For our 100th episode, what could be more fitting than a discussion about the temple? It’s the centerpiece of Latter-day Saint worship members believe sets our church apart from all others. Many women can trace their most sacred experiences to it, but for others—from the wording to the rituals—attending the temple causes deep unease. Having complicated feelings about something so reverenced can be a struggle to admit, even to oneself. In this conversation, Cynthia and Susan highlight the emotions and experiences of women who generously share their hearts with us on this difficult topic.
Notes & Quotes:
The Holy Temple, by Boyd K. Packer
Prepare to Obtain Every Needful Thing, by David A. Bender, 4/2019
Covenants with God Strengthen, Protect, and Prepare Us for Eternal Glory, by Jean B. Bingham, 4/2022
“Be faithful to the covenants and ordinances of the gospel. Qualify for those sacred ordinances step by step as you move through life. Honor the covenants connected with them. Do this and you will be happy. Your lives will then be in order—all things lined up in proper sequence, in proper ranks, in proper rows. Your family will be linked in an order that can never be broken.” —Boyd K Packer
“There is nothing more important to our eternal progress than keeping our covenants, with God. When our temple covenants are in force, we can trust in a joyful reunion with loved ones on the other side of the veil. That child or parent or spouse who has left mortality is hoping with all his or her heart that you will be true to the covenants that bind you together. If we disregard or treat lightly our covenants with God, we are putting those eternal ties in danger. Now is the time to repent, repair, and try again.”
—Jean B. Bingham
Scott Jones
The Temple is a place of anxiety for me… going back to when I first took out my Endowment prior to my mission in 1977 because of whom was/is excluded. My reaction to that first session led me to ask my mother if she was bothered by Eve’s and women’s roles in general in the temple. She said that she just felt “it was part of the old rituals”, but it really made me uneasy. And that feeling has never left. I remember telling my wife prior to her going through in 1981 for the first time and our Sealing that I believe her eternal salvation is hers only and not tied or predicated on mine or anyone else. She loved her first experience and loves the temple today, but years later she mentioned to me while we in the temple that she came to realize why I felt it was so important to me to discuss it before our Sealing.
Hedgehog
Thanks ladies.
With reference to the bonus episode… we had that talk as a RS lesson last week too! Very problematic, as you pointed out. I just tuned out of the lesson.
On temple preparation, this week being a 5th Sunday, it had apparently been suggested that we watch the recent Love, Share, Invite broadcast. My jaw dropped when I saw a convert family going to the temple just three weeks after baptism! When did that change? And how on earth are they going to be sufficiently prepared.. in my experience, most converts are barely ready for baptism in terms of what they’ve been taught. If we’re going to be rushing folks to the temple we really need to be a lot more thorough in teaching prior to baptism don’t we?
Anonymous
I know a lot of people love going to the temple for date night, but I always HATED it! What a horrible date to sit separated from my husband and watch a boring 2 hour movie that I had seen so many times that I had it memorized. I felt like our time could have been better spent going on a date where we could actually talk and connect to each other. Or at least hold hands and be together during the movie.
Shannon Starks
I love your insights about the need to maintain control, because whether conscious or not, that motive is real in a world that has always been unstable, and today especially when so many people seem to have lost the moorings they may once have had. Case in point: 40some years ago i was blindsided at my first experience in the temple, one of the worst days of my life. I’ve since had beautiful experiences there, but that involved focusing on God, not on what was being said during the ceremony. I think it’s a great betrayal of trust to teach people that going through these performances is the ultimate earthly experience that will bring us closer to God, and then with institutional power surprising them with covenants they may not want to make but can hardly refuse. I wanted to run, but I was trapped by the circumstances.