TEMPLE ENDOWMENT AND MASONIC CONNECTION

This is simply the beginning of what will become a very long read. The original seed was from a reply to another blog that sought to make the claim that our modern endowment came from the Masons.

Of course, I could not refrain to at least throw a high level answer out there to get people to dig in and ask a few more questions of history and the facts.

Here it is (and there will be much more to come as time goes on):

First of all, I want to say that I like your blog with its thoughtful input.

As a missionary in Brazil, my mission President (a convert and the first black 2nd quorum of the 70), Helvecio Martins was a former Mason and this topic got kicked around alot back in the day. My wife and I have dug into this one, as well.

For me it is very simple - and it is the same question that always comes up about our doctrine as the only church of a "restorationist" nature where we claim not to have "new wine put into old bottles" but to have "new bottles", etc where others are either from the mainline religion that departed from the new testament church to the point that there is little resemblance to structure, doctrine and priesthood type and authority. The only other option is belonging to a group that protests the doctrines and beliefs of the main body. We claim that our church is the same as the church that existed when Christ was upon the earth and that the ancient church (other than sacrifice by the shedding of blood as a type and foreshadowing of Christ's sacrifice) is the same basic organization that existed with the earlier peoples of the earth (house of Israel). In other words, the answer to the chicken and egg argument (in regards to the temple ceremony) is that it was always here and practiced by ancients (including those at Qumran) in the day when the original temple was built by Solomon by those of the "masonic" guild. In order to build the temple, they had to have the higher priesthood with its endowment given to them and thus were initiates to what every one who possessed the higher priesthood had. This knowledge, like everything was watered down through apostasy over hundreds of years and then was lost to history and then re-obtained when the Knights Templar escavated Jerusalem during a crusade to re-Christianize the Holy Land.
Through a series of events, this was taken back to Europe and then spread to the U.S., etc. where Joseph Smith happened onto it and asked questions and was given the answer that we know as our modern temple endowment. I have studied just enough of the Masons (even got a Junior Achievement award and dinner in their 'endowment room' unbeknownst to me at the time) that I know that they have portions of the truth and that it definitely based off of the original 'masons union' that was given this sacred info in order to qualify in the building of the temple. Thus the name, the builder's symbols, and the most striking is their two pillars Boaz and Joachim still used in their entry way to the building - same as the two bronze pillars of Solomon's Temple.

As always, the Church is accused of imitating something that already existed - when all I want to say is thank you very much for noting the obvious - and then asking the question, would you like to be part of the restored original, or would you like to continue with the cheap and mostly unrecognizable knockoff that you are currently part of? I prefer fresh earthenware myself, thank you very much.

Hope I have not offended anyone - but I had to jump in here and throw my two cents in. Glenn Beck and many others attend our Sacrament Meetings and have felt something unusual and special and that has motivated them to make changes in their lives to be a part of that. I go to the Temple and that same Spirit is there - but ten fold. I have a deep and abiding knowledge that the Temple IS The House of the Lord because of that very Spirit that resides there. I will not even go into the spiritual experiences that I have had that further cement that witness. It is the 'Lord's University' for those that prepare themselves spiritually. Many people have a spiritual "grade school" education and choose to mock those who have seen the beauty of learning and who seek higher education. Unfortunately, for many who choose to throw stones at things they know not of, they cannot even comprehend because they will not take the first step forward in faith. The gospel is truly line upon line and precept on precept until we all come to a full knowledge in Christ.

I sometimes come across as arrogant in how I speak but I truly love all men and my only desire is that they find the truth that makes my life and joy full and gives it meaning and full purpose.

I am not trying to be rude by not replying but my time is limited. I hope this reply sparks further study and learning.

MATERIALISM AND PSYCHOLOGY - THE ROOT OF THE PRIDE CYCLE

So you purchase a new gadget and get that high and maybe even a feeling that you are somehow superior to the guy next to you that is minus said gadget.

Here is a great article that sums up the experience and how we work:

Downturn Spurs 'Survival Panic' for Some in the US

16 Dec 2008 | 07:58 AM ET Text Size A paralegal, recently laid off, wanted to get back at the "establishment" that he felt was to blame for his lost job. So when he craved an expensive new tie, he went out and stole one.

The story, relayed by psychiatrist Timothy Fong at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, is an example of the rash behaviors exhibited by more Americans as a recession undermines a lifestyle built on spending.

In the coming months, mental health experts expect a rise in theft, depression, drug use, anxiety and even violence as consumers confront a harsh new reality and must live within diminished means.

"People start seeing their economic situation change, and it stimulates a sort of survival panic," said Gaetano Vaccaro, deputy clinical director of Moonview Sanctuary, which treats patients for emotional and behavioral disorders. "When we are in a survival panic, we are prone to really extreme behaviors."

The U.S. recession that took hold in December last year has threatened personal finances in many ways as home prices fall, investments sour, retirement funds shrink, access to credit diminishes and jobs evaporate.

It is also a rude awakening for a generation of shoppers who grew up on easy access to credit and have never had to limit purchases to simply what they needed or could afford.

