My knee-jerk reaction, of course, was outrage. Think about it. There are things in your life that you hold sacred, religious or otherwise. Also, there are plenty of other religions that hold sacred ceremonies where the general public is not allowed. For example, the selection of a new Pope by Catholic Cardinals.
The difficulty is compounded by the fact that many doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are largely unknown and misunderstood, and few people have the desire to to find out the truth. HBO is not the source to look to for Mormon doctrine.
So I was upset at first. However, after reading the Church's press release, I calmed down. I am not ashamed or embarrassed by the things that take place in the temple. Why would I be? It is not secret. In fact, in my research tonight I found out that the ceremonies are published in the Library of Congress. It is not a secret.
It is, however, sacred to me. I have studied the scriptures for my entire life, and I still have hardly scratched the surface of the wealth of knowledge to be had in the temple ceremony. But will that knowledge mean anything to someone who doesn't care for or believe in religion, specifically, my religion? Probably not.
To my LDS friends and family:
This as an opportunity to share our testimonies of the temple and the wonderful things that happen there. So let's do it. We say that we want missionary opportunities. Here you go. Yes, we could get mad and cause a public outcry, but that will only make people want to see what all the fuss is about.
To my non-LDS friends and family:
If you have any questions about the temple, or the LDS religion in general, please feel free to ask! I love talking about my religion. I won't be embarrassed or offended. I want to talk to you about it.
Here's what I think about the temple; it is a place of peace, knowledge, learning, quiet, and unsurpassed love. It is a place where I feel closer to Heavenly Father than I can in any other place on earth. It is a place of beauty, where the cares of every day life are lifted from you. One of my favorite things about the temple is that there are truly no distinctions of class, no pressure to please anyone but yourself and God. I love it. I love going to the temple. When I leave there, I feel refreshed. I know it may sound strange, but I feel cleaner, like every bad thing I've come in contact with has been washed away.
It is a place of wonderful simplicity. My wedding ceremony is a perfect example. What do we do? We kneel across an alter from each other, hold hands, and promise to love, support, and be true to each other not till death, but for all eternity. That is what goes on in the temple.
Anyways, I don't want you to stop reading because my post has turned into a novel, but this was something important I felt the need to speak out about. I don't feel like I was able to express myself the way I wanted to, but hopefully it was adequate to get my message across.
7 comments:
Even though I am not Mormon, I know how important your faith is to you, as much as mine is to me probably. I know that its not the same, but when everything was going on with the Catholic church scandals of sexual abuse I took a lot of smack from people about my faith and its hard to explain to people that things like that are NOT common practice.
I've seen the show on HBO Big Love a few times and its actually about the Mormons who still practice multiple marriages...which thanks to you I know is uncommon. But I do want you to know that I support your cause because I know that faith and religion is sacred to everyone no matter how it is practiced.
Thanks for this blog. I was rather annoyed about this whole thing but you've made some really good points. It's such a simple ceremony that carries so much meaning to those of our faith it's hard to see it just put out there for misinterpretation but there is nothing to be ashamed of or otherwise. I just wish it wasn't being mixed in with polygamy. That just adds even more confusion. ... polygamy was so "early 19th century". ;)
I did write an email to HBO about it, asking them not to air the episode. Will it affect their decision? Probably not. But, whoever at HBO in charge of reading all those emails is going to spend the next week reading a ton of testimonies, haha. :-)
Ha ha! That's true. I think it's good for people to email the company for that reason, even though I don't think it will stop them. Testimonies are better than rants!
I also sent an email. I just let them know that i am offened that they would take something sacred and ruin it. But I also agree, bring on the questions. And someone at HBO is dealing with more "nice" mail than the ever expected. Even I stayed calm, I just let them know that I did't appreciate what they were doing, and would hope in the future they show more respect and support for the religions of the world.
so true true... I don't know what this is really about because i don't have cable umm...??
You may find this public statement from the Church Newsroom interesting:
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-publicity-dilemma
And I liked your comments. I'm all about sharing my testimony, and if this controversy can instigate more missionary work, BRING IT ON!
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