RFM tries his hand at a one-man Mystery Science Theater 3000 take on the new Temple Endowment video now playing at an LDS Temple near you!
Kibitzing on the backrow of an endowment session has never been this much fun!
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Regarding fish and fishes. I think fishes is still correct when referring to multiple fish of different species. If they are the same species, then the plural is fish, if the multiple fish are different species, then the plural is fishes. At least in king’s English it is that way.
So I think what God is clearly trying to do here is eliminate the possibility of that you might consider evolution as a theory, because he’s making it clear that he put multiple species our there, rather than just through some salmon and then them mutating into all kinds of other species.
From my new perspective, I find it interesting that it was all men that created man. No women were involved.
Also Satan was a good guy. Without him gods plan would have been thwarted by having two people hanging out forever not eating fruit. He’s in a way the hero here.
Love your commentary, RFM. On a different but related topic, I would love to hear your analysis of this
recent church fireside, and in particular the talk by the Brethren’s enforcer, Kevin Pearson: https://tinyurl.com/2fgbudnm
His commentary on Joseph Smith in particular sure seems like he’s trying to have it both ways, and it highlights how worried the church is about platforms like TikTok.
I like the idea of a Mystery Science Theater version of the temple movie. It sounds promising, but this attempt at it didn’t go so well. I say this as a big fan of Radio Free Mormon. To borrow a word from a recent episode of Mormonism Live, RFM talking over the sound track of the temple movie was a cacophony. It hurt to listen to it. It was like the drive-thru of Wendy’s.
Please keep up the fantastic work, however, RFM! You are still my favorite podcaster.
I have to respectfully disagree. I found RFM’s comments pretty funny. I didn’t learn a lot from this episode but I enjoyed RFM’s sarcasm and sense of irony.
You mentioned that Jesus was not in the temple ceremony before. In “Wife No. 19” There is a cast of characters from the early temple ceremony and it includes both Jehovah and Jesus (and Elohim too). I suspect they had to remove Jesus at some point when his identity was merged after Adam/God was disavowed.
The following is a list of the dramatis personae at the time I took my Endowments:
Elohim, or Head God . . . . . . . Brigham Young
Jehovah . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heber C. Kimball
Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daniel H. Wells
Michael, or Adam . . . . . . . . W. C. Staines
Satan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W. W. Phelps
Apostle Peter . . . . . . . . . . Orson Pratt
Apostle James . . . . . . . . . . John Taylor
Apostle John . . . . . . . . . . Erastus Snow
Washer . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr Sprague
Clerk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David O. Calder
Eve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miss Eliza R. Snow
Timothy Broadbrim, a Quaker . . . Wilfred Woodruff
Deacon Smith, a Methodist . . . . Orson Hyde
Darson Peabody, a Presbyterian . Franklin D. Richards
Elder Smooth-Tounge, a Baptist . Pineas H. Young
Father Boniface, a Catholic . . . George A. Smith
This is found on page 357 (page 353 of the PDF below)
http://www.truthandgrace.com/Wife_No__19__Or__the_Story_of_a_Life_of_.pdf
RFM, what’s next on the list? Maybe doing a voice over the sacrament prayer, sealing ceremony, maybe a traditional Catholic mass or muizzin’s call for prayer? Usually I enjoy listening to you and find your subtle humor very entertaining. But not this time.
I love you RFM, but I think this is your worst episode ever. I’ve listened to all your episodes and this is the first time I had to shut it off cause I couldn’t stand listening to it. Talking over poor audio of the temple session did not make for a good podcast. I was very interested to learn more about recent temple changes, as I’ve heard my active in-laws talk about it a little. I would have preferred a well thought out, edited podcast, sprinkled with pertinent clips from the endowment, in classic RFM-style. In general, I prefer the older RFM episodes that had a clear and thoughtful outline, maybe somewhat more scripted and edited. I like Mormonism Live as well, but still would prefer an edited, non-live podcast versus a live one.
I appreciate the feedback, Scott. I am glad I tried something new, but am also grateful for the feedback. The good news is I won’t be doing the same kind of format with General Conference this weekend. I was actually considering it! Thanks for your comment!
Na. Enjoy the irony and RFM’s sense of humor. Not every episode has to be an intellectual exercise.
Completely agree! That said, it might have been easier to listen to if RFM had stopped the ceremony audio while making his own commentary, but I’m not complaining.
Thank you RFM for all of your great content – I think you are absolutely hilarious! And, althoigh you were a bit irreverent in this episode, I appreciated you opting not to play the secret parts of the ceremony out of respect for the active members of the church.
I’ve been thinking about temple preparations and I found myself explaining that the covenants need to be better explained ahead of time. They’ve watered down the covenants so much that they’re pretty much no big deal. One of them basically asks, do you covenant to keep the commandments? That is such a nothing-burger now.
I realized that because I didn’t think I could talk about the ritual part of the endowment and initiatory that I was focusing on the covenants when I would post or speak about the need for more clarity. The TBMs would say that if I was engaging in proper study and had a strong enough testimony then it wouldn’t have bothered me. I totally pushed back in that but I also see that the covenants are so watered down now that complaining about them seems a little ridiculous. They’ve removed the sexist verbiage and the women veiling their faces. So I am left with having to talk about the rituals that I found disturbing. What I was most troubled by in the endowment were the signs, tokens and bowing heads & saying yes in unison and Eve’s bare shoulders and décolletage. The cult-like chanting of prayer while standing in a circle making the strange signs and having to hold hands with the person next to me and rest my elbow on the person next to me in that awful white getup. And the green apron… that threw me for a loop. I’d been told people wear only white in the temple so the green apron felt disorienting and made me question things. After coming from a traumatizing initiatory experience it was all too much.
All of those things is what I think people need to be prepared for now. Maybe they need less prep for the actual covenants but everyone needs prep for everything else about the temple.
RFM, please tell me your a MST3K fan.
In other news, the Mormon church has stepped on a rake again:
https://www.newsweek.com/china-using-mormon-church-influence-us-politics-investigation-finds-1790607