Why Should a Mormon Become Catholic?

[LivingWaters7]

I’m still getting used to this whole “The Lord be with you”, “And with your spirit” business!

 

[twopekinguys]

I’m still getting used to this whole “The Lord be with you”, “And with your spirit” business!

LOL, Wait until Christmas and Easter, and see how many are out of touch.

I still stumble on the creed sometimes.

 

[laurenannie]

Luckily, I have been extraordinarily blessed with two wonderful parents who are devout Mormons but once I told them of my intention to convert to Catholicism made sure I understood in no uncertain terms that they loved me and supported me in doing what I needed to do to be happy. I haven’t told anyone else in my family. I’m fairly sure that the reaction will be less than positive from some. But I know the two people I love most in this world will have my back as I take this journey. And I never became endowed, which is how my parents and I ended up really discussing some of my concerns about the LDS Church (they suggested I do it and I didn’t feel comfortable with it). I know they were hoping I would stay LDS, but I honestly believe them when they tell me they’re supportive of me joining the Catholic Church.

One of the things I was told about the Catholic Church was that they didn’t believe in personal revelation and inspiration like the LDS. After my first Mass I was hesitant to describe to my priest my experience which I definitely believe was personal revelation. Luckily, I was very quickly corrected by my priest. A week ago, I began praying the Rosary without any specific intention, but really just because I knew it was something Catholics do and I felt it was important to incorporate as much of the Church as I can into my life while I prepare for the Rites of Initiation. It has been an incredible week. I have been amazed at how clear some points of theological confusion have become for me. I also started praying to St. Thomas More, as I am an attorney, and things at work have become noticeably better. I don’t fully understand the intercession of saints yet, but I know it works!

I take great comfort in the knowledge that God has never abandoned his Church or his children. I had always wondered why Christ would promise that the gates of Hell would not prevail against his Church, and then allow the Great Apostasy.

And twopekinguys I would love a link. I very much want to be able to participate in Mass without having to read the missals, and I think observing some Masses would help.

 

[twopekinguys]

Luckily, I have been extraordinarily blessed with two wonderful parents who are devout Mormons but once I told them of my intention to convert to Catholicism made sure I understood in no uncertain terms that they loved me and supported me in doing what I needed to do to be happy. I haven’t told anyone else in my family. I’m fairly sure that the reaction will be less than positive from some. But I know the two people I love most in this world will have my back as I take this journey. And I never became endowed, which is how my parents and I ended up really discussing some of my concerns about the LDS Church (they suggested I do it and I didn’t feel comfortable with it). I know they were hoping I would stay LDS, but I honestly believe them when they tell me they’re supportive of me joining the Catholic Church.

One of the things I was told about the Catholic Church was that they didn’t believe in personal revelation and inspiration like the LDS. After my first Mass I was hesitant to describe to my priest my experience which I definitely believe was personal revelation. Luckily, I was very quickly corrected by my priest. A week ago, I began praying the Rosary without any specific intention, but really just because I knew it was something Catholics do and I felt it was important to incorporate as much of the Church as I can into my life while I prepare for the Rites of Initiation. It has been an incredible week. I have been amazed at how clear some points of theological confusion have become for me. I also started praying to St. Thomas More, as I am an attorney, and things at work have become noticeably better. I don’t fully understand the intercession of saints yet, but I know it works!

I take great comfort in the knowledge that God has never abandoned his Church or his children. I had always wondered why Christ would promise that the gates of Hell would not prevail against his Church, and then allow the Great Apostasy.

And twopekinguys I would love a link. I very much want to be able to participate in Mass without having to read the missals, and I think observing some Masses would help.

You are off to a great start!!

You are very blessed that your parents are supporting you in this as well. I am sure they will be able to run interference for you with others.

I will send you a PM with the links.

