Recently I listened to an interesting podcast about the connection between Masonry and the LDS temple ceremony. It was an interview with Brett McDonald who is quite knowledgeable about the questions people have about the LDS church, especially the criticisms people raise. He explained that he started reading anti-Mormon material when he was in his late teens and continued to really study a lot of material related to and answering that for the next 10 years, including the time he was on his mission. He became a lawyer after getting a philosophy degree at BYU. Now he works in the tech industry. He says that for him, he doesn't experience spiritual feelings in the same way that others do. His testimony is much more intellectually based. Joseph Smith said he experienced the Spirit of God as pure knowledge coming into his head and that is how Brett said he also experiences the Spirit.
Brett has created a Youtube channel called "LDS Truth Claims" in which he examines various controversial issues related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a very methodical way. His goal is to provide positive evidence for the claims of Joseph Smith and to establish a reasonable case for the church's claims with enough evidence that it would stand in a court of law. He believes that he establishes a more than reasonable case with the preponderance of evidence arguing for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but people have to put in the time and effort to decide that for themselves.
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The whole podcast is worth listening to but I will try to summarize the substance of this particular topic.
1. Joseph Smith had many friends and associates that were Masons, including his brother Hyrum, Heber C. Kimball, Newell K. Whitney, and Brigham Young. In March 1842, he became a Master Mason. Two months later in the same room in the Nauvoo store, he introduced the temple ceremony to some of his closest associates. Since there are things that both the temple ceremony and the masonic ceremony have in common, critics have said that Joseph Smith just copied the Masons in making the temple ceremony.
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2. Brett says there are many reasons this is not true. First of all, this criticism did not happen in Joseph Smith's day--this is a modern criticism. Those of his associates who were Masons and knew Joseph Smith did not make this criticism--they understood clearly that the two were quite different. It only started coming up later with people who didn't know very much about Masonry. While there are similarities and even identical features between the two temple ceremonies, there are some important differences.
3. He says that Joseph Smith probably became a Mason for three reasons: 1. Political and economic reasons--it's always good to make friends. 2. Love of learning. Joseph was always seeking out new ways of learning things and the ancient claims of Masonry probably appealed to him. 3. The ritual style of the Masonic ceremony was new to him.
4. In talking about this and many other of Joseph Smith's revelations, Brett suggests that it is important to accurately define scripture as Joseph Smith might define it. Brett suggests it as a kind of dance between the human mind and the divine. Scripture is not necessarily straight from God's mouth but more of a process whereby man's knowledge is influenced by God. Critics consider scripture to be straight from God's mouth and the Bible is completely inerrant but this is not how Joseph Smith viewed scripture. When Joseph Smith first got the gold plates, he thought he was going to have to learn the language written on the plates and translate the way we think of translation. Eventually he realized that he could translate by sticking his head in a hat and looking at one of his seer stones instead of looking directly at the plates. The plates were serving as a prompt or catalyst to revelation. He wasn't an automaton spitting out the words God gave him. Instead he was greatly influenced by God as he wrote down the revelations. This happened with many of his revelations. In that same way, for Joseph Smith, the Masonic ceremony served as a prompt for greater revelation. The temple ceremony was a response to the Masonic ritual, not an imitation.
5. While there are many similarities between the two temple ceremonies, there are important differences. To become a Mason, you have to believe in God but Masons while promoting morality have no commentary on atonement and salvation. The temple ceremony is 100% about atonement and salvation. The similarities between the two are actually becoming less as the temple ceremony has changed over time corresponding with the changes in our culture. Compared to the Masons, the LDS temple ceremony is much more inclusive. Masons, for example, are a fraternal organization and do not allow women. The LDS temple ceremony is rich in Bible imagery which is not at all in the Mason ceremony. It has a different narrative and a different purpose in the narrative as well as being much more ambitious. The goal of the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to teach us how to come back into God's presence. That is not at all the goal of the Masonic temple ceremony.
6. The real question is how do we test the temple ceremony to know if it's really from God? Brett says we can do that by testing Joseph Smith's claims about the temple. Joseph Smith made three claims:
a. People in all ages have had the temple
b. Ancient patriarchs had an endowment experience similar to the modern-day LDS endowment.
c. Jesus instituted an endowment experience similar to what Joseph restored.
So, are these claims accurate?
7. Brett actually spends more than 6 hours on his YouTube channel talking about all the archaelogical evidence that has been uncovered since Joseph Smith's day to support these claims (which I have not yet watched) but he says there is more than enough evidence. Here are just a few small examples:
a. All temples throughout history have dealt with the creation of the world (ie. Ziggurats)
b. The history of Christianity is messy but many documents have emerged through Dead Sea Scrolls and other similar writings that refer to the endowment ceremony as they practiced it in their day. A tradition handed down through the orthodox Gnostics describes a temple ceremony which came from Jesus.
c. There was washing and anointing in the temple in Jerusalem until at least 350 AD.
8. Brett encourages all who have questions to continue to read and learn. He says the more you learn, the more you will want to attend. Joseph Smith's claims can be tested in many ways. We focus more on religious experiences, more feelings-based, in our church but he and others experience the Spirit in a more intellectual way. It is up to us to study and learn.
9. The last question of the podcast was "What does the gospel mean to you?" Brett answered saying that because of the problem with evil in the world, he could not believe in God without Joseph Smith's contributions. He considers Joseph Smith's ideas to be very compelling.
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