2nd Annointing

[Anonymous]

The 2nd Annointing is a major issue for me yet it seems the church and most members are afraid to discuss it. Therefore there’s no one to ask, no place to go to gain knowledge. Hopefully this board can offer some suggestions and insight beyond, “It’s sacred and we shouldn’t talk about it.”

There are very, very few events in the temple that we actually covenant to not discuss. The 90 minutes of the endowment, for example, has only 4 or 5 moments where we covenant to not reveal that moment. I think that in those events there is an interesting symbolism and I like the symbol of something that only you personally can discover. Symbolic of not being able to piggy-back our way on another person’s experience or covenants.

But… the other 80 minutes are not ever said to be unspoken. I think we have an unhealthy obsession with “don’t talk about the temple.” It increases the mystery around it.

I’ll add that I’ve never made any kind of covenant NOT to discuss the 2nd annointing so I feel no guilt about bringing it up. If someone on this board has made such a covenant, they shouldn’t participate in the conversation.

The 2A is the culmination of the Saving Ordinances yet it isn’t discussed. EVER. Some will suggest that lesson manuals referring to calling and election made sure prove the church talks about it. Not so. The ordinance is not discussed.

In a lifetime of active church membership and multiple leadership callings I’d never heard of it until a member of my ward came to me seeking counsel and asked about it. I was certain they must be mistaken, otherwise I would have heard of it. So I started researching and this was the first massive crack in my shelf. It felt elitist. For the first time in my life I felt like I was on the outside of the church looking in and that I was the swine and the brethren didn’t want to cast their pearls before me. Maybe that’s unfair, but it’s how I felt.

I have 3 questions-

1- Why does the church not teach about this saving ordinance? Is it merely an administrative weakness; not enough brethren to administer the ordinance so they want to limit the administration? We are taught to seek after spiritual gifts so why shouldn’t we learn about and seek after the 2nd annointing as we would other temple blessings? When I asked the temple president about the ordinance he acted as if it didn’t exist. Maybe he didn’t know but I certainly hope a temple president would be aware of this temple ordinance.

2- Why is a 2nd annointing necessary at all in this life? It essentially ordains men and women as priests/kings, priestesses/queens in which they are guaranteed exaltation. It’s a judgement passed by men, instead of God. Why would it be necessary for men to pass this kind of eternal judgement? Why not wait for the next life like the rest of the world?

3- If women are “ordained” as a priestess, they hold the priesthood and it sounds like they hold a priesthood office. So when we get to the issue of Ordain Women asking for the ordination of women, it seems it would be more accurate to state it as a request to ordain ALL women instead of just a few.

What are your thoughts?

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