Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruincoug
felt like it had nothing to do with my religious experience or religious belief almost. totally different -- and temple prep in my stake had nothing to do with preparing you for what actually happened. my preparation was limited to a strained, uncomfortable 30-second pregame from my dad as we were pulling up to the temple.
the temple remains a sore spot for me -- in part, because of the weirdness and general lack of Spirit, as compared with my other spiritual experience in church -- and also, in part, because i associate the temple with immediate family, a negative association.
i've served a mission and regularly attended church ever since. for most, but not all of that time, i've been temple worthy -- but i haven't done endowment, initiatories, baptisms, etc. since my mission. for now, it's just not part of my religious experience. maybe someday -- with added experience and more of an open-mind -- it will be.
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It's interesting how different members can see it in such different ways. My wife went through for the first time not too long ago and about a month before we got married. She has a good testimony but has some concerns about some aspects of the church, which when talking through those with her we've concluded have little to do with teachings or doctrine but with cultural aspects and practices which don't make sense to her. Since she didn't grow up in an active LDS family, I can see her point of view on most if not all those concerns.
I think she had a few worries about the temple but it turns out it was a great experience for her as she told me she felt like that was where the pure gospel really was, and not about all the stuff we kind of throw around the edges. To her it was simple and clear, as the ceremony is about the creation and why we're here, agency, the need for a savior, and the covenants we make to get back to the Lord. That's what matters. Everything else we add along the edges is hopefully to point us to the center, but I think sometimes it can distract depending on what it is and how it's taught. I personally think we probably worry too much in the church about teaching all the specific do's and don'ts rather than explaining why we live the way we do and how it ties back into our covenants we make with Christ. I don't think we give our youth enough credit for understanding the whys and letting them use their agency to choose to live the gospel because they want to.