 

[Brandon_Cal]

laurenannie,

I’m very happy to hear that your parents are supporting you so. I’m technically LDS as of yet, though I haven’t believed in years. I still attend all meetings and hold a couple callings but only to keep up appearances. I’ve too felt a strong pull to the Catholic Church but just can’t bring myself to do much about it given similar fears of my family’s reaction. I’ve been attending Mass on and off for about six years, and have even taken up praying the Office daily (for the past two months or so). Each time around I feel the tug stronger and stronger, so maybe this time I’ll finally grow the courage to resign from the LDS and start RCIA. I hope the best for you in this journey and I’ll keep you in my prayers.

 

[RebeccaJ]

laurenannie,

I’m very happy to hear that your parents are supporting you so. I’m technically LDS as of yet, though I haven’t believed in years. I still attend all meetings and hold a couple callings but only to keep up appearances. I’ve too felt a strong pull to the Catholic Church but just can’t bring myself to do much about it given similar fears of my family’s reaction. I’ve been attending Mass on and off for about six years, and have even taken up praying the Office daily (for the past two months or so). Each time around I feel the tug stronger and stronger, so maybe this time I’ll finally grow the courage to resign from the LDS and start RCIA. I hope the best for you in this journey and I’ll keep you in my prayers.

That tug will pull you where you need to be.

From a Catholic perspective, you don’t need to resign from the LDS church.

 

[twopekinguys]

laurenannie,

I’m very happy to hear that your parents are supporting you so. I’m technically LDS as of yet, though I haven’t believed in years. I still attend all meetings and hold a couple callings but only to keep up appearances. I’ve too felt a strong pull to the Catholic Church but just can’t bring myself to do much about it given similar fears of my family’s reaction. I’ve been attending Mass on and off for about six years, and have even taken up praying the Office daily (for the past two months or so). Each time around I feel the tug stronger and stronger, so maybe this time I’ll finally grow the courage to resign from the LDS and start RCIA. I hope the best for you in this journey and I’ll keep you in my prayers.

You only have to resign yourself to going through RCIA.

One of the great things about RCIA is just because you go, doesn’t mean you HAVE to become Catholic.

Go, check it out, see if the “tug” gets stronger. It is a win win situation.

You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

God Bless you on your journey.

 

[RebeccaJ]

Just a quick background as this is my first post, I was raised LDS and have chosen to convert to Catholicism. This was the first thread I saw today, my first day back since I registered, and I had to laugh. How applicable to my situation! I know that the OP has already decided to revert to Catholicism, but I thought I’d share why this Mormon has chosen to become Catholic.

I was a history major at BYU. When I entered the history program we were guided to Boyd K. Packer’s talk “The Mantle is Far Greater than the Intellect” (link in case you’ve never read it: si.lds.org/bc/seminary/content/library/talks/ces-symposium-addresses/the-mantle-is-far-far-greater-than-the-intellect_eng.pdf) and informed in no uncertain terms that in complying with this talk we should not submit research papers on any church history topics, especially not Joseph Smith. This of course made me more curious than ever and I had to know what they didn’t want me to know.

After being completely devastated by the things I found about church history and Joseph Smith especially, I still couldn’t leave. I was raised in a very devout Mormon family, the descendant of Mormon pioneers on both sides, and everything I had was tied up in my identity as a Mormon. I tried desperately to make it work. I figured if I just tried hard enough and prayed hard enough these doubts would be made clear. During this time, I would take some breaks from Mormonism and investigate other churches. I was consistently drawn to Catholicism but I resisted. I know now that I had many misunderstandings about the doctrines of the Catholic faith, and partially because of these misunderstandings I choose to not attend a Mass, even though there was a strong urge to go. I attended many other denominations and though the services were generally fine, nothing compelled me to return. It wasn’t what I was looking for.

About a year ago I stopped going to LDS Church completely. I also gave up on finding any church to join. I continued to believe in Christ but I was so hurt by my experience in Mormonism and frustrated at my lack of finding another faith. Of course, the draw to Catholicism increased, but, being my stubborn self, I didn’t attend Mass. Finally, about three weeks ago I realized that this urge to attend Mass wouldn’t subside until I did it. So I researched Catholic parishes in my area and found the one closest to me.

