FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Relationship between the temple endowment and Freemasonry
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Criticism
Critics of the LDC Church often cite similarities between the rituals of Freemasonry and that of the temple endowment ritual found in LDS Temple worship. It is pointed out that the development of the endowment parallels Joseph Smith Jr.'s introduction to Masonry in Nauvoo. Critics often imply, or state outright, that the temple endowment was taken from Freemasonry.
Source(s) of the Criticism
http://www.josephlied.com/masonry.html
Response
In order to answer this issue we need to establish a few facts:
1. Joseph Smith Jr. was a Mason as was his father and brother Hyrum.
2. Many of the early leaders of the church were also Masons. These include Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, Wilfred Woodruff and other leading members.
3. Masonry was a common social institution in mid-19th century America.
4. There are similarities between the rituals of Freemasonry and those of the LDS Temple endowment. These similarities center around the use of a ritual drama, the story of Hiram Abiff for the Masons and the story of Adam and Eve for the endowment as well as some similar hand actions.
In order to understand the relationship between the temple and Freemasonry it is useful to consider the temple experience. In the temple we are confronted with ritual in a form which is unknown in LDS worship outside of that venue. The temple is in fact made up of two parts. The endowment proper which is what we are taught and the covernence we make make before the Lord. And the presentation of the endowment, or the ritual.
It is in this presentation of the endowment that the similarities between the LDS temple worship and Freemasonry are the most apparent. The question is why would this be the case?
In developing the endowment Joseph was faced with a problem. He wished to communicate in a clear and effective manner some new and in some cases complex religious ideas. These included such things as the nature of creation, matter being organized and not created out of nothing, our relationship to God as well as to each other, eternal marriage and so on. He needed to communicate these ideas to a population of limited education any of whom had only modest background in the English language.
In Freemasonry Joseph, who served as the Chaplain of Rising Sun Lodge in Nauvoo, had seen the rituals unique ability to instruct through means of ritual and repetition. I believe that Joseph sized on this as the means to present the endowment. By using ritual forms from Freemasonry, forms the Saints already were acquainted with he insured that the focus would be on the endowment proper and not on the presentation.
It is also worth noting that many of the similarities that church critics have focused on are superficial in nature. For example, the common use of architectural elements on the Salt Lake Temple and in Masonry even when no reference to those element is made in the endowment. In almost every case where symbols are shared the meaning of the symbols differs.
The goals of Masonry and the endowment are not the same. Both teach important truths but the truths they teach are different. Masonry teaches of our relationship to our fellow men and offers no means of salvation; it not being a religion. The temple endowment teaches of man's relationship to God and is believed by Latter-day Saints to be essential for exaltation.
As time has gone on and the Saints lost their connection to the institution of Freemasonry the understanding of these ritual forms have been lost to the Saints. As we no longer need or even in some cases want such rituals elements, such as the penalties (hand actions showing different ways in which life may be taken.) have been removed from the temple ritual. The ritual of the temple has undergone and will continue to undergo modification and improvement to meet the needs of the Saints in the coming years.
Conclusion
The temple endowment is made up of two elements. the endowment proper being what we are taught and the ordinances of the temple. And the presentation of the endowment through ritual.
While the ritual has elements that originated in Freemasonry, the use of the allegorical ritual drama, aprons and other ritual elements the presentation is not the endowment. Joseph used these elements due to the familiarity of the Saints of his day with them. Masonic ritual provided a teaching tool for the prophet to communicate the endowment to a population of limited education.
Further the presentation of the endowment has, and will continue to, change under priesthood direction to meet the changing needs of the Latter-day Saints. Many of the masonic element once found in the presentation of the endowment are no longer in use.
Greg Kearney Franklin Lodge #123 A.F. & A.M. of Maine
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
- Links to related articles in the wiki
FAIR web site
- FAIR Topical Guide: Masonic influence
External links
Printed material
- Printed resources whose text is not available online