Posted by:
exbishfromportland
(
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Date: August 19, 2013 01:23AM
(sort of long)
At the very beginning of the endowment, the members are told:
“Your Endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the House of the Lord, which are necessary for you, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and the tokens, pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation.
If you proceed and receive your full endowment, you will be required to take upon yourselves sacred obligations, the violation of which will bring upon you the judgment of God; for God will not be mocked. If any of you desire to withdraw rather than accept these obligations of your own free will and choice, you may now make it known by raising your hand.”
From LDS.org, the definition of ordinances: In the Church, an ordinance is a sacred, formal act performed by the authority of the priesthood. Some ordinances are essential to our exaltation. These ordinances are called saving ordinances. They include baptism, confirmation, ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood (for men), the temple endowment, and the marriage sealing. With each of these ordinances, we enter into solemn covenants with the Lord.
From LDS.org, the definition of covenant: A covenant is a sacred agreement between God and a person or group of people. God sets specific conditions, and He promises to bless us as we obey those conditions.
So, the ordinances received in the temple are called saving ordinances. This means there is supposed to be a “solemn covenant” associated with each one. Each one of these should include a promise we make to the Lord. In return, the Lord should make a promise to us, conditional upon our obedience.
There are two different types of covenants that were required of us in the temple. The first were in conjunction with keeping signs and tokens secret and sacred. The second type were regarding laws the members were required to keep. Let’s look at the laws first.
The Law of the Lord/Elohim
Members’ part of the covenant: “If she will covenant that from this time forth she will obey the Law of the Lord, and will hearken unto your counsel as you hearken unto mine, and if you will covenant that from this time forth you will obey the Law of Elohim, we will give unto you the Law of Obedience and Sacrifice, and we will provide a Savior for you, whereby you may come back into our presence, and with us partake of Eternal Life and exaltation.”
The Lord’s part of the covenant: If Eve promises to obey the Law of the Lord (the woman obeys man as he obeys God) she will be blessed with even more strict requirements of obedience. It implies that only because they obey these commandments would God provide a savior.
The Law of Sacrifice
Members’ part of the covenant: “The posterity of Adam down to Moses, and from Moses to Jesus Christ offered up the first fruits of the field, and the firstlings of the flock, which continued until the death of Jesus Christ, which ended sacrifice by the shedding of blood. And as Jesus Christ has laid down his life for the redemption of mankind, so we should covenant to sacrifice all that we possess, even our own lives if necessary, in sustaining and defending the Kingdom of God.
All arise. Each of you bring your right arm to the square. You and each of you solemnly covenant and promise before God, angels, and these witnesses at this altar that you will observe and keep the Law of Sacrifice, as contained in the Holy Scriptures, as it has been explained to you. Each of you bow your head and say yes."
The Lord’s part of the covenant: Nothing is given. Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice and freed us from the old law. Yet we are required here to continue living it.
The Law of the Gospel
Members’ part of the covenant: “We are required to give unto you the Law of the Gospel as contained in the Holy Scriptures; to give unto you also a charge to avoid all light mindedness, loud laughter, evil speaking of the Lord's anointed, the taking of the name of God in vain, and every other unholy and impure practice, and to cause you to receive these by covenant.
Each of you covenant and promise before God, angels, and these witnesses, that you will observe and keep the Law of the Gospel and this charge as it has been explained to you. Each of you bow your heads and say yes."
The Lord’s part of the covenant: Nothing is given. This is a one sided promise. A unilateral promise is not a covenant.
The Law of Chastity
Member’s part of the covenant: “Give unto them the Law of Chastity, and put them under covenant to obey this law, which is, that the daughters of Eve, and the sons of Adam shall have no sexual relations except with their husbands or wives to whom they are legally and lawfully wedded.”
The Lord’s part of the covenant: Nothing is given. This is a one sided promise. A unilateral promise is not a covenant.
The Law of Consecration
Members’ part of the covenant: “You and each of you covenant and promise before God, angels, and these witnesses at this altar, that you do accept the Law of Consecration as contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, in that you do consecrate yourselves, your time, talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed you, or with which he may bless you, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the building up of the Kingdom of God on the earth and for the establishment of Zion.
Each of you bow your head and say "yes."
The Lord’s part of the covenant: Nothing is given. This is a one sided promise. A unilateral promise is not a covenant.
The other covenants below are those regarding signs and tokens.
The First token of the Aaronic Priesthood
Members’ part of the covenant: I, John, covenant before God, angels and these witnesses, that I will never reveal the First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood, with its accompanying name and sign.
The Lord’s part of the covenant: Nothing is given. This is a one sided promise. A unilateral promise is not a covenant.
The Second token of the Aaronic Priesthood
Members’ part of the covenant: I, David, solemnly covenant before God, angels and these witnesses, that I will never reveal the Second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood, with its accompanying name and sign.
The Lord’s part of the covenant: Nothing is given. This is a one sided promise. A unilateral promise is not a covenant.
The First token of the Melchizedek Priesthood
Members’ part of the covenant: I solemnly covenant before God, angels, and these witnesses, in the name of the Son that I will never reveal the First Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood or Sign of the Nail, with its accompanying name and sign.
The Lord’s part of the covenant: Nothing is given. This is a one sided promise. A unilateral promise is not a covenant.
The Second token of the Melchizedek Priesthood
Members’ part of the covenant: We will now give unto you the Second Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood, the Patriarchal Grip, or Sure Sign of the Nail, with its accompanying sign. This token has a name and a sign. You will be under the same sacred obligation in connection with this token and sign as you are with the other tokens and signs of the Holy Priesthood which you have received in the temple this day.
The Lord’s part of the covenant: The wording in the members’ portion is very important. The members are not required to covenant here, but are reminded they are under the same obligation as the other signs and tokens. In the old version (pre 1990) it says “This token has a name and a sign, but no penalty is mentioned, however, you will be under the same sacred obligation in connection with this token...
Now it becomes clear. In the old version of the endowment (pre 1990), you are being warned, that though not mentioned specifically, your obligations here are the same as for the other tokens.
In the pre 1990 version of the endowment there was a penalty mentioned in conjunction with both tokens of the Aaronic Priesthood and the first token of the Melchizedek Priesthood. Those covenants all ended with “I will never reveal [insert token here], with its accompanying name, sign, and penalty. Rather than do so, I would suffer my life to be taken.”
Along with the words spoken, gestures were made by the members that symbolized the throat being slit or being disemboweled. This part of the endowment was very upsetting and disturbing to the members. This was in effect when my wife and I took out our endowments. In 1990 it was taken out. But with its removal we notice an interesting thing. The old version WAS a covenant. The member promised to keep the sign and token secret. The Lord promised not to kill them.
That’s it. That is the only blessing given for keeping the tokens secret. You won’t be killed. To make the ceremony more palatable, the threats of death have been removed. The sick and twisted “Obey me or suffer death” portion of covenant has been deleted. Now the members simply promise unconditional obedience and the Lord makes no promises at all back to the member.
The obligations regarding the signs and tokens of the priesthood are not covenants. The Lord makes no reciprocal agreements here.
The laws of Elohim, Sacrifice, The Gospel, Chastity, and Consecration do not involve any reciprocal agreements. These are not covenants.
Don’t feel bad about breaking your temple covenants to the Mormon God. You never made any. He just conned you into promising unconditional obedience.