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Latter-day Saint Temples/Endowment/Oath of vengeance
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Important note: Members of FAIR take their temple covenants seriously. We consider the temple teachings to be sacred, and will not discuss their specifics in a public forum.
Criticism
Critics claim that a former version of the temple endowment contained an oath taken by participants that they would exact vengeance upon the United States or its government.
Source(s) of the criticism
Response
In nearly every anti-Mormon discussion of the temple, critics raise the issue of the "oath of vengeance" that existed during the 19th century and very early 20th century. These critics often misstate the nature of the oath and try to use its presence in the early temple endowment as evidence that the LDS temple ceremonies are ungodly, violent, and immoral.
The leaders of the Church have modified the endowment from time to time. Prior to changes made in 1927, there was an "oath of vengeance" that was taken by participants in the endowment.
The oath was an outgrowth of some of the feelings and reactions of Joseph Smith's closest friends, who continued to meet after his death.[1] This group met to test revelation ("try all things"), pray for the healing of sick members, pray for the success of church projects, and pray for deliverance from their enemies. Heber C. Kimball recalled that after Joseph's death the prayer circle met and prayed for God's vengeance.[2]
Summarizing Willard Richards' activities immediately after the martyrdom, historian Claire Noall wrote:
- True, in this [1850] speech Richards finally denounced the actual murderers; but when notifying the Church of Joseph Smith's death at Carthage jail, he wrote to Nauvoo that the people of Carthage expected the Mormons to rise, but he had "promised them no." The next day from the steps of the Prophet's home, he reminded his people that he had pledged his word and his honor for their peaceful conduct. And when writing the news of Smith's death to Brigham Young then near Boston, Willard Richards said the blood of martyrs does not cry from the ground for vengeance; vengeance is the Lord's.[3]
Recent generations of Latter-day Saints, who haven't experienced mob violence, kidnapping attempts, and death threats, may be surprised at or uncomfortable with the feelings of many earlier saints who were praying for justice instead of praying for their enemies. But we live in kinder, gentler times; and nineteenth-century Mormons—especially those who came out of Nauvoo—saw the hand of God whenever their persecutors suffered misfortune, a feeling common to most powerless, persecuted minority groups.
Temple work in general and, more specifically, prayers that God, rather than Mormon members, would avenge Joseph Smith is what was the salvation of the church in Nauvoo. Instead of giving vent to passionate desires for revenge using the impressively-sized Nauvoo Legion, the brethren were able to get members to channel their frustration and anger into petitions to the Almighty for justice. Their actual energy was concentrated on the things of heaven through temple building and service. Temple prayer became a way of ritually memorializing Joseph Smith's martyrdom.
This is the background of the oath to pray for God's vengeance (a much more adequate phrase than oath of vengeance). Most accounts of the temple oath stressed that God, rather than man, would do the actual punishing. For example, August Lundstrom, an apostate Mormon, testified at the Reed Smoot hearings in December 1904:
- Mr. [Robert W.] Tayler [counsel for the protestants]: Can you give us the obligation of retribution?
- Mr. Lundstrom: I can.
- Mr. Tayler: You may give that.
- Mr. Lundstrom: "We and each of us solemnly covenant and promise that we shall ask God to avenge the blood of Joseph Smith upon this nation." There is something more added, but that is all I can remember verbatim. That is the essential part.
- Mr. Tayler: What was there left of it? What else?
- Mr. Lundstrom: It was in regard to teaching our children and children's children to the last generation to the same effect.[4]
One could object that Lundstrom, as an apostate, fabricated the existence of such an oath or, intentionally or unintentionally, distorted its wording. However, others who spoke publicly on the subject had similar recollections. Here is David H. Cannon's late reminiscence about the practices at the Endowment House:
- To pray the Father to avenge the blood of the prophets and righteous men that has been shed, etc. In the endowment house this was given but as persons went there only once, it was not so strongly impressed upon their minds, but in the setting in order [of] the endowments for the dead it was given as it is written in 9 Chapter of Revelations [sic] and in that language we importune our Father, not that we may, but that He, our Father, will avenge the blood of martyrs shed for the testimony of Jesus.[5]
Although the religious stress was on letting God perform the actual vengeance, individuals sometimes imagined they might be called upon to take a more active role. This surfaced in the apocalyptic language of some patriarchal blessings. Others would make comments about not resting until God carried out vengeance. From the pulpit, many Church leaders held the United States as a nation responsible for letting mobocracy get out of control. However, the oaths of members should have taught them to channel their righteous indignation into petitioning God and for them to work at constructively building up Zion.
Biblical Perspective
The Oath of Vengeance is a vivid reminder that the Saints understood the writings of the Apostle Paul -- that justice is a responsibility reserved for God.
