realized those must be just my thoughts if satan couldn't come in there. And of course my wife wouldn't appreciate that as she happened to be in the ladies side haha. Mostly I fell
asleep though. Seriously, what do they expect? You sit down in a dark, quiet room and watch a long, boring video.

I went in 1981.
This was during the disembowlment and decapitation oath and ritual period. with the ceremony acted out by amateur actors.

You can imagine my surprise!!

I thought, WHAT??? nobody told me this!! of course they couldn't tell me, it was all secret, but by that time it was too late, I'd signed on. I felt like stories I'd heard about making a deal with the devil...where the devil snares you in a trap and you agree and then find out you were lied to.

Still... I was told that everything was Jesus truth and the elect were honored to go. I believed that I was elect even though I was simultanesously creeped out about it.

I saw my friends and my husband and associated it with a special "in-the-club" event with Jesus.

I blocked out all rational thought and allowed my feelings and emotions to take over and to justify any other thing that didn't seem special or right. I began to believe it was good and very quickly the creepy feelings left and were replaced with an egotistical feeling of righteousness. special=ego

I must say that the Pay Lay Ale circle of prayer always made me think it was silly, but I thought, hmmm, Jesus is silly for having that as a ritual... oh well, and quickly put it all out of my thought.

I would make a big deal out of a piece of architecture on a door, or a piece of furniture... thinking, oh it's in the temple and such an incredible piece of furniture.
It was just an ordinary chair or plant; but not to me.
Such is the "special" programming layers which caused me to believe. I fought with feelings of it being a duty and tried to replace those feelings with how special it was.

It also appealed heavily to my ego... I was elect, and eventually the oaths and rituals stopped being weird or scary, but were an elect/ego privilege.

Question: do they still do the Pay Lay Ale in the temple ceremony or was that bit of weirdness taken out as well.
And since it was supposed to represent the true order of prayer, what did Pay Lay Ale mean in english anyway?

My favorite memory was in looking forward to the cafeteria lunch afterward. The temple cafeteria always had the best corn chowder.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2012 03:58PM by dec.

This morning I was at one of my kid's soccer games and it was pretty windy. I had a hoodie on, zipped it up, put the hood up and began to tie it...it really freaked me out because I immediately thought of the temple and tieing the veil under my chin. The last time I went, I was chastised for kneeling in the celestial room pouring my heart out in prayer.

Yeah.

Despite being issued a limited use recommend, I have flat out refused to go.

When inquired by my HTs about this, I cited the Ten Commandments that you are to "Honor thy father and mother." I said that as a convert, there was no way I could perform baptismal ordinances for my deceased Catholic relatives, without dishonoring my mother, who is still living (either by going behind her back or by blatantly defying her).

When told that I could perform the ordinances for people on the roll, I pointed out that we never know for sure how those people's names end up on there. I cited the baptism of Barack Obama's mother, and asked them if they thought the President consented to that.

The looks on their faces are my best memory of the temple.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2012 03:44PM by jackamormon.

We did some baptisms for the dead for sithlord's relatives right before our son's mission. We had three of our sons there, it was very touching. The rest? No.

They use the family-feeling connection to associate it with the church/Temple feelings.

I wonder what the psychological term is for that?

Yeah, me too. Interesting phenomena, isn't is?

No is a proper response, but probably because of my nature only a few negative experiences and then the whole pre-1990 stuff.

I was just creeped out beyond belief though and extremely angry at my parents for the lies and withholding.

I do remember while in the MTC taking a knee in the Provo temple for a special prayer in order to convert 1,000 like one of the BoM guys did. A matron grabbed at my arm and told me personal prayer is not permitted here.

I truly believe missions and temple not in marriage, in endowment is the best way to get a BIC out of the Church. That was pre-Internet, but that is where the cult becomes so clear.

My best memory of the temple was the day my wife and I got married but that had nothing to do with the temple itself.

The only time I enjoyed the temple was the time we had a ward temple night and one of our very frugal ward members had replaced the plastic liner in his baker's hat. Hubby caught my eye and pointed to the guy and when I looked over, I got the giggles so bad I almost had to leave. Clearly showing through his cap "Meadow Gold Ice Cream"!

I always felt uncomfortable in the remple. As if something were wrong.

No. Either I slept or watched people have emotional meltdowns.

I was quite often the person who had to go in and find out why the suicidal self mutilator had been allowed to go into the temple and figure out just exactly how to get her out again.

A friend and I were helping out one morning with baptisms and confirmations. I was trying to say the names respectfully and be all "reverent". There were a few problems here, though. One, we were both extremely sleep deprived (stayed up way late, and got up way early). Two, these names were native american names (like the ones hollywood tries to make fun of). So, while trying to stifle laughter (and failing), I felt guilty, not only for being irreverent in the temple, but also for laughing at being disrepsectful of another culture. The temple worker was looking at us and basically rolling his eyes.

Good times.

Doing proxy sealings and one of the surnames from the nineteenth century was 'Hair'. Well we almost completely lost it when we had to be sealed for 'Fanny Hair'..... which is all the funnier in the UK, where the reference to fanny is a little different to the US.

One time, I was in the initiatory in the annointing booth, and the temple worker there accidently slipped a fart. I was trying so hard not to bust up laughing as my garment was get placed on me.

I never really enjoyed the temple until 10 years after I left the church and then went back in and recorded the ceremonies.

You sir, are a hero and a patriot; and what ever other positive description you would like to have added to your name.

Thanks. It is honestly one of the greatest life accomplishments and I hope it has a negative impact on convert baptisms over the next few decades(?). Who knows, maybe they'll replace the endowment with something less stupid (but still required for exaltation.)

They had tasty bran muffins in the cafeteria at the Cardston temple...and the water fight during the dead dunking was a hoot!

ron Burr