Temples

I find myself questioning aspects of Church doctrine as it relates to changes/adjustments in Temple ordinances and ceremonies. I have studied the words of men who call themselves prophets or apostles and find they have conflicting statements. Is Satan influencing my thoughts? Am I being deceived by the adversary to prevent me from following the prophet and keeping God’s commandments? Should I feel guilty for this?

The Church and scriptures teach that a man who murmurs is going down the treacherous path to disobedience. First the murmuring starts with questioning. But how can questioning the truth be wrong? Just sharing my questioning thoughts is in itself supposed to be part of the treacherous path to disobedience.

This past week I read the following on Temple Ordinances and Covenants on:
http://www.lds.org

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Excerpt from:
August 2001 Ensign
Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander

The third article of faith teaches, We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

Sacred ordinances and the divine authority to administer them did not begin with the Restoration of the gospel and the founding of the modern Church in 1830. The sacred ordinances of the gospel as requirements for salvation and exaltation were instituted from before the foundation of the world. They have always been an immutable part of the gospel. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: Ordinances instituted in the heavens before the foundation of the world, in the priesthood, for the salvation of men, are not to be altered or changed. All must be saved on the same principles.

If this were not the case, salvation would indeed be an arbitrary matter and would be restricted to those few who may have been fortunate enough to have heard of, and believed in, Jesus Christ. It is this principle of consistent and unalterable requirements that gives true meaning to the performance of vicarious ordinances in the temple.

“Now the purpose in Himself in the winding up scene of the last dispensation is that all things pertaining to that dispensation should be conducted precisely in accordance with the preceding dispensations…. He set the temple ordinances to be the same forever and ever and set Adam to watch over them, to reveal them from heaven to man, or to send angels to reveal them.”- The Prophet Joseph Smith, History of the Church, vol.4, p. 208

Through time and apostasy following Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension, however, the divine authority of the priesthood and the sacred ordinances were changed or lost, and the associated covenants were broken. The Lord revealed His displeasure over this situation in these words: “For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant;”

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I have been a member since I was baptized at the age of 8. I followed the steps of Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood ordination and served a mission. I went through the Temple for my own endowments in 1982.

From my own knowledge, death penalties/oaths which have been in the temple ordinance since the days of Joseph Smith were entirely removed from the temple ceremony in April 1990. Five Points of Fellowship were also removed at this time. The scene of Lucifer and the sectarian minister is removed from the endowment as are countless other changes that can be found elsewhere on the internet.

Beginning in 2005, in the initiatory and washing ordinance, imitates were instructed to clothe themselves in the garment in the privacy of their locker, before being presented at the washing room. This means that they are clothed throughout the initiatory. As before 2005, initiates wear a shield during the initiatory, but this is now worn over the garment. The 2005 revision eliminated the touching of the various body parts. Officiators pronounce the same blessings as before, but they do so while laying hands on the initiates head. Because officiators no longer wash or anoint other parts of the initiates body (which is covered by the garment), the shield is now closed at the sides.

Then this week I read a few other statements made by a prophet, apostle and general authority as follows:

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“…those who administer the sacrament will kneel when asking the blessing. It is not that this form is absolutely essential to the acceptance of this ordinance by the Lord; but it is in accordance with the word of the Lord which was given for our guidance; and where it is possible to follow the written word, in the spirit in which it is given, it is always better to do so. Indeed, by doing so we will avoid a serious wrong, that might eventually grow out of a disregard for the rules that the Lord has established, for it might lead to a changing, to some extent, of the ordinances of the house of God. It is necessary that we should pay proper attention and care to carrying out the purposes of the Lord in the manner which He has already revealed. And this may be extended to other matters of our religion. One of the charges brought against the children of Israel, and mentioned by the prophets in the latter times, was that ‘they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.’ That is really the complaint against the world today, and it is not meet that we should indulge in any such things.”- The Prophet Joseph F.Smith, Collected Discourses Vol.3, p. 308-309

“[Jesus Christ] instituted baptism to set forth this glorious thing unto men. But by degrees, yielding, as was supposed, to necessity, men depart from this manner of administering the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins, until water sprinkled or poured upon the candidate was held to be sufficient for baptism. Whenever they did that, wherever they did it, they departed from the order established by the Son of God, they changed an ordinance of the Gospel.”- Apostle B. H. Roberts, Collected Discourses Vol. 5, p.385

“As temple work progresses, some members wonder if the ordinances can be changed or adjusted. These ordinances have been provided by revelation, and are in the hands of the First Presidency. Thus, the temple is protected from tampering.”- W. Grant Bangerter, executive director of the Temple Department and a member of the First Quorum of Seventy, Deseret News, Church Section, January 16, 1982

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If one word or act of an ordinance is changed, is it not then wrong? In my murmuring…I mean questioning, it seems to me that it’s just like messing up the words of the sacrament or not getting someone completely under the water in baptism.

So, in questioning whether changes/adjustments can be made to eternal Temple ordinances, have I started down down the treacherous path of disobedience? Have I let go of the iron rod? By sharing my thoughts with you, am I a sinner against God?