During the Mass I tried to follow along in the book, but I admit it was a bit overwhelming. It was just so different than listening to talks and lessons for three hours like LDS church. I sort of gave up during the Eucharist. I put down the book and just started watching the priest bless the Eucharist. Then the priest held up the host and stated “Behold the Lamb of God” and thank heavens I was kneeling because I might have fallen over otherwise. I knew that Christ was there in the consecrated host. I knew He was there just as surely as I knew the priest was there. After Mass was over I left quickly and went home. I thought, I prayed, I cried. And then I knew the Catholic Church was the truth I had been looking for. The next day I called to make an appointment with the priest and inquire about RCIA classes. I start in September and I haven’t been this happy or at peace in years.

That’s why this Mormon is becoming Catholic.

Beautiful experience, thanks for sharing.

Don’t worry about Mass. Participate as much as you can. It takes time to learn how and when we participate in the liturgy. Just when you think you got it, someone does something different. That isn’t a concern. It is about worshipping Jesus. I think I’ve done just about everything you can, backwards or upside down.

The best was when I first started trying to say the creed, and my LDS background slipped itself in. When everyone was saying I believe in one baptism for the remission of sins, somehow, what came out of me was I believe in one baptism for the dead. Seriously, I about died. The church didn’t fall in on us.

 

[RebeccaJ]

Not even the temple provided that (not sure if you’re Endowed). Catholicism provides many liturgies and devotionals aimed at worshipping God. With Catholicism I feel like I’m connected to the ancient Jewish temple that we read about in the Bible (there are indeed books and scholarly articles written on that very topic), more so than I did going to the LDS temples, despite reading LDS apologetics on that topic.

Just curious, what you were expecting from the LDS temple experience? Since there are no books on what happens there, with theological discussions, were you expecting the experience to connect to ancient Jewish temple activity, beliefs or rites?

 

[Brandon_Cal]

You only have to resign yourself to going through RCIA.

One of the great things about RCIA is just because you go, doesn’t mean you HAVE to become Catholic.

Go, check it out, see if the “tug” gets stronger. It is a win win situation.

You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

God Bless you on your journey.

You know, I hesitated so long to go to my first Mass because I didn’t want to be “Love Bombed”. I wanted a way to be a fly on the wall and just observe without hoards of Catholics coming up to me to shake my hand and pretend to be my friend (much as is the case in Mormon wards). Once I finally went I was surprised to find not a single person approach me. At worst I got a couple smiles from people if we made eye contact, but that was it.

Then I eventually saw the fliers for RCIA (and the announcements for it during the Dismissal of Mass) and I thought “Aha! That’s how those sneaky Catholics get ya! They won’t bother you if you just drop by for Mass, but dare you to get into more intimate contact with them they’ll get your email address, phone number, address, and before you know it Nuns will be showing up at your doorstep unannounced!”

As you can see I still have a lot of Mormon baggage to deal with

This last year’s RCIA class had its first Mormon in over 10 years (or something like that), and he was sort of paraded around like some trophy convert. I know it was done without malevolence; indeed, most of the members of the parish see Mormonism as some arcane, elusive faith so when a Mormon does come around everyone’s interest is piqued. He seems to be doing very well in the parish now, and is very active. I think I may approach him for some advice.

 

[twopekinguys]

You know, I hesitated so long to go to my first Mass because I didn’t want to be “Love Bombed”. I wanted a way to be a fly on the wall and just observe without hoards of Catholics coming up to me to shake my hand and pretend to be my friend (much as is the case in Mormon wards). Once I finally went I was surprised to find not a single person approach me. At worst I got a couple smiles from people if we made eye contact, but that was it.

Then I eventually saw the fliers for RCIA (and the announcements for it during the Dismissal of Mass) and I thought “Aha! That’s how those sneaky Catholics get ya! They won’t bother you if you just drop by for Mass, but dare you to get into more intimate contact with them they’ll get your email address, phone number, address, and before you know it Nuns will be showing up at your doorstep unannounced!”

