This week has been a really exciting one in the world of Latter-day Saint temples. As of Tuesday, February 7, 2023, the church made very substantial changes to the temple ordinances. These were not minor tweaks. They were pretty big. And really good. So let’s talk about it. But respectfully.
As always on this channel, we take our temple covenants very seriously. We will not be divulging anything we covenant not to, and for this video I’ll be talking more in general terms as opposed to a lot of specifics, because I do want to be respectful of this very sacred ordinance that is only available to worthy members of the Church.
And I would also like to emphasize that you should see these changes for yourself. You should not rely on some rando on YouTube. Attend the temple. Feel God’s love there. If you are working towards a goal of going to the temple, keep going it’s so worth it.
Brief History of Recent Endowment Adjustments
So first a little background. From what I know, the largest changes to the temple endowment happened in 1870s, the 1920s, 1990, and 2005. There of course have been more minor changes all through that time. While adjustments have been made to the presentation of the endowment over time, the covenants and doctrines of the ordinances remain the same.
After Christ’s death and resurrection, he altered temple ordinances from focusing on animal sacrifice, to focusing on sacrificing a broken heart and a contrite spirit. But regardless of the format, the Law of Sacrifice remained in place. In the 19th century, the Lord commanded the Saints to consecrate their property in what was known as the United Order. Today, the church doesn’t ask us to donate our property, but we are asked to be willing to contribute to Christ’s church on the earth in other ways, and the Law of the Consecration is still in effect.
Now fast forwarding to President Nelson, this is the third major change that he has made to the endowment since he became the prophet in 2018. In January of 2019, he and the temple department made major revisions to the endowment that highlighted the important role of women in the plan of salvation, and streamlined a lot of the presentation to reduce the runtime significantly. The presentation medium of the endowment changed as well. Before 2019, a large portion of the endowment was often presented as a film with actors performing the narrative of the Plan of Salvation, from Creation through the Fall.
In 2019, perhaps to facilitate a smooth roll-out of these changes, and to simplify translation into various languages, the church took stills from these live-action films and essentially created an animated slideshow communicating the same principles and narrative points. They cut out various parts of dialogue and shortened the ceremony quite a bit.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused all temples to temporarily close. As soon as it was feasible, the Church opened the temple again, but made adjustments to minimize person-to-person contact so as to prevent the spreading of diseases and pathogens. This included demonstrating some instruction on-screen that previously would have been done in-person.
Summary of the Endowment Changes
Now, we arrive at 2023. The newest iteration of the endowment is longer than the 2019 version. There is additional dialogue in the narrative of the Plan of Salvation, and there are additional explanations about the meaning of certain symbols and covenants. Most of these additions center around Jesus Christ.
I have covered extensively in other videos how Jesus Christ is and always has been the center of the temple endowment. For example, in previous videos, I’ve discussed how the Epistle to the Hebrews compares the veil of the temple to the flesh of Jesus Christ (Hebrew 10:19–22). But this new adjustment makes that point abundantly clear. I don’t think it’s possible to participate in the endowment without knowing full-well that Jesus Christ is at its core.
The endowment begins with an extended introduction which provides helpful background to participants. It helps patrons understand what the endowment is, what to expect throughout the ceremony, all of the covenants that we make, and how the endowment’s ultimate purpose is to help us become like Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.
Many members may already receive similar instruction through their temple preparation classes. The Church’s official website has an information page all about temples that contains exceptionally clear explanations of the endowment and the covenants that we make.[1] Going back more than a hundred years, Brigham Young taught that,
Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the House of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs, and tokens, pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.[2]
However, this introduction now ensures that all participants, no matter what kind of temple prep they received, will at least have a baseline understanding of what to expect when going into this new experience.
There is also more scripture. From what I could tell, some of the text in these new changes draw heavily from the Book of Moses. If you’re preparing to go to the temple, I would recommend adding Moses 4:1–4 and Abraham 3:23–28 to your reading list, which talks about the war in heaven, the selection of Jesus Christ as our Savior, and the casting of Satan from heaven. It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to add Moses 4:13 to your reading.
Another aspect that is more abundantly clear, is the patron’s relationship to Adam and Eve. The endowment has always tried to impress that participants are to see themselves as progressing along the covenant path to return to Heavenly Father, just as Adam and Eve did. With these new changes, it’s even clearer that the participant should see themselves as Adam and Eve, because the characters of Adam and Eve take a more prominent role throughout the officiation of the endowment ceremony, now that the film essentially lasts throughout the entire duration of the endowment.
As you attend the temple, I’m sure you’ll be able to glean the many other adjustments and additions they’ve made. I know I was really excited and blown away by some of the more specific details of things they added and changed.
My Thoughts
But as far as what I thought about all these changes, I was mostly inspired. Let’s be clear, I love the temple. That’s why I do this channel. I love high-church liturgy and I love the layered symbolism. I loved the temple endowment ceremony the way it was and the richness of the liturgy has always resonated with me. And sometimes I can be resistant to change.
But even still, I couldn’t help but feel like I was coming home as I experienced this new endowment presentation. The clear explanations in the endowment and the witness of our Savior Jesus Christ left me feeling moved and at peace.
One of my favorite additions was the tasteful use of music throughout much of the officiation, to help invite the Spirit and establish an inspiring tone. I resonate a lot with music and so I feel like I can connect with God better to have that in the background.
I think the biggest impact of these changes will be on new initiates and the global church. These changes mean that regardless of how good your temple prep experience was, everyone going in is guaranteed to start at the same baseline of knowledge about what to expect. I think this will greatly improve the first-time endowment experience. Also the emphasis on Jesus Christ is likely to make this first-time experience feel more familiar rooted in the gospel that we already know and love.
These changes will be a huge blessing to the global church around the world. I currently live in Utah where access to temples is plentiful and there’s never a lack of patrons or workers. But in areas of the world where it is difficult to staff temples, these changes are going to ease that burden because it will require fewer temple workers to staff each endowment session. Even more of the ceremony takes place on film, so it requires fewer people to run the ordinance. As President Nelson accelerates the building of temples, the ability to staff them will become an increasing challenge, so I’m glad these changes will allow the Lord’s work to continue to hasten forth at a rapid pace.
Now because I am totally old-school when it comes to the endowment and can be resistant to change, there are definitely some things that are going to take me some time to get used to. But that’s a me problem. I need to be more humble. And I could see them making slight adjustments in the future to smooth over some transitions, but if not it’s still the House of the Lord with the power of godliness.
I see these changes as a net positive and I think it’s going to enrich my temple attending experience, as I open my heart to the ceremony’s testimony of Jesus Christ.
I would encourage everyone to attend the temple and feel the spirit of these changes yourself. If you haven’t been through the temple yet to receive your endowment, I hope this gets you excited for this next step on your covenant path. If you have attended the temple recently, I would love to hear your thoughts on your new temple experience in the comments, but please be respectful of the sacredness of the ceremony and the covenants that we make.
[1] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples?lang=eng
[2] Discourses of Brigham Young, comp. John A. Widtsoe, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1941, p. 416.
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