One person talked about listening to the endowment in English versus his mission language and said that doing it in another language helps him to be alert and pay very close attention. This person said in jest and also in musing, "I wonder how much patrons have to pay attention to the endowment for it to be valid for the dead?"
Light debate and reasoning ensued and it was concluded that the spirit of the person who the work was being done for is in the room and that the patron could be fully asleep and/or not paying attention and because the spirit of the person is present - they will do all the important parts of the ceremony even if the person who is physically there isn't engaged.
One noted that in the baptistry witnesses are assigned to look for ANY mistake in the wording or even if a pinky toe comes out of the water - the volunteer will have to re-do the ordinance to perfection. They noted that in the endowment you can be asleep or thinking about all the things you need to do when you leave and it is still acceptable. You could even say the wrong name in your brain and pfffffft - yer fine. It counts.
It is interesting to hear that conversation and think more deeply and ask, how does all this work for the dead actually work? And how do you know if a person is accepting it or not?
Have you ever said or heard this before? "I'm an endowed member. All I need to do is stay faithful to church leadership and endure to the end and I will receive eternal life. I am sealed to my family forever as long as I continue to keep my covenants."
If you feel this way, I ask you:
What does the endowment actually mean?
The signs?
Tokens?
Robes?
What is it exactly that you have received?
If you don't truly know the answer to those questions, consider that perhaps you haven't literally received your endowment after all.
Everything in the Temple is preparatory. There is not one single ordinance offered or administered that is literal. Everything given in the Temple is symbolic of something that is available for you to obtain, if you will seek for further light and knowledge. (If interested in this blog about the temple, click here)
1. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
...
5 ...My son (and daughter), despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
...
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7)
If you are married and your spouse is not on the same page - take courage. Today we had an angel come to our home (thank you for coming UB!!). He came to us through a great time of torment to my soul. If you've read my first ever blog post you will know that one of my best friends died of ALS and I was asked to pray at her funeral. At the funeral word had gotten back to our Stake President that we were, well...who knows what he was told we "were". But his actions indicated he felt we were unsafe. He asked the presiding Bishop to go and tell me that when I say the closing prayer I am, "not to teach" and to "keep it short". The blood drained from my face and the funeral was a blur. I had fasted for four days and felt strongly what to pray for. I decided to just say the prayer anyways and when it was over I sped off the podium to hide.
UB was at the funeral that day. Today he came to visit and said that for years he held spiritual things in his heart that had been somewhat locked away and when I prayed at that funeral it allowed it to come flooding out. And a sweet and holy friendship was formed there after. He has kept us going with his love of Jesus. And come to find out - Ryan is related to him through polygamy! The day I said that prayer was such a difficult day and the days preceding after. But as UB told us today - that prayer allowed his heart to bring to the forefront those deeper spiritual things again. And I had to shake my head. I can't believe the Lord and His Mercy and Goodness.
So if you're going through it right now, you're not a bastard! You're a beloved Son! A beloved Daughter! May you ever be shaken until that which can not be shaken - remains. JESUS.
And if you are on this journey with a spouse who isn't on the same page - I will share with you what UB taught us today. He blogs by the way and you can find his blog here.
____________________________________________My dear wife is going through radiation. It’s been hard. And yet this morning, lying in bed, she reached over, took my hand, and said:
“Can we go to the temple today?”
I blinked. That wasn’t in the plan.
But how could I say no?
She loves the temple. Always has.
But the system?
The way it’s all been packaged, polished, and controlled?
That’s where I ache.
I walk into the celestial room and look up at the chandeliers.
Polished marble. Gold trim. All of it… expensive.
And I wonder—how many poor could be helped with this?
The temple is 26 miles away. That’s gas. That’s time. And yet we go, because she loves it. Because to her, it’s sacred. It’s beautiful. It’s home.
And I love her.
So I go.
💍 A Covenant of Love
So today I’ll go. I’ll drive the 26 miles.
I’ll sit beside her. I’ll hold her hand.
And I’ll do it not because the church says to…
…but because the Lord said to love her.
To stand by her.
To walk with her—just like He walks with me.
And maybe that’s the real temple work.
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