As you can see I still have a lot of Mormon baggage to deal with

This last year’s RCIA class had its first Mormon in over 10 years (or something like that), and he was sort of paraded around like some trophy convert. I know it was done without malevolence; indeed, most of the members of the parish see Mormonism as some arcane, elusive faith so when a Mormon does come around everyone’s interest is piqued. He seems to be doing very well in the parish now, and is very active. I think I may approach him for some advice.

I can’t speak for our parishes, but in ours, we try our best to be low key about it in alot of ways.

We have had mormons, budhists, baptists, athiests, etc., and as a rule, nobody in the parish is none the wiser.

Everyone who joins the Church is a success story, so we parade everyone around equally. NOT.

I always tell those attending RCIA that they have up until 5 minutes before the Easter Vigil starts to come to me and back out. Less than 5 minutes, and I’m dragging them down the aisle!! I haven’t had to drag anyone down the aisle yet.

When classes start, we do tell them that if they are going to stop/quit, just let us know. We’ll pray, hug, and say goodbye, and that will be it.

We won’t hound them. If they don’t tell us they are quitting, we will call a couple of times to make sure they are OK, but we don’t push the issue.

Being a convert myself, and almost all of my team, we understand how hard it is to convert.

Like I said, give it a shot, you have nothing to lose. Also, if you would like the same links I sent to Laurenannie, I would be happy to send them to you also.

 

[Brandon_Cal]

Just curious, what you were expecting from the LDS temple experience? Since there are no books on what happens there, with theological discussions, were you expecting the experience to connect to ancient Jewish temple activity, beliefs or rites?

I know you directed this to LivingWaters7, so pardon me if I’m out of line in giving my own expectations.

Prior to taking out my Endowment, I already performed baptisms/confirmations for the dead, and had a very rough idea of what the Endowment was about. I had previously been told that the Endowment was a reenactment of the creation account and the plan of salvation. I was further told that I’d make sacred covenants and promise sacrifice unto God. Knowing that the Jewish temple was a place of sacrifice, and that Christ’s passion in the Garden and on Calvary was the culmination of such sacrifice, I expected the Endowment to be packed with symbolic reenactments of all the modes of propitiation in the Old Testament, and finally Christ’s passion. I expected there to be mentions of Cain and Abel’s sacrifices (of vegetation and flesh, respectively). I expected a mentioning of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his son Issac, and still later those of Aaron and Moses. I expected all of these to foreshadow the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

To my chagrin none of this occurred. Sacrifice was given a passing mention just before the expulsion from the Garden, and it was God asking us patrons to sacrifice our time and talents just as all those did before us. This seemed a bit weird to me since the Endowment is said to have been something practiced in the Old Testament church in the Jewish Temple restored to its former glory by Joseph Smith. Wouldn’t you expect these sacrifices of old to actually be re-portrayed just as we do every Sunday during the Sacrament (with respect to the ultimate Sacrifice of Jesus)? As a little boy in the Aaronic Priesthood I was constantly taught that the Sacrament was sort of a sliver of the temple brought to our meetinghouses, which is why we should be “extra reverent” during that 15 minutes of the service. To be perfectly honest, I expected a mini Sacrament Meeting to be at the tail end of the Endowment.

The Washings and Anointings seemed appropriate, but the rest just seemed entirely misplaced. What do Lucifer and his preachers have to do with sacrifice? What do signs and tokens have to do with sacrifice? A temple is a place of sacrifice!

I’ve asked others for help understanding the connection, and all I get in response is “You need to go to the temple more often and it will slowly make more sense.” Maybe I’m too thick to get it, but I’ve taken out Endowments for nearly 100 deceased people and it’s no clearer to me now than when I took out my own.

---

Edited to add:

Weirdly enough, what I was looking for in the Endowment I’ve found in the Mass… a re-presentation of sacrifice! In this way, I have to agree that the Catholic Mass and Orthodox Divine Liturgy are more continuous with the purpose of the Jewish temple than the LDS temple is.

 

[RebeccaJ]

You know, I hesitated so long to go to my first Mass because I didn’t want to be “Love Bombed”. I wanted a way to be a fly on the wall and just observe without hoards of Catholics coming up to me to shake my hand and pretend to be my friend (much as is the case in Mormon wards). Once I finally went I was surprised to find not a single person approach me. At worst I got a couple smiles from people if we made eye contact, but that was it.

