indulgences and temples

[deacon blues]

Indulgences were one of the flash points for Martin Luther and the Reformation. How many similarities can you see between the Catholic Church's practice of indulgences, and the LDS practice of temple work? If this offends some who feel empathy for temple work, I apologize. Perhaps you could list differences between indulgences and temple work.

[Palerider]

It's my opinion that you may have some minor issues with a few of the TR questions but if you're a full tithe payer you'll most likely get your recommend.

On the other hand, you can live all of the other TR questions perfectly but if you're not a full tithe payer, you can forget it.....you're not going anywhere.

Does that amount to buying an indulgence? I'm sure some apologist has a great answer for that....

[crossmyheart]

This has probably been my biggest pet peeve. After my faith transition, I refused to pay tithing - this was around the time of City Creek. But my TBM husband was told he could not baptize our daughter unless he was a full tithe payer. I met with the bishop which turned into a yelling match. My husband is a good man and has been true and faithful to the church in every way, other than tithing. I told the bishop he sounded just like satan in the temple movie- that "you can buy anything in this world with money" and we were being forced to pay for our daughter's baptism. Of course he stood firm in his stance. Luckily the old NOM board had the directions on how to make anonymous payments online and we made a small donation based on our surplus. My husband had to go back and meet with the Bishop again after we paid which was so emasculating for my husband.

We had to do it again a year later for our son. It felt dirty, like paying a ransom.

[GoodBoy]

You definitely have to pay for your salvation. If you don't pay your tithing you are not counted worthy. I'm sure that one of the reasons for the emphasis on the temple is because it increases tithing income.

Sacrifice increases devotion. The more they ask of you, even if what they are asking you to do is pointless, the more you feel devoted to the cause that you sacrificed for.

[moksha]

The second anointing has some points of similarity to plenary indulgences.

[RubinHighlander]

You definitely have to pay for your salvation. If you don't pay your tithing you are not counted worthy. I'm sure that one of the reasons for the emphasis on the temple is because it increases tithing income.

Sacrifice increases devotion. The more they ask of you, even if what they are asking you to do is pointless, the more you feel devoted to the cause that you sacrificed for.

No only are you paying your tithing to get into the temple, but having the recommend is the key to the church allowing you to do things like baptize and ordain your kids. Then on top of that you are under condemnation and can't achieve salvation except by redeaming the dead, spending hours in meaningless mind numbing masonic ceremonies. It's really quite the indulgent treadmil they have for all those poor TBMs. Buying pieces of the orginal cross to save your soul was so easy and blatent. The LDS church has a much more sophisticated system to make you feel super special while you pay your hard earned cash to fill the bank accounts of the COB corp of MorCor.

[GoodBoy]

You definitely have to pay for your salvation. If you don't pay your tithing you are not counted worthy. I'm sure that one of the reasons for the emphasis on the temple is because it increases tithing income.

Sacrifice increases devotion. The more they ask of you, even if what they are asking you to do is pointless, the more you feel devoted to the cause that you sacrificed for.

No only are you paying your tithing to get into the temple, but having the recommend is the key to the church allowing you to do things like baptize and ordain your kids. Then on top of that you are under condemnation and can't achieve salvation except by redeaming the dead, spending hours in meaningless mind numbing masonic ceremonies. It's really quite the indulgent treadmil they have for all those poor TBMs. Buying pieces of the orginal cross to save your soul was so easy and blatent. The LDS church has a much more sophisticated system to make you feel super special while you pay your hard earned cash to fill the bank accounts of the COB corp of MorCor.

Exactly.