A Different Perspective of the Temple

[Anonymous]

I was reading at WandT about the temple covenants, the opportunity to withdraw, and how people feel when they seem “blindsided” by what the actual covenants are. I saw this post by “anonymous” :

Quote:

I agree that some rewording would and should continue . . ., but at the same time I disagree that the temple should be only a happy place, a “Disneyland” of sorts where we lap in endorphins and ignore the most challenging aspects of life and the eternities. The temple must be more complex, more nuanced than that. Is it so bad that people wrestle with making covenants with The Lord and feel uneasy grappling with the magnitude of it? Something would be wrong if they didn’t! Culturally, we are made to feel guilty in this realm in the temple because everyone tells us that the temple is a Shangra-la of happiness. It can be, but it can also be more intense and complex, and that’s ok too. isn’t the temple a place of learning, and can much learning take place without moments of angst and struggle? Yes, we could reduce temple liturgy to a Disney worry-free experience, but that hardly would empathize with a God who weeps or our hellish and traumatic existence, the struggle of mankind and the requisite resistance and charity to rise above it.

I personally found this very insightful, and it really made me stop and ponder my experiences in the temple. I admit I was a regular attender until this last spring. I haven’t been since last April. My husband keeps mentioning that we should go, and I keep having a reason why the date he suggests won’t work. I have a TR, and I am still worthy, but the guilt that has prompted me to go in the past is dulled. I admit I don’t really miss it. I wish I did.

Here is the link to the blog post: http://www.wheatandtares.org/15678/refused-covenants/

[Anonymous]

E4M, Bless you for posting this!!! I needed to hear something like this. I’ve always had a hard time in the temple, even when I was going 3-4 times/month. I was always trying to find that simple happiness that everybody was talking about, but was never able to force it. I’ve always felt like it was a lot more complex than people were willing to admit, or they were just going through the motions… I haven’t been to the temple in a few years, and can’t say I miss it either. But my bishop keeps telling me that I’m missing the blessings of the temple and that my life can’t really be complete without temple attendance. That mentality bothers me that it’s just a simple thing to just go to the temple and everything’s peachy. I’ve spent days and weeks in prayer and study to try to prepare myself to go to the temple, so I’ll be in the right mindset when I get there, but without fail, I always get there and have never been able to feel much different than anywhere else. It’s helpful to hear that it’s okay to find the whole thing complicated, and not quite as simplistic as we sometimes hear.

Thank you!!!

[Anonymous]

I suppose I understand that. Making covenants with God should be a solemn occasion. This should be a milestone or turning point in the life of an individual.

But here is my predicament. I look at the temple experience as symbolic. I do not believe that vicarious ordinances affect the dead. I do believe that those that have gone before have passed down a great heritage and my trying to serve them in some capacity is a way of giving back. But this could also be achieved by studying their lives or lighting candles for them in a catholic service.

I still find value in the temple experience of vicarious ordinances but that value is weighed against the time and effort required to travel to a temple.

For my current situation – the biggest benefit of having a current temple recommend would be to be able to show my support to family members that go through the temple for the first time by attending with them.

[Anonymous]

Eternity- I have gone through some of the same emotions. The hardest thing to do is to force the feeling/emotion/spirit that you think you want to feel on a particular instance. The more we chase after it, the farther it seems to fly away from us.

We all need a shake up every now and then to break us out of our ruts, I’m in one now myself in regards to the temple. I want to go because I want to go, not because there is still a stack of names that need to be done. For me it is in the desire to partake of the spiritual and not to fulfill a quota for those that are waiting ( I don’t mean to be sacrilegious here) but the temple is first for the living and then for the dead so take it as you may.

I find quiet joy, insight, sometimes parts of it seems silly and or funny to me, parts of it seem profound lee spiritual.

Don’t know if any of that helps.

[Author]

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