Video of alleged Mormon temple endowment ceremony

[BoomerLynn]

Well that was weird. :? And very, very boring.

[Cheesemaker]

Wow, the vengance against the US part is creepy. But hey, it has been dropped.

Very boring.

Very much like the Big Love scene.

I do wonder how many Mormons actually still do plural marriage on the side. hmmm.

I live in a very Mormon (but not UT) part of the western US and find this interesting.

[themadapple]

I went ahead and went through the longer version that's posted. I found the almost assembly line manner it was carried out to be intriguing. Somehow my preconceived notions of secret sacred rituals do not include videos or prerecorded voices giving instructions :lol: .

I felt sorry for the young girl acting as proxy on behalf of the dead for baptisms. Sheesh, right on down the list. Pretty vile.

[lilwriter85]

The prerecorded voices were kind of creepy

[silverspoons]

It is real. My husband has been through the temple but even though he hasn't been to church in years (has been to other churches) he is still scared to talk to much about the temple. When I was suggesting baby names, I brought up his "temple name". I had know idea that it was his temple name and he was absoletely against the name. In fact he doesn't like to even hear the name.

I feel bad because my husband went to the temple after his dad died and he decided to go on a mission to get away from the repsonsbility of being the oldest son and patriarch. His aunt took him to the temple and he had no idea what to was going on. He said he was freaked out and after his mission would not go back.

I can't beleive how many of my neighbors who are in their 30's and 40's go to the temple 2-3 times a week. These same people shop on sunday so I have no idea why they go so often. This is what they do once all the kids are school age during the day or for date night? Not what I would choose.

I think I found the temple so weird because it has these pretty rooms that are so ornate and then the locker room is huge and so modern and looks like a gym locker room. Then they have a cafteria(really cheap good food) that again is modern like a school and then the next area all mirrors or ornate fixtures and furniture.

[emily]

I felt sorry for the young girl acting as proxy on behalf of the dead for baptisms. Sheesh, right on down the list. Pretty vile.

I've done the baptisms for the dead thing many times. It wasn't creepy at the time, but after watching that part of the video, I can see how creepy it is to outsiders. Trips to the local temple were organized monthly for youth in my area, and I went mostly because it was something to get me out of the house and I could spend time with kids my age and we'd always go out to dinner afterward. I never believed any of it, but it was nice to hang out in a pretty building and it was always really peaceful. It made my mom think I was a good kid, so it wasn't a bad thing in my mind. I never felt used or creepy, but there was no way I would ever tell non Mormon friends of mine what it was, I knew it was weird.

Baptisms were mainly for youth, which are allowed to enter the temple upon recommendation of their bishops (Fter completing an interview to determine worthiness) age 12 and up. You're only allowed to do the endowment if you're going on a mission, or are about to get married.

[Witsec7]

I find the secrecy surrounding Mormon ritual to be on the paranoid side. I can walk into the local mosque or synagogue in my own town and observe the ritual, same holds true with the xtian churches and OCA church.

[B5SnowDog]

I admit I am suspicious of religions that don't give you the full skinny until you join.

[Tee-Tee]

Is there a way you can contact the Mormon church to be sure your name doesn't land on the 'baptise me when I'm dead' list? Because that's just...wrong. That poor girl looked like she was being waterboarded.

[lilwriter85]

I find the secrecy surrounding Mormon ritual to be on the paranoid side. I can walk into the local mosque or synagogue in my own town and observe the ritual, same holds true with the xtian churches and OCA church.

The video has gone viral on other sites/forums and people have largely pointed out the secrecy of the LDS church. Some people on another site have mentioned how back in the 60s, there was fear of JFK because he was Catholic, but the difference with Romney and Mormonism is that a lot of things are done in secret or non-Mormons are banned from Temple etc. With Catholicism, anyone can attend a wedding mass and several other sacrament services that are done at churches.

[lilwriter85]

Is there a way you can contact the Mormon church to be sure your name doesn't land on the 'baptise me when I'm dead' list? Because that's just...wrong. That poor girl looked like she was being waterboarded.

Based on what I've read it seems that you can't contact or tell the Mormon church that you don't want to be on the "baptize after death" list. I think it was on reddit, where one of the posters said that one of the reasons Mormons are into genealogy is way of collecting names of deceased non-Mormons for baptism. I would only worry about it if you have close friendships or are related to Mormons. My uncle was married to an ex Mormon and he met some of her active Mormon relatives several times. My uncle's son is 14 now and he is considering doing a baptism, First Holy Communion, and Confirmation thing in the Catholic Church at some point. If something happened to my cousin, I wouldn't be surprised if Mormon relatives baptized him in secret. The LDS church has baptized dead celebrities many times and the families of those celebrities might not know. Even if they do/did know, they could ignore it and view it as meaningless. There was outrage from Holocaust survivors when they found out about the LDS baptizing deceased Holocaust victims. I think the posthumous baptisms are wrong for several reasons mainly because it seems they don't care about the feelings of the deceased people's families. Some families would be really pissed if they found out about stuff like that. This is a bit OT, but I have had discussions with different people about naming children after deceased people and several people that I know have said they would only named a child after deceased friend or relative, if it was something that was ok with the family first. I used to be apart of grief support group for a few years after my brother died and there was an incident in which a guy was mad that a friend of his deceased sister named her daughter after his sister. He was upset that the friend didn't talk to his family beforehand.