Instead, buying and consuming have become part of the national culture, with many people using what is in their shopping bags to express their own identity, from the latest gadgets to designer handbags.


AP
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For those who need to abruptly curtail spending, that leaves a major void, said James Gottfurcht, clinical psychologist and president of "Psychology of Money Consultants," which coaches clients on money issues.

"People that have been ... identifying with and defining themselves by their material objects and expenditures are losing a definite piece of their identity and themselves," he said. "They have to learn how to replace that."

Depression Trigger

Beth Rosenberg, a New York freelance educator and self-professed bargain hunter, said she stopped shopping for herself after her husband lost his publishing job in June.

She is now buying her son toys from the popular movie Madagascar for $2 at McDonald's, and is wearing clothes that have hung untouched in her closet for years.

She said it has been stressful to stick to an austere budget after she used to easily splurge on $100 boots. "I miss it," she said of shopping.

Resisting temptation now could be even more difficult, as struggling retailers roll out massive discounts to lure shoppers during the holiday season.

Fueled by easy access to credit, a housing market boom and rising investments, U.S. household spending accelerated in much of the past decade while the savings rate declined.


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After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 killed thousands and shuttered U.S. financial markets, consumers were encouraged by politicians and business leaders to spend as a way of saving the economy and proving capitalism could not be crushed.

"We're getting these messages that it is, in effect, patriotic to spend money," said Stuart Vyse, a psychology professor and author of "Going Broke: Why Americans Can't Hold On To Their Money." The United States is deeply dependent on such spending, with consumption generating two-thirds of economic activity.

But problems arise when consumers become dependent on buying goods and services to cope with their emotions, Vaccaro said.

"We have difficulty handling our internal emotional state in other ways when we can't do that," he said, prompting some to seek out immediate gratification through drugs or alcohol.

Violent Behavior

Besides an increase in shoplifting, psychologists said retailers need to be prepared for more instances of violent behavior like that seen at a Wal-Mart store in Long Island, New York the day after Thanksgiving.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we see an uptick in crime, related to stealing," said UCLA's Fong. "I wouldn't be surprised if we see more workplace violence and more violence at the malls."

A throng of shoppers seeking rock bottom prices on flat-screen TVs and computers surged into the Wal-Mart [WMT 54.72 0.01 (+0.02%) ] store in predawn hours, trampling and killing a worker in the process. Fong said many shoppers have never stopped to think about why they were buying items, and it was easy to ignore looking deeper during a boom that support such spending.

But now, patients that can no longer shop to relieve stress have become anxious or depressed, he said. Others fume: "'I used to be able to afford that, I should be able to afford that now, I deserve that stuff,"' he said.

But Vaccaro said the downturn could be a time for shoppers to pause and study what they are attempting to achieve or what void they are attempting to fill by spending.

"We don't buy products, we buy feelings," Vaccaro said. "We're buying the anticipation of the feeling that we think that product or service is going to give us."

Gottfurcht said he encourages clients to take a walk or do some deep breathing before making a purchase to avoid an impulsive buy. He also recommended that clients keep a journal, noting how they felt when bought an item.

He said clients should then check the list a week later to see if the "glow" of that purchase has worn off, and it only satisfied an immediate want, not a true need.

The greater opportunity of the downturn, Vaccaro said, is that it represents a chance to move away from "irrational" and "careless" consumerism toward "a more discerning consumer."

NATIVE AMERICANS DESCEND FROM SIX COMMON FEMALE ANCESTORS

Most Indians linked to 'founding mothers'
Only 6 women left DNA legacy present among most Native Americans


By Malcolm Ritter
updated 7:46 a.m. PT, Thurs., March. 13, 2008

NEW YORK - Nearly all of today's Native Americans in North, Central and South America can trace their ancestry to just six women whose descendants immigrated around 20,000 years ago, a DNA study suggests.

The result doesn't mean that only six women gave rise to the migrants who crossed into North America from Asia in the initial populating of the continent.

Rather, it suggests that only six left a particular DNA legacy that persists to today in about about 95 percent of Native Americans, said study co-author Ugo Perego in Utah.
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The women didn't necessarily arrive together, nor even all live at the same time, he said. Results indicate the women arrived sometime between 18,000 and 21,000 years ago.


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The work was published this week by the journal PLoS One. Perego is from the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation in Salt Lake City and the University of Pavia in Italy.

The work confirms previous indications of just six maternal lineages, as well as a date of around 20,000 years ago for when the first people in North America arrived after crossing a land bridge from Asia, Perego said.

The researchers studied mitochondrial DNA, which is passed only from mother to daughter. They created a "family tree" that traces the different DNA lineages found in today's Native Americans. By noting mutations in each branch and applying a formula for how often such mutations arise, they calculated how old each branch was. That indicated when each branch arose in a single woman.

The six "founding mothers" apparently did not live in Asia because the DNA signatures they left behind aren't found there, Perego said. So they probably lived in Beringia, the now-submerged land bridge that stetched to North America, he said.
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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