Evolution and history of the Temple Recommend Questions

[Anonymous]

Brian Johnston wrote:

Just sayin’… If they had to ask this question, it must have been a problem.

Ya, it must have been like…”we can’t remember our lines in the ceremony because we’re too distracted from the fact you smell like a dead horse in July.”

This is a classic church leadership technique taken from early Church Handbook of Instructions:

Quote:

We don’t like confrontation. As a leader, it is much easier to create a new church policy or standard and address with everyone collectively, rather than just going to the individual to tell them what their problem is. Therefore, any misbehavior or lack of good standards by individuals should be handled by talking about it over the pulpit in generic terms to make everyone wonder if you’re talking about them or not. Other options include creating temple recommend questions for all to adhere to the standard so you don’t have to confront the individual, or finding scriptures in the Book of Mormon to suggest the Lamanites also had the same problems you’re dealing with and warn all against becoming unworthy to have the spirit with them unless they avoid the unsaid practice you wish to not confront the individual with.

I am glad to say, they have perfected this leadership style in our church today!

{Um…there really wasn’t a CHI back then for this kind of stuff…but wouldn’t older versions of CHI’s be fun reading today????} 😈

[Anonymous]

All of this discussion makes the point that TR questions do evolve.

It is conceivable WoW questions could be changed with the times, for example. The current focus on 100% abstinence of coffee, tea and alcohol seems like an outdated taboo and traditional interpretation of revelation. I don’t think they’d even go back to the 1857 version:

Quote:

Have you been intoxicated with strong drink?

…I think they could just go more sterile and ask if you keep the WoW as it is currently taught, and start instructing local leaders the emphasis isn’t on caffeine or coffee or tea, it is on the healthy lifestyle standards as taught in the D&C, and the person must answer if they are living a healthy lifestyle, and perhaps a standard to judge by is to not become intoxicated with alcohol. Perhaps that is so vague, they might as well take it out entirely.

I could see the WoW question being similar to the question:

Quote:

Have you taken another’s horse or mule from the range and rode it, without the owner’s consent?

It isn’t like now that it is removed, they are saying you should go take another’s horse and ride it around without asking 😮 – they’re just saying it really isn’t the most important thing to be focusing on when preparing for the temple in our global modern church.

I’m just saying, they’ve made adjustments before, and I think the WoW could be changed at some point.

[Anonymous]

I’ve only been asked if I “keep the word of wisdom”. Since I think the word of wisdom can be interpreted to mean something different from complete abstinence, I answer yes if I feel good about myself. I had a drink last year at a work function, but I don’t have a problem with alcohol (which I feel is the real intent) so I did not have a problem answering yes. I think the questions should be less direct and more introspective as really we should be evaluating ourselves.

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