Quote:
Originally Posted by Heather
"So we have the endowment and then we have the messenger: the ritual. How the endowment is taught and this is where I believe Masonry played a part. Joseph Smith sat in Lodge, he watched as humble farmers--most of whom he knew probably couldn't read and write well--learned complicated, difficult ritual and he said in his mind, 'Ah! This is how I'll do it. This is how I'll teach the endowment to the Saints.' Why? Because they already knew the ritual. They wouldn't pay attention to the ritual; they'd pay attention to the message because they already knew the ritual. And so, there is that kind of genesis, that ritualistic form, that asking of questions back and forth that we get. All of that comes as Joseph Smith tries to communicate these truths.
Now the temple endowment did not spring forth one day in Nauvoo fully functioning. The temple endowment came over a long period of time and in Kirtland we got what we call the washings and anointings. They have no equivalent in Freemasonry. Freemasonry does not do washings and anointings or anything even remotely like them. This is the other part that critics of the Church never bring up, they never bring up the differences, they always bring up the similarities because the differences don't serve their purposes.
So we've got whole sections of the endowment that have no Masonic origins or similarities and that was the early ritual as found in Kirtland. "
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I'm interested from whence cometh that quote, Heather.
Another difference (and there are many others):
The Masonic rite is the story of Hiram Abiff, a man. No woman is included in their rites. Joseph included the sisters in the rite of Mormonism, and changed the proponent from Hiram to Adam and Eve. The entire backdrop story changed.
HiJolly