Then I eventually saw the fliers for RCIA (and the announcements for it during the Dismissal of Mass) and I thought “Aha! That’s how those sneaky Catholics get ya! They won’t bother you if you just drop by for Mass, but dare you to get into more intimate contact with them they’ll get your email address, phone number, address, and before you know it Nuns will be showing up at your doorstep unannounced!”

As you can see I still have a lot of Mormon baggage to deal with

This last year’s RCIA class had its first Mormon in over 10 years (or something like that), and he was sort of paraded around like some trophy convert. I know it was done without malevolence; indeed, most of the members of the parish see Mormonism as some arcane, elusive faith so when a Mormon does come around everyone’s interest is piqued. He seems to be doing very well in the parish now, and is very active. I think I may approach him for some advice.

Too funny, but I did the same. I sat in the back, on the end, close to the door. Ready to escape if I had to.

 

[RebeccaJ]

I know you directed this to LivingWaters7, so pardon me if I’m out of line in giving my own expectations.

Prior to taking out my Endowment, I already performed baptisms/confirmations for the dead, and had a very rough idea of what the Endowment was about. I had previously been told that the Endowment was a reenactment of the creation account and the plan of salvation. I was further told that I’d make sacred covenants and promise sacrifice unto God. Knowing that the Jewish temple was a place of sacrifice, and that Christ’s passion in the Garden and on Calvary was the culmination of such sacrifice, I expected the Endowment to be packed with symbolic reenactments of all the modes of propitiation in the Old Testament, and finally Christ’s passion. I expected there to be mentions of Cain and Abel’s sacrifices (of vegetation and flesh, respectively). I expected a mentioning of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his son Issac, and still later those of Aaron and Moses. I expected all of these to foreshadow the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

To my chagrin none of this occurred. Sacrifice was given a passing mention just before the expulsion from the Garden, and it was God asking us patrons to sacrifice our time and talents just as all those did before us. This seemed a bit weird to me since the Endowment is said to have been something practiced in the Old Testament church in the Jewish Temple restored to its former glory by Joseph Smith. Wouldn’t you expect these sacrifices of old to actually be re-portrayed just as we do every Sunday during the Sacrament (with respect to the ultimate Sacrifice of Jesus)? As a little boy in the Aaronic Priesthood I was constantly taught that the Sacrament was sort of a sliver of the temple brought to our meetinghouses, which is why we should be “extra reverent” during that 15 minutes of the service. To be perfectly honest, I expected a mini Sacrament Meeting to be at the tail end of the Endowment.

The Washings and Anointings seemed appropriate, but the rest just seemed entirely misplaced. What do Lucifer and his preachers have to do with sacrifice? What do signs and tokens have to do with sacrifice? A temple is a place of sacrifice!

I’ve asked others for help understanding the connection, and all I get in response is “You need to go to the temple more often and it will slowly make more sense.” Maybe I’m too thick to get it, but I’ve taken out Endowments for nearly 100 deceased people and it’s no clearer to me now than when I took out my own.

---

Edited to add:

Weirdly enough, what I was looking for in the Endowment I’ve found in the Mass… a re-presentation of sacrifice! In this way, I have to agree that the Catholic Mass and Orthodox Divine Liturgy are more continuous with the purpose of the Jewish temple than the LDS temple is.

Thanks for sharing your experience! I was raised LDS as well, and lived the constant build up to know the sacred secrets that no one will talk about. Which, didn’t give me the desire to participate. I never did the endowment.

LW7 was a convert to Mormonism, from Catholicism, and now has reverted. I just wonder what he expected.

 

[Miriam1947]

Just a quick background as this is my first post, I was raised LDS and have chosen to convert to Catholicism. This was the first thread I saw today, my first day back since I registered, and I had to laugh. How applicable to my situation! I know that the OP has already decided to revert to Catholicism, but I thought I’d share why this Mormon has chosen to become Catholic.

