Supposed video of secret Mormon temple rituals

I assume not knowing the ritual means that you’ve shown you’re insufficiently devout. Like if you really cared about your salvation, you’d know that stuff and put in the time to go through the rituals on Earth, that kind of thing.

I agree, though - criticizing the use of “Elohim” is on the same level as people who say that Muslims calling God “Allah” means they’re different.

No, he’s Morgan Freeman. Duhhh…

If you forget the secret handshakes when you die (and you are worthy of getting into heaven) someone (an angel probably) will help jog your memory. No one would be kept out for a simple memory error.

The handshakes and passwords are just a symbol really. I wouldn’t be able to get in to Mormon heaven (presuming it was real) even though I know all the signs and have received a new name. God wouldn’t allow it. It’s easy to get hung up on all the passwords because they’re so weird, but at the end of the day it’s still “Good people go to heaven, bad people don’t.”

The captioning wasn’t too bad after I went back and watched the whole thing. Exceptions:

  1. Elohim is simply what Mormons call “God the Father.” But he does lives near to Kolob!

  2. Ethnicity is not germane to any temple work.

  3. Mormons aren’t planning to take over the US government. They do believe they’ll be in charge after the apocalypse, which probably every church does.

So if I watched one of these videos carefully, and learned the password and handshake, I couldn’t sneak in? :frowning:

If you convert after you’re dead, you’ll be shown the correct passwords and handshakes and informed of your new name so you can pass into heaven. There’s not a lot of official doctrine on this point, but it’s just common sense.

No, you need a new name. That’s one of the passwords.

And, to answer your earlier question, the veil ceremony is almost completely lifted from Masonry. They even used to do something called the “Five Points of Fellowship” at the veil, which is used in Masonic rituals.

Good grief, what a bunch of unmitigated nonsense. Do they also have a sign that says “no girlz aloud”? I find church rituals to be bizarre in general, but this one is truly screwy.

So I’ll just enjoy my wanton life of tea and coffee and make sure that the Mormons get my name after I die. :stuck_out_tongue:

If Heaven doesn’t involve coffee, I don’t see how it would much differ from Hell.

“Swine!” - Jesus (Paraphrased)

Which isn’t surprising since a lot of it is allegedly cribbed from Masonic ritual which has Ancient Egyptian overtones.

Former Mormon here. No ill will towards the church, and I have a lot of family that are still very active members.

When I was a kid, early teens, I was taken on a youth group bus trip to the temple in Bellevue, WA and we were baptized for the dead.

I had no idea that was what we were going to be doing until after I got there. My mother has zero recollection of this being communicated to her ahead of time.

Now, in the church’s defense - I might not have paid much attention to things that were said ahead of time, and just thought it was a cool trip to visit the temple. But we were certainly used for baptizing the dead, and nobody brought any names with them - the names were taken from a little computer display next to the baptismal font. I was baptized for a dozen or so people, one right after the other. Dunk after dunk.

But did you feel used? I think the Baptisms for the Dead are pretty benign, once you get past the weird oxen under the font. You put on a white jumpsuit and get dunked in an overheated tub while someone recites a bunch of unpronounceable names. Trauma factor (IME) is pretty minimal.

To me “used” implies the Church is getting something out of these kids, when really its only interest in the ceremony is a shared indoctrination experience.

Last time I checked, it was just one of the many names used for G-d in the OT. I believe it translates to “Bright Ones”. G-d has plenty of names in the OT and Jewish prayer.

I hear there is also Jello in Mormon heaven. I’ll take my chances with outer darkness, I can’t see how it could be that much worse. Outer darkness actually sounds kind of interesting, to an astronomer at least…

OH it’s the Wizard!

Yes, Elohim is one of the Hebrew words for God used in the Old Testament, starting in Genesis. Joseph Smith was working on his own translation of the Bible and no doubt got the idea from his work there. Mormons are unique though, as far as I know, in assigning “Elohim” to God the Father and “Jehovah” to Jesus Christ. I believe most other religions (all?) treat the names as interchangeable. Maybe someone more familiar with the topic can tell me if that is true or not.

I don’t have a cite for this, but it seems apparent to me that Joseph Smith was fascinated by the fact that Elohim is a plural noun (though used singularly in the Bible). He eventually used the plural in his “translation” of the Book of Abraham:

“And they (the Gods) said: Let there be light; and there was light.” (Abraham 4:3)

I have to thank the OP. I was having a horrible morning because a certain four year old was acting like a, um, four year old.

After watching the video, and knowing that no more brain cells will be wasted listening to that drivel again put my present irritations into much better perspective.

Adding to this, of course, they are just symbolic but the more interesting question is what purpose do the symbols serve? Why these particular symbols and why would Mormons adapt them?

As pointed out above, the major parts of the Mormon ceremony were simply lifted from the Mason ceremony. Joseph Smith wrote the temple ceremony shortly after becoming a Mason. The temple ceremony served as a secret society within the Mormon church to aid Joseph Smith in the secret practice of polygamy, something he and the top leadership were denying not only to the outside world, but to Mormons as well.

Having secret handshakes and such to distinguish true members of secret societies was a good idea back in the pre-Internet days. Masons from one lodge could identify members who they did not personally know. However, it’s silly to expect that the Gods (plural, as per Mormon doctrine) and angels would really need to use them symbolic or not.

This is the answer to the question if what happens in the Mormon temple sacred or secret. It’s secret because the purpose was to hide illegal and immoral behavior.

Grrr. The disadvantage of living in a small house is that you can’t keep all of your book. Since I don’t have my copy of Karen Armstrong’s classic A History of God, I’ll have to dig things up on Wiki.

According to “them” Elohim can be either plural or singular. The theory which Armstrong presents in outlined here

The source Elohist (E) presents a more formal relationship with a God.

Joseph Smith began his translation/revision to the Bible before he began studying Hebrew, and of course not only authored or helped author the Book of Mormon but also wrote the Book of Moses prior to his Hebrew studies. The Book of Abraham was concurrent as well as Joseph Smith’s evolution from a devout monotheist to a radical polytheist.

You get cast into the Gorge of Eternal Peril, of course.