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14. Do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord’s house and participate in temple ordinances? FINAL QUESTION – – Yoo Hoo!!!
This is another open ended question, there to see if I am tentative or evasive in my feelings about worthiness. As I’ve been answering questions, if I have lied on a question, and am unconfortable about the answer I’ve provided before, then I’m likely to squirm a bit on this last question.
When combined with the previous question, these two questions provide the interviewer to read my response emotionally. If they’re in tune with themselves, and at least are subconsciously aware of human behavior, they’ll sense evasiveness and hesitation in those that aren’t confident of their own worthiness.
It’s a trap — a well conceived one — to catch something I’m hesitant about.
The problem, of course, is that I condemn myself over and over. Yet the voice of the spirit asks, “where are thy accusers”, and aside from myself, there really are none. And then the spirit says, “Neither do I condemn thee”, and I feel his love’s embrace. I, being an unworthy person, am sanctified by grace, not for any act of my own, but because of
the infinite love that i feel from god.
In answering this question, a parable comes to mind:
Luke 18:10-14 wrote:Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
What an interesting scripture! How applicable it is to this situation! And yet, the Church does not recognize the inherent irony in this question, and the hubris of those who proclaim with pride that they are ‘worthy’.Who really feels ‘worthy’? It’s such a loaded question. The problem is that it’s also one where we should have no question, because we have already accepted the Atonement. We are worth a lot. Remember that the worth of souls is great in the eyes of the Lord. We are children of god and he loves us. We are ‘worthy’ in so many ways, even if we have human failings.
And remember this: Only the Christ is without sin. There is no commandent to be “perfect”, for the verse in Matthew 5:48 says in context to be “whole” rather than partial in your treatment towards others. The idea that perfection is required to receive gods grace, or to be considered ‘worthy’ is completely wrong — it denies the atonement.
You are worthy to enter the temple: Know it, embrace it, realize it. Unless you’re in the midst of open rebellion or egregious sin, you are worthy to enter the temple. Have the confidence to know this over and above anything the interviewer can think about your ‘worthiness’. The question isn’t what you think the interviewer or church thinks about your worthiness to enter the temple. It’s exclusively between you and your Lord. And frankly, He’s the most important judge I have in my life, so I’ll go with His answer.
My answer: “YES I am. The Lord has certainly been merciful to me as a sinner, and between him and me, I’m fine.”
As far as I am concerned this is the only question that should be asked.I t encompasses everything. The other questions are irrelevant. Yes, I am. I like that answer & I feel good about it. It may change with time as God reveals more to me. Thanks everyone who responded to this series. I, for one, got alot out of it.
A special thanks to wayfarer for leading this.
Mike from Milton.
Yes, I consider myself worthy. To me the temple recommend questions cover two general topics: Testimony and worthiness. I’m not sure why the last question only asks about worthiness, but not testimony, because to me they are different things.
Worthiness: Am I comfortable with my obedience to the rules asked about in the TR interview? Yep.
Those questions are a pretty small proportion of all the commandments and things we are supposed to be doing, and, I occurs to me, tend to be pretty outward. They are also pretty far from the “first and great commandment”. In fact, and please correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t remember anything about love at all in the interview, nothing about serving others. You could argue that those things are encompassed under previous questions, but why didn’t they choose to put them out front?
Testimony: Do I believe in all the things they ask me to believe in? No right now.
But they don’t ask me that at the end, they only ask me to judge my worthiness, which is more outward (if you base it on the TR questions themselves), and not my testimony which is completely inward.
It seems odd to me that this is the case. It is much easier to tell if someone isn’t paying tithing, child support, wearing garments, etc. than it is to tell if they believe in God or the Restoration. (Not saying it is easy, but it is easier, at least possible)
Or is it because if I don’t have a belief, I am considered unworthy?
Quote:
My answer: “YES I am. The Lord has certainly been merciful to me as a sinner, and between him and me, I’m fine.”I think this is the most important answer, not just for a TR interview, but for anyone who believes in God and sin. What a powerful statement.
Worthy? Yes. Not perfect. Not sinless. Some days considerably less Christlike than I desire to be. But my heart is right and the rest of me is slowly following suit. Grace covers what I yet lack and I am confident that in Christ, I am more than enough.
My own definition of “worthy” boils down to “trying – and not doing things that are really bad”. Jesus walked and taught among the people who were considered the outcasts of his time.