I was a history major at BYU. When I entered the history program we were guided to Boyd K. Packer’s talk “The Mantle is Far Greater than the Intellect” (link in case you’ve never read it: si.lds.org/bc/seminary/content/library/talks/ces-symposium-addresses/the-mantle-is-far-far-greater-than-the-intellect_eng.pdf) and informed in no uncertain terms that in complying with this talk we should not submit research papers on any church history topics, especially not Joseph Smith. This of course made me more curious than ever and I had to know what they didn’t want me to know.

After being completely devastated by the things I found about church history and Joseph Smith especially, I still couldn’t leave. I was raised in a very devout Mormon family, the descendant of Mormon pioneers on both sides, and everything I had was tied up in my identity as a Mormon. I tried desperately to make it work. I figured if I just tried hard enough and prayed hard enough these doubts would be made clear. During this time, I would take some breaks from Mormonism and investigate other churches. I was consistently drawn to Catholicism but I resisted. I know now that I had many misunderstandings about the doctrines of the Catholic faith, and partially because of these misunderstandings I choose to not attend a Mass, even though there was a strong urge to go. I attended many other denominations and though the services were generally fine, nothing compelled me to return. It wasn’t what I was looking for.

About a year ago I stopped going to LDS Church completely. I also gave up on finding any church to join. I continued to believe in Christ but I was so hurt by my experience in Mormonism and frustrated at my lack of finding another faith. Of course, the draw to Catholicism increased, but, being my stubborn self, I didn’t attend Mass. Finally, about three weeks ago I realized that this urge to attend Mass wouldn’t subside until I did it. So I researched Catholic parishes in my area and found the one closest to me.

During the Mass I tried to follow along in the book, but I admit it was a bit overwhelming. It was just so different than listening to talks and lessons for three hours like LDS church. I sort of gave up during the Eucharist. I put down the book and just started watching the priest bless the Eucharist. Then the priest held up the host and stated “Behold the Lamb of God” and thank heavens I was kneeling because I might have fallen over otherwise. I knew that Christ was there in the consecrated host. I knew He was there just as surely as I knew the priest was there. After Mass was over I left quickly and went home. I thought, I prayed, I cried. And then I knew the Catholic Church was the truth I had been looking for. The next day I called to make an appointment with the priest and inquire about RCIA classes. I start in September and I haven’t been this happy or at peace in years.

That’s why this Mormon is becoming Catholic.

Welcome home!

 

[twopekinguys]

Too funny, but I did the same. I sat in the back, on the end, close to the door. Ready to escape if I had to.

I did that when I went to the Assemblies of God.

 

[laurenannie]

I’m very happy to hear that your parents are supporting you so. I’m technically LDS as of yet, though I haven’t believed in years. I still attend all meetings and hold a couple callings but only to keep up appearances. I’ve too felt a strong pull to the Catholic Church but just can’t bring myself to do much about it given similar fears of my family’s reaction. I’ve been attending Mass on and off for about six years, and have even taken up praying the Office daily (for the past two months or so). Each time around I feel the tug stronger and stronger, so maybe this time I’ll finally grow the courage to resign from the LDS and start RCIA. I hope the best for you in this journey and I’ll keep you in my prayers.

I spoke to my priest about the feelings I’ve had over the years and my guilt and regret now that I didn’t act on them and, as I told him, cut myself off from years of blessings. He told me not to worry. That I wasn’t ready then, and that’s OK. I also told him that this weekend I’m going to a family reunion, and though I’ve told my parents I’m scared to tell anyone else in my family. He told me it was OK if I wasn’t ready to tell everyone.

Remember this is your journey, no one else’s. I was little surprised how long the process was before I could be baptized (my parish has a two year process, so starting this year the earliest I could be baptized is Easter 2015, I don’t know if that’s standard or not) but then I realized it was to make sure I was truly ready for the commitment of baptism. No baptize now, explain later which is all to common in Mormonism. So I think you could start RCIA even if you’re not entirely sure conversion is what you want. RCIA will probably help you make that decision either way.

