Okay Mormons, it's time for a critical thinking exercise.
Which is more sacred? The temple ceremony or the physical intimacy reserved for marriage?
My facebook and e-mail accounts have been flooded over the past week with cause invitations from people who have chosen to boycott HBO for its upcoming plans to show portions of the LDS temple ceremony.
Rather than stampede through an open discussion of this topic here, I just want to use this forum to engage those of you readers in some critical thinking.
HBO is about to display some of the LDS religion's most sacred rites on premium cable. This is also the network that has delivered to us approximately 784 installments of the show "Real Sex."
This is why I asked the lead off question. Which is more sacred? There are no explicit penalties for sharing the temple ceremony; however, sexual sin makes it into the top 3, behind murder and the unpardonable sin.
I don't know the answer to the question that logically follows, but it should be asked: Is it worse to show a reproduction of the rites included in the temple, or to show sexually explicit material?
Even if they are on the same plane, or in the same neighborhood, why haven't people boycotted HBO on the grounds of the latter?
This is not a soapbox I'm trying to climb onto, but the conversation highlights how our sensitivities as a culture have developed and are currently manifest.
Interestingly correlated to this, is this dandy piece of information that my mother sent to me last week. Yeah, Sevier in Sevier County, Utah is number one. Richfield is the county seat of Sevier; Richfield will always be what I consider home.
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2 comments:
You bring up some very good points and I have to agree... there is a difference between the two and we ignore that which is more severe.
That being said, I am personally more nervous about the flood of questions that I, as an endowed member, am unsure how to handle. Very few people I work with are openly discussing living in 'sin'... but they have no problem discussing the nonsense they view on TV (This particular show being a fave among them).
Any suggestions are welcome...
I happen to be a fan of "Big Love." You can have your opinions about it.
I find it interesting to evaluate the relationships of the individuals. Many members of my family only a couple generations ago were polygamists or the products of such families. This was something they were called to bear. Just like the pioneers who came west, they struggled to make a life for themselves. As church members we seem to want to brush that part of our history aside because of outside pressure. Most nonmembers that i talk to about polygamy are more understanding when you point out the lack of men at the time. Besides its practicality, sometimes we have to follow in faith. It doesn't make sense now of course, we have fairly even numbers of men and women across the board. But if called to bear it again i would of course heed the command.
I'd also like to point out the fact that while legal marriages of multiple women to one man are not practiced, men are routinely sealed to more than one woman, yet women cannot be sealed to more than one man. Just a little tidbit to nibble on.
I watched the episode of the temple ceremony. It showed the prayer circle and the last part of the veil. I wasn't offended. It's not SECRET it's SACRED. There is a difference. I wish they hadn't shown it, but people who truly want to know what happens in the temple can go to any number of hateful websites and read or watch video. The setting in the storyline of the scene takes place in which one of the members is about to be excommunicated for practicing polygamy. She attends the temple with her family that are members.
If i tried to explain the temple ceremony to someone who WAS a member and hadn't been endowed they would be a little weary also. I was a little freaked out and confused when i got my endowments. Its a matter of context, trying to make sense of something you see and can't understand will always look odd.
My friend who watches the show also and isn't a member asked me about it (of course). I explained to her that the sacred nature of the endowment isn't something i can fully grasp myself, i learn new things everytime i go. And that without an understanding of the teachings of the church, the symbolism, and the faith of it, she could not begin to understand.
I don't do boycotts, i like to take the high road. People are curious and the church is under scrutiny, but i don't care. I hold fast to my beliefs regardless of what judgements other people make, no matter how hard it is. Me having to explain myself to others demanding answers is a chance to share my testimony. And that's never as hard as sharing a husband, pulling a handcart through freezing rain or watching the man i love get covered in tar and feathers.
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