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Old 05-30-2009, 06:58 AM   #16
MikeWaters
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Here is a thought that I bet is common:

"Since I didn't have the greatest experience in the temple ceremony, there is something wrong with me. Maybe I am unworthy or flawed or just don't have the capacity to 'get it'."

When you think of the potentially lifelong impact of being a "temple Mormon" versus a "non-temple Mormon", it is frankly bizarre how we don't prepare people. As in stupendously head-scratching.

Of course, this is a church where asking for a suggestion box is likely to get you a nice industrial-carpet static shock as you get within arm's length of the ark.

Members vote with their feet. And temples that serve as catchment for tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of members stand underutilized. No doubt, most of us have been pressured to go to the temple, in one way or another. Guilt trips are common. "No one is attending ward temple night." Or other more direct intreaties.

We shouldn't need to be persuaded through these means. It should be like Lehi's dream, an opportunity to taste of the fruit of the tree of life. And I believe it is actually like that for a lot of members. But for other members, hearing from these people is mystifying. And always non-specific and sometimes grandiose.
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