I think I startled my poor priest telling him about some Mormon beliefs. I wanted to talk about why God created us so I started off with, “Well, Mormons believe that we all can become Gods and so we were created and sent here to test our worthiness so that when we die we can be exalted and given our own worlds…” and the expression on his poor face was priceless.

 

[twopekinguys]

I spoke to my priest about the feelings I’ve had over the years and my guilt and regret now that I didn’t act on them and, as I told him, cut myself off from years of blessings. He told me not to worry. That I wasn’t ready then, and that’s OK. I also told him that this weekend I’m going to a family reunion, and though I’ve told my parents I’m scared to tell anyone else in my family. He told me it was OK if I wasn’t ready to tell everyone.

Remember this is your journey, no one else’s. I was little surprised how long the process was before I could be baptized (my parish has a two year process, so starting this year the earliest I could be baptized is Easter 2015, I don’t know if that’s standard or not) but then I realized it was to make sure I was truly ready for the commitment of baptism. No baptize now, explain later which is all to common in Mormonism. So I think you could start RCIA even if you’re not entirely sure conversion is what you want. RCIA will probably help you make that decision either way.

Very well said.

Our program is 1 year, but you hit the nail on the head about being “ready” for baptism.

 

[LivingWaters7]

Just curious, what you were expecting from the LDS temple experience? Since there are no books on what happens there, with theological discussions, were you expecting the experience to connect to ancient Jewish temple activity, beliefs or rites?

I can agree with what Brandon Cal said. I viewed it similarly. I definitely expected the experience to connect to ancient Jewish temple rites, because that’s what the apologetics focus on: a relationship between the ancient Jewish temple(s) and the restored temple and its ordinances. Now, some LDS may say that the ancient temple(s) was operated by the Aaronic Priesthood, while restored temples are operated by the Melchizedek Priesthood, so the ordinances wouldn’t be the same nor very similar. However many LDS apologists focus much effort on demonstrating parallels between ancient Jewish-Christian rituals (whether performed in the ancient temple or not), as well as Egyptian rituals (i.e. Hugh Nibley and his Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment book). So, that’s what I was expecting, and I was excited to finally go and experience these restored rites.

Now, there are certainly parallels between certain Biblical statements and practices, i.e. white garment, new name, entering the presence of God, washing, etc. and the LDS temple. I did enjoy the Initiatory, where an explicit reference is made to OT washing and anointing. When I heard that, I thought “oh, there must be a connection here, we’re doing the same thing they did in the OT temple!”. The Initiatory was probably my favorite part of the Endowment (again, probably because of the explicit reference/citation of an OT verse/practice that made me think of this being a true restoration). The rest of it left me wanting more, though I wasn’t traumatized or anything really negative. Like Brandon said, the focus on sacrifice wasn’t really there. I liked being in the temple, you know, sacred space, being away from the craziness of the world, etc. The actual presentation format was also…interesting.

However like I mentioned, the more I read about these ancient Israelite practices, the OT temple, etc, the more I became convinced of Catholicism/Orthodoxy as a continuation of those practices, renewed and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, most especially the centrality of sacrifice and the priesthood offering sacrifice on behalf of the people (and that being an important function and reason for the priesthood, exemplified in Jesus as the High Priest), as well as the traditional architectural structure/division of the Catholic/Orthodox church/cathedral/basilica, cleansing with water upon entry to the sacred space, singing psalms, the presence of angels (and joining in praising God with them), Bread of the Presence, Melchizedek offering bread and wine, etc.

Ironically, it was Margaret Barker’s writings (a Protestant Biblical scholar that focuses on “temple theology”), which are praised by some LDS apologists and scholars, that convinced me of the continuation of Catholicism/Orthodoxy in the temple theology (which is what her books and articles are about), and that Catholicism/Orthodoxy has continued the actual temple worship, and not what I experienced in the Endowment. I know another convert to Orthodoxy from Mormonism views her works similarly, and had the same epiphany.

 

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Thank God for your reverting back to His One Holy Catholic & Apostolic Church L-Dub7!