- 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Biblical Parallel
Christians who take comfort in the Book of Psalms find additional biblical precedent for turning their vengeance over to the Lord. The imprecatory or “cursing” psalms provide a parallel, although the graphic explicitness of them is not present in the Oath of Vengeance. The cursing psalms are nothing less than prayers for extreme forms of Divine vengeance. Examples include:
Psalms 109:8-19 prays:
- 8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
- 9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
- 10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
- 11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
- 12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
- 13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
- 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
- 15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
- 16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.
- 17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
- 18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
- 19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
Psalms 69:22-25 prays:
- 22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
- 23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
- 24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
- 25 Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.
Psalms 58:6-8 prays:
- 6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
- 7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
- 8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
Psalms 83:13-17 prays:
- 13 O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.
- 14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;
- 15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.
- 16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.
- 17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:
Questions are begged concerning whether such wishes/prayers are appropriate from us today considering that we live under a New Testament forgiveness paradigm. Note that Psalm 69 was invoked by both Peter and Paul in the New Testament (Acts 1:15-20, Romans 11:9-10). The scriptures also provide examples of the Lord's vengeance subsequent to the atonement of Christ (Luke 11:49-51, Revelation 16:4-7). Examples are also present in the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 9:5-11). Philip Yancey, author of "The Bible Jesus Read" explores the paradox and concludes that the seemingly diabolical language uttered in the cursing psalms is a form of "spiritual therapy", still appropriate for us to observe/practice today. He reasons:
- If a person wrongs me unjustly, I have several options. I can seek personal revenge, a response condemned by the Bible. I can deny or suppress my feelings of hurt and anger. Or I can take those feelings to God, entrusting God with the task of ‘retributive justice’. The cursing psalms are vivid examples of that last option. ‘It is mine to avenge: I will repay,’ says the Lord – prayers like the cursing psalms place vengeance in the proper hands. Significantly, the cursing psalms express their outrage to God, not to the enemy.
Yancey continues:
- What is a vengeful curse when spoken about someone is a plea of helpless dependence when spoken directly to God.
He adds:
- Sometimes I find that in the process of expression, I grow in compassion. God’s Spirit speaks to me of my own selfishness, my judgmental spirit, my own flaws that others have treated with grace and forgiveness, my pridefully limited viewpoint.
He concludes that in praying so emotively:
- I may well find that my vindictive feelings need God’s correction—but only by taking those feelings to God will I have the opportunity for correction and healing.[6]
Conclusion
Until 1927 the temple endowment very likely contained such an oath. The exact wording is not entirely clear, but it appears that it did not call on the Saints themselves to take vengeance on the United States, but that they would continue to pray that God himself might avenge the blood the prophets.
Although the Oath of Vengeance contains no curses like those in the imprecatory psalms, like the psalmists, the Saints apparently had the wisdom to take directly to God their strong feelings in response to the injustices they had been dealt. By doing so, they turned over to Him the responsibility for both justice and healing.
Endnotes
- [note] For a history of prayer circles, see D. Michael Quinn, "Latter-day Saint Prayer Circles," Brigham Young University Studies 19 no. 1 (Fall 1978), 79–105. PDF link
- [note] See his 21 December 1845 diary entry in The Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 1845–1846: A Documentary History, Richard Van Wagoner, Devery Scott Anderson, and Gary James Bergera, eds. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2005).
- [note] Claire Noall, "The Plains of Warsaw," Utah Historical Quarterly 25:1 (January 1957), pp. 47–51.
- [note] Testimony of August W. Lundstrom, Proceedings before the Committee on Privileges and Elections of the United States Senate in the Matter of the Protests Against the Right of Hon. Reed Smoot, a Senator from the State of Utah, to Hold His Seat (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1906), 2:153. PDF link
- [note] David John Buerger, "The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 34 no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2001), 103. PDF link
- [note] Philip Yancey, "The Bible Jesus Read," (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan, 1999) pp. 133–139.
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
Latter-day Saint Temples/Endowment/Oath of vengeance
Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are sacred places where Church members participate in sacred ceremonies (ordinances) that help them come closer to God and prepare to live forever in an eternal family.
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External links
Printed material
| Temple printed materials |
- Matthew B. Brown,The Gate of Heaven: Insight on the Doctrines and Symbols of the Temple (American Fork, UT: Covenant, 1999), 1.
- Matthew B. Brown, Symbols in Stone: Symbolism on the Early Temples of the Restoration, 2d ed., (American Fork, UT: Covenant, 1997).
- William J. Hamblin and David Seely, Solomon's Temple: Myth and History (London: Thames and Hudson, 2007), Chapter 3.
- Hugh W. Nibley, The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment, 2nd edition, (Vol. 16 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by John Gee and Michael D. Rhodes, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2005), 1. ISBN 159038539X. 1st edition GL direct link
- Temple and Cosmos: Beyond This Ignorant Present (Vol. 12 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by Don E. Norton, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1992), 1.
- Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1980), 1. ISBN 0884944115.