They were “worthy” to associate with Him.I’m no better than they were, but I also am not worse. I believe I’m worthy, because I believe he sees me as worthy and would associate with me, especially since I try hard not to treat others as outcasts. I believe I am worthy of associating with God largely becauase I believe I am willing to be where he would be, doing what he would do – although I still have a long way to go in that regard.
Another of the catch-all questions. I am worthy to be in the house of the Lord and participate in ritual ordinances. I understand what that means. I have been freed from sin. I would answer yes to this question.
I don’t think the “judges” who controls access card distribution to their building’s security would agree that I am in compliance with their demands. That doesn’t equate to unworthy though. I choose not to have a current COJCOLDS access card to their building, so the argument is moot.
If I really wanted to be in the house of the Lord and participate in temple ordinances, I could just do so on my own I suppose. I don’t actually need access to their building.
😈 wayfarer wrote:14.
Do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord’s houseand participate in temple ordinances? Even though I could only honestly answer about 7 out of 16 of the previous questions or sub-questions the way the Church expects based on what I think most Church leaders really mean by these questions I would still answer yes to this one. That’s because for once it’s not about what the Church thinks is most important but what I personally understand to be necessary and sufficient and what I believe God would really care about or not.
This morning I went to my favorite coffee shop. I’m rereading “Rough Stone Rolling” by Richard Bushman. I’m reading about the Nauvoo period and the building of the Temple. One of his remarks impressed me.
Talking about the endowment he said:
Quote:Because the endowment was necessary for salvation, all were to enter into this order, even “the weakest of the Saints.”
There were other references to the endowment being given to the weakest of the members.
To me, this means the temple endowment is a step in the eternal progression of the members. The Saint weren’t expected to be perfect to enter the Temple. Hopefully, as a result, they were stronger from the experience. Plus, have a deeper resolve to live the commandments.
I’m sure that it could also be argued that the TR interview is only a step to insure that a member is ready. Not a pronouncement that the member is perfect.
Mike from Milton.
Perhaps, ironically, another yes from me. The logic is simple. The teachings of Christ are: “The whole have no need of a physician” & “neither do I condemn thee”. The concept of worthiness to enter the temple is completely flawed.
However, I also very feel very at peace with myself that I am living according to my personal code of morals, ethics, and spirituality.
For me, not according to the LDS definition of worthiness. But my recent experience in the hospital told me I could probably stand in front of God and feel confident. So, from a personal definitional standpoint, yes, but from and LDS leadership standpoint, No. This will seem inconsistent with the answer I just posted about the WoW, but the question is whether I consider myself worthy, not whether the interviewer considers me worthy. I used to lock up on this question every time I had a TR interview. I couldn’t meet the church’s standard for perfection, wasn’t a perfect home teacher, etc., and I felt terrible.
Only after my initial disaffection when I was able to qualify for one last TR was I able to confidently answer this, because I finally understood that the source of my worthiness is not my own efforts, but the atonement. As long as I’m making a good faith effort at sanctification, the atonement makes me worthy and not my own best efforts.
It’s ironic to me that I am faithful to my wife, try to read the scriptures and pray daily, pay 15% of a rather generous income to various charities, and have a pretty literal belief in the divinity of Christ and the atonement, yet I am a bad mormon because I drink alcohol and coffee and think Thomas S Monson is merely a decent person and not the Lord’s sole mouthpiece.
As previously posted I think the temple should really be a ladder for those seeking a closer understanding of the mysteries of godliness and not a merit badge of institutional conformity. It’s a tool and not an award. Or should be, anyway.
BobDixon wrote:I used to lock up on this question every time I had a TR interview. I couldn’t meet the church’s standard for perfection, wasn’t a perfect home teacher, etc., and I felt terrible.
Only after my initial disaffection when I was able to qualify for one last TR was I able to confidently answer this, because I finally understood that the source of my worthiness is not my own efforts, but the atonement.
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As previously posted I think the temple should really be a ladder for those seeking a closer understanding of the mysteries of godliness and not a merit badge of institutional conformity. It’s a tool and not an award. Or should be, anyway.
you have captured so well the essence of the TR process, and how we should respond to it.curiously, the gospel does not require perfection in the meaning of flawlessness: the plan of salvation was designed to allow us to be tempted and sin, that we may know from our own experience to distinguish good and evil. thus, mistakes are a sign that we are following the plan of salvation.
if you believe the church can judge you to a stricter standard than the lord judges you, then answering the questions the way the church “intends” them to be is the way to go.
but i would like everyone to consider the model used in the temple as a symbol of the TR interview. let’s assume for a moment, that the interviewer is acting for the lord. If the Lord were there asking the questions, how would you answer them?
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