[Witsec7]

Is there a way you can contact the Mormon church to be sure your name doesn't land on the 'baptise me when I'm dead' list? Because that's just...wrong. That poor girl looked like she was being waterboarded.

Nope, I've been baptized without my permission, so have all my siblings and Jewish relatives. It's pretty fucking offensive, worse than knocking on doors.

ETA: And even though they have baptized me I'm still not allowed in their temple. WTF?

[B5SnowDog]

Anne Frank has been posthumously baptized several times. I can't fully expressive how offensive that is.

[tropaka]

if you're on genealogical tree on line/ancestry.com etc you've probably been baptised (as have your ancestors). I find it offensive, but I wouldn't bother to argue with them because I don't believe in it at all.

[Witsec7]

if you're on genealogical tree on line/ancestry.com etc you've probably been baptised (as have your ancestors). I find it offensive, but I wouldn't bother to argue with them because I don't believe in it at all.

They used to have a website where you could check to see if they got to you yet. I don't know if it's still around. According to that site my DD was baptized by them less than 30 days after her birth. I think they tap public records too.

[hearyoume08]

Wha...? Yeah, boring and weird. If you want more weird Mormon stories there is a podcast called "Thank God I'm Atheist" done by two ex Mormons.

[themadapple]

I've done the baptisms for the dead thing many times. It wasn't creepy at the time, but after watching that part of the video, I can see how creepy it is to outsiders. Trips to the local temple were organized monthly for youth in my area, and I went mostly because it was something to get me out of the house and I could spend time with kids my age and we'd always go out to dinner afterward. I never believed any of it, but it was nice to hang out in a pretty building and it was always really peaceful. It made my mom think I was a good kid, so it wasn't a bad thing in my mind. I never felt used or creepy, but there was no way I would ever tell non Mormon friends of mine what it was, I knew it was weird.

Baptisms were mainly for youth, which are allowed to enter the temple upon recommendation of their bishops (Fter completing an interview to determine worthiness) age 12 and up. You're only allowed to do the endowment if you're going on a mission, or are about to get married.

It's a not so much a traditional sort of creepiness. Rather it seemed very matter of fact, almost like a mechanical, bureaucratic matter. I felt for her because she was representing a number of the dead, which of course involved her being dunked several times. How many baptisms does one person usually do at once?

I get what you're saying, though. If I were a kid and raised a Mormon, I would probably see it as a nifty outing as well. Mind you, I would probably look forward more to dinner out than baptisms :lol:

[Deleted05]

So after you've gone through the fancy ceremony, what do you do? Do you just go hang out in the temple whenever you feel like it?

[Witsec7]

So after you've gone through the fancy ceremony, what do you do? Do you just go hang out in the temple whenever you feel like it?

I suggest a nice dinner that includes funeral potatoes and lime jello salad.

Seriously do families make a big deal out of this? Are boys ever used as surrogates? Do you need to be a virgin to take a dip for the dead? So many questions. :think:

[Jessica]

When you go through the veil in the endowment ceremony, you get to go sit in the Celestial Room.

Males and females, young and old (well, starting at age 12), married, unmarried, virgin, deflowered, do baptisms for the dead.

[Witsec7]

When you go through the veil in the endowment ceremony, you get to go sit in the Celestial Room.

Males and females, young and old (well, starting at age 12), married, unmarried, virgin, deflowered, do baptisms for the dead.

I think the Celestial room was in the clip. I'm thinking any place called the Celestial room should be able to shake up a good gin martini, but somehow I feel it's quite impossible in the Mormon equivalent.

[Maude]

Interesting. I've known some ex-Mormons, but they never really talked about what went on behind closed doors. I don't know whether to be more or less curious now, however. I may just settle for weirded out. :?

[Morton Fan]

Interesting. I've known some ex-Mormons, but they never really talked about what went on behind closed doors. I don't know whether to be more or less curious now, however. I may just settle for weirded out. :?

Having toured several LDS temples (before they open, of course ... they like to show them off, then sanitize after we gentiles visit before they're officially open), I've had the "privilege" of sitting in the Celestial Room to "enjoy the Spirit." It's very hard not to get a case of the unholy giggles.

ETA: clarity

[shesinsane]

Say what you will about baptizing the dead, but when your religion began in the 19th century, you've got to find some way to enable those who died before then to join you in the afterlife. Baptizing the dead allows believers to include friends and family outside of the faith in their Mormon version of heaven.

experiencedd, those baptizing you without your consent were just making sure they'll see you again in the Kingdom of Heaven if that episode of South Park is right and Mormonism is the one true religion. ;)

[Deleted03]

Nope, I've been baptized without my permission, so have all my siblings and Jewish relatives. It's pretty fucking offensive, worse than knocking on doors.

ETA: And even though they have baptized me I'm still not allowed in their temple. WTF?

I am very confused, I thought on another thread some Mormons had explained that you are not baptized, but given a choice once dead to decide if you (as a spirit) want to be a mormon....