A different Q15 --------- Question #8

[Jinx]

I try to keep the baptismal covenant, I attend SM but nothing else, I live my life in keeping with my own moral code. This one is probably a yes for the most part.

[Random]

#8
Do you strive to keep the covenants you have made, to attend your sacrament and other meetings, and to keep your life in harmony with the laws and commandments of the gospel?

Yes.

I strive to keep the covenants I have made with God. I do attend sacrament meetings (with my fellowship, in someone's home). Other meetings: n/a. I strive to keep my life in harmony with the laws and commandments of the gospel (but not any branch of a "duly organized" religion).

Edit: I just read where the op clarified baptismal covenants. My answer remains the same. As an 8 year old, I didn't have a clear idea of what baptismal covenants meant. I feel I still lack complete understanding, but my latest baptisms included a clearer understanding of what the covenant might be (mourn with those that mourn, a witness that you are willing to follow the Lord's example, etc.).

[Random]

I don't:
. . . .
- wear garments
- know what kind of underwear to buy instead

Start a thread in Support. These guys are great! They helped me with my transition.

[Nonny]

Do you strive to keep the covenants you have made: I didn't make them. Some medievil (sp. intentional) stone masons made them. They are weirder now that I know the truth than when I was first traumatized by them back in the late seventies.

to attend your sacrament and other meetings: Again, these are not MY meetings. It's a particular sticking point that the church always make everything look like it's our stuff. Nope. It never was my stuff. It was the corp. churches stuff and I was arm-twisted into thinking it was my stuff.

and to keep your life in harmony:

with the laws and commandments of the gospel: The gospel goal posts keep moving, so I'm not sure if this refers to the original laws and commandments prescribed by JS or those tweaked ...

To tell you the truth, I rarely even think about covenants or whether I am striving to keep them. There is a lot of talk in church meetings about baptismal covenants, but I certainly don't remember making any from when I was eight. I like the word strive in this question. It doesn't ask simply do you keep these covenants, but do you strive. To me strive means to work hard at doing something, not necessarily that you are perfect at it. I strive to be a good person. It has become a habit, a way of life, to live a pretty well-behaved kind compassionate life, following the Golden Rule. I choose to live this way for my own sake and not because of some LDS so-called covenants or expectations of having to pass a TR interview.

[SeeNoEvil]

#8 Do you strive to keep the covenants you have made, to attend your sacrament and other meetings, and to keep your life in harmony with the laws and commandments of the gospel?

Nope. Not anymore!

[Can of Worms]

Ditto. I also don't think that 8 year olds can enter into eternally binding covenants. And promises made in the temple aren't exactly made with full and complete information nor in an environment where you really have the opportunity to consider and weigh your commitment. There's enough time for everyone to bow and say yes and that's it...

What really gets me about the temple situation is that you can pour over the text with a fine toothed comb, at no point are the covenants themselves put under an oath of secrecy. The oaths of secrecy entered into refer very narrowly to the names, signs, and tokens shared during the endowment. Yet you'll often find members being extremely vague about what goes on*. Even the temple prep manual beats around the bush when really it should be taking the opportunity to explicitly lay out the covenants made in the temple and their implications. I can understand why it wouldn't go into the secrecy oaths, but there is no doctrinal reason for it not to have a section that reads , "The first covenant entered into is to obey the Law of Lord. For men the Law of the Lord entails a commitment to..."

*Sometimes amusingly so. It was funny seeing members shoot you a "You're not supposed to talk about that!" look when sharing stuff available in church manuals and talks.

Exactly! DH and I talked about this earlier today. Since one has no idea what the temple is about before going and making covenants, I think it is really hard to hold people to those covenants. I can't imagine consenting to the washing & anointing if I had known those hands were coming my way! If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to read up on masonry since the temple prep class was unhelpful. Isn't it odd, that Mormons don't talk about what happens in the temple because it is considered so sacred, yet there are Masons who aren't endowed but know the signs and symbols?